Oh, You’re Freelance? Good Luck Renting an Apartment

Freelancer here, went through something similar in Chicago a couple of times. This line in particular stood out:

> Others make tenants pay the whole year’s rent up front

I had resistance from a landlord who didn’t want to take a freelancer as a tenant, so I asked, “How many months up front would you want me to pay for you to feel comfortable, and then how can you make me feel comfortable that you’d take care of complaints and not just give me the finger because you already had all my money? I’m fine with whatever compromise you think is fair as long as we’re both protected.”

Just that conversation alone was enough. She said, “if you’re this fair with me, you’re probably this fair with your customers, and we’ll be fine.” The end, no deposit required.

I’m not saying that’ll always work - but just remember that negotiation isn’t binary. Find out what the person on the other side wants, and let them offer you a compromise they think both sides would accept. And if you’re a freelancer, pick up the book Getting To Yes.

The first line of the article is utter nonsense. The person with "$25 million" can just pay the rent up front for a year with ~0.1% of their wealth and not even have to reveal their bank balance. 99% of landlords would accept that.

Back in the real world, If you're renting a fancy apartment in downtown Manhattan with a few grand in the bank (e.g. you can't pay up front) you have some serious budgeting problems. The landlords/agents are doing you a favour by not allowing you to spaff away your money, IMO.

I'm currently FT but have contracted in London. I've never lived in a city center apartment, it's thoroughly a luxury good.

You can live half an hour away for less than half the price, or have a house with two gardens half an hour away for the same price.

It would be much easier to take the article seriously if they used realistic numbers for "normal" accommodation.

Personally I'd say that if you're going to go it alone then having a few months to a year saved is just par for the course. You need it in order to maintain a sense of sanity and not feel like you're completely impoverished all of the time.

For most people that will entail reducing outgoings so that the number is manageable.

It is, however, quite odd that I could have employed someone out of the proceeds of my business and they would be able to rent an apartment without issue. I imagine some people must do this with their spouses, for example.

I own a small web company. people who work for me are able to get bonds for houses, I had to jump through a crazy amount of hoops, including accountant letters and office landlord letters to just rent an apartment.

this is true even in the UK, if youre self employed youre going to struggle