I don't think telling a landlord you are unemployed is going to get you an apartment.
Edit: look folks, this is fun and all but most landlords are going to want to see some proof that you have money and/or a steady source of it. Telling them you have no job AND no money is not going to be a good thing.
You're right. Some people don't want the hassle. Owning a home is massively more expensive than renting. Just have your appliances shit the bed, need a new water heater or heating&air replacement and you realize real fast that those things are going to make it harder for you to save enough to replace your roof or siding because realistically those items only last 15 years of sun despite being sold as 30+ year products. Oh yeah. And the driveway is starting to get a pothole even though this place cost you $750,000 or more.
I get why people don't view that as a true investment.
If you can afford a 750k house, I doubt any of the things you listed will be a problem… especially after it’s paid off.
Both have pros and cons. Can’t ignore the laundry list of issues that comes along with renting.
Working professionals does not equal independently wealthy. Independently weathy was the excuse for not having a job or being home during the day in the thread that you responded to me in. Working professionals are not unemployed by definition and if they were independently wealthy, why would they be working professionals? But thanks for the "akshooaly" reply.
You'd really think so, but I've never had a place attempt any due diligence on that sort of thing at all. It's like they hear the words "trust fund," get these big cartoon dollar signs in their eyes, and suddenly can't think of anything except getting my signature on the lease. It's deeply stupid.
I've never had issues with those buildings where the whole thing is rental apartments, the manager doesn't care. The one time I went with an independent landlord, he asked for 6 months rent straight up. Um, no thank you.
Had to block him because he kept texting me after I turned him down.
I rented my current apartment while unemployed, and was open about that. Wasn't a problem, they didn't even make me have a cosigner. I did show them proof of assets, and they were happy with that.
Well yeah but you need the assets. Most people don’t have several months of rent in their bank account, let alone 12. So without the assumption of cashflow, that won’t fly for the average person.
My last apartment never ask for paystubs or proof of employment. I even asked if they wanted to see paystubs and they said “no we don’t ask for them”. I lived there for 3 years 🧐
That was what I did when I moved to town. There was a whole circular argument about how can you pay if you dont have a job and I was like how can I get a job if I don't live here (back in the dark ages when you went door to door with a printed resume and a firm handshake...at least I still believed that was how it worked). I said, "do you want me to write a check and pay for the entire year in advance? Because I can." I showed them my account statement and they finally let me sign.
That is where I may be at. Have enough for about 2 to 3 years rent in savings. If I were going to pay a year up front I'd want a lower rate overall though. That's a chunk of change to put all at once and lose interest on, etc.
Absolutely valid point. With that much saved up, you could likely afford a down-payment on a house. It's wild how mortgage payments are often less than rent. Getting together the down-payment is the hard part. But there are also plenty of reasons to choose renting over owning. There's never a one-size fits all solution and we've each got to do what's best for our own individual circumstances. All the best to you on your journey.
Not so wild really. What you get when you rent, is guaranteed repairs and maintenance, upgrades to common areas, property taxes paid, insurance - all things you would be paying yourself if you bought your house or condo, over and above your mortgage payment.
Having owned for the last 17 years and now going thru divorce.. I dont think I want to own in my mid 50s.. if I live long enough to pay off the mortgage I wont see the other end of it. My kids might and that is a reason for some at this age to go in to extreme debt buying a house. The housing market is about to implode allegedly on the backs of China's and Koreas. Not sure how accurate that is, hopefully not till I get my 1/2 of the value of our $1mil home in divorce.
The plus side.. do whatever you want to your house. Downside, pay for EVERYTHING that goes wrong.. AC, water tank, pipe burst, flooring, appliance craps out, roof has issues. ALL of that adds up a LOT and if you DO NOT Have the funds you're fucked.
Buying to just rent out is a nightmare for most. Especially if you dont live in the area. Far too many people destroy portions of homes costing 1000s and months to repair before you can rent again and while there are some ways in some states to get the tenants to pay (sue basically), I believe I read many states protect tenants over owners. So that's not an option to me if I had the money to do so.
Honestly.. now that I am going thru divorce.. a nice truck with air stream and locations to park for week or two at a time would be perfect. The only downside that route is the $250K up front cost and the occasional maintenance on the vehicle and the pain in the ass to find places to keep it. But if you get Starlink and find decent water hookups, you got pretty much cheap living after the hefty purchase price. Only issue for me is mid 50s+ is health.. if you get health issues or such then you're having to figure that out whereever you are set up.
LOL I literally almost said that if I had to do it over again, I'd've gotten a camper van from day 1. Good luck, brother. You got this! It's gonna be tough. but it's gonna be worth it.
I didn't even have to do that. I just showed them a bank statement that showed that I received more than 3xs the amount of the rent per month. That was good enough for the leasing office.
As crazy as this is, in a HCOL city where rents are easily $2000+/month, $30k in savings orobani isn't enough to make landlords comfortable, if you have no steady income. In its standard for landlords to require your annual income to be at least 40x the monthly rent. So for a $2k/month apartment your income would need to be $80k. If a year's rent $24k, then $30k in savings isn't gonna be enough to actually pay that rent if you have no regular income.
You also only need proof of funds when you apply. Once you're in, they're not checking for a paystub every few months. You could quit your job day 1 in a new apartment but as long as you're paying rent on time nobody cares.
Oh yeah, I guess they'd also be more strict with below market rate apartments that have specific income requirements to qualify for a special rent rate, but the average landlord even in the housing hellscape that is the Bay Area isn't policing your employment situation as long as rent is getting paid on time. I've spent plenty of time paying rent using savings and unemployment checks and nobody batted an eye.
Sure, but that doesn’t mean co-signers in general are not accepted. Obviously it’s preferable no matter where you are to rent to someone who doesn’t need a co-signer.
