My finances are my problem. All a landlord needs to know is that I am willing to pay what they are asking. It is my problem to actually pay the money. There are lifestyles in which you don’t have the ability to show someone a pay stub, and can still pay rent on time every month.
That is why things like credit checks exist. It’s a way to verify that a person has kept their finances in order and are responsible enough to pay their bills on time.
You know what place doesn’t? A place where your landlord requests your salary documentation.
If that doesn’t happen where you live, then this warning is meaningless to you. If it does, it’s an appropriate thing to warn people about given the enthusiasm surrounding this post.
Can't afford to buy, can't meet exaggerated rent criteria,..., profit? I did see a nice rock i might be able to live under, as long as the HOA fees aren't too bad.
I mean, that’s fraud, but you gotta do what you gotta do, housing is ridiculous now. How is there no legislation or anything being done to fix this? And how convenient is it that all of this is happening after we had a President who makes money off of real estate?
The one and only “accomplishment” I can think of in Trump’s four year term is passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2017. Literally the first (and only) thing the guy does in office is pass massive tax legislation giving a gigantic sloppy blowjob to the real estate industry. There’s so mcuh in there for RE, it’s so transparent. Didn’t build a wall, didn’t persecute gay/trans via legislation or whatever, didn’t drain the swamp, but massive tax legislation.
The “culture war” stuff is just their bread & butter for the base that will get them motivated to vote, but their real priority will always be making more money for the investor/owner/donor class. I’m sure this made Trump a heap of money as well, but apparently he needed that sweet sweet classified documents payout on top of that.
Bruh, I had one property, and I still did more thorough work than this. The credit unions offer it as a service. It’s like 0 work to do. These people, lol.
Step 1: File articles of incorporation for an LLC. Step 2: Open bank account for your new business. Step 3: Write checks to yourself from said business. Step 4: Tell future landlord that you’re “self employed.” Step 5: File dissolution of LLC -or- make sure to pay any annual franchise taxes, depending on your state, if you decide to keep it active.
That step is unnecessary. You can call your LLC whatever you want. So all the landlord has to know is that you work for “Totally Not A Front LLC”. If they don’t do their due diligence verifying that it’s more than a one person operation, that’s on them.
How do you reconcile those two points though? if rent prices are out of control why is it still reasonable for a landlord to verify affordability? to me it seems they’re contributing to the unaffordability (assuming) and then imposing that the tenant then meets this fabricated requirement.
if rent prices are out of control why is it still reasonable for a landlord to verify affordability?
Because you have to verify that someone is not overextending themselves, to try to land in your place, and then being unable to pay the rent because they did overextend.
It depends, in Spain there’s a thing called Seguro de Alquiler, (Rental insurance? Not sure the specific name of this service in the US). If the landlord offers a place for rent and has a rental insurance involved, giving them false documents could get you in trouble because of contracts and stuff. But, if the rental is done through a Real State Agency and the realtor (or directly through the lanlord) just asked for it to see but no mention of it in the contract then I think you could get away with it
I haven’t rented for a long time, but I have a funny story along those lines.
I was renting a place with two other people. When we applied, we did some amount of contract signing and such.
So one of the people decided to move to another state in the Spring of 2001, but we got a replacement tenant. We walked down to the rental office and mentioned that this new guy was moving in and asked if there’s any process to take care of. The office said “it doesn’t matter so long as the checks come in”. Ok.
So on September 12th, all of a sudden they come to our door and demand why we didn’t file paperwork (they noticed in the wake of September 11th that an arabic guy had been writing them checks and knew they were screwed if someone came auditing).
Not sure why you’re being downvoted, but can confirm: plenty of shoddy landlords that won’t check anything. If you want to live in a good (read: expensive) place, though, usually they do.
There is no issues getting a rented place cause not many people can afford to live there, especially if you are without a partner. Most of the young generation about to start family life (20-30y) rather live with their parents. After the revolution many poeple started building two-generetional houses so it’s manageable as long as you have good relationships in family.
i assume she also had to photoshop her w2, which is required to provide. forging government docs can’t be good… as is getting blacklisted from renting apartments. i am curious about how below she is from meeting the requirements (you need to make 40x the rent).
