In Seattle it is becoming common to require 4x rent in pay, some places it is at 5x. Because rent here is so high it basically dwarfs all other costs. 4-5x rent could mean a $100k job with enough left over after living expenses to max out a 401k and have entertainment funds.
Someone looking to foothold in the area and ‘just get by’ could still be able to afford rent and cheap living, not all the other stuff like going out or retirement, but get blocked by high income requirements. This leaves them with the choice of “screw you we don’t want poors” or “commute an hour plus and shift rent costs to car costs and extra pollution”.
It isn’t as simple as “they can’t afford it” when in a lot of cases you literally can but landlords are setting unreasonable bars.
I’m not sure why some places require 5x rent in income it is wildly excessive. My personal theory (based on hunches only I have found no evidence for this) is they want to only attract tenants who are less likely to leave after a year or two of 10% rent increases. They may also be trying to push gentrification by making sure only well off people enter a neighborhood, fuelling the need for more “luxury” apartments to be built and perpetuating their industry. Idk, they’re pretty tight lipped about the reasoning if someone has more insight into their motives I would love to know
The idea is they’d prefer to be picky because there’s practically infinite demand and artificially low supply. They can vet all but the most guaranteed to pay out, mitigate risk, and make more money.
Maintenance & overhead costs could mean that it’s not profitable, or barely so, which means they could be employing some strategy to cause a sale. That would give them massive funds to find more profitable & less risky endeavors.
Very happy we don’t live in a big city right now then, we just got a new loan on a 2 bedroom apartment that’s pretty much new and the landlord accepted to let us bring our small dog and didn’t check shit after I told her we just sold our condo… She’s got no proof of anything…
Not necessarily - some income requirements are kind of crazy, like they need your rent to be less than 20% of your takehome income.
Especially nowadays with rent being more expensive than ever and generally making up a bigger portion of people’s budget than before (by necessity), it’s not that uncommon to spend half or more of your take home on rent. Especially somewhere like NYC
The problem is that many people can afford it, but the apartments want them to have absolutely asinine levels of income. Many apartments are starting to ask for anywhere from 3 to 4 times the rent in monthly income. And considering that even a one bedroom apartment in many cities is starting to cost upwards of over $2,000 they want you to make $6,000 to $8,000 in monthly income at which point why the actual fuck would I be looking for a shitty one bedroom apartment. They already asked for first month rent last month rent and a deposit that should be enough to prove that I’m capable of managing my money
Ok but… Maybe it means you can’t afford it?
In Seattle it is becoming common to require 4x rent in pay, some places it is at 5x. Because rent here is so high it basically dwarfs all other costs. 4-5x rent could mean a $100k job with enough left over after living expenses to max out a 401k and have entertainment funds.
Someone looking to foothold in the area and ‘just get by’ could still be able to afford rent and cheap living, not all the other stuff like going out or retirement, but get blocked by high income requirements. This leaves them with the choice of “screw you we don’t want poors” or “commute an hour plus and shift rent costs to car costs and extra pollution”.
It isn’t as simple as “they can’t afford it” when in a lot of cases you literally can but landlords are setting unreasonable bars.
That’s completely ridiculous unless they intentionally don’t want to rent… Wow…
I’m not sure why some places require 5x rent in income it is wildly excessive. My personal theory (based on hunches only I have found no evidence for this) is they want to only attract tenants who are less likely to leave after a year or two of 10% rent increases. They may also be trying to push gentrification by making sure only well off people enter a neighborhood, fuelling the need for more “luxury” apartments to be built and perpetuating their industry. Idk, they’re pretty tight lipped about the reasoning if someone has more insight into their motives I would love to know
The idea is they’d prefer to be picky because there’s practically infinite demand and artificially low supply. They can vet all but the most guaranteed to pay out, mitigate risk, and make more money.
Maintenance & overhead costs could mean that it’s not profitable, or barely so, which means they could be employing some strategy to cause a sale. That would give them massive funds to find more profitable & less risky endeavors.
It’s so stupid right now. The lease asked for bank statements, savings accounts, paycheck stubs and credit reports?!
I make six figures and they want my savings?
Very happy we don’t live in a big city right now then, we just got a new loan on a 2 bedroom apartment that’s pretty much new and the landlord accepted to let us bring our small dog and didn’t check shit after I told her we just sold our condo… She’s got no proof of anything…
Samesame.gif
Not necessarily - some income requirements are kind of crazy, like they need your rent to be less than 20% of your takehome income.
Especially nowadays with rent being more expensive than ever and generally making up a bigger portion of people’s budget than before (by necessity), it’s not that uncommon to spend half or more of your take home on rent. Especially somewhere like NYC
The problem is that many people can afford it, but the apartments want them to have absolutely asinine levels of income. Many apartments are starting to ask for anywhere from 3 to 4 times the rent in monthly income. And considering that even a one bedroom apartment in many cities is starting to cost upwards of over $2,000 they want you to make $6,000 to $8,000 in monthly income at which point why the actual fuck would I be looking for a shitty one bedroom apartment. They already asked for first month rent last month rent and a deposit that should be enough to prove that I’m capable of managing my money
Or maybe it means the fuckers want to see 4-5x rent. That would be nice but I promise I can survive on less and still pay the rent
The fuck? 😐 Damn, my new landlord asked for a phone number to confirm one of us had a job and I don’t think she even called…
Give your friends number and vice versa. It’s fun to pretend to be a landlord.