Is it worth is to lower rent to have less tenants when house hacking?

[Ana Vergara]

Hello! 

We bought a duplex in Saint Paul, Minnesota and have it marketed at $1375. It's an up down duplex and my husband and I live in the bottom unit. So far we have two different groups interested. One is a group of three students that would likely need to get subleases as some of these girls get married or get different professions throughout the city. The other group is two sisters that are already established in their careers. We'd prefer to have less people obviously for noise reasons but the sisters asked if it's possible to ask for a reduction in rent to $1250 since utilities are higher than expected. We're curious what other house hackers or investors think about this. We do have a little baby so are very cognizant about noise. The other piece to this is that Saint Paul has a new ordinance about not being able to up the rent more than 3% in the area. Is missing $125 worth it to have less noise? We really got along with the sisters. Really open to hearing thoughts!

[Ned J.]

For me, rent is NOT negotiable. I set it at what I see the value is relative to the market... I dont set it relative to the tenant.

Starting on day one of "well what do you think about.....?" sets the stage of EVERYTHING being on the table for "negotiation".....

If they are " I cant afford $125 a month more", what do you think will happen when they get a $800 car repair bill.... a $1200 medical expense? or any other unexpected bill that comes up?