I’m from CA and moved to the East Coast and can tell you the rental process here is insanely bad regardless of what people from here will tell you. CA has inherently less tenant protections in leases than a lot of places here, that’s a fact. your security deposit is probably less safe there. as a normal renter that has a mostly stable life and keeps a nice living area though, it’s completely useless. in fact, I prefer it.
here, both NY and MA, brokers here are not outlawed and not culturally taboo here. listen to this as a Californian and tell me how this isn’t completely criminal: in NY and MA, you usually need to find a broker. pay them ONE MONTH RENT and all they do is forward you the documents to sign and send emails to the landlord. in California, a lot of these rental practices are just non existent if not illegal. people here will tell you that brokers are great because they can just find a place for you with less work. which is just entitlement. also when you move out, you MUST let brokers show your place. that means they CHANGE YOUR LOCKS and EVERY broker will have a key and free reign to show your apartment whenever theyd like. I’d give all my tenants protections just to not deal with that.
oh and I got carried away with anger. East Coast is the only place I’ve had landlords require invasive proof of income. I even had a place that required me to provide a schedule of when I’d be working from home since they don’t allow people who spend too much time in the apartment to rent since utilities are covered. full time, in person employment only. in fucking sane.
5 years of pay stubs, certification to be able to rent an apartment in the state of New York, annual FBI background check, a clean history showing no travel outside of the United States in the last 10 years, no DUI, certification that you have never owned a television, license to not own a pet, 7 years of tax returns. United States birth certificate not in a red state…
It can be pretty difficult to rent an apartment in New York these days. Not to mention all the fees for above can add up to tens of thousands of dollars per year!
no travel outside of the United States in the last 10 years
Excuse me? This seems completely out of line, of course people want to travel outside the US, and I guess I’d never ever qualify… I somehow find this hard to believe.
Income requirements are often 3-4x the actual rent, so if someone has a good financial grip (no debt, no car) as many in NYC do, they may be able to afford it but not technically qualify. This is a sure fire way to become house poor but if you’re smart about it you can make it happen
The issue is you aren’t even “house poor” in that case since it is rent. “house poor” at least has a way out if you don’t fully go bankrupt and can sell the house at some point. This cash just goes in the bin.
That said: If it is your only option to live in NYC and you need to…
Remember that renting can be financially better, depending on circumstances.
Purchasing also throws some money away, interest, insurance, maintenance (which is more than people think), and actual purchase and sale fees to banks and realtors.
Often the recommendation is to only buy if you really think you’ll be in that house for at least 10 years, can put 20% down… and some other things I can’t recall of the top of my head.
If your mortgage+insurance costs are comparable to your rent, it is pretty much always better to “own” if you are planning to stay there for at least one or two years. Mostly because, with housing trends, you are making significant percentages of that back (if not a profit) when you leave. Albeit, that is a lot harder with the insane interest rates right now but… rent is also getting insane.
Because yes, your rent per month might come out a bit lower and you (probably) don’t have to worry about repairs. But all of that is just going down the drain.
That said, with the modern housing market: it is less that renting is “better” and more that you are fucked either way. But you can at least afford rent… to the degree that it will prevent you from ever building up enough cash for a decent down payment (20% would be nice to avoid PMI but it is far from necessary… depending on interest rates).
Everyone has to do their own math (if they even have an option, which they likely don’t). But the “ten years” advice has been wrong for years. And a lot of the people who jumped the gun and bought a house a few years back… have REALLY REALLY good interest rates and potentially a solid retirement asset (plus a home). And they either rent it out when they move or sell it for a significantly higher price.
But also: none of that really matters here. Putting the majority of your income into a mortgage is bad, but potentially has payoffs… sometimes. That is being “house poor”. Putting the majority of your income into rent has no payoffs and is mostly just a way to get trapped because you have no way to save up to change anything. And are pretty much screwed the moment you are unemployed/underemployed.
They ask for the stupidest things. They want 3x rent up front for first, last, security. They want you to have a full year of rent in your savings. Until laws were passed, a person in my town would have to drop $9000 on DAY 1 to rent a 2bd, 2bathroom.
Perhaps you’ve never rented before. Affording and “not qualifying” are very different things. Sometimes you make far more than enough money to rent but maybe you work in the wrong industry.
This is fine until she gets caught. Then it’s a fraud conviction. Nothing like getting yourself in over your head and then sent to jail to stick it to the man 🙄
In order for something to be fraud someone has to be defrauded. If she pays her rent there’s no crime. I doubt they’d try to get her charged with fraud for not paying her rent.
IF she pays the rent then the landlord will likely not be incentivized to do anything about it even if they find out, but still would sour the relationship. I mean, what else could the tenants be lying about?
I don’t know enough about NYC tenancy laws but I wonder if obtaining a rental through fraudulent means gives the landlord rights to break the lease, thus putting the tenants at risk of being evicted.
