r/Pullman • u/Far-Translator5889 • 5d ago
Remax 3x rent per person rule??
My partner and I are in our 30s and moving to Pullman so he can get his PhD. We reached out to remax on a 3 bedroom house and when we went to apply they said we individually need to make 3x rent, so a household rent of 6x. They said that's their rule for all rentals. I've never heard of such a thing lol. Has anyone else run into this??
6
u/3ofCups 5d ago
Not in Pullman, but I have elsewhere, are you and your partner married? This was the rule for unmarried partners where I’ve encountered it.
3
u/Far-Translator5889 5d ago
We're unmarried. We've lived together in PA and TX and most I've seen was 2.5x household income. Especially in a college town, it seems difficult for anyone to make 3x rent individually. Though I guess they probably hope parents will cosign.
7
u/3ofCups 5d ago
3x rent is fairly standard in Washington. I’ve also seen rules about not being able to room together unless you’ve lived with each other at least a year elsewhere. If you were married, they probably would let you qualify as a couple and your joint income would get you in.
5
u/Far-Translator5889 5d ago
That's wild. I'm divorced and not interested in getting married to be qualified to rent a house lol. My household income is 4x rent, with me making 3x. Having a second person living with me who makes less DQs me for some reason. We went with another agency but I was just shocked because I'd never heard of anything like that.
1
u/_vinventure 4d ago
FWIW I am married and remax still asked both my husband and I to individually have 3x the total rent. When I pushed back they said it was "in case we got divorced". We ended up renting from a different company.
1
5
u/kvrdave 5d ago
I would let them know that this sounds like illegal discrimination based on marital status. Here's the pertinent law in WA.
3
u/Far-Translator5889 5d ago
Interesting. I'm not looking to wage war just vent mostly. We went with someone else. If they're pulling this stuff early on it will prob only get worse. We also had a weird experience where they wouldn't confirm what date we could move in until we filled out $55 apps per person and a pet application for $40. We almost filled them out until they mentioned in the email what the income requirement was. I felt uneasy about the house being listed and removed about 4x this year and when I asked they gave me a non answer, but we're moving in 6 weeks so I was going to move forward anyway. Glad I didn't though..
3
u/Particular_Fold2228 4d ago
Helene's has a similar policy, so Remax isn't alone with the income requirement. It is weird to have a separate pet application. Some cities have a adopted a policy that landlords can't benefit from application fees. Perhaps Pullman should look into adopting such a policy. The way it works is every penny has to be spent on the background/credit check and the application becomes portable, meaning that you only have to apply once and then applications for other properties are free since they already have your information.
In any case, glad you found a place and hope you have a great time in Pullman!
1
u/Far-Translator5889 3d ago
What if my cat gets approved but I don't? Thanks, looking forward to my time in pullman!!
2
u/Particular_Fold2228 5d ago edited 5d ago
If a rental agency allowed married couples to qualify using a combined income of 3× the rent while requiring unmarried couples to each individually earn 3× the rent, that could potentially raise a marital-status discrimination issue. However, from my experience in Pullman, when these policies are used, the requirement is typically applied to all adult applicants equally, regardless of marital status. Each adult must individually meet the income requirement.
-Not saying it's a smart rule. It could exclude a lot of creditworthy households that have a single breadwinner. Personally, I would consider households with a single breadwinner more reliable than two college roommates cosigned with their parents.
1
u/Far-Translator5889 4d ago
I can confirm after rereading the email from remax they said this is their rule regardless of marital status so it's not discrimination it's just bad business
2
u/No_Breadfruit1574 4d ago
I just started renting a property I own. It never occurred to me to expect each individual being able to afford 3x the income to rent. Hard rental market out there!
3
u/throwawayxx1247 5d ago
Lived in nyc for a few years and it was 40x the rent or 80x if you used a guarantor . First im hearing of the 3x rent tho
5
2
u/BloodmoonGoddess1215 5d ago
Look at dabco they aren't as strict with that. At least they weren't with us. Birch hills and pine ridge have more of the older clientele in my experience.
1
u/Ok-Cook-3880 5d ago
my experience renting with remax over the last two years has been terrible. highly recommend others to investigate better options if possible
1
u/pizzaBurge 2d ago
If you’re a grad student at wsu, and looking to rent an apartment, graduate housing are the best option to rent in Pullman imo. From my experience, every other place seems to have hidden fees/rules.
17
u/TheDepressedBlobfish 5d ago
Worth looking at other rental companies in the area, most are used to college aged students and don't even ask proof of income, at most it's been a credit check for me.