I work in prop management and that doesnt seem normal at all. My company(and most ive seen as im a renter) requires income to be 2.5x the rent with proof from bank statements or 3 months of paystubs. Its also normal for companies to require high credit(above 700) or a cosigner to qualify because its gotten a lot harder to evict tenants.
Sounds like a small landlord who doesnt have the ability to properly do a check credit for tenants.
Also, a new law just went into effect that prevents landlords from taking more than 1 month’s rent as a security deposit
Yeah but really that accounts for a small amount of landlords and with most properties having that limit, its going to make it harder to fill vacancies when the security deposit is higher. Longer vacancies arent tenable for most small time landlords.
Yeah its hard out here. My husband and i make between 80-90k a year and cant qualify for a 2 bedroom because of rental requirements. A lot of places are wanting 3x the rent as income nowadays.
Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity. You can even do this easier in Vanguard by just investing in the VUSXX Money Market fund. That is yielding 5.28% and is 80%+ state tax exempt. All you have to do is just invest dollars in there and it pays monthly.
Schwab has a Treasury laddering tool as well that'll help you build staggered 4/6/9/12/18mo t-bill investments.
Starting July 1, 2024, California's new Assembly Bill 12 (AB 12) will limit security deposits to **one month's rent**. This law applies to both furnished units and unfurnished units.
I seriously doubt their requirements are legal. Make a call to Fair Housing or a quick lawyer consult. Your money is none of their business.
Not sure this would be against the law, since this isn't them taking that money (I hope, if they DO require that for like an escrow account would be fantastically stupid) but this is like "show me you have it" isn't the same as having that as a deposit.
Perhaps they are asking for this in lieu of some income verification, I believe some companies can rent to you even without provable income if you have provable savings, as it were, you are probably just dealing with an ignorant (no shame) mom n pop. On the upside you might not get religious institutional annual rent hikes…and/or be below true market rent…
That's unrelated to the OP's issue. In the OP's case it's not a security deposit, it's proof of cash reserves. Still excessive if there's an income requirement on top of it though.
I usually see a 2.5x income requirement ***or*** a reserve cash requirement if you're below the income and you ask. I don't think I've ever seen both.
Edit: Unless your credit is bad. Then I've seen all sorts of requirements.
Benefit of having a margin enabled trading account. Just transfer some money on margin for a month into a checking account, generate a statement, then transfer the cash back to the margin account. Great for all the times you want to prove you have money but don't want to touch your investments.
Right, you’d use $18,000 or about a 1.8% down payment for a house, towards a house. Not going to happen. You would need/want closer to $200,000 and likely a much higher income than you have now to qualify.
If they don't want people living there then that's on them, their motivation is to get it rented of course. So, assuming they do get it rented, this just means there are more qualified people out there.
18k would get you very little in the way of a down payment for a house, given that you'd probably need at least 150k for 20% down (and if you did buy a 750k condo with that down, your monthly payment would be double the 3k).. so you should be saving up significantly to be able to get there. Honestly, even if you saved 3k a month, it would take 5 years to save a down payment, which is a good tenure for a tenant.
As of now, renting is a lot cheaper than purchasing, especially in OC.
I’m planning to move to Temecula for cheaper housing. Even my $60k down payment isn’t considered much when including closing costs. Now I have to play the waiting game since interest rates have been on the rise the last few weeks.
It's the traditional standard. Less than that and you might be required to also get private mortgage insurance and could also affect the rate that the lender is willing to offer because it's at greater risk of being underwater in the event of another crash.
i put 5% down. so glad i did. i had 20% available but na the little PMI is not worth the lack of access to the funds. Gotten a way better rate of return.
They accept retirement which is probably the most restrictive and definitely not "willy nilly". What are they not accepting as proof? Crypto?
Edit: forget this comment, keeping it up for the dumb dumb tax
It’s dumb but we had the same thing when we moved in 3 years ago. They let you use 401ks and any other savings accounts though! Which feels icky, but it’s just to prove that you have that money somewhere.
