I talked to my apartment manager last week. “I’m planning to buy in the next year, and I really don’t want to sign a 12 month lease. Do I have any options vetween sign or leave”.
She said yes, I actualy had two other options. Deal #1: I could rent month-to-month, pay $25/month over the lease amount, and leave with 30 days notice. Deal #2: They add a cancellation clause to my lease. I pay the normal lease amount, but I can give 60 days notice and pay a $500 fee to buy my way out of any further obligation.
Stupid me. Instead of signing up for Good Deal #1 on the spot, I asked her to explain Bad Deal #2. I thought I was missing something. “Why would anyone sign up for Deal #2”, I asked, “when even if they never do move, under deal #1 they’re only paying an extra $300 total for the right to leave on short notice?. How does deal #2 ever work out better?”
She said, “That’s a very good question, Boyo Jim. I can’t think of any. I’m going to have to call the home office to have them clarify this”.
The next day she left a message to stop by the complex office, as the home office had explained things to her. The explanation - yes, it does appear that deal #1 is too good a deal compared to deal #2. Solution, we will double the monthly surcharge for the month to month option to $50. Now, if I never do move, deal #1 will cost me $100 more than deal #2.
They seem happy. They have now established a real “choice” for their customers. Future tennants will perceive that they might save a couple hundred bucks or so by picking the right option. Only I (and my resident manager, and of course the bloodsucking dragoons back at the home office) understand that they’ve simply chosen to fuck us all out of a few more bucks. And I caused it. And I’m the first of an unknown number of tennants who’ll pay more for this option than they might otherwise have. This is a 200 unit complex, and who knows how many more belong to the “home office”.
Shit.
