Finding Housing Question Forum

[savesthedayajb]

I'm in the process of looking for an apartment in Los Angeles. After speaking to several property management companies I'm faced with a 3x monthly income rent requirement to move in. As with most of you I'm sure, I'll be paying room and board with student loan money only. These property management companies do not consider the loan money as an income. My 16k room and board allocated from the loan would be more than enough to pay for the units I'm interested in. Instead, they ask for a cosigner that meets the requirement. I'd ask my parents but they've recently retired and I don't have the heart to ask them for this burden. I'm just curious what other 0Ls as well as 1L-3Ls did to overcome this 3x monthly rent requirement hurdle in order to find an apartment they'd be happy to live in. Thanks in advance.

[JWicker10]

Where are you going? Student housing options?

[lawcycle2010]

why is it a big deal to ask them to co-sign if you are going to pay it anyways? why would that be a burden to them if they are just using their name and no funds (excapt maybe an application fee?)

[savesthedayajb]

Where are you going? Student housing options?

No, private housing. The school I'm going to doesn't have their own housing options.

why is it a big deal to ask them to co-sign if you are going to pay it anyways? why would that be a burden to them if they are just using their name and no funds (excapt maybe an application fee?)

I'd just rather leave them out of this. I'm just wondering if others in this situation get their parents to co-sign or find some other way.

[jay115]

I was recently looking at apartments in Brentwood for this fall, and a bunch of landlords told me about the 3x monthly income requirement too. However, when I talked to several UCLA peeps about how they bypassed the requirement (like you, I don't have easy access to a co-signer) and they said their landlords in the area are pretty reasonable with UCLA students.

If you run into a landlord who is unwilling to compromise, then move on. When I visited Brentwood and Westwood, there was massive apartment inventory and it truly is a renters market. Wherever you are looking to rent in California, I'm sure the market conditions are similar.