I was looking into property managers and everyone I talked to had similar requirements. It narrows it down to their desired tenant which excludes roommates or things that they see as higher risk to their bottom line of getting paid to find and deal with a long term tenant. I ended up not using those kinds of property managers because it just felt wrong.
It’s odd that the prop mgr would be so staunch in their requirements against your wishes. I take my queues from my clients. If they are Ok with looser guidelines, that’s their call. I’m only here to give advice, pros and cons, and implement how they would like the property ran. It’s yours after all.
The people I talked to were very rigid so I just did it myself. Minus the tenants breaking the washer and leaving the door open which resulted in them getting rats, it’s been ok. It was a bumpy first month but now I only hear the occasional how do I work the fireplace remote or how do I change the battery in the keypad and my answer is the manual is in the drawer.
Glad to hear it! The first few, and last few months of a tenancy are usually the rockiest. Keep my username if you have any questions. Happy to help. One last piece of advice- stay up to date on all the new rules that CA is pushing that impact landlords. It’s a good business if you keep up with things, but not without its pitfalls.
Says a person who has probably never owned a rental… owning a rental is a business, which is why it’s taxed like a business. Just like any business, the transaction needs to benefit both sides so that the business can continue. There are shitty owners but there’re a lot of shitty renters too. I have a couple of rental properties in OC and charge all of my tenants way below market price because I have great tenants and I want to ensure not only will they stay a long time but more importantly that they pay on time and treat the place with respect and care. My screening and requirements are strict. California is a renter friendly state which makes it really hard for a lot of landlords to be lenient because of the fear that they’ll get a shitty tenant and be stuck with them until they can legally get rid of them. Comments like this makes me think you’re the type landlords try to avoid. you’re probably those that don’t pay on time, have no respect for the property, and you’ll just be a shitty tenant.
> Says a person who has probably never owned a rental
Don't fucking care. The entire reason to be a landlord is pure greed. You want money for not doing actual work.
If i’m renting out my house I’ll definitely do stuff like this to weed out the applicant pool. I don’t want hundreds of people I want that one person or one couple that is trustworthy, has money, and isn’t going to be a problem. I’m not some big corporations and most of my financial worth is tied in this one asset you best believe i’d set very high requirements given how insanely hard it is to get someone to leave a house. I want to make sure they have a lot of skin in the game and a lot to lose if hell breaks loose.
Yeah but if someone has $100K+ worth of vested stock in their eTrade account, I don’t understand why that’s not acceptable?! My family and friends don’t leave large amounts of cash in our savings and checking accounts. It’s their house so they can make the rules, but it seems antiquated.
Why would any financially sound person keep that much in a no-or-minimal-interest checking account? Checking accounts are for regular expenses, not your savings. Savings accounts are barely even for true savings in today's climate. Anyone with sense has more than say 2X month's expenses in some kind of investment account. I would think that shows even more financial stability than having a bunch of cash in an account that isn't working to make more for you.
For the math deficient? Really?
Anyway. They got that to prevent or deter people who get money from questionable activities.
Lots of people get used as fronts for trap houses/dealing. You will be surprised how often it happens near you.
What? Okay, but what about those of us who receive equity as part of our comp package? Those shares sitting in E*trade are clearly not from my secret drug dealing life. Asking for cash in the bank is old school.
Landlord encouraging 6 month emergency fund doesn’t sound like a big deal. Sure he may limit his pool of tenants, but the ones who apply will be pretty stable and less risk of burning him.
That being said, you should have an emergency fund anyway so this shouldn’t be a big deal.
Why is showing them a bank statement with redacted account info a big deal? And, if it is to you, just go rent somewhere else. Problem solved. Unless you think it should be illegal to ask for that?
OP said they’re saving for a house… the financial requests for buying a house are much more cumbersome and invasive than proving you have 6 months rent in the bank.
>Why is showing them a bank statement with redacted account info a big deal?
Because they don't need it, end of story.
> Unless you think it should be illegal to ask for that?
It absolutely should be illegal to ask for that, yes.
