As brokers in the St. Louis rental market, Apartment Search is constantly doing a balancing act between haggle-happy renters and bottomline-shackled owners. It’s a balancing act with a win/win result always as our goal.

Lately, we’ve really gotten caught in the middle with our private listings — outrageous offers coming in on units already grossly underpriced. So renters, here’s a different perspective, a little food for thought.

I recently read an apartment community in Las Vegas was offering 5 months free rent. Yikes! Pretty soon, they’ll be paying people to move in… The question is, how much longer can landlords offer 40 percent off, and stay in business? Not long.

Today’s renters are well informed and sophisticated. They don’t hesitate to negotiate down to the lowest possible rental rate. And I agree — it is the savvy renter’s job to get the best possible deal.

But sooner or later, renters have to realize it may ultimately cost them. Since 2008, we have seen a steady wave of renters forced to relocate because their landlords wound up in foreclosure.

Free rent is great, but if the end result is moving in a couple of months with little or no notice, it’s definitely not so great — not for the renter, the community, the local economy, you, or me.

So go after that great deal, but consider whether your landlord will have enough money left over after the mortgage, taxes and insurance to keep up the maintenance (or replace your furnace come next February). And remember the old adage — if it’s too good to be true, it probably is…

Kathryn Wood
Founder and CEO
Apartment Search, Inc.

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