A few post-selection HousingConnect questions (apartment, rent, good credit)

[cgcg800]

Hi all,



I was just selected for an interview for a HousingConnect apartment, and have a few questions about how best to handle a few things:


1) I was reading in one of the longer threads on here that some applicants were required to "verify" Venmo cashouts appearing on bank statements. Does this happen in every single application? Is there no "threshold" for the amount that would need to be verified? All of mine are under $100.



I have a bunch of these on my bank statements for people paying me back for drinks/food etc. I didn't even cash out after every transaction, and some of those transactions were in cash, so in a lot of cases I would have no way to tie an individual cashout to a specific receipt or receipt(s).



Is there any way to avoid this problem? Should I just not offer bank statements unless I am asked for them? Can't I just sign an affidavit stating that these don't represent any additional income? Isn't that what you're doing when you apply in the first place and state what your income is? How are you supposed to "verify" it in these situations if you don't have a receipt?



2) I am within the income range in the brochure, but am slightly under the standard "40x the rent" calculation. Will a landlord look past this if I have good credit? It's confusing to me why the minimum income would be below the 40x the rent calculation when I'm guessing this is still a figure landlords will use when deciding whether to approve people.



3) If I have made it to the interview stage, how many other applicants am I likely to be in the running against? Is the log number still relevant?


Thanks for any help.

[randomperson2]

40x has nothing to do with income eligibility for these units. Once you hit the 160% band the majority of people will be earning less than 40x the rent (one of the reasons they have so much trouble filling those units!). If you fall into the specified range, you're eligible.

[cgcg800]

But the landlord can still reject you for that reason, right? If I am below 40x, should I just not even bother attending the interview and getting the hard pull on my credit?

[randomperson2]

Someone else want to try to explain it to this guy? I don't know how to put it any more simply.

[shadypinesma]

Lol

40x doesn’t matter for these. What matters is being inside the income band.

[cgcg800]

I will take your word for it, but it’s been discussed on here how people can be rejected for debt to income ratio and for credit. If a landlord/management company can look at these traditional factors, I don’t get why they couldn’t also look at overall income. I understood “eligibility” to mean “allowed to submit an application for the unit.” If you are not within the range you are disqualified, but if you are that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed an apartment.

I would appreciate it if anyone can offer insight on my other questions as well.

[shadypinesma]

Debt to income ratio doesn't just mean the 40x rule though, which I think is why you may have gotten the answers you did.

I believe that they will determine your debt to income ratio by looking at your credit, not simply applying the 40x rule. However, note that the rules have changed and no person can be denied on the basis of credit score alone.

[macnyc2003]

People are giving you the correct answer, and you're not accepting it. Why ask in the first place?

And yes, it's likely that you will have to explain all your deposits. The agent needs to look for undisclosed income.

Debt to income ratio is important in this process. That has nothing to do with the 40x.

I'll give you my standard advice: Google Marketing Guidelines HPD and download the Marketing Handbook PDF. Read that. Then you will understand the process.

[popartist]

No way to avoid providing your bank statements, not having them when you go will just delay the process. The ones you did not cash out on Venmo won't show on your bank statement but everything you cashed out will. When I had to do this since I had some Paypal deposits I just said reimbursement for hotel room, or reimbursement for concert tickets (which is what they were) but I didn't need to provide more detail than that, i.e. no names or anything like that.

[BeyondtheWrap]

Originally Posted by macnyc2003

Debt to income ratio is important in this process.

How so? I thought the rules were changed as of July 2018 so that debt to income ratio is no longer considered?