Have you rented from corporate landlords lately? The relationship doesn’t have a chance to be soured because it doesn’t exist. Fuck the system. It runs on fraud anyway, but once the filthy masses start playing the rich man’s game all of a sudden it’s a problem? They’re not going to look into it. You’re vastly overestimating the amount of effort these scumfucks want to put into their “business”
But wouldn’t it be worse if it’s a faceless corporate landlord you are dealing with? There is virtually no “relationship” so if they find out you obtained the lease through fraudulent means, are they not more likely to come down on you? Because you are a “high-risk” tenant and they don’t want to encourage this behavior. Just handle it through laws since it’s in their favor.
My point is, the system is rigged against renters for sure, but I don’t think there is necessarily a win here if you do this.
That’s what the second bit of my reply was about. They dgaf. They’re not going to look into it past the approval process. Think about it. If you lose your job and are no longer able to pay rent but have a month or twos’ rent saved, are they going to evict you? No, of course not. They have no way of knowing you lost your job. What if you take a new job after that that pays less than the one that qualified you for your apartment and now you technically no longer qualify. Are they going to evict you? No. They have no way of knowing unless you tell them. And even then they don’t care. If your rent is paid they don’t give a shit. They’re not going to look into it. There’s no reason to.
If you lie about how much you make to get into a place that’s beyond your means then that’s your own fault. You’re going to get evicted when you keep coming up short. They’re still not going to slap you for fraud. If you lie about your income to get into a place that’s within your means (because the income requirements for these.places are entirely arbitrary and unrealistic) then you’re going to face no repercussions because you know how to pay your bills.
Well the whole thing is contingent on the fact that you can actually pay rent. The stress test is the landlord’s way of trying to verify that, and if you are assuming you can do that above all else then sure, everything will be just peachy.
I’m not absolutely not convinced that everyone who claims they can pay rent actually could, however.
Please, show me one instance of someone in the US being arrested for fraud because they lied about their income. Show me a real world example of this “stress test” you mentioned.
The same could be said of people who meet the income requirements for any given residence. Just because someone can pay rent on paper doesn’t mean they can actually pay rent. Doubly so for credit checks. Someone with a low score isn’t necessarily in an unmanageable amount of debt and someone with a high score isn’t necessarily someone that has a manageable amount of debt.
If you’re going to commit fraud in order to secure a rental then you need to go in with the understanding that it’s important to know what you can actually afford. The same goes when you’re doing it through “legitimate” means. If you can’t pay the bills, then you lose your house. Its the same conclusion whether or not you lied about your income.
You’re not going to go to jail, they’re not going to check. And given the situation a lot of people are finding themselves in right now, it’s pretty shitty to not empathize with people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, appealing to “the legality” of what their doing. As if the laws and people who wrote them aren’t responsible for the fact that people have to resort to fraud in the first place.
The fact that you’re either unwilling or incapable of understanding this shows how little you think of people who are struggling to make ends meet. Your constant resistance to the idea of people doing what they need to do to acquire shelter results in you essentially saying “if you have to lie to get a roof over your head, then you just shouldn’t have a place to live”. Which is a pretty fucked up stance to take.
When did I say anything about anyone going to jail? The only point I made about getting a rental through fraudulent means is that it could potentially backfire on the tenant if the tenancy law allows landlords to break the lease because of it (which largely depends on regional tenancy laws).
Just because someone can pay rent on paper doesn’t mean they can actually pay rent.
So what do you suggest as a way for landlords to make sure people can actually pay rent? Because this is a legitimate issue that landlords have (corporate or not) before entering into a contractual agreement.
The fact that you’re either unwilling or incapable of understanding this shows how little you think of people who are struggling to make ends meet. Your constant resistance to the idea of people doing what they need to do to acquire shelter results in you essentially saying “if you have to lie to get a roof over your head, then you just shouldn’t have a place to live”. Which is a pretty fucked up stance to take.
Get off your soapbox and take your strawman with you. These are entirely your words, not mine, none of what I wrote has anything to do with your virtue signaling and pretend grievances. The only “fucked up stance” I see here is you debating an imaginary opponent on points you made up yourself.
A civil agreement between private parties cannot be under penalty of purjury. A civil penalty could be levied if it is specified in the contract, but I’ve never seen a rent contract that specified a penalty beyond the landlord having the right to break the agreement if they find out.
Generally speaking, a landlord has an incentive to keep you if you pay on time and don’t damage property, regardless what you lied about.
Might be about the same. But you can’t leave the jail cell. If you move to NYC and spend all your time in your 1 bedroom apartment you’re NYCing wrong.
