Stipend as Income When Apartment Hunting

[coyabean]

Question guys. I'm filling out apartment apps for the Atlanta move but I find myself at a loss for what to put down for income.

I have guaranteed funding but how do you list that? And what kind of response have those of you who have rented as a grad student received from apartment communities when you use your grad stipend as income? Is there some kind of way I should be framing this?

[captiv8ed]

I listed my stipend as a living allowance stipend. They seemed pretty used to such things. I told her we don't know where my husband will be working and I might take out a loan to cover the difference if he can't find a job, and she seemed pretty unperturbed by that. But I haven't heard back whether we got the house or not! Really frustrating! 2-5 business days for a decision and we are now on day 6! Wasn't the whole wait to hear back from grad schools torture enough??!!

[rising_star]

I typically rent from private landlords but using my stipend letter has never been an issue.

[captiv8ed]

OK, ours went through! And it is with a large real estate company that does property management as well.

So yes it can be done.

[coyabean]

OK, ours went through! And it is with a large real estate company that does property management as well.

So yes it can be done.

thanks for letting me know the result! I really wanted an inkling before I sank upwards of $300 in app and administrative fees. Eeek.

[captiv8ed]

Wow, you are back in grad school application fee territory!!

Are you applying for a lot of different places?

We totally lucked out.

My school is on the other side of the state, about 6 hours away. We were seeing all these ugly apartments online, and that was about it. Very few 3 bedrooms, or ones that would take dogs. With three loud boys and two loud dogs, we wanted to live in a house not an apt. We also LOVE charming old houses. I was searching on all the sites I found and wasn't finding anything! A lot of the companies maintain their entire inventory online and they were all showing as rented through spring of 11. Finally I turned up a list of all the property managers in town and started clicking on links. I saw an extremely cute 3 bedroom house that would take pets and my husband grabbed the phone and called on it. We pulled the kids out of school the next two days and drove across the mountains to look at it. We didn't even look at any others. We did a drive by of a few and we had one other one we would apply for if this one fell through. But it didn't! I know we should have looked at a million of them, but for some reason, I just couldn't! We didn't have a lot of time there and I was so enchanted with the one we got.

Did you use Pro Rents? We lived in Atlanta for a short time back in the early 90s and ProRents was the most amazing company

[megumi85]

Bump!

Anyone have experience using a combination of stipend and loans as proof of income for leasing an apartment? My stipend for the first year is too small to be enough on it's own for living expenses, so I'll be taking out some of the federal loans offered to me by financial aid. When I list my "employer" though (English Department) I'm pretty sure they will only be able to report the stipend. Is it possible to somehow send a financial aid report to a third party (apartment management)?

I probably wouldn't need to do this is I had a cosigner, but my father is really reluctant to do so through a combination of paranoia and a bad experience co-signing for my sister who unforunately is not the greatest with money. I don't think I can use my rental history either, as I've been in Japan for the past 3 years since undergrad and my landlord doesn't speak English. >.< Kind of at a loss for what to do.

[Mal83]

I just applied for an apartment that was advertised on my school's off campus housing site, this particular management company is used to dealing with students and there is a spot on the application that says "for unemployed students, name the school" or something like that. I filled out the form online and simply faxed over a copy of my financial aid letter with the grad plus loan on it, put a star next to it and just wrote "living expense aid." I was approved with no problem, the guy told me they really only do a credit check, proof income will only serve to help get approved, it's not necessary. For another one application that was a little more involved the lady told me that it would helpful if someone, my father, wrote a letter saying that he guarantees to assist with the rent if the need should arise, it's like cosigning without all of the background checks and paperwork. He too doesn't really want to cosign simply because he wants me to do it all by myself, but he will if he has to. I backed out of the 2nd apartment before I got my result because I got approved for the first one and it works out better in terms of price and location.

[ZeeMore21]

I used my stipend as income on 2 occasions, my previous rental company wanted a copy of my acceptance letter that stated that I would a stipend. This time around, I did put down a stipend as income, but the landlord didn't need a letter as proof, he is used to renting out to doctoral students. But in short, it has never been a problem to put down my future stipend as income.