Had a tenant in Austin try to negotiate a 10-year lease with no rent bumps

Guy straight up told me inflation is a scam and prices are going down... then got mad when I showed him the CPI data from last 3 years. Anyone else run into commercial tenants who think they're above market trends?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery_fox939d ago

The CPI argument usually doesn't work because those guys live in their own reality. But here is the thing nobody mentions: if inflation really is a scam and prices are going down, then why is his business still open? Landlords aren't the only ones raising prices. His own suppliers, his own labor costs, his own insurance premiums are all going up, every single year. He just doesn't want to admit that his own margins are shrinking, so he's taking it out on you. A 10 year flat lease is not a smart business move, it's a bet that the entire economy collapses, which would put him out of business anyway.

stellam898d ago

his own margins are shrinking, so he's taking it out on you" that's a pretty heavy take. Is it that deep though? Dude probably just heard some podcast about inflation being fake and thought he was being smart. Most people who talk like that aren't plotting some big collapse bet, they're just cheap and don't want to pay more next year. And honestly, if he really thought prices were dropping, he wouldn't be asking for a 10 year lock, he'd be asking for a 1 year lease so he could renegotiate cheaper later. That alone kinda proves he knows prices aren't going down, he just wants to freeze his costs forever. So yeah, he's annoying, but I wouldn't read some grand economic strategy into it. Some landlords do 5 year deals with small bumps and everyone moves on.