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9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

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9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Sun Sep 29, 2002 1:08 am

Is income from a 9-5 job the only one that is acceptable to a landlord? It seems that someone with a 9-5 job making say $40,000 a year has a better chance of gettng approved for an apartment than someone who has a trust fund with income of more than double that amount.

Why is that? After all, a trust fund is for life, a job isn't. A job you can lose, a trust fund, you don't.

Is it simply a political/moral bias on the part of the landlord? Or is there actualy a good reason?

<small>[ September 29, 2002, 01:11 AM: Message edited by: JulieA ]</small>
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Sun Sep 29, 2002 3:04 pm

Everybody has good and bad things in their lives. Just because someone has a trust doesn't mean their life is rosy. They could have put up with horrendous mental, emotional and physical abuse from their parent, until the day of that parent's death, from him and from their whole family also. This could be their only compensation.

Perhaps this person would have given anything to have just had a normal family and to have been free from abuse, rather than having a trust fund.

Our society has got to stop playing this "looking into the other guy's yard", and "she got more candy, not fair" game.

Because everybody's got positives and negatives in their lives.

Furthermore, whether you "believe" in inheritance or not, everyone has a right to their opinion, but not to IMPOSE it (hello) on others.

My belief is, if my family wants to give me great grandma's ruby pendant, then it's nobody's business but theirs.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Sun Sep 29, 2002 7:50 pm

<<<there is a thing called inheritance tax>>>

Don't I know it!

There's a massive inheritance tax because it was voted in, however, what one's beliefs about it are is another matter.

Nothing is written in stone.

Some man-made laws make personal business everyone's business. Now-a-days we're all redundantly open books, having to produce reams and reams of paperwork, baring naked our entire private lives to the world, over and over and over...

<<<also, i would take any emotional abuse for 80k a year...>>>

I hope you mean that tongue-in-cheek, otherwise, walk a mile in someone elses shoes, and then decide.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Sun Sep 29, 2002 8:16 pm

<<<if u dont believe in inheritance tax...you would be inclined to oppose rent regulation
inheritance tax is supposed to spread the wealth, encourage income mobility by preventing wealth from collecting into one group's hands....
although it's not exactly analogous, rent stabilization is supposed to prevent one group from displacing a poorer group from apts in new york....
if u oppose inheritance tax,
you should oppose rent stabilization
you present yourself to be a paradox >>>

There seems to be a tenedency in this country to have to neatly categorize everything, to lump everything into either LEFT or RIGHT.

Life isn't that simple.

I believe in fairplay. I think some inheritance tax is fair.

I don't like a "Big Brother is Watching" kind of existence, but I also think corporations have much too much power, and frankly, I'm not optimistic about Globalization.

I don't think it's about Left vs. Right anymore.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:43 am

I never said I myself was wealthy (if you call that wealthy). I didn't want to talk about politics, I would just like to know what is the best way to go about getting another apartment with slightly damaged credit as of a few months ago (before that my credit was fine).

I don't have a 9-5 job, I'm a freelancer.

I want to know where to find answers about how to get an apartment, because I have to leave where I am now (because I don'tlike it here, and for personal reasons).
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:57 am

One more thing that complicates the issue of finding an apartment, and limits my options, is that I have a dog.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby Brooklyn Babe » Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:06 am

As a freelancer, I have encountered the same problem. I solved it by a) being honest with my broker and b)offering 3 to 6 mnths in advance for rent. Because I do work freelance I explain to the LL that I have a tendancy to pay in advance, as I get paid in "chunks". LL love that! Just make sure you are dealing with a LL that is maintaining the building properly.
PS- also bring proof of your trust fund and all cancelled rent checks as a part of the application.
The above information is from a non-attorney tenant activist and is not considered or to be used as legal advice.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby mjr203 » Mon Sep 30, 2002 9:04 am

I don't understand what the problem is.

Income is income. As long as you can prove it with trust fund acct #s, statements, interest statements etc what is the difference betw. it and 9-5 w2 income?
most Landlords suck it.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby JulieA » Mon Sep 30, 2002 10:16 am

<<<<I don't understand what the problem is.

<<<Income is income. As long as you can prove it with trust fund acct #s, statements, interest statements etc what is the difference betw. it and 9-5 w2 income? >>>>

Very good point, but I think many landlords don't agree with that. Perhaps people just feel more at ease with the conventional. Fit into an instantly recognized pattern, and you are easier on the psyches of landlords. Conformity is far simpler to deal with.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby nycurbane » Mon Sep 30, 2002 12:26 pm

If there was a Report of rental payments like there is a credit report maybe that would solve the problem. Landlords would know what type of tenant a person has been.

People who pay their rent on time and are not a nuisance to other tenants and their landlord would be top of the list in an application for a new apartment.
People who do not pay their rent on time /or complain about problems that don't exist /or withhold their rent as they see fit (the only legal way to withhold rent is to set up an escrow account with the court) would be rejected.

Credit Reports would become separate and irrelevant to Rental History Reports

The reason why landlords and management agents use strict requirements for accepting new tenants is to protect themselves latter on.

Rent stabilization (buildings containing 6+ apartments) gives very generous protection to tenants not to landlords.

Additionally, the system as "cranky tenant" points out gives away triple damages to tenants for overcharges.
But do they award triple damages for underpayment or nonpayment?

Once they have let one bad tenant through they are stuck with them for a while.
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Re: 9-5 Income Vs. Other Income For Renting

Postby palmel4 » Thu Oct 03, 2002 10:31 am

Sigh. The grass is always greener on the other side. To JulieA - from the viewpoint of someone who has to work 60 hours a week just to make 25K a year support their family, you ARE wealthy. To them, if it meant being abused in order to get some money, they'd do it. To you, you wish the things that happened to you never did, which is why you would rather have had a normal family life instead of the 80K. But you don't have to work. Most people HAVE TO WORK in order to SURVIVE. Something you will never have to worry about.
Since you are currently freelancing, I suggest you get a 9-5 job, collect your paystubs for a few weeks, then reapply for a apartment. As soon as you get the apartment, quit the job. Once you get the apartment the landlord doesn't have to know how you support yourself, and all you had to do was do the 9-5 thing for a month or two.
Also if your credit is an issue, hire a broker to find you an apartment.
Another solution: since you have this 80K trust fund, why don't you just quit the rent cycle and buy yourself a house? I have applied for apartments, been denied on my credit, yet, I have been approved for a loan for a house on two separate occassions. The only reason I wasn't able to buy the house was because I didn't have enough for the down payment. It is easier to get approved for a loan for a house than it is to get approved for an apartment. Why rent when you can own? I can't imagine what emotional trauma you must have went through, but you have to tell yourself something good has come out of it, namely this trust fund. If I was you, I'd get some therapy and use that money to buy a house or start a business. You say walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Well, you HAVE NO IDEA how many people would want to be in your shoes, emotional damage and all (myself, for one). If I had your money I wouldn't be freelancing, I'd be investing in some real estate, and living rent free, I won't have to go apply for an apartment. I'd have people asking to rent from me. I was abused as a child myself, but I NEVER got a 80K trust fund. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.
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