You all should move!

Rents are way down in Oakland. If you rent a place in or around Oakland, now is a great time to renegotiate your lease, and if they won't renegotiate you should look into moving.

My girlfriend and I recently moved, and are saving $600 a month in rent. Our new place is smaller, but in a much better neighborhood, so it evens out. Our old landlord was willing to drop our rent by $300/month to keep us, but we were too happy with the new place (and neighborhood) we were looking at to stay.

The "one month free rent" promotion covered all of our moving costs.

So, if you signed your lease over 2 years ago, you are very likely paying way too much compared to current prices.