Cities such as Phoenix, Tampa and Boise are seeing huge rental price increases, forcing tenants to decide about their budgets and what matters
Some renters are coping by putting less into savings or making more-drastic life changes such as moving to a more-stable rental market.
Hundreds of thousands of renters may miss rent payments for May as the coronavirus crisis enters its third month in the U.S. For smaller landlords, that means facing their own financial crisis. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports. Photo: Fadhila HusseinThe classic personal finance rule is to keep housing costs at around a third of your monthly take-home pay.
Cynthia Meyer, financial planner and founder of Real Life Planning, recommends paging through listings on Zillow or Trulia or checkingto check median rent in your area. This way, you can gauge whether you are paying too much for the size and location of your place. Before going that route, Ms. Meyer recommends talking to your landlord about possible options. Discuss a rent modification, which allows a tenant to pay a reduced amount in rent in exchange for making a written plan on how payments will be made up, or ask about slowly integrating the rent increase over a few months.
First, consider your relationship with your landlord. Talking to an individual property owner will be different from talking to a large management company, but you can prepare for both conversations by making a list of the qualities you bring to the table, such as making consistent payments.“I’ve seen successful negotiations, and I’ve seen people ask and just get a flat ‘no,’ but what do you have to lose by asking, right?” she said.