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Old 03-09-2007, 12:29 PM
x4fscvdvd
 
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I currently live in California and I'm moving up to Seattle at the end of this year. Everyone talks about housing prices are almost up to California levels. However I'm going to be renting, and a crappy, small apartment here is $1,400 a month. It seems to me rent is MUCH lower in Seattle even if buying prices seem relatively similar to California. Is this correct? Will rent rise rapidly or do they usually stay the same?
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Old 03-09-2007, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Austin 'burbs
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I think you could easily pay $1000-1400 for a pretty small apt.

On the flipside, you might be able to find something in the $700-800 range, depending on where you want to be, and how low your standards could go... if you know what I mean.

When I met my husband 7 years ago, he lived in Cap Hill, in a crappy - and I mean CRAPPY, old nicotine dripping from the walls, you dont want to cook in the kitchen, or walk on the carpet, studio... right off Broadway for $600 a month. I am sure that rat hole is renting for more now... and last I saw it about 8 mths ago, the building looked as run down as ever but the location was PRIME...

A few years ago people were talking about the surplus of rental units, because of low interest rates - people were buying. We became home owners, so I didn't keep up with the rental market. I have seen a lot of apt buildings turned into condos... so perhaps that's still partially true. There will always be a need for rental units in Seattle though, especially as home prices go up. I am sure you could find something, it might just take more than average time to find it.
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Old 03-09-2007, 02:11 PM
x4fscvdvd
 
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Well looking at Rent.com I've found things that are WAY bigger and nicer for $1,400 as opposed to the dirty run-down place you'll get here for $1,400 so I'm excited about that but people keep saying how expensive it is and that worries me but I'm just seeing everything so much cheaper when it comes to rentals I wanted to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. I want to live in a nice area and a nice place but it doesn't need to be top of the line. I also don't need to live in the middle of town.

Right now I have a new 2005 vehicle with not too many miles on it but I might start taking the bus or something if the transit system is really nice down there. We'll see. I just want a decent place in a decent location for a decent price. Then we will examine the place further and either rent or buy another house once we nail down the area we would want to spend a significant amount of time in.
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Old 03-09-2007, 02:38 PM
 
Location: Austin 'burbs
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The public transportation is top notch. You don't need a car if you live in the city, and in fact - they have car-share programs... where you basically rent a car for an hour here and there, if you need something for carrying stuff, etc. I forgot the name of the program...

The cost of living is generally expensive, food, gas, clothes. Taxes on cars, insurance - etc seem expensive to me, but I just moved to Austin, where it's even more expensive - so perhaps Seattle is a good deal. I don't know how it compares to CA.

I do know that the rentals in the city can be hard to get - like, many applications going into the same place, at the same time - etc... so I would pick a couple of different neighborhoods and a wide range of rental prices - so you can maximize your chances.

I think there is alot of units on the market - but everyone wants that quaint, craftsman style building, which has the courtyard, the built-ins, original hardwoods, and has been updated... for the amazing price, you know what I mean?
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Old 03-09-2007, 02:41 PM
x4fscvdvd
 
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I'm not wanting anything that special, and I don't mind living outside the city. Maybe I sounded picky but I basically don't want to live in a dump for a lot of money (California). I wanted to make sure there was reasonably nice places for reasonable prices, which it sounds like there are?
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Old 03-09-2007, 07:36 PM
 
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You won't have a problem finding something decent for $1400/month. When I moved to Kirkland in Oct '05 I rented a 2 bdrm/2 bath (1000-1100 sq ft) in a new Avalon Development in Juanita area. Our rent was around $1100 b/c we had move-in/pre-construction specials, and after we moved out the regular rent was closer to $1300. These were nice looking apartments and although the materials were not high end they still looked fairly modern. The floors and walls were thin so you could hear your neighbours sometimes but I think that is usually the case with most rentals. We also had underground secured parking and a workout facility. Too bad the management kind of sucked but more often than not that is a fairly common problem.
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Old 03-12-2007, 09:32 AM
x4fscvdvd
 
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I'm actually hoping to keep it cheaper but just the fact that you can get something way nicer there than where I am at for the same price is mainly what I wanted to be sure of!
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Old 03-12-2007, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Austin 'burbs
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I had a one bedroom, with a den, apt in Magnolia 7 years ago for $1100.

We moved to a 3 bedroom apt in Redmond, after that, for $800 a month.

... and I already mentioned my husbands crappy studio in Cap Hill for $600.

That's about the range you will see, give or take.
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Old 03-12-2007, 10:46 PM
x4fscvdvd
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenbar View Post
I had a one bedroom, with a den, apt in Magnolia 7 years ago for $1100.

We moved to a 3 bedroom apt in Redmond, after that, for $800 a month.

... and I already mentioned my husbands crappy studio in Cap Hill for $600.

That's about the range you will see, give or take.
Well I currently pay $800 a month for my one room in a four bedroom house in Southern California. I don't even NEED three bedrooms, two would be fine and I would love to live in Redmond (NINTENDO!!!) so it sounds like that is a VERY reasonable price, as long as the place was clean and not in a dumpy area.
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Old 06-09-2013, 07:00 AM
 
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I don't know what kind of stuff you guys are smoking now in Cali but Seattle is in no way cheaper than Cali. Obviously you can always find crappy cheap places anywhere you go but if you compare equivalent places you'll find they're about the same. A single bedroom apartment in Kirkland or Seattle for example could cost you about $1800 in a very exclusive neighborhood. That's pretty much on par with Irvine or West LA if not more.

Also I was able to find a $700 one bedroom apartment in Cali a couple years ago when I lived there. Of course it was a ghetto neighborhood but it wasn't too bad. So it's all about where you want to live whether in CA or WA.
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