<prompt> Human: Longtime lurker, first-time poster here. I wanted to get yalls take on a situation I found myself in recently, and some advice for next time.Im a PhD student, which comes with a decent stipend 2500month in a relatively cheap city. The catch in my city is that its cheap because theres lots of old housing stock. If you actually want an apartment without a 50-year-old kitchen, more than two electrical circuits for the entire place, etc., youll pay a bit more.So after getting tired of my oldbroken apartment, which I rent for 800month, I applied for a place thats 1000month.Long story short, the landlord said no, owing to a 3x-income rule. Now, I currently spend about 1500mo total, and I could optimize a lot further -- even so, thats 1000month into savings. I will HAPPILY give up 200month of that to have an apartment that was renovated in this century. Im a home-body introvert and housing quality is worth it to me.Is it common for landlords to have hard-and-fast rules like this? Ive rented in other cities but as a full-time employee so 3x income wasnt an issue If it comes up again, any strategies for convincing the landlord? More fundamentally -- am I unreasonable for thinking I can spend 1000 in rent?Extra bonus twist: I worked full-time for a while before coming back for the PhD. I actually did pretty well as an engineer and have 100k in savings and no debt. I tried making the point to the landlord after the first no that I could theoretically cover rent for 8 years from savings, but he wasnt willing to bend. I wouldnt actually run down savings like that, but I found the lack of sway in that argument surprising.Thoughts?Assistant: Low-cost area. 100k in savings. You say you have 3 years left, but I have a PhD, so hahahahahahaha to having an accurate estimate that far out. Have you considered buying? You are still subject to income limits, but you could probably put 50k to a downpayment. Given what rents and housing look like in my town, versus my own postdoc salary, I bet they would lend you 100k on your income. Human: I actually considered it when I came here. I went as far as getting pre-approved for 150k, which is a decent house in a second-tier neighborhood in my city. I eventually decided I didnt want to be my own handyman lawn maintenance guy etc. But point taken, and Im certainly buying once I settle somewhere post-school!  <response>: Maybe buy a condotown house? Those have higher monthly costs but the HOA has to take care of most of the problems esp. with a condo. 