Finding an apartment (Berkeley: rental market, credit, house)

[Kimmy G]

How is anyone supposed to rent an apartment? I have the income, but my credit is OK. I know there are people who have great credit, still get one, but dont even pay their rent. I had perfect credit until divorce happened, now I may as well be homeless. No wonder why so many people are homeless because people wont give them a chance and they have income. I can also see why there are so many suicides as well, because of this screwed up society.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Kimmy G

How is anyone supposed to rent an apartment? I have the income, but my credit is OK. I know there are people who have great credit, still get one, but dont even pay their rent. I had perfect credit until divorce happened, now I may as well be homeless. No wonder why so many people are homeless because people wont give them a chance and they have income. I can also see why there are so many suicides as well, because of this screwed up society.

I share your frustration with the housing situation in this area and I will probably end up being priced out myself at some point (amongst other reasons).

There's no question the rental market here is brutal, but it's nothing new. It's obvious you're hurting and frustrated here, but it helps to remember that if you were the landlord, you probably wouldn't do any different. If you are a landlord you only need one tenant from hell to put you under or wipe out your profits and turn them into losses. I have seen it first hand with friends of mine who are landlords. It's true there are no perfect predictors, but you do the best you can with the tools you have.

I know that's probably not the answer you want to hear. The kind of situation you describe is what drives people out of this area or prevents them from moving here in the first place.

Sometimes the best landlords can be the mom & pop type that you find through word of mouth at work, etc. So you might want to try that if you haven't already. You might also have better luck trying to rent a room or share a house with someone. I know, probably not the setup you want, but it might be what's doable given the current housing situation. I also find mom & pop landlords are less brutal about jacking up the rent than are corporate landlords.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by Kimmy G

I know there are people who have great credit, still get one, but dont even pay their rent.

How is that possible? Nonpayment of rent is the one thing that makes any tenant evictable, even in cities with the strongest pro-tenant laws such as SF and Berkeley.