The recession slashed 200 dollars off new apartment rentals, so now I want to renegotiate my existing contract and avoid the increase that's set for next month.

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:55:17 -0800

As contractually agreed by me one year ago, my NYC apartment rent is going up 9% starting next month - from $2,250 to $2,450. But today I found out that, because of the recession, an apartment like mine is now going for $2,050. And now I want to renegotiate. How do I do that? Yes, I signed it. I knew the increase was coming, but the recession is starting to hit home and, since apparently it's already hit the rental office, I want to renegotiate my contract and not pay 400 dollars more than the guy who just moved in above me.

I decided to check on the current rates because there's been talk around the building about vacancies being up. As it turns out, they must be. I anonymously called the rental office and they told me that a unit with my floorplan is going for 200 dollars less than 12 months ago. (I don't think that changes depending on floor because I remember looking at units on different floors and the rates were the same.)

The building is rental only and run by a large property management company. There are several hundreds apartments in more than one tower. The neighborhood's rental vacancy rate has been among the highest in Manhattan.

There's a pretty large fine if I break the contract so I am not about to move out to a cheaper place, and I may or may not consider that if they don't negotiate with me. For now, I just want to find a way to use the market situation, their vacancies being up and their rent prices being down as leverage to postpone increase on my rent. I'm not even saying go down so I pay the same as a new resident (or should I say that?) I just don't want the increase at this point.

Am I being unethical? While I was prepared for the increase, I am like everyone else starting to feel the recession bite. No more dining out, no more cabs. So I can afford it in theory, but the increase will absolutely make things more difficult for me. Should they "care"? Would they, if I pointed this out?

What arguments should I use to avoid the contractual increase? And will this ever happen?

Mortgage Renegotiation

Daddio — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:08:55 -0800

Asking for a friend. She's financially naive, and got stuck with an absolutely terrible loan on her house. She is several months behind on her mortgage payments, and needs to renegotiate the terms of her mortgage. As a result of this and other problems, she has declared bankruptcy. She desperately wants to keep her house, and so far calling the mortgage company has been fruitless.

She's found a company that promises "loan renegotiation services" for the low, low, price of one month's house payment. I cannot find much information on them on the internet, and I'm not sure what a third party can do if the bank is intransigent.

Does anybody have any experience with this type of service? Are they scams, or can they do some good? I'm suspicious because although my friend says that the person that she talked to promised her money back if they weren't able to do the renegotiation, the contract language was so garbled that I told her to get them to rewrite it before she'd sign.

What she wants out of this is to have the amount that she is arrears on her payments added to the principal of the loan. She says that if they do this, she'll be able to make the monthly payments from now on.

This is in California.

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The recession slashed 200 dollars off new apartment rentals, so now I want to renegotiate my existing contract and avoid the increase that's set for next month.

Mortgage Renegotiation