![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI will have custody of my parents' spare car from August 4 (give or take a couple days) through mid-October, during which time I will naturally be using my own driveway. But after that, I have no use for it.
Diagonal Neighbor P has asked if she can rent it from me. I have tentatively said yes (and she is using it through the end of July gratis, because I didn't have any reasonable price estimates at the time), but I'm not sure how much to charge her. The only parking rental market information I can find for Ithaca is all Collegetown-based, and Collegetown is not remotely representative of the parking situation in the city at large. (I mean, some of those spaces go for $150 a month or more. There are some that are over $2,000 a year. It's nuts.)
I am currently thinking $25 a month (which is $300 a year) might be a reasonable starting point for negotiation. If Diagonal Neighbor P agrees, that would be awesome. I am willing to be negotiated down to $20 a month, but no further.
On the other hand, maybe I should make an opening offer of $30 a month and see what happens? Or would that come off as asking too much?
Does anyone have any advice?
Diagonal Neighbor P has asked if she can rent it from me. I have tentatively said yes (and she is using it through the end of July gratis, because I didn't have any reasonable price estimates at the time), but I'm not sure how much to charge her. The only parking rental market information I can find for Ithaca is all Collegetown-based, and Collegetown is not remotely representative of the parking situation in the city at large. (I mean, some of those spaces go for $150 a month or more. There are some that are over $2,000 a year. It's nuts.)
I am currently thinking $25 a month (which is $300 a year) might be a reasonable starting point for negotiation. If Diagonal Neighbor P agrees, that would be awesome. I am willing to be negotiated down to $20 a month, but no further.
On the other hand, maybe I should make an opening offer of $30 a month and see what happens? Or would that come off as asking too much?
Does anyone have any advice?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 03:49 am (UTC)See, where I live, you can get by without a driveway/spot but it's a super pain. The street cleaner comes through 4 times a week, there are many hydrants and handicap parking spots, and even meters and other driveways to consider. Yes, I've been lucky and found legitimate parking close and quickly; more often, it is far, or questionable, or inconvenient. There have been more than a dozen occasions wherein I have spent more than an hour looking for parking, to the point that I need to get gas and/or have to drive back to my parents' and spend the night because I do not wish to be ticketed or towed. For this reason, the second a spot became available I jumped on it and it is the first bill I pay, a week in advance, every month; it is the happiest $100/month I've ever paid, and I will pay it until I move because it is crucial in this area, just for peace of mind.
Now...I don't know what the situation is by you. Street cleaners, meters, driveways, hydrants, other restrictions, safety, convenience, and spot availability all factor in here.
If you can ask for $30, then you should. It is your spot and you should be compensated; and it helps you both - it's mutually beneficial. Just, don't get screwed for niceness or lack of knowledge: by me, $30 for a spot is practically robbery it's so cheap. What is a driveway/spot worth by you?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 04:03 am (UTC)But while it's inconvenient to have to park halfway down the block and remember to move your car every day, it's not all that big an imposition in the grand scheme of things. (For one thing, the block is short: only four or five houses, none with much yard to speak of. Granted, they're sizable houses -- mine is not the only one subdivided into apartments -- but even so.) And she's not rich. So I figure, $30 a month is about a dollar a day, which sounds reasonable to me.
I dunno, maybe I should start by asking for $35 a month?
(This is funny, I keep talking myself into a higher asking price. The driveway is functionally useless to me and therefore it's hard to judge how much I'd be willing to pay for it if I were the one trying to wrangle secure parking. I was originally thinking $15 a month, for no better reason than that is how much my rent just went up. But it occurs to me that I need to cover my internet bill as well, so... hey, it can't hurt to ask!)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 04:44 pm (UTC)And, if it helps pay other bills, all the better!
Side note: my blocks are so long and my neighborhood is...potentially dangerous? Not usually, but, on occassion. As such, if and when I had to park more than two (long) blocks from my house I would be suitably on-edge...if I had to park more than that, someone would have to walk with me (as in I'd pick them up in the car and we would walk from the spot together) or I'd go to my parents'. >.< Such is the sacrifice to live in a "up and coming", "cool", diverse urban area. *sigh*
EDIT: I explained the situation to my roommate, who thinks that you should start at $40/month because you are willing to take less. If your neighbor negotiates and gets you down to $35 or $30 ("bottom line") then she feels as if she's gotten "a deal" and you end up with more money than you hoped for anyway. ^^ That's our $0.04.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-20 12:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-20 06:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-20 04:02 pm (UTC)To me, unless the driveway was offering something "valuable" like cover for the car (to protect from sun/inclement weather/bird poop -- or maybe there's a bunch of reckless drivers in the area and street parkers are very likely to get dinged?) I don't think I'd be inclined to pay much for "slightly closer, but my car's still out in the open being subject to damage". (The apartment's free-with-your-rent parking was in a gated lot, but it wasn't covered and did have trees around/over it -- so while it was more secure from human interference, falling branches, dripping sap, bird droppings etc. were all still a risk.)
But then, I'm a single person (and thus generally only carry a single person's worth of stuff from car to door) with healthy legs, who also works almost every day (so 24-hour parking isn't common for me) and I can't see your driveway :D or guess how much the neighbour might value reduced distance + no tickets! So I guess the moral here is that free advice is worth what you pay for it. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-21 08:21 pm (UTC)It's not a covered driveway, but there are no trees directly overhead (unless you pull far enough in that you're almost at my back door, which nobody has for several years and thus that part of the gravel has greened over) so falling branches, at least, are unlikely. And I could probably do some basic driveway-shoveling in the winter, since I seem to end up doing most of the sidewalk shoveling in general.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 02:29 am (UTC)Though if you get your parents car again, what will you do?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 02:37 am (UTC)If I get the Camry again next summer, I will tell her the time span during which I need the driveway and we can figure out a per diem for any partial months. That's why I want to sublet it as a monthly thing rather than a blanket "per year" thing. It's easier to adjust when necessary.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 03:57 am (UTC)I know some people who offer daytime parking at 20 a day, so 30 a month is a steal.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-19 04:05 am (UTC)