4 ms·

Might also be that people are preferring to not move in the coming months (thanks to COVID-19) and so the units that _are_ on the market simply aren't finding m

Might also be that people are preferring to not move in the coming months (thanks to COVID-19) and so the units that _are_ on the market simply aren't finding many buyers. I'm actually looking for a new place in the Bay Area next month -- some units have their sticker price uncharacteristically low for sure; many have some kind of specials running too, like first month rent free. I asked a few leasing reps if this is due to the current situation and they invariably say these specials have always been in place off-and-on throughout the years, but perhaps that is just a convenient statement to convince prospective tenants that their "desirability" is quite inert to general market conditions?

guenthert 6y ago
No, first month free or similar incentives has been common for at least fifteen years in the Bay Area. It's sadly also not uncommon that the first lease is considerably lower than following ones (for no other reason than the landlord betting on the inertia of the tenant).
- gregwebs 6y ago
  First month free has definitely been around at times, but I think less so in the most recent pre-COVID years. This article mentioned we might start seeing 2 months though, which I think is much rarer. My complex charges existing tenants greater than 5% more than new ones because they know that few people want to go through the pain of moving out. I haven been able to use the obviousness of this to keep negotiating the "new tenant" rate with them.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]