mormave wrote:
- quote -

Here is the easy way to solve the problem: pay your rent in advance for
the whole year, and negotiate a discount on the rent for prepayment
equal to the interest income you are giving up by prepaying. It makes
your life easier too, since you don't have to remember to pay the rent
every month.

Andy

if you receive mail in a place where you don't live, then I think the
landlord has a right to know more information than you are willing to
share. The more "normal" you appear will ease things for the rental
process.

What does "proof of where I stay" have anything to do with this.
p.s. And no, by the way, the addresses on my accounts are NOT where I
live.
But who cares anyway?

SD wrote:
- quote -

mormave -

Have you actually been refused? A letter directly from a previous
landlord going back five years might help. Show the first two pages of
your 1040 and if they ask for a copy to keep, magic marker out your
social security number. A guy who had just moved to L.A. had a problem
similar to yours - the 1040 wasn't good enough, and he was denied. A
bit angry, he mentioned that the minimum to open an account at Merrill
was (at the time) $20,000. To his surprise, he had the application
approved in less than one second. You don't have to show your assets,
all you have to do is show the landlord that you are not a deadbeat
who's going to refuse to pay the rent, move in a dozen dependents, and
trash his property, to boot, for the six months it will take to process
an eviction. If you still have trouble, you might not want to live
there anyway. If you really want to live there, look for legal advice
from a respected attorney. Even a bank might be able to help with
something like a letter of verification of credit - if you have enough
money, find out who the landlord's mortgagor is, got to the bank and
get pre-qualified to buy his building ... (yuck yuck!).

What does that matter? The bank statement has your mailing address on
it. That is why it is a proof of where you stay, unless you get your
statements mailed somewhere other than your residence.

jIM wrote:
- quote -

which is true- you could Bank with someone in another state. I have
lived numerous locations in my life (multiple locations in Michigan;
rochester ny; buffalo, ny; cincinnati; potomac, MD) and I made sure to
have a local bank account at each location. Some even had a bank
account and a credit union account...

If most of your assetts are in mutual funds, how do you get money to
your atm machine? electronic transfers from mutual fund x to account
Y. Where is account Y (credit union, bank) and do you have a 12
statements showing mutual fund distributions being deposited? or do
you transfer funds only once per year?

My point was to show an account which is not where the majority of your
assets reside, but show cash flow instead (how do you spend money each
month). Information is still personal, but less likely to show your
larger account values.

I don't like sharing that info, either.

But given that you're not gainfully employed, they're taking a gamble on
you. So I think you should be willing to take a gamble on them. How else can
they trust that you'll have the money to pay the rent?

Do you have all your assets at a single institution? If you have it at two
or more institutions, maybe show them only the most recent statement
indicating you have the amount they require.

"mormave" <aug22005[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

By the way, a bank statements says nothing about your actual location
of residence.

Bank statement? I wrote above that most of my money is in mutual
funds. I hardly keep anything in my bank accounts, and their
statements have zero relevant info. Proof of local residence? who
cares? I'm getting the feeling that the only thing I can hope to show
a prospective landlord is my assets. but do i really want to show
someone my total net worth?

how about a bank statement and white out the account number?

shows proof of local residence and cash flow.

This must be a common issue for retired people who don't own homes. My
income comes solely from investments, and I'm newly retired and around
55 y.o. Most of the money is in a few mutual fund companies, and I
reinvest the dividends. I'm starting to look for an apartment to
rent in an area with a very tight housing market, and i expect
landlords to be very picky, requiring proof of income, etc. How can I
prove income? I think the answer is I can't (because even I don't know
it until the end of the year). I guess I can show last year's tax
return (which has a much higher income that future years will be,
because I received a one-time payout from someone's annuity). I don't
like the idea of giving someone a copy of my tax return, and I wouldn't
do that, that I would agree to SHOW someone a few relevant pages. My
assets are fairly large, though...almost (but not quite) enough money
to retire on (if i withdraw about 4$/year). So i guess i could show
landlords some of my mutual fund statements showing total assets...
But some places I'm looking at have income rules: minimums (and some
maximums, for "low-income" residents).