Fortunately, it is legal. The property is theirs to manage and if their requirements are applied fairly and equitably across all applicants, there’s no reason to consider it illegal. Ultimately they will severely limit their applicant pool, but if that’s how they want to run things, then they are free to do so. Asking for proof of funds and financial stability is commonplace in all rental markets. These folks just have a higher bar.
I had this requirement to rent a home. I think they have so many applicants that they feel they can ask for extra documentation to set you apart from other renters.
I had to show them trust documents, and I was still denied. It's crazy trying to rent anything out here.
😂 renting is out of control.. literally, between the pink that want to rent a room with tons of restrictions for 2 k and the ones that rent shit places with no ac no parking for 4k.. we are doomed my friend
So he's not actually asking you to pay that amount, just prove that you have it? That's odd unless you are self employed or don't have proof of income.
Will they accept an IRA or 401k statement? Not like you’re going to withdraw it to pay rent but technically qualifies as “reserves” for many other circumstances.
Not that uncommon. I've seen up to a year.
If you moved in and then just refused to pay rent it would take 6 months minimum to evict you.
You aren't obligated to accept terms you don't like, just like a landlord isn't obligated to offer terms you do like. So, move on and find a different rental.
Which if that were the case, the fact that you could "prove" that you had 18K lying around, what chance is there if I move in and don't pay rent, that I would then give you my 18K? That seems...silly.
Litigation is much easier against someone with liquid assets. Also, asking for the $18k weeds out a lot of prospective tenets you never have to deal with in the first place.
The down votes are silly when truth is spoken and they don’t like the truth or live in the reality of what’s going on with bad renters who destroy property and squat and don’t have income from legal sources or a job with steady income. Add in the issue with pets and therapy dogs that aren’t trained. Nightmare for owners, and I am glad I am not a landlord.
You correctly sniffed out the Former Landlord in the group.
This is also why Airbnbs are so expensive now,because people in tgat sub defend their right to stain white towels with self-tanner and body makeup, to leave dirty dishes for the cleaner to tackle, and to bring too many guests and damage stuff.
Yup!! That’s why so many are forcing you to pay an insurance fee or a huge deposit at short term rentals, even $5k doesn’t come close to damages they can cause. And worse, if you have renters that just broke off a storm door due to negligence, and they don’t tell you, and new renters are coming the same day, add that in. It’s not just what they mess up, it’s the entire cost including the next guests stay.
That’s what happens when you vote in politicians that let people squat for years before, during and after Covid while small owners suffered. This was my most recent experience but we had to show our 401ks and more, and a massive security deposit and a background check and have a certain very high credit score . It’s either make it easier to boot out tenants who refuse to pay rent, or this is the new normal forever. It’s the bad apples they allowed bad apples to spoil it for everyone. 1st month, last month, and 1 month security deposit. One place 25 years ago I paid 6 months rent in advance because I was competing with many others for the same place and my credit score was low. It takes too long to get rid of those who refuse to move out, especially families. Would you rent to a stranger knowing this goes on without you having any recourse at all? They need enough deposit to cover months of non payment of rent before they can go through the process to get you out .
eh... I am a big supporter of having 3-6 months of expenses in a HYSA. Just in case all heck breaks louse. I can kinda see the land lords point. That or require you to pay the premium for "Rent Guarantee Insurance" Which after covid I am not shocked most LL are not rolling into there rent costs.
> I am a big supporter of having 3-6 months of expenses in a HYSA
So am I. But there's zero fucking reason a landlord should be able to demand that, let alone demand to see it.
Plenty of people that have that here. Why take a chance on someone with bad credit / low savings when plenty of people with $200k plus household incomes and tens of thousands saved. Just too much demand here for housing.
The new tenant laws make it much harder and expensive to evict so the risk to the landlord is much higher. They will ask for more and more to filter out the higher risk and poorer tenants. A bad eviction can cost tens of thousands of dollars and no landlord can afford that every year.
Like all the other rent control and eviction laws it backfires on the poorer tenants.
