Last year, I moved into a giant one-bedroom with level floors, six windows, three closets, and no mice. It’s wonderful, and I love living there. This came after four years of your standard apartment nightmares: roommate tension, pest infestations, and unwelcome sexual advances from landlords. It was time to stop settling, and really like where I lived. I found an apartment, fell in love, and after some negotiation, agreed to pay $1,325 a month for it. That’s much more than what I’d normally pay, but for once, I needed real closet space. I deserved level floors.

Then the thing that happens to most of us occurred a year later: I received a renewal lease with a drastic rent increase I wasn’t prepared to pay. First year leases are priced low to fill the unit quickly. Then landlords assume you’ll be too broke and/or lazy to move, so they increase the price, make their money back, and don’t have to paint the walls again. So far, you’re losing this game. Luckily, it really is possible to satisfy both parties, as long as you have some room to negotiate.

Negotiating seems like it’s going to be all power play and body language tricks—saying things like, “You’re breakin’ my balls, here!”

In reality, it’s a discussion about how to make both you and your landlord happy—they don’t want you to move out, they just want more money and not to have to find a new tenant. I have no advice about how long to draw out the negotiation, whether to low-ball, or when you should accept a final offer. You’re the best judge of what you can afford, what’s fair, and how much negotiating you are willing to do. Here are some tips.

1. Start the conversation. A good opener is, “I received the renewal, and I’d love to stay in the apartment but the suggested increase is too high for me. I’d like to discuss the terms and find something we’re both happy with.” Whether you call/visit/email depends on how accessible your landlord is and how good or bad you are at talking to people.

2. Know what your apartment is worth. Request a rent history for your apartment (in New York City, this is a standard request of the housing authority; I’m not sure about other cities). Ask your neighbors what they pay, check out similar apartments in the neighborhood. Then mention that either your apartment isn’t worth what they’re asking for, or that you could easily find a similar but cheaper place. If you really want to get into it, research your local rent laws and guidelines, and check that the increase is legal. Your landlord might stress that the increase is below what’s legal—that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate, and certainly doesn’t mean you have to feel grateful.

3. Learn something, even one small thing, about the market that works in your favor. Find out if property values went up or down in your neighborhood, and find out how that compares to the national or city average. Another great one is vacancy rates—an increasing vacancy rate in the area is a major vulnerability for your landlord.

4. Show off what a great tenant you are! You don’t even have to be that great, you just have to point out the bad things you haven’t done. Note that you haven’t burned the place down, bounced a check, disturbed the neighbors, snuck a pet in, or broken a window. If you have done these things, you’ll get no judgment from me, but you should skip this point in the negotiation.

5. Try to extend your lease. Many large realty companies don’t offer multi-year leases because vacancy and replacing tenants isn’t a big threat for them. But for smaller companies or families, guaranteeing that you’ll stick with them might be worth more than an increased rent.

6. Offer money up-front. Like Tip No. 5, this usually won’t help you out if your landlord is a large company and/or super rich. But for small companies and families, several hundred in the pocket is worth more than a grand spread out over a year. Offer to pay your first 3 months up-front in exchange for a lower rent increase. On a related note, you can also offer to push your payment date to before the 1st of the month.

7. Provide services for the home or building. This could mean that you offer to make some repairs on your own, or that you agree to be on-call for helping out other tenants. This requires being handy, as well as having a flexible schedule. BRAINSTORM: Become an informal doorman and commit to being around during the work week to sign for everybody’s packages. I have not heard of people doing this, but I would pay money for that.

8. Come up with some requests. Would you be willing to pay the increased rent if they’d just replace those awful, drafty windows? Or the crumbling grout in your bathroom? What if they agreed to bring an exterminator twice a month instead of once? How about access to the backyard? If you can’t get your landlord to budge on the money, they might be willing to do something else. This is a good time to think of new perks along with maintenance items you weren’t sure you had the right to ask for.

Not all of these tips are going to apply to you. Pick and choose what makes sense, and work it into a nice little email, letter, or script. Here’s an example for you:

August 6, 2012

Dear Landlord,

I am writing in regards to the renewal of my lease at XX Xth Street, apartment X.

Since moving into the building last year, I have been a consistent tenant with a great payment record. I have not incurred any late fees or bounced any checks, with the exception of an incident in July when I was subject to identity theft. This issue has been resolved, and I believe it is noted in your records. Additionally, I have not damaged the unit in any way or required extra maintenance. I’ve really enjoyed living there and take very good care of the space.

The rent in the lease renewal paperwork is a 13.2% increase from what I am paying now, which is quite large and I believe unfair. My monthly payment would jump from $1,325 to $1,500 (and would then increase again the following year). This increase would cost me over $2,000 in the first year alone. At this rate, the cost of moving would be significantly lower than staying put. Also, for $1,500 per month, I could rent an apartment of similar size in the same neighborhood with newly refurbished appliances and surfaces, or in an elevator building, or with in-house laundry facilities.

