Seattlest: Condo Conversion-alooza Displaces Seattlest ... Sort Of

guest

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:53:10 -0800

I feel for ya man. I live in the watermarke right now. Man it's noisy while they're working but still okay. They're still offering cash to all residents who are left to get out haha. We're all looking for places who have similar amenities and I like you have two cats, so finding a place that has a washer and dryer in the unit has been a real challenge. What a pain in the butt. runamonk@moirai.net

temancl

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:04:06 -0800

I created a RSS feed at work that I checked every 10 minutes or so - I've been gone for a couple years, rent has gone up 20%, so my rent expectations got cranked up along with it. (The shithole 2bds that people wanted 1500 for were amazing!) I found a place, a condo conversion being rented out, weirdly enough. Our landlord seems pretty green (what's that shower really doing?), but hey, it's got parking and w/d. We were the first people who saw it. I missed other places by being 4 hours late. I curse my friend who has a 2bd 1100$ unit on 12th, no rent increases in 4 years. His landlord must not read the paper.

guest

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:01:29 -0800

You can find better prices if you are willing to compromise on location or size. The other thing to understand is that the first person to view an apartment around here typically takes it. The good ones are listed just once and on the market for just 1 day. So that gives you about 1 hour to reply to a craigslist posting. Stale posts are sometimes not worth the time to call about. Make sure you are the first person to view the apartment, and that if it's a keeper you are ready to say "yes" on the spot. After being second-to-arrive four times, my girlfriend asked a rather nice manager if there were unshown apartments. That netted her a nice one. I also just finished a search. I found that most craigslist posts come online around 10am or 5pm. So starting hitting reload around then. Good luck, -Ben

guest

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:38:54 -0800

We lived in a pretty nice, affordable 2 bedroom on the hill (Volunteer Park neighborhood) for 2 years before deciding to downsize to save money. We searched half-heartedly for two weeks, then stumbled onto one fresh on the market, going for $300 less a month than the 2 bedroom apartment, $200 pet fee, rooftop deck, and only 1/2 a mile south on the same street. We grabbed it, then helped our friends get the apartment directly below ours. They are out there, you just need to walk the neighborhoods looking for "for rent" signs and be ready to fill out the applications that day. With so many places turning condo (including our dear 2 bedroom apartment, announced a week before we gave notice that we were moving out), the units available are not available for long. Good luck! ~Wesaturtle

Katelyn

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:20:35 -0800

It's best to know someone. If you don't know someone, then it's best to bribe or offer sexual favors. If all that's below you, it's best to move to the Tri Cities.

kasa

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:35:57 -0800

There *are* affordable apartments out there, it's just that you are competing with half the city for them. My apartment is a godsend - 1250/month, 2 bedroom, parking, fireplace, and on 15th Ave E. However, I know for a fact that sweet baby jesus was looking down on us. Our landlord told us that we were the only people she even talked to - she just happened to answer the phone when my roommate called. I think that some of those Craigslist posters are just so inundated with phone calls that it's damn near impossible for them to call everyone back. Housing searches are getting more epic every day in this town. I, for one, don't plan on leaving this apartment until I die. The end.

James Callan

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:12:40 -0800

We ended up in similar (though much less desperate) circumstances -- our landlord raised the rent on his POS condo, so we started looking. We eventually went better place/more expensive, instead of our original thought of better place/similar price. We took cold comfort watching our ex-landlord list the place for three months on Craigslist, gradually reducing the price from his sky-high initial request, before it rented. Ha! (And in this market, you know he had to be smoking something -- he initially asked for $1400/month when we'd been paying $1050 and thought that was pushing it.)

ronaldholden

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:01:24 -0800

Lived in a rental bldg for a year: expensive, no services or amenities (concierge, pool, gym). A month before lease was up, started checking "condo units for lease." Much better. Absentee owners need to cover homeowner dues, offer better rates than apartment bldgs. Ended up in condo with concierge, pool, gym, etc. For $300/month less. Have since moved twice within same condo bldg, BTW, in both larger & smaller units. And agree with you that a studio's the way to go.