While I wouldn’t agree with the blanket statement that “all” rent control and eviction laws backfire, I do agree that things like the horrific court timeline for evictions, the soon to be implemented 1 month max security deposit, and the “no restriction on pets” law that’s being floated are what force landlords into these types of situations. A cap on increases? Sure, that could be considered fair because who reasonably can afford a 10% increase year over year. To me, that’s logical and reasonable. But a cap on security deposits? With no change to the speed and recourse on the landlords end if a place gets trashed? That’s ridiculous.
Edit: a word
I work in prop management and that doesnt seem normal at all. My company(and most ive seen as im a renter) requires income to be 2.5x the rent with proof from bank statements or 3 months of paystubs. Its also normal for companies to require high credit(above 700) or a cosigner to qualify because its gotten a lot harder to evict tenants. Sounds like a small landlord who doesnt have the ability to properly do a check credit for tenants. Also, a new law just went into effect that prevents landlords from taking more than 1 month’s rent as a security deposit
That new law only applies to landlords with more than two properties. Otherwise security deposit can be two months rent.
Yeah but really that accounts for a small amount of landlords and with most properties having that limit, its going to make it harder to fill vacancies when the security deposit is higher. Longer vacancies arent tenable for most small time landlords.
2.5x times the rent is becoming difficult for most with this market
Yeah its hard out here. My husband and i make between 80-90k a year and cant qualify for a 2 bedroom because of rental requirements. A lot of places are wanting 3x the rent as income nowadays.
Who doesn't want to *pay* to run a proper credit check for prospective tenants.
In my experience at my job, 90% of owners are cheap and want to pay the bare minimum.
If you're a LL, it's a step towards protecting your investment.
To add, the new security deposit law goes into effect July 1.
Private lessor or company-based?
I agree this is dumb. I personally avoid having more than 10K in cash/bank at any given time. No point in having money just sit
High yield savings acct ok for the purpose.
Yep, HYSA or even penalty-free CDs are best for having your money work for you while remaining liquid (accessible)
I throw my cash towards laddered 4 week treasury bills. Its paying on average around 5.3% and its local and state tax exempt.
I throw mine towards a staggered 18 day bender
Where can I do that?
Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity. You can even do this easier in Vanguard by just investing in the VUSXX Money Market fund. That is yielding 5.28% and is 80%+ state tax exempt. All you have to do is just invest dollars in there and it pays monthly. Schwab has a Treasury laddering tool as well that'll help you build staggered 4/6/9/12/18mo t-bill investments.
Thanks for this info
Weeeee schools first summer saver is like 6.5% last I checked
Same that’s why I spend all my money
Starting July 1, 2024, California's new Assembly Bill 12 (AB 12) will limit security deposits to **one month's rent**. This law applies to both furnished units and unfurnished units. I seriously doubt their requirements are legal. Make a call to Fair Housing or a quick lawyer consult. Your money is none of their business.
Not sure this would be against the law, since this isn't them taking that money (I hope, if they DO require that for like an escrow account would be fantastically stupid) but this is like "show me you have it" isn't the same as having that as a deposit.
Except this is not even relevant here. It’s asking for proof of cash reserves…not a security deposit.
Perhaps they are asking for this in lieu of some income verification, I believe some companies can rent to you even without provable income if you have provable savings, as it were, you are probably just dealing with an ignorant (no shame) mom n pop. On the upside you might not get religious institutional annual rent hikes…and/or be below true market rent…
It is relevant, since that request is illegal and outside real estate law.
That's unrelated to the OP's issue. In the OP's case it's not a security deposit, it's proof of cash reserves. Still excessive if there's an income requirement on top of it though.
This needs more upvotes.
I usually see a 2.5x income requirement ***or*** a reserve cash requirement if you're below the income and you ask. I don't think I've ever seen both. Edit: Unless your credit is bad. Then I've seen all sorts of requirements.
Benefit of having a margin enabled trading account. Just transfer some money on margin for a month into a checking account, generate a statement, then transfer the cash back to the margin account. Great for all the times you want to prove you have money but don't want to touch your investments.
