<i>just playing devil&#x27;s advocate here but since when do you NEED to spend less than 30% of your take home on rent to survive?</i><p>That seems to be one of the common and very popular requirements to even have your lease application put aside for consideration, that being income must be 3x the ask for rent.  At least this was the case in Austin proper (i.e. inside the city limits, and inside the I-35, Mopac, 183 and Hwy 71 box), I saw similar requirements when helping a friend scout for a place in SFO.<p>When I was looking for a place I found a landlord willing to negotiate and haggle on the deposit since my income wasn&#x27;t 3x the rent ask.  They took a larger deposit, I signed a lease, wasn&#x27;t late once.<p>As with everything, YMMV.