From absurd move in costs to nearly the entire city moving on a single day, Boston’s real estate rental market is truly like no other. While working in the city as a leasing specialist for 3 years and serving over 4,000 renters I continuously found myself having to educate clients on the many unique aspects of my favorite city. In this series of articles I aim to give an insider’s look at Boston’s one of a kind apartment rental industry and spread knowledge that every prospective renter in Boston should know.
In the last article of this series I went over what many landlords in Boston require as an up front cost to move in. In this article, I will go over what landlords require in terms of qualifications to rent their apartments. Please keep in mind that the following are only common requirements and do not apply to all landlords and/or types of applicants.
Working Professionals
For working professionals, the most common income requirement is three times the rent. This would mean for a $2,500 one bed apartment, you would need to make $7,500 per month or $90,000 per year. For many, roommates are a necessary way to afford/qualify for apartments. Fortunately, landlords usually combine all roommates’ incomes since they understand that they will split up the rent. As an example, if three roommates are renting an apartment for $4,000 that would be $12,000 per month in income as a requirement for the group as a whole. This example comes out to $48,000 per year per person or $144,000 per year as a whole. Regardless of how the rent is being split up, the total income of the group is likely what will be looked at. In this example, if someone is making only $36,000 per year but the other two each make over $60,000, the landlord will likely see the group as qualified. With that being said, each landlord is different. Another landlord may require each individual to make three times their “even portion” of rent (one third in this case with three people). The reason many landlords are open to a combined income for the group regardless of the breakdown is because leases are typically signed “jointly and severally”. This means that the tenants are renting the unit “together as one” and if one person doesn’t pay rent, the whole group is technically responsible.
Credit requirements do not work the same as income since they are not qualified by the total sum of the group. The most common credit requirement I have seen in Boston is a score minimum of 700. While this is high, there are some landlords who will take over 650. Unlike income requirements, this requirement is typically for each individual applicant. If one person in a group has an insufficient credit score, the landlord will most likely see the group as a whole as unqualified. That is unless the unqualified applicant can provide a guarantor who is qualified. I’ll be going over guarantors later in this article.
While the previous two requirements are extremely common, another requirement that I’ve seen for working professionals which isn’t as prevalent is length of employment. Virtually every time this has come up for me the requirement has been a minimum of 1 year of work history at their current employer. New hires are seen as risky to some landlords for two reasons. The first is that when it comes to layoffs, recent hires are usually the first to go. The second is that a new hire can turn out to not be a good fit for the job and be fired or quit. This is opposed to longer standing employees who likely will continue to work at that company and have more job security.
Students
For students, qualifying for apartments in Boston can be a bit tricky. There are a significant number of apartments that strictly do not accept undergraduate students and even some that do not allow graduate students. Unfortunately for student renters, this is legal since occupation/student status is not a protected class under state or federal law. At the same time, Boston’s thousands of student renters make up a significant portion of the city’s rental market and so of course, there is still plenty of student-friendly housing.
For the apartments that do allow students, the most common way to qualify is with cosigners or “guarantors”. A guarantor is a person that signs a document agreeing to pay the rent if the tenant does not. Since many students do not meet income/credit requirements, landlords will require them to have a guarantor that does meet the requirements to “guarantee” the lease.
Co-Signers/Guarantors
For cosigners, the requirements are not always the same as working professionals. Credit requirements almost always are, however for income, some landlords have an increased minimum. This is because unlike a working professional who is paying their own rent, the guarantor may need to pay their own housing costs and the tenant’s in addition. Four to five times the rent in income is a common raised requirement, however I’ve seen most landlords still be fine with three times the rent.
A requirement only applicable to guarantors would be a location requirement. This is because all applicants planning to live in the unit will reside there, however a cosigner does not have to be present to agree to cover any non-paid rent. Due to a lack of ability to require and obtain payment when it is not paid, international cosigners are often not accepted. This is also because they most likely do not have a US credit score. Out-of-state cosigners are typically accepted, however due to differences in jurisdictions/laws there are some landlords that will require all guarantors to reside in Massachusetts.
International Students/Working Professionals
For students that do not have someone to guarantee their lease residing in the US because they are coming from abroad, there is another way to qualify for an apartment. This would be through their visa. In place of a guarantor, a visa can show a landlord that the applicant or their family has sufficient funds to pay the rent. Along with a copy of the actual visa card, the landlord will ask for an “I-20 document”. This document states how much money the applicant has reserved specifically for housing so the landlord can see if that would cover the rent. Understand that not all landlords will allow a visa in place of a guarantor and may require a US based guarantor for students regardless of visa status.
For working professionals that are international, many will not have established a credit score in the US or their credit history is too short to meet the requirement. For those in this situation, many landlords will still allow them to qualify should they have a work visa. This would usually be in the form of a “J1 Visa”. For any visa or work authorization, a major requirement is that the term of the visa is longer than the lease so that legal residency does not expire while the occupant is still living in the apartment.
Final Thoughts
Boston landlords generally have very high requirements to qualify for their apartments. Although it can be hard to qualify based on the typical 700 credit score and triple the rent in income, roommates, guarantors, and visas are a few of the ways that qualifying can be made easier. At the end of the day, just as with high move-in costs, apartment demand in Boston far outweighs supply, and so landlords can still find tenants despite their high qualification requirements. As always, good luck and happy renting!
*Please keep in mind that the information in this article is based on my personal experiences and may not accurately represent the entire Boston Real estate market*
Author
Evan Bilton
Written: 05/23/2024
Contact Information
Evan@realty20.com
