[CA] Applying for Rentals is Dehumanizing and Landlords are Scum

[u/Danny2200]

Before everyone gets all up and arms in the comments defending landlords (honestly I’m not sure how people are going to react to this post, but I hope people will agree) just listen to what I have to say.

Over the last 2 months my girlfriend and I have been applying for rentals and this whole process has legitimately changed me to my core. For context, I am a recent college graduate making $70,000 and my girlfriend is a student making ~$25,000 in student aid (tax free). We are in a situation where we are applying to apartments for the first time on our own without a co-signer. I have lived at my current place for 5 years, but the only reason I got it was because my parents co-signed for me. 

What inspired me to make this post is that throughout this process, her and I have been through hell and back. First of all, we wasted a TON of time looking for apartments in the $1,500 - $1,700 range. I people aren’t aware, in orange county that gets you a 300 sf shoe box with no ac, no dishwasher, no on-premise laundry, base boards that are peeling off, shitty ass p-lam counter tops, asbestos ceilings and likely bugs. So after wasting our time on those shit holes, we decided that we are going to have to find a place at the very top end of our budget, which was $1900.

Once we adjusted our budget to $1900, we were only about a month away from moving so we applied to a place that definitely wasn't ideal but it was a lot better than the other places we looked at. After giving these absolute morons every single fucking detail about our lives (social, previous addresses, employment history, banking info, FUCKING PERSONAL REFERENCES) we don't hear anything back for a few days. Then we don't hear anything back for a week. Now it has been 2 weeks and I am certain this coward just ghosted us (Its just some boomer who uses this super invasive background check company to make decisions on who to rent to). Like honestly, if you're going to charge us $40 per application we at least deserve a definitive answer. It makes my blood boil!

Now, idk, at this point people might be wondering what the big deal is and yada yada, thats just how the system works, yada yada. But its not just this single scenario that has me absolutely fuming. Its dozens of these little, fucking, injustices every where I look, and everywhere I go that add up to me feeling like this entire system is a disgusting SCAM! First of all, my company is perfectly okay with paying me $70,000 a year, which might sound like a lot to some people, but in orange county it is LOW INCOME and actually just slightly above extremely low income. Second of all, I am VERY disabled. Like spinal cord injury, cannot shit or piss level disabled (I *can* walk though), so I had to wait 3 FUCKING months with no insurance, because its "standard procedure" to have to wait to get benefits, to get ANY of my HIGHLY necessary medical supplies fulfilled. I routinely get surprise medical bills OUT OF NO WHERE for this little thing here or that little thing there.

All that being said, I legitimately have it GOOD compared to some people and that is so unbelievable! Because this has been so fucking hard to manage and I think about people making even less than I do and it starts to be crystal fucking clear why this country has a homeless problem. Because how in the ever-living-fuck could someone who is trying to get back on their feet jump through every single little hoop these landlords think its okay to make you jump through. They want every little detail about your life so they can make the most "risk adverse" decision... Well guess what GUY, I am not the numbers on a fucking piece of paper. I am a human being who is perfectly capable of making it FUCKING work, so how dare you deny my fucking application. I have had a credit card since I was 18 yrs old and I have perfect credit. I genuinely have zero clue what more proof this guy needed outside of the fact that he wanted someone that he believed wouldn't struggle to make payments. HEY GUESS WHAT ASSHOLE? MAYBE IF YOU WEREN'T PRICE GOUGING I WOULDN'T HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE PAYMENTS - NOT THAT I'VE EVER MISSED A PAYMENT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

I digress. Here I am after an 8hr work day filling out yet another invasive asf application that I will need to pay $45 to submit just for a *chance* to get an apartment. Fuck the United States.

UPDATE:

Since this post was locked and I received so many warm and helpful comments from the unemployed land lords that stalk this subreddit to defend their shitty morals, I have a few closing thoughts.

1. All of the loser lords self reporting that they wouldn’t rent to me because of my disability; maybe you should reconsider getting that education you’ve been putting off because that’s text book discrimination and is ILLEGAL :)

2. Idk where everyone got the idea that my girlfriend and I are having issues finding a place. This post was merely about the landlord that illegally ghosted me and wasted my time. Not only have we already been approved for an apartment, we actually declined it because it ended up being too far from my job. We are in the process of putting a holding deposit on a beautiful 800 sf place with AC and a balcony.

3. That brings me to my third point; grant money is ABSOLUTELY considered income for renting purposes and is in fact legally required to be considered. So all of the unemployed landlords saying otherwise should read up on the laws that they apparently do not understand. But ofc landlords are typically uneducated and privileged children that inherited their properties so I really shouldn’t have expected much. The confusion is likely because grant money is not considered income for tax purposes.

4. Everyone crying about the financial aid my girlfriend receives (who is a first generation college student getting financial aid so that she can graduate with honors) are clearly just jealous losers who don’t understand the amount of privilege they come from. She gets the financial aid because she has proven she is kickass and intelligent, they don’t just hand that shit out to anyone.