Seattle Press on Line - Renting in Seattle: An Overview of Today's Scene

Renting in Seattle: An Overview of Today's Scene

By Yayoi Lena Winfrey

Jul 27, 2000 -- The Seattle I left in 1994 was a small town with affordable rents. Only two blocks away from the Seattle Center, my one-bedroom Queen Anne apartment cost a mere $400 a month. Although the building exterior looked like a motel left over from the World's Fair, it boasted a spacious living room, an ample bedroom and a bathroom with a full-sized bathtub. The kitchen was small, but roomy enough to hold a table and two chairs next to a counter. Conveniently located, the apartment was a ten-minute walk to the former Hansen Baking Company, now Larry's Market.

Five years later, one look at Seattle's rental market made my eyes widen in shock. Moving back to Seattle last year, I was unprepared for the small town that had grown into a big city with big city rents. Apartments similar to the one I had doubled in cost. What caused this upward spiral in prices?

"Basically, the whole technical boom made a lot of people with the right skills very well off," says Carol Sanchec, a new condo owner who spent ten years living in Seattle apartments.

In her opinion, greedy landlords took advantage of the nouveau riche by upping rents for prospective tenants.

Before their recent condo purchase, Sanchec and her husband "lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Renton for $875."

Although she looked for housing in Seattle's north end, she found areas like the University District affordable, but not children-friendly.

"Their apartments are not too bad, but it's not a kid area. It's more like college students, young adults and retirees," says the mother of an infant daughter.

"There are no kids up there. For two years we were looking at apartments. It was $900 for a two-bedroom then in north Seattle. I'm sure they're way more now."

A friend of mine, working for a real estate agency that manages several hundred apartments in the city, also blames technology for inflated rents.

"Arrogant Microsoft people think they can buy anything they want," she said agreeing to speak only under the condition of anonymity.

"I don't rent to them on purpose."

The last time she held an open house, ten couples turned up 45 minutes before the scheduled showing.

When I told her about San Francisco's bidding wars where hundreds of hopeful renters lined up hours before the designated time ready to ante up the asking price, she shook her head.

"I refuse to take bids," she said. "That's taking advantage of people."

Perusing several ads, I did a little comparison shopping and discovered that Fremont offered some great deals including a two-bedroom for $850.

But "in Fremont," according to Wazhma Samizay, "it's almost impossible to find apartments."

The senior manager of www.renttech.com, Samizay has an assistant "that drives around four to six hours every day in the area to see if there's anything new."

"The market in that area is very limited," she says, because, "Fremont and Wallingford with its single family housing is much harder to find rentals in."

According to Samizay, the vacancy rate for Fremont, Wallingford and Greenlake is .04 percent while in the city as a whole it's 3 percent.

Recently, readers of a local paper voted Ballard Seattle's most affordable neighborhood. A two-bedroom brick duplex with fireplace, washer, dryer and garage was renting there for $1100 while a two-bedroom in a fourplex with similar amenities was only $845.

Green Lake, once considered a pricey neighborhood, has become more accessible. A two-bedroom town house two blocks from the lake was $900; a three-bedroom, $1095.

Looking at studios, I found one with hardwood floors that rented for $595 in Montlake while a newly remodeled Green Lake studio was $625 and another in Sandpoint near the Burke-Gilman Trail was $615.

One ad offered one and two-bedrooms in Northgate with a microwave, lanai and access to freeway express lanes that started at $700. A one-bedroom condo was $675.

An ad for a two-bedroom Phinney/Greenwood duplex asked for $1075.

A two-and-half-bedroom at the top of Phinney featuring a pedestal sink rented for $1200 one week and $1100 the next.

In Shoreline, I found a one-bedroom for $700 that featured beach privileges and also an "upscale" two-bedroom for $835.

The University Village area has become a haven for yuppies and a two- bedroom townhouse in a four-plex there was $1025.

Although a one-bedroom Tudor in the University District was $1350, a two-bedroom advertised for only $860.

For $1145, you can rent a two-bedroom in a Wallingford triplex or for $795, a single-bedroom is available.

Samizay says landlords are "pricing rentals at about $1 to $1.50 a square foot most making the prices come up."

"In the Northgate, Greenwood and Bitter Lake areas, it's really reasonable. In Northgate, a two-bedroom rents for $800 to $900 while in the city the same set-up costs $1,000 to $1,200. That's a huge increase."

Samizay's agency also specializes in matching roommates and she's noticed a proliferation of similar services.

"In the North end, people are definitely being taken advantage of," says Samizay, clearly disturbed. "In Green Lake and Fremont, there are services that say 'sign up with us' when there really isn't much out there."

Nevertheless, Samizay says these are all signs of a good economy.

"Employees are making a lot more money and bosses are definitely compensating employees," she says. "We're becoming more like a real city."

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