Rentals in Santa Barbara County are the worst. Due to my sister being disabled and my father being a diabetic, I live with my family to help my mother out. Recently, we given given a termination of tenancy by our landlord of 12 years.
We knew that it was going to be difficult to find a place to call home, but never knew how difficult it would turn out to be. Within the two-and-a-half months of searching, we put in seven to ten applications. That may not seem a lot, but, with our income, there were not many options out there. See, many of these landlords base income on the 0.3 method. Which to me does not make full sense at all.
If a four-bedroom rental is $5,000 and two people make $2,900 a month and the other two each make $2,600, in total that equals to over $8,000. That tells me rent is affordable. With money left over. Now, I understand everyone has bills, and maybe these landlords see that side, but isn't that one reason they charge up to $50 to do a credit check? All these charges, some of which are not refundable, is digging into the pockets of those who "can't afford" to live in a $5,000 rental.