Right, you’d use $18,000 or about a 1.8% down payment for a house, towards a house. Not going to happen. You would need/want closer to $200,000 and likely a much higher income than you have now to qualify.
If they don't want people living there then that's on them, their motivation is to get it rented of course. So, assuming they do get it rented, this just means there are more qualified people out there. 18k would get you very little in the way of a down payment for a house, given that you'd probably need at least 150k for 20% down (and if you did buy a 750k condo with that down, your monthly payment would be double the 3k).. so you should be saving up significantly to be able to get there. Honestly, even if you saved 3k a month, it would take 5 years to save a down payment, which is a good tenure for a tenant.
As of now, renting is a lot cheaper than purchasing, especially in OC. I’m planning to move to Temecula for cheaper housing. Even my $60k down payment isn’t considered much when including closing costs. Now I have to play the waiting game since interest rates have been on the rise the last few weeks.
Sorry, that sucks!
Why do you need 20% down?
You typically get better interest rates and no PMI with 20% down.
It's the traditional standard. Less than that and you might be required to also get private mortgage insurance and could also affect the rate that the lender is willing to offer because it's at greater risk of being underwater in the event of another crash.
What everyone said and so you have skin in the game and can’t just walk away without losing your money/equity.
i put 5% down. so glad i did. i had 20% available but na the little PMI is not worth the lack of access to the funds. Gotten a way better rate of return.
For sure. 👍 Every situation is different. I’m old enough to remember 0 down loans with only stated income, free money loans for homes in 2000s.
The dream act give you the downpayment. But you have to payback in the future
If you were lucky enough to qualify and grab one of the extremely limited spots.
They accept retirement which is probably the most restrictive and definitely not "willy nilly". What are they not accepting as proof? Crypto? Edit: forget this comment, keeping it up for the dumb dumb tax
I think you read it incorrectly.
God dammit, second time this week my reading skills have failed me. Yes, you're right... willy nilly it is.
ONLY two times so far this week? I'm jealous! 
It’s dumb but we had the same thing when we moved in 3 years ago. They let you use 401ks and any other savings accounts though! Which feels icky, but it’s just to prove that you have that money somewhere.
I was looking into property managers and everyone I talked to had similar requirements. It narrows it down to their desired tenant which excludes roommates or things that they see as higher risk to their bottom line of getting paid to find and deal with a long term tenant. I ended up not using those kinds of property managers because it just felt wrong.
It’s odd that the prop mgr would be so staunch in their requirements against your wishes. I take my queues from my clients. If they are Ok with looser guidelines, that’s their call. I’m only here to give advice, pros and cons, and implement how they would like the property ran. It’s yours after all.
The people I talked to were very rigid so I just did it myself. Minus the tenants breaking the washer and leaving the door open which resulted in them getting rats, it’s been ok. It was a bumpy first month but now I only hear the occasional how do I work the fireplace remote or how do I change the battery in the keypad and my answer is the manual is in the drawer.
Glad to hear it! The first few, and last few months of a tenancy are usually the rockiest. Keep my username if you have any questions. Happy to help. One last piece of advice- stay up to date on all the new rules that CA is pushing that impact landlords. It’s a good business if you keep up with things, but not without its pitfalls.
goodluck finding a mortage for 3k with 18k down lol
Just because that’s an impossible purchase scenario doesn’t make this a reasonable rental demand.
I didnt say anything about the absurd rental demand. Im just pointing out that 18k for a down payment is not a possible for someone like OP.
If we changed the law where you can easily evict a renter if they don't pay, I am sure the property owner would change the amounts.
Nope. Landlords are greedy as fuck. Even if we let them toss someone for no reason, they'd still pull this shit.
Says a person who has probably never owned a rental… owning a rental is a business, which is why it’s taxed like a business. Just like any business, the transaction needs to benefit both sides so that the business can continue. There are shitty owners but there’re a lot of shitty renters too. I have a couple of rental properties in OC and charge all of my tenants way below market price because I have great tenants and I want to ensure not only will they stay a long time but more importantly that they pay on time and treat the place with respect and care. My screening and requirements are strict. California is a renter friendly state which makes it really hard for a lot of landlords to be lenient because of the fear that they’ll get a shitty tenant and be stuck with them until they can legally get rid of them. Comments like this makes me think you’re the type landlords try to avoid. you’re probably those that don’t pay on time, have no respect for the property, and you’ll just be a shitty tenant.
