That all makes sense, but it’s just not a transparent process regardless if it’s their doing or if it’s strictly legal. It would make more sense if it just said “Pending” like in the real estate market.

Hiding units behind a curtain naturally creates a FOMO because people don’t want to have to spend an extra $100/month if they wait too long to sign.

I’m in the city and my contract that I just signed this week said 60 days. Is it one of those “the law says 30 but we can add onto that within the contract” things?

Wow I just signed my renewal lease agreement a few days ago and it explicitly said 60 days.

I believe you but I’m wondering why they haven’t updated the pre-filled contracts yet. That seems like a pretty important detail that should be clarified immediately.

They actually sent me a separate email as well stating that I need to give 60 day notice if I’m not signing.

And it makes no sense because they’re losing money by bringing in a new tenant on cheaper rent and first month free. I think they simply upcharge everyone and hope they don’t notice. The idea these companies have is probably that the people living in these complexes near the harbor are well off enough that they can pay whatever and won’t bother anyone over an extra $50/month.

Once I asked to negotiate they immediately threw out a lower number because they knew they had no leverage and I figured them out.

I live in a complex like this and just went though my renewal this past week.

I was tracking the availability of units every day for a few weeks just to get an idea of what I was going to have to pay. There’s two things I noticed.

1. They quoted me around 5% higher than their own market rate for an identical unit (and that’s not even including their “first month free!” promos for new residents only and whatnot). I brought this up to them to negotiate and they apologized for the “mistake” and offered to knock it down a bit. I wonder how many people just sign the papers without checking to see what their own unit is current going for?

2. Sometimes units would just… disappear. And then would be reposted again a few days later. Almost as if to create artificial scarcity/demand. Make it seem like someone just signed a lease in order to manipulate their vacancy rate.

I swear these companies do some really shady stuff.

Thanks for the advice. I'll ask someone in HR about potential contributions when I get a chance. I missed the chance to change because the enrollment period ended last week so I'm locked into the PPO plan for 2023. I've been on that plan for 2 years now so I didn't think to change it. It crossed my mind today for some reason and I got curious.

They don’t mention an employer contribution in the benefits guide.

I guess it’s worth it if I’m maxing out the HSA and have funds to cover the higher deductible and out of pocket maximum but I’m not even maxing out my 401(k) yet so I think the PPO is better right now. I guess I’m fortunate that the premium and everything else is very affordable.

Thanks. Really good reply. I’ve only ever had benefits at this company so I have nothing to compare it to. I didn’t realize that there’s usually a very high discrepancy in premiums.

The numbers seem better for the PPO plan and I’m also pretty far from maxing my 401(k), so I think I should focus on that goal first. I can definitely see how an HSA would be a good way to “boost” pre-tax savings beyond that though.

They don’t mention anything about free money in the benefits guide unless it’s a standard for all plans that I’m unaware of. That would be a game changer of course, but I don’t see it here.

Yeah but that’s just one visit. If I have to go anywhere else, I’d be paying in full until I hit the $2,000 deductible.

I can just make additional 401(k) contributions if I want to get the tax benefits.

They don’t mention it in the benefits guide, no.

Ok that makes sense. Definitely seems like the PPO plan is really good based on the numbers.

This is the only company I’ve worked at full-time with benefits so I have nothing else to compare to.

The benefits guide doesn’t mention anything about that honestly. They say they pay the “administrative fees” every month which I’m guessing just goes straight to the account manager and not into my account.