Anonymous wrote:And you, 19:26, can only speak for yourself. It might be wise of you to take your own advice and stop posting this on every thread. Learn to be a better community member!

Market rates in any area are pretty easy to find. The magic word to get you started is Google.

15-17/hr is very good money in DC for a nanny of a single child.

How is it that you have any evidence for your market rates, when everyone knows that most of the market is off the books, unfortunately?

And you, 19:26, can only speak for yourself. It might be wise of you to take your own advice and stop posting this on every thread. Learn to be a better community member!

Market rates in any area are pretty easy to find. The magic word to get you started is Google.

15-17/hr is very good money in DC for a nanny of a single child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see what you get for 15-17/hr, visit any playground or library story time during the week. Many parents want better than that, for their own child.

15-17 hr is good money. Not sure what your gripe is

If it's good for you and your services, that's fine, but you may speak only for yourself.

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see what you get for 15-17/hr, visit any playground or library story time during the week. Many parents want better than that, for their own child.

15-17 hr is good money. Not sure what your gripe is

If you want to see what you get for 15-17/hr, visit any playground or library story time during the week. Many parents want better than that, for their own child.

In the DC area there is a wider range depending on how many hours. You can find excellent nannies for anywhere from $12 to $18 /hr average as a starting salary. If your job is only 40 hours or part time, its harder to find a nanny at the lower end. If you are offering 45-50 hours, its pretty easy to find good candidates at the lower and mid range.

$15 is a pretty solid starting point in the middle.

Are you in DC, OP? Because here, there are plenty of good nannies to hire at market rates. So, there's no need to accept a nanny's rates without negotiation. Decide on what you are willing to pay for what specific qualifications and present that to the nanny. If she doesn't like it, go ahead and negotiate if you want but know you can walk away and find a fine nanny for your budget.

If you have trouble finding someone very good for market rates in DC, then you may be underpaying or asking for too much.

In DC, expect to pay $15-$17/hr for one child. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

I don't believe your story. Not every nanny would drop her rates just for you and your tight budget. Are you extra special, or did you simply attract all the crappy sitters who are worth whatever you want to pay?

I didn't refer to every nanny, I referred to every nanny who quoted a rate higher than our budget. We were offering a reasonable market rate. Some candidates asked for less, some asked for the same, and some asked for more. Every one of the candidates who asked for more was willing to accept our rate.

You're clearly one of the problem nannies on this board.

Your "reasonable market rate" was...?

I don't believe your story. Not every nanny would drop her rates just for you and your tight budget. Are you extra special, or did you simply attract all the crappy sitters who are worth whatever you want to pay?

I didn't refer to every nanny, I referred to every nanny who quoted a rate higher than our budget. We were offering a reasonable market rate. Some candidates asked for less, some asked for the same, and some asked for more. Every one of the candidates who asked for more was willing to accept our rate.

You're clearly one of the problem nannies on this board.

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should counter offer if the nanny's original quoted rates are higher than your budget! Only the crappy nannies on this site would have you believe that a nanny names her price and should be better whatever she comes up with.

It would not be smart for a nanny to ask for as much as she thinks she may be able to find but this is often a few dollars above what she is prepared to accept and other offers that she will find. In addition, many long term nannies whose rates rose out of whack with the market (annual raises, extra kid etc) will begin by looking for the same rate and then come to a realization of what the market will bear.

When we were looking every single nanny who quoted a rate higher than we were offering quickly came back agreeing to our rate. It wasn't a difficult negotiation at all. I simply let them know that their rate was higher than our budget of X, if they were still interested they were welcome to still apply but if not I understood. Not one decided to walk away.

I don't believe your story. Not every nanny would drop her rates just for you and your tight budget. Are you extra special, or did you simply attract all the crappy sitters who are worth whatever you want to pay?

You should clarify with the candidate whether she is presenting her average rate or OT rate. I didn't realize at first that the nannies were all quoting their average rates not base rates. There is one rude poster on this board that insists all rates discussed must be base but that is far from the truth. When you hear $15 on this board or from candidates it almost always means average. Nannies seemed much more interested in the overall weekly amount they would be making so a job with more hours and a lower rate was fine. A job with fewer hours and schedule that didn't make it easy to find a second job would be more problematic.

You absolutely should counter offer if the nanny's original quoted rates are higher than your budget! Only the crappy nannies on this site would have you believe that a nanny names her price and should be better whatever she comes up with.

It would not be smart for a nanny to ask for as much as she thinks she may be able to find but this is often a few dollars above what she is prepared to accept and other offers that she will find. In addition, many long term nannies whose rates rose out of whack with the market (annual raises, extra kid etc) will begin by looking for the same rate and then come to a realization of what the market will bear.

When we were looking every single nanny who quoted a rate higher than we were offering quickly came back agreeing to our rate. It wasn't a difficult negotiation at all. I simply let them know that their rate was higher than our budget of X, if they were still interested they were welcome to still apply but if not I understood. Not one decided to walk away.

MB here. A lot depends (I would think) on how much lower you're talking about and what else you might be able to offer in lieu of the difference in income.

For instance, if your top offer was one dollar/hr less than what he/she quoted you could ask if they have any flexibility. You can also think about whether you can offer health insurance contributions (not taxable as income to employer or employee) or more vacation, or a commuting benefit, etc...

If the difference in your numbers are more dramatic then it gets a lot more problematic.

But basically I think that if you're starting the relationship by asking a nanny to take lower than what he/she quoted it isn't great. Do you want the nanny to be with your family for a while? Then you don't want to be at your absolute ceiling pricewise from day one. Do you want the nanny to be really happy with the job? Then you don't want to start off by having them feel like they had to take a paycut (and you don't want to always wonder if they're out there looking for a better job).

Anyway, negotiation is reasonable on all sides, but as an employer I wouldn't want to start off what I would hope would be a long-term relationship this way.

Good luck.

Sure. What do you have to loose? But remember, if she's already accostomed to her rates, you need to offer other perks for to give you a discount.

Is it reasonable to try and negotiate for something lower once a nanny has told you her rate?