I suggest structuring the renewal lease in one of the following ways:

1. A two year lease, with monthly rent of $1,350, with first 3 months of rent paid up-front on October 1.

2. A two year lease with monthly rent of $1,375, wherein the landlord agrees to replace window locks and reimburse tenant for cleaning supplies for the building lobby (the building lobby smells of cat urine consistently)
Additionally, I would be happy to alter the terms of my lease to reflect a payment deadline on or before the first of each month. Currently, late charges are not applied until the 10th.

Since my original lease was accepted, my credit standing and financial stability have improved significantly, indicating how responsible I have been and will continue to be. By keeping me in the building at the rates I suggest, you are ensuring a full, on-time rent payment each month and a much greater chance of securing another two-year lease in 2014. You will also save yourself the hassle and cost of finding a tenant in October, after the busy season of apartment hunting has already come to a close.

I look forward to continuing the conversation and hearing from you shortly.

Sincerely,

Ellen Smith

That’s the letter I sent a couple weeks ago to my landlord. I had to call and pester a few times to get a response, but when I heard back, they were willing to take $1,400 per month and they agreed to take care of the cat urine smell! For me, that was worth staying in the same place. Moving is the worst, and I’ll happily pay $75 per month not to do it.

Ellen Smith still can’t get over the fact that her floors are level. Photo: Mirage Floors

Paying off my consumer debt has been rewarding, if not exactly fun. I recently hit my halfway mark, which is great! But it is also horrible, because unlike when I started, I now know exactly how it feels to be on this money diet, and I’m not thrilled about doing it all over again. Also, I am now so safely below my credit limit that I could buy so many things! To stop myself from doing this I decided to see what I could get for “free” with my credit card reward points and maybe scratch my online shopping itch.

First, a little rough math: Each point is a dollar spent. Unfortunately in my case, each point also represents at least $0.099 in interest because I made the bright decision to carry substantial revolving debt for years on a card with a 9.9% APR. I’m sure that it is more complicated than this, but this will do for now. So I took a look at what items were available to me, how much spending I’d done to earn it, and the interest that went along with it (for me, not those of you who Do it Right).

I have 7,411 points. Let’s see what I can get:

5 Reusable Shopping Totes: 1,700 points
Includes a bonus packing cube!
What I Spent: $1,700 plus $168.00 interest
Retail Price: $0.00, much like matches, one does not buy shopping totes; they make their way from trade conferences to your desk by magic. 

HD VISION® HD Vision & HD NightVision Glasses Set: 2,600 points
Not really what I’d call “night vision,” but I suppose they could help your vision at night.
What I Spent: $2,600 plus $257.40 interest
Retail Price: $15.99

OMAHA STEAKS® 4 Creme Brulee: 3,400 points
Reusable ceramic ramekins!
What I Spent: $3,400 plus $336.60 interest
Retail Price: $34.99

FASCINATIONS® Magic Jellyfish: 4,700 points
The perfect pet.
What I Spent: $4,700 plus $465.30 interest
Retail Price: $39.99

FASCINATIONS® USB Aquarium Desktop: 4,700 points
“The aquarium doubles as an LCD calendar with time, date, week, and temperature display, plus an alarm clock with snooze, countdown timer, and 5 tranquil nature sounds.”
What I Spent: $4,700 plus $465.30 interest
Retail Price: $39.99

PANDORA™ Lotsa Love Bead: 5,700 points
This is actually one bead. One bead with hearts on it.
What I Spent: $5,700 plus $564.30 interest
Retail Price: $39.99

3-in-1 Breakfast Maker: 6,000 points
For those of us who like to make our coffee, eggs, and bacon and die in a fire all at once.
What I Spent: $6,000 plus $594.00 interest
Retail Price: $39.99

HALEX® Deluxe Steel Lasso Golf Game: 7,300 points
I grew up calling this game “Monkeyballs.”
What I Spent: $7,300 plus $722.70 interest
Retail Price: $69.99, which is news to me, because I thought people just made these on their own.

(Not Listed: Many varieties of golf balls, sunglasses, and bluetooth headsets.)

At first it was fun to see what I could get, but looking up retail prices really ruined it for me. It comes to between .5 and .9% cash-back value for most of the stuff and in every case (except the jellyfish) I paid more than ten times the retail value in interest alone on the purchases that earned it.

This forced me to realize that these are not free gifts for being an excellent shopper, but are more like sympathy gifts to cheer me up after paying over $700 in interest over the short life of this card. It’s not that I don’t think the rewards are good enough—I don’t deserve anything for the mess I got myself into—but the whole points thing made me realize how much I’d spent on that card in total, not just per month, and boy was that an eye-opener. With a $4,000 credit limit, I had no idea I’d managed $7,411 in purchases.

Takeaways:
1.) CUT THIS CARD UP.
2.) If you’re in a card for rewards and a Spencer’s Gifts/SkyMall hybrid is not your thing, maybe skip the USAA AmEx.
3.) I think I’ll get the aquarium? I forgot to mention that the lighting inside changes colors. Key point.

Ellen Smith is 59.56% done with her credit card debt and 49 days away from positive net worth. She spends most of the day obsessively tracking her finances.