Rent discount = bad marketing strategy?
May 20, 2015 1:00 PM   Subscribe

I'm thinking of offering a temporary discount on rent to get someone to take over my less-than-ideal room in an awesome apartment--is this a viable marketing strategy or will such an unorthodox move scare off potential renters?

Hello Mefi,

I'm looking to leave my flatshare to move closer to where I work; my apartment is nice and in a desirable area (an increasingly trendy Paris neighborhood), and my flatmates are charming people, but my commute is becoming unbearable and I've decided it's time to move on. I've found a place that would be ideal which is opening up in July; the owners have already agreed to rent to me.

The other two girls are, quite understandably, not prepared to break the lease altogether just to release me. In France individual renters can be officially be replaced via an addendum to the lease (this is actually how I came to live in my current place), so there would be little to no legal risk in leaving and finding a replacement--provided I find someone willing to sign on the dotted line (the owners of the apartment have also agreed, in writing, to this solution.)

So for obvious reasons, it's important to me that this be taken care of as quickly as possible. There's just one small issue: my bedroom and the adjoining one share a large double door, which allows noticeable (though not crazy) sound penetration, and I fear this may be a turnoff for potential renters. I don't want to risk paying double rent because it takes six months to find someone willing to take the room!

In light of this I'm very tempted to offer some sort of "promotional" deal to attract people (say, a 20% discount for the first three months which I would pay as a lump sum before moving out), but I'm wondering whether this might backfire, by making them wonder what else might be wrong with the place if I'm willing to lay out so much cash to get them to join what should be (and, double doors notwithstanding, truly is) a very attractive flatshare. (Really, I'm not trying to scam anyone: the apartment is furnished, huge for this area, in excellent shape and comes with amenities like a concierge, storage space, parking...)

If people with greater marketing acumen than I have any insights to offer I would truly appreciate their input, since thanks to my commute I'm currently running on about 5 hours' sleep. Thank you in advance!
posted by peakes to Work & Money (10 answers total)
 
I am a marketer. Price usually trumps everything.

Most importantly I am also a renter. I rent one of my bedrooms and usually charge a bit less than I would in order to have more choices. If the place is good, they'll find out once visiting.
posted by The1andonly at 1:05 PM on May 20, 2015


There's just one small issue: my bedroom and the adjoining one share a large double door, which allows noticeable (though not crazy) sound penetration, and I fear this may be a turnoff for potential renters. I don't want to risk paying double rent because it takes six months to find someone willing to take the room!

YOU rented it, didn't you?
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:05 PM on May 20, 2015 [6 favorites]


The Paris rental market is 100% in your favour rather than that of the potential tenants. It's also so normal to have weird setups in shared flats/houses due to space limitations so I doubt this will be as off putting as you are expecting.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:12 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


You have over a month to find someone -- try at the normal rent now, and you can try a rent reduction if it's getting down to the wire.
posted by DoubleLune at 1:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I see discounts all the time, so I assume they do work. Once someone moves into a place, the likelihood they will move out decreases, which is why places always raise rent after a lease if they can. Moving is a pain and people hate it.

And for you, all you need is someone to take your place on the lease -- that's the most important thing, not being on the hook for the rest of the lease. For instance, first month free or something gets your name off the lease and the new person on the lease, so you'd be on the hook for one month and then you don't have to worry. Even if they person left after one month, it's no longer your problem. You could do half off the first month or something too, just to get someone in there.

I had a guy breaking his lease offering me two months free because he was so desperate not to pay his lease-break penalty, which was the full amount of the lease, and even though his place was not at all what I wanted, I actually considered it based on how much money I'd save. I don't see why it would scare off potential renters if you were honest that you are breaking a lease and need a replacement, and as such are willing to offer a discount.

I bet you won't need to try a discount though. Try the normal rate for a week or so first.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:36 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: @showbiz_liz : You bring up a good point! But as you can probably tell from my question I'm a foreigner living in Paris, which reduced my choices considerably when looking for places as a great many landlords are reluctant to rent to non-French citizens for obvious reasons. Most of the people we're finding are native-born young professionals, who might be able to be sliiightly pickier as they have their parents to act as co-signers. But again, point taken, thanks. :)
posted by peakes at 1:38 PM on May 20, 2015


Response by poster: And thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses, it's helpful to get a disinterested perspective from people who aren't as tightly wound as I am. :)

Testing the waters before jumping straight to a discount is something I (weirdly) hadn't considered and seems like a good strategy, thanks DoubleLune and AppleTurnover!
posted by peakes at 1:47 PM on May 20, 2015


I agree with testing the waters first because this doesn't sound necessary. But if I saw a discount I'd assume you were just trying to get out of your lease early, not that there was something wrong with the room. You could tell people that.
posted by chickenmagazine at 2:04 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


A lot of times, a rental discount is set up as a payment option. Rent is 10, pay by the 3rd day of the month then the rent is 8. Pay rent late, then pay full 10.
posted by Flood at 4:47 AM on May 21, 2015


1) When I was looking at apartments I saw many that said something like
"looking for someone to take over the last 2 months of my lease at a 20% discount, with the option to re-sign the lease after that at the usual amount" and it never seemed strange or suspicious to me, especially if it was last-minute - it's obvious why they're offering the discount (so they aren't stuck paying rent at two places). If I was looking at 2 seemingly-similar places with the same baseline rent but one had a discount, I'd definitely lean towards the discounted one.

2) I wouldn't mention the double door thing at all. It wouldn't be a big deal for lots of people, and if it is, they'll see it when they visit, and weigh it against the benefits of the apartment. No need to plant the suggestion in their head when they might not have cared otherwise. That said, maybe reconsider if you find yourself wasting time interviewing multiple people who later say that the double-door is a dealbreaker for them.
posted by randomnity at 2:09 PM on May 21, 2015


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