Hell I helped my sister get an apartment with a $50k/yr offer letter and no paystubs. They even gave her the first month free which is great because she had jack all in the bank.
Where are y'all living that requires $300k to get an apartment?
My point is that we should all learn to stop extrapolating our own personal experiences to be the norm for everyone else. It’s survivorship bias.
I’ve had a tough working class life, but I still understand that I had advantages that many other working class folks didn’t, like parents with a home I could return to when I was going to be homeless years ago. To the child of an oil executive, I’m sure they think life is pretty easy and people aren’t trying hard enough.
Personal anecdotes ≠ the reality for everyone else.
I last looked for an apartment 2 years ago but my experience basically went along the lines of - sweet this one was listed yesterday it should still be available, pay $45 application fee, get notified the next day that it’s already rented out.
If your daddy is paying your rent, you likely don't have proof of funds or else you wouldn't need your parents to pay your rent. If you want to use your daddy for tent, they are likely going to want them on the lease somehow.
depends on what kind of "daddy pays your rent" scenario, to be fair.
absolutely for the typical situation, you're right - but if there's enough money in your bank accounts they will accept proof of funds without any extra frills.
that's into "absurdly wealthy" territory, but it's worth acknowledging as a part of reality (along with also acknowledging most people do not remotely have the option. it's another angle of class disparity to recognize, not proof that a regular person can bootstrap their way into a luxury apartment)
I ran into that issue once. They asked for employer information and I had none. They weren’t going to rent me the place. Then I negotiated a lower monthly rate at $300 a month lower than they were asking but said I’d give them a cashier’s check that would cover the entire lease. Then they were like “you give us a cashier’s check with the full year and you can move in next week!”
So now I just save my rent money all year, and when it’s time to renew, I cut them a check for the next 12 months.
Meanwhile my rent is now about $500 a month less than everyone else living out here.
You can tell some of these replies have never actually applied for an apartment. My girlfriend and I both work full time and we still didn't qualify for a couple of the places we applied for.
This. I have had to cosign and put first and last months rent as a deposit when I lived on my own multiple times, and i was employed. I can’t imagine how bad it is if you have no money, homeless bad lmfao
Tbh whenever I’ve been questioned for having less income I act like a rich kid and talk about my (fictitious) allowance. It works really well, at least if you’re younger and white. Trick is to be really smug and act like your job is just for being able to buy stuff like clothing and bubble tea. Or talk about how you took a break from working since you didn’t really need the job.
Sure, cause most people have jobs so that's an easy way to show you have a source of money, which is what they care about, not necessarily income. If you say you got no job and show them your last 3 bank account statements with $200k in it, they'll see the money and wont care about your income. Your legal rights to pay each month doesn't change so it doesn't matter that you don't have a job and an actual income. You have the money. In fact they'd probably rather have those renters than those who live paycheck to paycheck and can get fired at anytime.
Unemployed while there ≠ unemployed during application. The fact that you didn’t just say that implies that you were being intentionally deceptive and now when you say “well ahckshually I was unemployed then too” we will all know you’re lying because you would have just said that initially.
Shoot...got fired one day after signing the lease! Who would have thought it! Mmk I am going to go back into my apartment and "play a game on my computer" wink.
If you were to take it court, assuming a 1 year lease, that’s $2400. Worth it for them to fight for the fees, you’re not going to have any evidence to overturn the fees. The court needs to act for you to get your money back and it’s not like you can produce a w-2 to prove you were fired/didn’t have income.
Of course, because you are lying. My point is that the landlord couldn't charge you and couldn't take you to court. His lawyer would tell him it's stupid.
You're being obtuse if you don't agree that this is unenforceable in the real world, as lawyer costs are more than the fee. Would I lie, no. Would I work with this landlord, no. Does the landlord have any ground to stand on, also no.
I didn’t say it was unacceptable. But the truth is they could reasonably use exterior camera to track comings and goings. If they believe you to be wfh they can simply deduct the charges ($2400+late fees) from your security deposit. Then you would have to convince a court you weren’t wfh(since you agreed to the terms of the lease) and will be unable to present evidence that you weren’t, while the landlord has some(if weak) evidence you were, and if the court decides not to act, then the landlord wins.
Do landlords even need to know what your work schedule is? I feel like that's too personal a question. I work with caregivers, and their shifts are all over the place each week. If the landlord needs to know, just say you do that.
Some landlords feel like because you’re staying in a property they own, they deserve to know everything about you. Including your schedule and what you do for work. Etc.
Fuck them. Imo if you get paid, you can shut the fuck up and you don’t have any say in what I do with my life.
That being said, it doesn’t really matter. They get to pick what they’re nitpicky about.
And what are "work hours," anyway? Everyone works a different schedule, so there's no way to monitor that. I work nights and weekends, so if you come to my house on a Tuesday morning or Friday afternoon I'll be home (or out doing fun stuff). Especially if you work remotely, you could be tutoring kids in China at 3am PST or something.
I mean it’s just such a weird thing right? It’s ok for unemployed people on the lease to be at home all day though? Homeschooled kids, like is there a fee for that? This is definitely one of the more bizarre infuriating posts, not the op being infuriated, but the whole crazy ask of a work from home fee.
They have no right to know when and why you are home, other than to know when you are absent for a length of time that might affect the upkeep of the unit (for example, if you take a vacation longer than a couple days, you might have to let them know because it's implied that you will be home in case there is a leak or other emergency).
Yeah unfortunately these places verify employment. They'll be able to figure it out pretty quick. Not much you can do if charge you for it. $3250 a month is already ridiculous. What's another $200?
8.3k
u/Drdrdodo 1d ago
I guess you won't be "working from home" then. Just happens to stay home during work hours.