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Financial rental requirements?

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Financial rental requirements?

Postby Odendwasi » Mon Feb 11, 2019 8:35 am

My wife and I plan on moving to NYC in about 2-3 years, maybe sooner but nontheless here is my question:

Lets say we find a place anywhere in Manhattan for like $3,000 per month which is $36,000 per year on just rent alone.

Now I would definetely like to rent with my wife being the joint so we can combine our incomes since there is no way in hell I would qualify alone with a salary of about $55,000 per year is what I estimate I might be making by the time we move out there and she might be making $60,000 plus annually. I found this off another website:

"If you don’t cut the mustard, a landlord may require a co-signer or guarantor. Some landlords require that a guarantor earn an annual salary of at least 80 – 100 times the monthly rent."

Does this mean they want my wife alone to make a minimum of $240,000 or us combined we need to make that much? Besides combined we probably wouldn't even make more than $110K annually by the time we move there so does this mean we will not qualify for any apartment rentals at all in NYC? I'm beginning to think it's going to be impossible to move there and get a decent 2 bedroom place in Manhattan and qualify under these strict income requirements.

Any comments would be helpful. Thanks everyone.
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Re: Financial rental requirements?

Postby BubbaJoe123 » Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:03 am

Typical requirement in NYC is annual income >= 40x the monthly rent. So, for a $3k/month apt, you'd need a combined income (you and your wife) of $120k. If you're below that, then you'd need a guarantor, and they guarantor would need an income of 80-100x the monthly rent. Guarantor arrangement often happens with young people moving to NYC, getting a parent as a guarantor.

This being said, you should really check on what you're going to get for <$3k in Manhattan. This streeteasy search shows every 2-bed for rent for $3k and under in Manhattan: https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/manhatt ... 0%7Cbeds:2

Streeteasy doesn't have every apartment, but it's by far the most comprehensive single source, so it's an excellent place to start.
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Re: Financial rental requirements?

Postby TenantNet » Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:57 am

What Bubba didn't say is that none of this is written in law; it's just industry practice, and usually for new or highly renovated units. You can still find 5-floor walkups in out-of-the-way neighborhoods for less at perhaps $2K, or even less if you find a RS unit. Even that's becoming more difficult, but can happen. You can also find cheaper places if you're willing to settle for less space. But if you want suburbia in Manhattan, the prepare to pay.
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Re: Financial rental requirements?

Postby 10ants » Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:18 pm

36-40x the annual income is 'standard'. There are also commercial guarantors that some LLs accept -- you pay them a fee, and they agree to be guarantors.

All of this is subject to negotiations -- if you have substantial assets the LL might not care as much about your income, but bear in mind that most LL's charge 1st / last / security deposit + broker fee, and you'll also have to shell out moving expenses, so you are looking at 4-5 months of rent upfront.

During recessions, these guidelines tend to get revised.
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Re: Financial rental requirements?

Postby Satin Doll » Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:49 am

I also wouldn't trust Streeteasy. They don't even bother to get their data from the government. To give you an example: the owner of my building refuses to give rent-stabilized leases although the building falls under this law. Streeteasy allows them to hide the number of units by stating half of them. I thought this was fishy until they listed an apartment in the same building that does not even exist, 6 days ago.
The only good thing is that the agents cannot be anonymous, so you can identify the scammers. But recently people complain that they email one agent and get a response from another, raising private data issues too. Why get into this mess....?
Last edited by Satin Doll on Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Financial rental requirements?

Postby TenantNet » Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:27 pm

Understand the buildings are not RS. Individual units may be RS, or not. I'm not sure if what you say are Streeteasy practices would be considered fraudulent. Of course individual tenants who find themselves in apartments that should be rent stab have recourse either through the courts or DHCR.

Ah, for the old days when to get an apartment you went door-to-door and paid off the super. Or, you camped out at a certain newsstand in BK - the first one to get the weekly edition of the Village Voice with that week's Apts for Rent listings -- and get the info before anyone else.
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