I just decided not to RAISE the rent for my tenants. They’ve only seen a 1% increase over the past three years, so we wanted to boost it a bit, if only by another ten bucks, but in the end we held off, worried that a token increase would annoy them into leaving. But rents here in Cambridge seem not to have fallen at all–if anything, they may be a bit higher than they were last year.

My federal tax withholdings also decreased as of April 1st. I guess most people’s did. Unfortunately, sales taxes here also went up on April 1st, so it was kind of a wash for my budget. Even if landlords did reap some tax benefit from ARRA or other legislation, I doubt most landlords would pass on the savings to existing tenants, at least not so directly. I assume that they did this as a way of retaining reliable, hassle-free tenants like me. I have no idea how many tenants in the building got a rent decrease, or what criteria they used to choose (the letter implied that only some tenants are getting rent reductions).

I today got an increased pension check, with a notice that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, “(known as the federal stimulus bill)”, lowered tax withholding rates for retirees. I doubt your landlord got a similar bonus, but it’s good news for both of us.