
Oh, You’re Freelance? Good Luck Renting an Apartment - paulpauper
https://theoutline.com/post/7432/oh-you-re-freelance-good-luck-renting-an-apartment
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BrentOzar
Freelancer here, went through something similar in Chicago a couple of times.
This line in particular stood out:

> Others make tenants pay the whole year’s rent up front

I had resistance from a landlord who didn’t want to take a freelancer as a
tenant, so I asked, “How many months up front would you want me to pay for you
to feel comfortable, and then how can you make me feel comfortable that you’d
take care of complaints and not just give me the finger because you already
had all my money? I’m fine with whatever compromise you think is fair as long
as we’re both protected.”

Just that conversation alone was enough. She said, “if you’re this fair with
me, you’re probably this fair with your customers, and we’ll be fine.” The
end, no deposit required.

I’m not saying that’ll always work - but just remember that negotiation isn’t
binary. Find out what the person on the other side wants, and let them offer
you a compromise they think both sides would accept. And if you’re a
freelancer, pick up the book Getting To Yes.

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esotericn
The first line of the article is utter nonsense. The person with "$25 million"
can just pay the rent up front for a year with ~0.1% of their wealth and not
even have to reveal their bank balance. 99% of landlords would accept that.

Back in the real world, If you're renting a fancy apartment in downtown
Manhattan with a few grand in the bank (e.g. you can't pay up front) you have
some serious budgeting problems. The landlords/agents are doing you a favour
by not allowing you to spaff away your money, IMO.

I'm currently FT but have contracted in London. I've never lived in a city
center apartment, it's thoroughly a luxury good.

You can live half an hour away for less than half the price, or have a house
with two gardens half an hour away for the same price.

It would be much easier to take the article seriously if they used realistic
numbers for "normal" accommodation.

Personally I'd say that if you're going to go it alone then having a few
months to a year saved is just par for the course. You need it in order to
maintain a sense of sanity and not feel like you're completely impoverished
all of the time.

For most people that will entail reducing outgoings so that the number is
manageable.

It is, however, quite odd that I could have employed someone out of the
proceeds of my business and they would be able to rent an apartment without
issue. I imagine some people must do this with their spouses, for example.

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thatgerhard
I own a small web company. people who work for me are able to get bonds for
houses, I had to jump through a crazy amount of hoops, including accountant
letters and office landlord letters to just rent an apartment.

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thepangolino
Modern society is full of those incongruities.

I bought an apartment in Belgium while in between jobs. In order to get a loan
I had to get a job as a cashier, essentially taking a cut in my net income
(unemployment payments are very generous in Belgium.)

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gaspoweredcat
this is true even in the UK, if youre self employed youre going to struggle

~~~
NikkiA
Especially since the 'Right to Rent' law came into effect, you have to be able
to prove your income source among other things.

