We often would offer concessions such as no security deposit or do half off first months rent or even a discount off the first couple of months.

., costly to maintain), they may be open to a discounted or creative arrangement.2.

That was a substantial discount compared to my friends who were paying 2k+.

They post their rooms on the normal hotel, discount site, etc.

You don't always have to incentivize a tenant with a discount to get the tenant to stay, nor keep rents stagnant, but it is good to be aware of the business impact with respect to cost too.

Something I discovered recently is; if you have a QBO Accountant start your company and allow the Accountant to get billed, you will get a 30% discount even after one year, but if you create your QBO without a QBO Accountant you disqualify yourself from their Accountant discount. 

I love home depot because i get military discount there!

I think that a Short Sale would be the best option to get some discounts/concessions from the lender - however you would need to have a knowledgable Short Sale agent on the seller side.

After which they invested $190k for $10800/year return or 5.6% (not even discounting for the 2.5 years to recover the initial negative equity).  

Initial Equity: The discount you achieve when buying below market value.