Reading a Dallas Concession on a Daily Rate

A free February is worth less than a free July

Twenty-eight days against thirty-one. At a $60 daily rate that is $180 of difference in the same “one month free” offer.

That is the whole problem with concessions. They are quoted in weeks, days, or named months, and the units do not convert cleanly into the monthly math everyone tries to use. Season changes the answer too — how a Dallas summer lease-up reads in peak season works a July offer end to end.

The daily rate

Daily rate = (monthly rent × 12) ÷ 365

Then:

1. Daily rate × days in the lease = gross lease cost
2. Daily rate × free days = concession value
3. (Gross lease cost − concession value) ÷ lease months = effective monthly rent

That is the number to compare. It is the only version that survives a 12-month offer meeting a 15-month offer.

Conversions worth memorizing

Concession as quoted	Days free
One month free (generic)	~30.4
Free February	28
Free July	31
Four weeks free	28
Six weeks free	42
Eight weeks free	56
Two months free (generic)	~61

Notice that “four weeks free” and “one month free” are not the same offer, and neither are “six weeks free” and “a month and a half free.”

The worked comparison

Two offers, same building type, same neighborhood:

	Offer A	Offer B
Headline rent	$1,250	$1,250
Term	15 months	12 months
Concession	2 months free	1 month free
Effective monthly	$1,082	$1,146

Offer A wins by $64 a month. That is the finding.

What it does not yet include: each building’s fee stack, and whether either one claws the concession back. Add both before calling the ranking. Read two months free on 15 vs one month free on 12 for the full arithmetic.

Cash rebates

Some operators and some competitors offer a flat cash rebate instead of a lower rent. It is easy to compare badly.

A rebate is one payment. A lower effective rent applies every month for the length of the lease. Over 12 months at a $50 monthly difference, the effective-rent path is worth $600; a $400 rebate is worth $400. Run both as a total over the full term and compare those numbers.

Then subtract the clawback risk, which applies to the concession path and not to the rebate. Sometimes that flips it. We run it either way and tell you which one wins for your situation, including when it is not the one we would earn on.

The clawback

Free rent is conditional at most concession-heavy Dallas buildings. Terminate early and the concession usually becomes repayable — and the terms live in a lease addendum, not the lease body.

Ask two questions before signing:

• If I terminate early, is the concession repaid, and how is it calculated?
• What is the reletting fee?

Between the two, an early exit at a deeply concessioned building can cost considerably more than the free rent was worth. See concession clawback: when free rent becomes a debt.

Why the offers are deep right now

Supply. Concentrated recent construction — the Design District inside the city, plus the Frisco and Allen-McKinney corridor to the north — puts many buildings in lease-up at once. A lease-up has occupancy targets and a marketing budget, and free weeks are the fastest lever it has.

That is a lease-up-stage fact, not a permanent condition, and it means the deepest offers cluster in the newest buildings. A stabilized property, one that has already reached full occupancy, has less reason to compete on price. Look-and-lease specials, waived admin fees, a gift card incentive, and pre-leasing discounts show up at lease-up buildings for the same reason.

Concessions expire

A concession has an expiration date and lease-up terms move weekly. We verify availability and terms against our own database before you drive, and every figure we send carries the date it was checked.

Our list can still be wrong. Tell us and we re-verify and resend the same day.

Send the offer

Rent, term, and the exact wording of the concession. Back comes the effective monthly rent, the itemized fee stack, total monthly cost, the clawback answer, and the renewal question — each with a verification date.

If the special does not survive that, we say so.