Freelance writer moving from Chicago to Seattle--concerned about income requirements as a renter & more (Woodland: apartment)

[sklewis]

My husband and I are planning to move to Seattle from Chicago in July. We're in our early 30s, no kids, 2 cats. He's an auto mechanic and I'm a freelance writer. We have almost 15K saved for our move and I have great credit (checked my score today, it was 775). We own a townhouse here in the Chicago suburbs, so rather than go the apartment route, we'd prefer to rent a house, a part of a house or duplex or whatever, and I've been told by Seattle friends that there are plenty of those kinds of rentals. (Hopefully that's true!)

My big concern however is finding employment before we get there and how that may impact our ability to rent. Our plan was to stay with our friends for a week roughly a month before we plan to move to look at housing and apply for jobs. My husband has been keeping a close eye on the job market for his field out there and it actually looks better than Chicago, but given how his industry works, it is more likely that he'd get hired after we move. He does, however, have pay stubs from his job here showing what he makes. My situation is another story. I've published two novels and done a lot of freelance writing for the past few years. I work as an adjunct professor of writing, so I will certainly be sending out my CV to area colleges and universities as well as looking for other jobs in my field. However, if I don't find before we move out there, I don't have pay stubs from current job due to my freelance work. SOOOO (sorry that was long-winded), my question is if we have a lot saved and great credit, will we still be able to find a place even if we are still job-hunting? (The point of doing all that saving was to create a cushion so we could move if we were still job hunting, but maybe landlords don't like/understand that?) One of my friends advised that it would probably be easier to rent from a person rather than a company. Since we are looking to rent a house/space in a house rather than an apartment, is that a good way to go or are the pickings really slim if we go that route?

Hopefully one or both of us will land a job first and I'm just being a worrywart, but this has been a long time dream and I want to make sure we can find a place no matter what.

Other details: We pay about 1200$/mo now in Chicago and could probably afford 1300$. I've visited Seattle 10 times in the last 10 years (like I said, really love it out there and this move has been a long time coming), so I know the lay of the land, and compared to Chicago, none of the neighborhoods seem too sketchy. I'm sure there are few we'd want to avoid, but we'd be pretty comfortable most anywhere. We don't need a place full of night life ala Capitol Hill, but some place with walkable stores, parks, restaurants, etc would be nice. Key for us since we only have one car is close to buses and/or the light rail because at least one of us (probably me) will be taking public transportation to work. If you have neighborhoods to recommend, I'd love to hear them, though I've gotten some suggestions already from friends (Beacon Hill, Columbia City, Central District, Greenwood, Wallingford.)

Thanks for reading all of this! Sorry I was super detailed, but it's the writer in me and I read a bunch of other posts where everyone was like, we need more details please!

[angelenogirl]

Welcome! My husband is a consultant, and I work as a freelance writer while starting a business of my own. I just provided copies of my invoices along with our bank statements. Our scores aren't even as high as yours, yet my husband and I were still able to rent our very top contender on the second day of our week-long house hunt! Being self-employed we thought we'd have to rent from an owner-landlord, but we actually had a really good experience with a property management company. Hope this eases your mind a bit.

As for neighborhoods, without kids your possibilities are endless. All of the areas you mention sound right. I love Greenwood and Wallingford, especially, along with Phinney Ridge, Fremont and Ballard.

Is your writing primarily academic or editorial? There are some decent agencies here that place content and copy contracts. It's definitely worth registering with them for short- or long-term writing gigs.

Good luck with your move. We just relocated here a couple of months ago after dreaming about it for a while. We love it!

[Hemlock140]

You might find a house in one of those areas for a little more than that, $1,500 and up generally in nice neighborhoods for an older, small 2 bedroom on small lot. Auto mechanics were being laid off 3-4 years ago as people bought new or deferred repairs, but according to my mechanic things are picking up now as used cars are becoming in greater demand.

[sklewis]

Thank you both so much for replying.

Angelenogirl, that does ease my mind a lot, thank you! I was actually really getting worried about it. My writing is primarily editorial. I write young adult novels, but also for an online magazine for teenagers as well as our local newspaper. My experience is varied though and I would love to know more about these agencies so I can check them out. I'm probably going to look for regular full-time employment because I've actually been bartending to supplement this income (so my statements might not look as good as yours) and I'd rather not keep doing that! But again, really glad to hear from someone in a similar situation who had the same dream and is living it! That's awesome, congrats to you guys and thanks for the welcome!

Hemlock, okay, good to know. We could probably afford that with me working a more regular, full-time job. I just was afraid a property management co might look at our situation and tell us we can't. And what you say about the auto industry is definitely true nationwide. When my husband was looking for a job four years ago, it was harder and he ended up at a place he didn't really like. Lately, he's had more options though and he definitely sees even more options in the Seattle area than here in Chicago.

