Generally, yes, you can combine your income as most landlords apply the 40x rent rule to gross household income. One caveat is that landlords typically limit the number of leaseholders, so if you have multiple roommates or a large family, you may not be able to use everyone's combined income. Finally, a small percentage of landlords will not let you combine your income to qualify, but this is relatively rare.

Yes, in some instances, you can pay your lease upfront if you don't otherwise qualify. Most buildings, however, are rent-stabilized and cannot legally accept upfront payment. In these cases, you can still rent in those buildings by using a NYC guarantor service like Insurent or The Guarantors.

It depends, and you should ask the landlord as they will likely consider this on a case-by-case basis, but assuming your job offer is guaranteed and will start before or around the same time as your new lease would you'll probably be fine.

The apartment application fee is non-refundable pretty much all the time. Luckily the newly passed Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 caps rental application fees at $20.

It depends, the application process will usually take between 2 to 5 business days or more.

Unfortunately, no, there isn't, although if you're applying to multiple buildings owned by the same landlord, you should be okay with just one application. Otherwise, you'll need to pay and fill out separate applications for each building you wish to apply at. One way to try and mitigate rental application fees is to ask your agent for a refund. Most agents will be willing to offer a rebate assuming you sign with them as they'd rather you not miss out on a place because you're worried about paying multiple application fees.