Panic move (2 weeks), are my rental dreams unattainable? (Seattle, Auburn: hardwood floors, apartments)

[Acidic]

Hello Seattle!

I just accepted a job within my company and will be moving the week of the 9th of May. The office is in Tukwila next to that huge mall. I was given all of 11 days of notice so I'm working on a very short time frame. Because of this I need to land in Seattle, rent a hotel for a day or two and find a place ASAP. I've been looking at apartments/townhomes etc using trulia, CL, hotpads, and I've found the big property mgmt websites. What I'm wondering is if my goal is either extremely rare or if I find it, it'll be in the ghetto.

I'm looking for some sort of unit with an attached 1 car garage (avid diyer), 2bd 1ba, allows cats at or under $1000/month. Huge pluses for a decent kitchen, hardwood floors and lots of light. I'd like to live in South King no further than Auburn on the south, Covington to the east, and Federal way to the SW.

From what I've seen there are maybe 2-3 on the sites I mentioned. Are there many more places out there like this that don't bother to advertise? I've seen several suggestions to drive/walk around looking for rent signs. Does that work in the more suburban areas? I may only have 1-2 week days to search/rent/sign agreements before I need to be at work.

Any suggestions?

[Hemlock140]

Yes, they do sometimes have signs, but also many big ones will have a rental office on site. With the economy there are fewer rentals available as people
stop buying houses.

You will find something, but with your requirements expect it to take more than a few days, maybe as much as two weeks. Often just the credit check takes several days.

[Acidic]

Thanks bisjoe, We are both 700plus on credit and have squeaky clean backgrounds, we would both lose our licenses with any kind of criminal background... If anyone knows of a place that meets these reqs please let me know. Or if you have tips.

[Vinylly]

There's nothing wrong with Tukwila. A five minutes drive north on I-5 and your in downtown Seattle, five minutes or less and your at the SeaTac airport. In fact there's nothing wrong with SeaTac either. Nether are 'ghettos'. It may take you longer then two weeks to get settled down though. However, there are lots of hotels and motels in the area.

[Xanathos]

What people in your situation typically do are locate fully furnished short term corporate housing so that they can take their time finding something more permanent that suits their needs.

[happyhunting]

I'm not familiar with Tukwila, but I can tell you that we've been looking online for a year and a half preparing for a very well thought-out and planned move. We looked at Hotpads and the same sites you mention, with the problem being that anything we like is gone in less than a week flat........it's hard to look ahead of time when properties are available immediately and then snatched. So we waited till 8 weeks out from having to move, flew down with our laptops and spent three days bombarding porperty management and agents and touring homes. Luckily we found a nice fit....but the competition for rentals in Seattle is as fierce as the housing market was during the boom in Las Vegas in 2004. One of our rental apps we put in was being presented with 5 other applications, and we were told to "make our best offer" which reminded me of multiple bids when buying. A few of our housing tours involved other clients being there, that clearly wanted the house too. So obviously people are upping their game and offering higher than the listed rent I guess. Housing prices may be falling, but that city is still red hot when it comes to competition.

We had decided that if we found a place we couldn't move into immediately, and need to buy a few months time, a good idea would be those Residence Inn by Marriot type places. They are like apartments, fully furnished and the kitchens include everything down to silverware.

[Acidic]

Originally Posted by happyhunting

I'm not familiar with Tukwila, but I can tell you that we've been looking online for a year and a half preparing for a very well thought-out and planned move. We looked at Hotpads and the same sites you mention, with the problem being that anything we like is gone in less than a week flat........it's hard to look ahead of time when properties are available immediately and then snatched. So we waited till 8 weeks out from having to move, flew down with our laptops and spent three days bombarding porperty management and agents and touring homes. Luckily we found a nice fit....but the competition for rentals in Seattle is as fierce as the housing market was during the boom in Las Vegas in 2004. One of our rental apps we put in was being presented with 5 other applications, and we were told to "make our best offer" which reminded me of multiple bids when buying. A few of our housing tours involved other clients being there, that clearly wanted the house too. So obviously people are upping their game and offering higher than the listed rent I guess. Housing prices may be falling, but that city is still red hot when it comes to competition.

We had decided that if we found a place we couldn't move into immediately, and need to buy a few months time, a good idea would be those Residence Inn by Marriot type places. They are like apartments, fully furnished and the kitchens include everything down to silverware.

Awesome advice. Thanks!

[lovingthegreen]

If need be, use craigslist as a fall-back plan, as there are oftentimes options for temporary housing there which you can utilize while you keep searching for a longer-term solution.

Good luck.

[west seattle gal]

I would suggest moving to West Seattle rather than Tukwila. There are back roads you could take to your job. West Seattle is just a MUCH nicer place to live, in my opinion.

Check out the West Seattle Blog to better understand the community (& ignore today's front page, we usually have pictures of surrounding wildlife or community events rather than mug shots):
West Seattle Blog…

Craigslist.org for Seattle has many rental listings. Also, try our paper's classifieds online, Seattle Times:
Seattle apartments, houses, and condos for rent | NWhomes