> Many institutions in our society are still structured in such a way that W2 employees are considered the norm, and it is hard for even well-off people who are self employed to, for instance, get a mortgage without intense paperwork hassles.
It was refreshing to read that. Even for an apartment it's almost foreign to most building managers when you say you are self-employed (they might even have an unwritten rule that this means unemployed lol). Even after showing a good transaction history your chances are still pretty slim, it's almost as if they have never heard about anything other than W2 and pay stubs.
Even worse for me is that my clients have been in the US and I am in Germany. The landlords here would rather give an apartment to somebody who is on welfare. Seriously.
I'm considering incorporating and granting myself a EUR salary just so there is a steady pay stub.
Which is ironic since the top category in many of the revenue brackets was "real estate/rental and leasing firms". The building manager might get an old-school W2, but the agent who hooked you two up is likely self-employed.
I get around this a few ways. If they require it, you can show them your savings account that shows you can pay a year's rent in cash. But maintaining a good credit rating is often good enough. I thought I'd have to show bank records, but instead the property manager said I had a credit rating "like a bank" and that was good enough.
But the best advice I can give is to rent from an individual. You get so much more for less, because a lot of private party landlords just need to cover a very low mortgage from 10+ years ago, and getting peace of mind by renting to a professional is a good trade-off for below market rent.
This became an issue when I applied for a mortgage recently. I needed my father to cosign to make it go through. I make more than him, and I currently have 3 paying clients so I can't be more than 1/3 fired at a time, but apparently I am greater risk.
It was refreshing to read that. Even for an apartment it's almost foreign to most building managers when you say you are self-employed (they might even have an unwritten rule that this means unemployed lol). Even after showing a good transaction history your chances are still pretty slim, it's almost as if they have never heard about anything other than W2 and pay stubs.