Thanks again!

[Vinylly]

Originally Posted by sklewis

My husband and I are planning to move to Seattle from Chicago in July. We're in our early 30s, no kids, 2 cats. He's an auto mechanic and I'm a freelance writer. We have almost 15K saved for our move and I have great credit (checked my score today, it was 775). We own a townhouse here in the Chicago suburbs, so rather than go the apartment route, we'd prefer to rent a house, a part of a house or duplex or whatever, and I've been told by Seattle friends that there are plenty of those kinds of rentals. (Hopefully that's true!)

My big concern however is finding employment before we get there and how that may impact our ability to rent. Our plan was to stay with our friends for a week roughly a month before we plan to move to look at housing and apply for jobs. My husband has been keeping a close eye on the job market for his field out there and it actually looks better than Chicago, but given how his industry works, it is more likely that he'd get hired after we move. He does, however, have pay stubs from his job here showing what he makes. My situation is another story. I've published two novels and done a lot of freelance writing for the past few years. I work as an adjunct professor of writing, so I will certainly be sending out my CV to area colleges and universities as well as looking for other jobs in my field. However, if I don't find before we move out there, I don't have pay stubs from current job due to my freelance work. SOOOO (sorry that was long-winded), my question is if we have a lot saved and great credit, will we still be able to find a place even if we are still job-hunting? (The point of doing all that saving was to create a cushion so we could move if we were still job hunting, but maybe landlords don't like/understand that?) One of my friends advised that it would probably be easier to rent from a person rather than a company. Since we are looking to rent a house/space in a house rather than an apartment, is that a good way to go or are the pickings really slim if we go that route?

Hopefully one or both of us will land a job first and I'm just being a worrywart, but this has been a long time dream and I want to make sure we can find a place no matter what.

Other details: We pay about 1200$/mo now in Chicago and could probably afford 1300$. I've visited Seattle 10 times in the last 10 years (like I said, really love it out there and this move has been a long time coming), so I know the lay of the land, and compared to Chicago, none of the neighborhoods seem too sketchy. I'm sure there are few we'd want to avoid, but we'd be pretty comfortable most anywhere. We don't need a place full of night life ala Capitol Hill, but some place with walkable stores, parks, restaurants, etc would be nice. Key for us since we only have one car is close to buses and/or the light rail because at least one of us (probably me) will be taking public transportation to work. If you have neighborhoods to recommend, I'd love to hear them, though I've gotten some suggestions already from friends (Beacon Hill, Columbia City, Central District, Greenwood, Wallingford.)

Thanks for reading all of this! Sorry I was super detailed, but it's the writer in me and I read a bunch of other posts where everyone was like, we need more details please!

When my daughter and son-in-law sold their home in Ballard, they were able to rent a small one bedroom basement apartment in a private home near Woodland Park for about $1500 /month. It was month-to-month and there was no lease. The reason they did this is because they wanted to take time seaching for their new home. So, I guess what you are thinking about is doable. The apartment will certainly not be fancy however and if you have only 15K, you had better make sure one of you gets a job within 6-7 months, -which can be rather scarry in this economic climate. The biggest question is, will you even be able to rent month-to-month if neither one of you has a job or will you end up living in a motel, night-to night or just living out of your car, which many people seem to do.

[sklewis]

Originally Posted by Vinylly

When my daughter and son-in-law sold their home in Ballard, they were able to rent a small one bedroom basement apartment in a private home near Woodland Park for about $1500 /month. It was month-to-month and there was no lease. The reason they did this is because they wanted to take time seaching for their new home. So, I guess what you are thinking about is doable. The apartment will certainly not be fancy however and if you have only 15K, you had better make sure one of you gets a job within 6-7 months, -which can be rather scarry in this economic climate. The biggest question is, will you even be able to rent month-to-month if neither one of you has a job or will you end up living in a motel, night-to night or just living out of your car, which many people seem to do.

Well, we definitely can't let that happen. We have 2 cats who are coming with us, so motels and the car definitely not an option. We're flying out ahead of time to find something and that's why I asked if it was possible to rent with good credit and solid bank statements even if not employed. We will be trying to find jobs beforehand if at all possible and the plan is definitely to find something way before 6 months. In addition to freelancing/writing experience, I have nearly 10 years bartending experience which I'd rather not fall back on, but I will. My husband and I both will work whatever jobs we need to to start out and we aren't looking for anything fancy either. My main concern was if someone will rent to us. It sounds like in Angelenogirl's experience it is a good possibility, so hopefully it is okay.

[bostonguy1960]

Hate to give bad news, but a current thread in the renting forum proves how tough it can be to find a rental, even with great credit and good savings. Something titled "Unemployed with good credit and savings but can't find anyone to rent to us..."