Introverts are not by definition antisocial though they can be. They just spend energy to be social. A shut-in is likely an introvert. An introvert doesn't have to be a shut-in. I don't know the mass public mistake where folks assume introverts are the same as people who don't like social interaction. So an introvert can easily enjoy socializing in NYC and seeing people. It just uses energy.
That being said, if you're not going to leave your apartment, choosing a place that's super expensive due to all the things you need to leave your apartment for, you're not making a good choice.
The guy implied that enjoying time alone at home is wrong. Introverts enjoy time alone at home. I didn't say introverts only enjoy time alone at home, and I'm not doing this thing where I need a dozen disclaimers proving I really do know what the words I used mean every time I want to make a one-line quip.
Also why are y'all assuming she moved to NYC on purpose? Can no one just be from there originally and move from a roommate arrangement to a studio? Please lol
I really didn't take that as their implication. Apartments in New York are often not that comfortable--they can be cramped and cluttered, and not even all that private thanks to thin walls and sometimes even shared bathrooms. So even an introvert with that kind of apartment tends not to spend much time in it apart from sleeping. Instead they'll go to libraries or museums or parks or makerspaces or cafes. It's surprisingly easy to be alone in public in New York.
I think that's all they meant. I see how you could take their comment differently, but I think they were being sincere. Actually spending a lot of time in their tiny dismal one-room apartment with no natural light is actually a mistake that some introverts make when they first move to New York, and it's genuinely depressing to do that.
A caveat to all this is that I've only spent very brief periods in New York, and I do find it overwhelming, partly for this reason. But yeah. I don't think that person meant to condemn spending time alone; they were just saying that treating a New York apartment like a solitary confinement cell isn't good for your mental health regardless of your socialization tendencies.
If you want to spend time in your house alone, and you’re living in NYC, yes you are very much making a stupid choice.
You could move outside of NYC, pay half as much in rent or less, and be a shut-in all you want while still commuting in for whatever reason you had to ever go to NYC as a shut-in in the first place.
That got me thinking. If spending all your time in a tiny 1BR apartment is NYC’ing wrong, would living in a hotel make sense? If you stayed at a mid-level chain like Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn, it’ll cost you $3000+ a month, but that already comes with daily breakfast, utilities and internet, free parking, and regular housekeeping. Some rooms might even have a small kitchen and could be bigger in total area than a 1BR apartment. The only issue is you can’t modify the interior except maybe add some furniture. But if you’re supposed to be out most of the time anyway, maybe that wouldn’t matter as much?
Realistically speaking this is fraud that’s extremely difficult to detect. They would have to be able to prove that the income was falsified, and income can change quite a bit over time as people get promoted, demoted, change jobs, gain/lose bonuses and incentives etc. Its like lying on your resume, it can be what gets your career kickstarted, but its also risky
Rent often is. But since renting doesn’t build credit, lots of us can’t “afford” a house even though we’d actually be saving money paying a mortgage instead of rent.
They can find out how much you make anyway. It’s called “The Work Number”, and I think it is a gross invasion of privacy. Employers use it against prospective employees to keep wages low.
Look, I love The G.I.M.P. It allows me to recreate both 3D Studio Max, and Fractal Design: Painter into a single program. I have begged every single graphic artist and photographer in my life to switch. They all say it’s far too hard to set up and use. I wish I could help them fix this, but apparently modding anything other than a game is too complex for them. How the fuck do I manage to explain this to them‽
It’s because they already have a good workflow for productivity. There is no point of switching to another program just for the sake of change. My workflow is just happened to be on Windows and Adobe and that’s it! I don’t care shit about these brands.
I’m tired of everyone on Lemmy keeps bashing Windows and trying to force people in to Linux. Stop trying to make people doing something unrelated to their real life. In normal people eyes, computer is no different than a toaster. Who care about all the feature and technology? If it can make good toast then that’s good enough for them.
In my eyes, Linux community is no different than a cult and church, who is trying to force everyone into joining them. And I’m getting tired of Lemmy also. It’s like 50 percent of the posts are all about Linux and bashing Windows. I was supporting the movement, but now I think it’s meaningless with this type of community. Impossible for normal user to join in. Sorry about my rant. Have a nice day, eveyone.
I use windows. I just use The GIMP because NO One else makes a graphics program that acts like FDP. Fractal Design Painter acts like traditional medium, so it’s easier for traditional artists to wrap our heads around. I only suggest it to traditional artists that hate the interface of Adobe products
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