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Comment by jeffbee | Hacker News Reader

Corporate landlords are rational and reasonable negotiators who will readily respond to market signals. Small landlords are a crapshoot; you might get one who just prefers an empty unit over lower rents. You can easily see this from craigslist data right now. Large buildings are lowering rent faster than small buildings and single-family houses.

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This is true. I have known people who were more happy to have a house empty for months on end waiting for a tenants at a higher price rather then taking a tenant now for a lower price (~$200 price difference). They made the decision emotionally based on, "my house is worth so much" instead of looking at what would be in their best interest. Also some of the higher paying tenants I have seen not take good care of property.

I just accepted a lower price with a tenant because it helps them and was way better then them leaving and trying to find a tenant now.

This is really true. People talk about rents dropping in SF, but if you dig, it's really the large apartment complexes that are professionally managed. The same apartments that tends to be more expensive.

A good friend just moved to a 1-bed in SF last weekend. Small building (6 units). Rent was $2,200 per month, which is about the same as what it was last year. And they looked at a lot of units. They definitely noticed rents softening as they could knock $100 off most rents with little effort.

This is more about the specific financials of the property and the portfolio of the owner, for both small and large owners. Many small owners are, like, funding their grandkids trust funds and a few lost payments are not worth the trouble. Large owners may have occupancy covenants, or, conversely, may have appraisals that have to be maintained.

My personal experience is small owners are "reasonable" and open to building a relationship and large owners could give an eff, but mileage varies. Cheers.

Living in a place the landlord has a strong emotional connection to can also be difficult (e.g. their previous family home).

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