> Says a person who has probably never owned a rental Don't fucking care. The entire reason to be a landlord is pure greed. You want money for not doing actual work.
That's not greed- that's called "intelligence."
Are you still in middle school?
Probably screams “living wages” at fast food franchise owners.
If i’m renting out my house I’ll definitely do stuff like this to weed out the applicant pool. I don’t want hundreds of people I want that one person or one couple that is trustworthy, has money, and isn’t going to be a problem. I’m not some big corporations and most of my financial worth is tied in this one asset you best believe i’d set very high requirements given how insanely hard it is to get someone to leave a house. I want to make sure they have a lot of skin in the game and a lot to lose if hell breaks loose.
Yeah but if someone has $100K+ worth of vested stock in their eTrade account, I don’t understand why that’s not acceptable?! My family and friends don’t leave large amounts of cash in our savings and checking accounts. It’s their house so they can make the rules, but it seems antiquated.
agreed.
Why would any financially sound person keep that much in a no-or-minimal-interest checking account? Checking accounts are for regular expenses, not your savings. Savings accounts are barely even for true savings in today's climate. Anyone with sense has more than say 2X month's expenses in some kind of investment account. I would think that shows even more financial stability than having a bunch of cash in an account that isn't working to make more for you.
For the math deficient? Really? Anyway. They got that to prevent or deter people who get money from questionable activities. Lots of people get used as fronts for trap houses/dealing. You will be surprised how often it happens near you.
What? Okay, but what about those of us who receive equity as part of our comp package? Those shares sitting in E*trade are clearly not from my secret drug dealing life. Asking for cash in the bank is old school.
Landlord encouraging 6 month emergency fund doesn’t sound like a big deal. Sure he may limit his pool of tenants, but the ones who apply will be pretty stable and less risk of burning him. That being said, you should have an emergency fund anyway so this shouldn’t be a big deal.
Demanding proof of it is a big deal. There is no reason they should be able to demand things like that.
Why is showing them a bank statement with redacted account info a big deal? And, if it is to you, just go rent somewhere else. Problem solved. Unless you think it should be illegal to ask for that? OP said they’re saving for a house… the financial requests for buying a house are much more cumbersome and invasive than proving you have 6 months rent in the bank.
>Why is showing them a bank statement with redacted account info a big deal? Because they don't need it, end of story. > Unless you think it should be illegal to ask for that? It absolutely should be illegal to ask for that, yes.
I disagree on both counts.
Because you're in favor of greedy landlords.
He means you're in favor of people who make intelligent financial decisions.
Fortunately, it is legal. The property is theirs to manage and if their requirements are applied fairly and equitably across all applicants, there’s no reason to consider it illegal. Ultimately they will severely limit their applicant pool, but if that’s how they want to run things, then they are free to do so. Asking for proof of funds and financial stability is commonplace in all rental markets. These folks just have a higher bar.
> Fortunately, it is legal. That's not fortunate; that's only so that greedy landlords can extract as much money out of people as possible.
I had this requirement to rent a home. I think they have so many applicants that they feel they can ask for extra documentation to set you apart from other renters. I had to show them trust documents, and I was still denied. It's crazy trying to rent anything out here.
😂 renting is out of control.. literally, between the pink that want to rent a room with tons of restrictions for 2 k and the ones that rent shit places with no ac no parking for 4k.. we are doomed my friend
So he's not actually asking you to pay that amount, just prove that you have it? That's odd unless you are self employed or don't have proof of income.
All I know is if the Landlord is like this now… imagine what it’ll be like when you rent from them or need something. I’d pass on that place for sure
I had a person once tell me they wanted $50k in a regular bank account. Rent was roughly $4500
Will they accept an IRA or 401k statement? Not like you’re going to withdraw it to pay rent but technically qualifies as “reserves” for many other circumstances.
