UPDATE: 12/7/2017 box score:
Three apartments in the same line. 14 floors in the building. The apartment on 11 has a ten month lease that started in late April 2017 at $4,021 base rent. The tenant has saved daily prices in a spreadsheet starting 10/3/2017 when the unit on floor 9 was for rent at $3,370: $651 difference, 19.32% using the lower rent as base (floor 9/floor 11). The difference peaked 11/25/2017 as shown above in the box score. It finally rented on 12/2/2017 also as shown above.
The unit on floor 7 came on the market 11/27/2017.
The description below was written 11/12/2017. The information above is an update.
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Avalon is a company that rents pretty high end apartments in many locations. Its buildings are generally well constructed. The service is good and there are amenities. However, Avalon adhere's to what appears to be an industry trend that discourages tenants from living there long term.
1. Leases are almost never more than 12 months, with rents optimal at ten months.
2. Renewals always increase the rent, never decrease.
3. Avalon runs an algorithm that changes the rents for available apartments each day. That data is available on the Avalon website.
https://www.avaloncommunities.com/new-york/white-plains-apartments/avalon-white-plains/floor-plans
That link provides the daily rent in the Avalon apartment building in White Plains, NY. Remember, these are rents that Avalon will charge new tenants. Once the lease is signed, the tenant pays the rent each month. Policy is set at the corporate level and local offices merely carry it out with very little or no discretion.
Here is an example of how this policy can abuse existing tenants.
Lease signed in late April 2017 for a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a terrace. It's a corner unit with lots of glass in the living room. 1,034 Square Feet. The base rent was $4,021. With modest outdoor parking at $125 plus extra mandatory junk, the monthly total is about $4,350. However, this example will compare only base rents as those are the ones listed on the Avalon website to make the rents appear lower to prospective tenants.
By October 2017 the exact same apartment only two floors lower was listed for rent at $600 less. By November 10 that difference ballooned to $726, so the existing tenant was paying 22% more. The tenant paying over $4,000 could move to the less expensive apartment but would have to pay off two months rent on the current lease. In other words, pay Avalon $8,000 in order to save $600-$700 per month depending on when it happened. Plus, endure the move and all the pain in the neck junk of changing the one's address.
That abused tenant was informed that when the ten month lease expires in late February 2018, the rent would not go down no matter what the algorithm would charge a new tenant for the same apartment.
Avalon rules are designed to inflict enough punishment to force the tenant to either move out or pay the inequitable rent. Here's the convoluted recourse:
When the tenant receives the 60 day renewal notice, reject it. Then Avalon can rent that apartment, sight unseen, to a new tenant at the going algorithm rate, currently more than $700 less. The existing tenant is then in jeopardy for the 30 days that the apartment could be rented to an outsider starting at the end of the $4,000 lease.
If the apartment is not rented to another person during that 30 day jeopardy period, the current tenant can then rent as if an outsider at the algorithm rent at that time but only if he/she VACATES for eight days and puts contents into storage! By then the algorithm rent may have increased, so it's a game of chicken. The tenant may win this time but face a comparable situation when the new lease is expiring. In the long run, the house always wins.
What the heck kind of business model is that? Why should a good tenant be put through that anxiety? Why such inequity?
Through Nov. 12, 2017 for seven two bed, two bath apartments. The daily fluctuation was comparable for all.
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