The 4-step guide to negotiate a lease renewal
April 23, 2025
Sharing my exact playbook and a personal story about my husband’s childhood home
Dear friends,
No matter where you are on the political spectrum, we can probably all agree that it’s been a tumultuous few weeks in the stock market and economically, and it’s not showing much sign of stopping.
But during the past few weeks, I’ve helped buyers win bidding wars, gotten sellers’ listings into contract, signed new listing agreements, and helped tenants relocating internationally secure new leases in New York.
“Why?” you may ask. And “how?”
Here is what I see.
The world might feel scary and uncertain right now, but my clients’ real estate decisions are driven more by their personal situations than what happens to be going on in the news at any given time (and let’s be honest, who can even keep track of the headlines anymore??)
And for some of my clients, renting is still a great option. Maybe they aren’t ready to decide where to live for an extended period, or maybe they expect to have a big life change in the near horizon that will require a bigger place but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge yet.
Earlier this month, I spilled some secrets that brokers don’t want you to know about the NYC rental market with fellow NYU alumni, such as where to find off-market listings, and how to get a discount on fees. If you want a copy of my deck, reply to this email and I’ll share it with you!
But securing an apartment is not the end of the story!
✨🏡✨
Are you dreaming of your next home? Book a free 30-minute consultation with me with no strings attached.
Once you find that nice apartment and sign the lease, it always feels too soon that you are getting the renewal offer from your landlord. I am familiar with the dread you feel when you open that letter. I have received many texts and calls from past clients and friends as soon as they opened their renewal offer letters, and I have shared my battle-won strategies.
Last spring, one of my fave clients, Mrs. Dow Jones, the Zillenial Finance Expert, invited me to guest-write her newsletter after I helped her successfully negotiate with her landlord for a 2-year lease renewal with ZERO rent increase.
I shared with her subscribers my exact 4-step guide to negotiate a lease renewal with your landlord.
Here’s what I said at the time (reprinted with her blessing, of course!):
#1. Know the market
The first step in any negotiation is knowing the market. So search your building on StreetEasy & see what similar units are going for. This will give you a sense of whether the proposed increase is them trying to bring your unit to market value or if they are shooting high.
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#2. Know your options
The key to negotiating is being able to walk away. But… how much exactly would that cost? Calculate how expensive moving would be (include moving company fees, possible broker fees, other building fees, etc.)
How does that number compare to your current apartment's proposed new rent?
This will allow you to come up with a counteroffer, and help you know how much you're willing (and not willing) to spend on your current place.
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#3. Line up the carrot
Similar to when you negotiate a raise and highlight your accomplishments in the workplace, when you negotiate rent you should highlight your accomplishments as a tenant.
- Have you always paid your rent on time?
- Have you taken good care of the apartment?
- No neighbor complaints?
All this will be worth mentioning. Also - remind your landlord that it costs them money to turn over the apartment (re-paint, clean etc.), and the vacancy between tenants will also cost them money.
This helped with Haley's [Mrs. Dow Jones] case SO much! He was lazy & folded. And you can ask them: do they really want to gamble with an unknown future tenant, when they already know you? Be warm and positive here and tell them you have lived here for x years, have always enjoyed a good relationship, etc. etc.
#4. Make your case
Do NOT email your landlord. The most effective way to influence someone is in person, and the second-best way is on a phone call. If it's a building with an on-site leasing team, go to the leasing office. If you have an individual landlord (for a condo/co-op apartment), call the landlord, and start by asking these questions:
Have they enjoyed having you as a tenant?
Do they plan to continue being a landlord in the long term, or have they thought about selling it at some point in the future or moving back in?
Then bring up the comps for 3-4 similar units' market prices and how you believe the proposed new rent is too high. If moving to a new place would save you money, share that too.
Then bring up Step 3 (The Carrot.) You don't want to leave, you love it here, and you hope you can work something out so it's win-win, and the landlord gets to have ZERO vacancy and keep collecting that on-time rent payment.
You will likely not get an immediate response on your initial call/meeting but don't give up. If the landlord doesn't tell you a straight up “no”, progress has been made!
Keep following up, and not by email! You got this!
So close in distance, so far in spirit: A journey to Westchester
I was so happy to see the response to my email about the new listing in Rye! Happy… but not surprised. Because the home is absolutely stunning. Like a piece of art, or a storied artistic institution.
(Rye also has so much going on! Come explore Rye with me in my video below.)
But the area also holds a special place in my heart. The first time I went to Westchester was to visit my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s parents almost a decade ago. I remember it like it was yesterday: a gorgeous October evening, the autumn air crisp in the lightly chilled air.
My husband Alex grew up not far from Rye, in a town called Mamaroneck bordered by the Mamaroneck River. I later learned that the name means “where the fresh water meets the sea” in the language of the native Wappinger people who once lived there. Mamaroneck was also where Alex played with his friend Fumi by the riverbank, hunched over with eyes searching for gold in the rocks. And it is still home to Sal’s Pizza, the Sicilian-style thick crusted pizza that his family still goes out of their way to pick up (as everyone has moved away from Mamaroneck now) for a hearty meal and some reminiscing.
Although Rye (and Mamaroneck) are just 40 minutes’ drive from Manhattan, it feels like a whole world away. When you pull off the Hutchinson Parkway, you’re immediately surrounded by lush foliage and the world quiets down.
So, it was with personal longing and nostalgia that I welcomed my first listing in Westchester, so close to my husband’s childhood home. While I used to visit my husband’s parents in Westchester often, before they moved up to Columbia County, I hadn’t heard about Rye Playland until I told Alex I was going to have a listing in Rye and he asked me if I had seen the movie “Big” starring Tom Hanks, which was partially filmed in Rye Playland. I hadn’t seen it yet, and so the night before I went to film in Rye, we watched it together, curled up on the couch with our projector. The next day, as I visited the lively hangout spots in Rye, I found myself seeing Rye through little Alex’s eyes: Rye Playland’s fun rides and boardwalk, the beach and the dogs swimming and playing in the Long Island Sound. It must have been a beautiful place to grow up. Standing on the boardwalk showered in the warm early spring sun, listening to the tides gently splashing on the sand, I also had an important realization of my own that I shared in this video I made below.
If you want to come see this alternative lifestyle to NYC-living yourself, give me a ring and let’s explore together!
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