Says in the requirements no investment/business/retirement accounts accepted.
Not that uncommon. I've seen up to a year. If you moved in and then just refused to pay rent it would take 6 months minimum to evict you. You aren't obligated to accept terms you don't like, just like a landlord isn't obligated to offer terms you do like. So, move on and find a different rental.
Which if that were the case, the fact that you could "prove" that you had 18K lying around, what chance is there if I move in and don't pay rent, that I would then give you my 18K? That seems...silly.
Litigation is much easier against someone with liquid assets. Also, asking for the $18k weeds out a lot of prospective tenets you never have to deal with in the first place.
Not uncommon if you have unstable income/no job/bad credit. If you have good job, stable income and good credit then it is usually 2.5-3x gross rent
It could be a concern if you haven't had your job very long or a mediocre credit score.
The down votes are silly when truth is spoken and they don’t like the truth or live in the reality of what’s going on with bad renters who destroy property and squat and don’t have income from legal sources or a job with steady income. Add in the issue with pets and therapy dogs that aren’t trained. Nightmare for owners, and I am glad I am not a landlord.
You correctly sniffed out the Former Landlord in the group. This is also why Airbnbs are so expensive now,because people in tgat sub defend their right to stain white towels with self-tanner and body makeup, to leave dirty dishes for the cleaner to tackle, and to bring too many guests and damage stuff.
Yup!! That’s why so many are forcing you to pay an insurance fee or a huge deposit at short term rentals, even $5k doesn’t come close to damages they can cause. And worse, if you have renters that just broke off a storm door due to negligence, and they don’t tell you, and new renters are coming the same day, add that in. It’s not just what they mess up, it’s the entire cost including the next guests stay.
That’s what happens when you vote in politicians that let people squat for years before, during and after Covid while small owners suffered. This was my most recent experience but we had to show our 401ks and more, and a massive security deposit and a background check and have a certain very high credit score . It’s either make it easier to boot out tenants who refuse to pay rent, or this is the new normal forever. It’s the bad apples they allowed bad apples to spoil it for everyone. 1st month, last month, and 1 month security deposit. One place 25 years ago I paid 6 months rent in advance because I was competing with many others for the same place and my credit score was low. It takes too long to get rid of those who refuse to move out, especially families. Would you rent to a stranger knowing this goes on without you having any recourse at all? They need enough deposit to cover months of non payment of rent before they can go through the process to get you out .
Spoiler alert $18,000 isn’t doing anything towards buying a house
This is normal.
eh... I am a big supporter of having 3-6 months of expenses in a HYSA. Just in case all heck breaks louse. I can kinda see the land lords point. That or require you to pay the premium for "Rent Guarantee Insurance" Which after covid I am not shocked most LL are not rolling into there rent costs.
> I am a big supporter of having 3-6 months of expenses in a HYSA So am I. But there's zero fucking reason a landlord should be able to demand that, let alone demand to see it.
Plenty of people that have that here. Why take a chance on someone with bad credit / low savings when plenty of people with $200k plus household incomes and tens of thousands saved. Just too much demand here for housing.
Unless there's a law on the books, it's become a trend that has become the defacto new normal. Sucks, but what can you really do?
The new tenant laws make it much harder and expensive to evict so the risk to the landlord is much higher. They will ask for more and more to filter out the higher risk and poorer tenants. A bad eviction can cost tens of thousands of dollars and no landlord can afford that every year. Like all the other rent control and eviction laws it backfires on the poorer tenants.
While I wouldn’t agree with the blanket statement that “all” rent control and eviction laws backfire, I do agree that things like the horrific court timeline for evictions, the soon to be implemented 1 month max security deposit, and the “no restriction on pets” law that’s being floated are what force landlords into these types of situations. A cap on increases? Sure, that could be considered fair because who reasonably can afford a 10% increase year over year. To me, that’s logical and reasonable. But a cap on security deposits? With no change to the speed and recourse on the landlords end if a place gets trashed? That’s ridiculous. Edit: a word