Seattle-Area Apartments Like Hen’s Teeth Something Affordable Often A Matter Of Luck
Apartment hunters in the Seattle area are finding it takes more than just time, money and good references to locate an affordable abode these days. It also takes luck.
Seattle’s apartment vacancy rate of 1.7 percent is the lowest that Tim Fahey, a longtime real estate researcher, remembers in 25 years of vacancy surveys.
“For all intents and purposes, that’s filled up,” Fahey said.
Snohomish County is nearly as tight at 2 percent. “I remember the days when it was 25 percent,” Fahey said.
By comparison, Pierce County’s vacancy rate is 6.4 percent; Kitsap County, 8.9 percent. Market observers at a recent Spokane real estate forum predicted that apartment vacancy rates in Spokane County would be about 11 percent in 1998, and 7 to 9 percent in Kootenai County.
Seattle “landlords are totally in the driver’s seat right now,” said Linda Brickey, 31, who after two months of searching for a place in Seattle still had not found one to rent by Monday.
Unfortunately, relief is not in sight.
There is demand for 10,000 more units this year in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, but only 5,000 units are being built.
Job growth is expected to be less in 1998 and 1999 than it was in 1997, which should ease demand. “But still the supply won’t keep up with the demand,” said Tom Cain, an apartment broker.
Rents are high, and prospective tenants must be prepared to plunk down as much as 2-1/2 months’ rent before moving in. They’ll also need a decent income, a clean credit record and glowing recommendations from previous landlords.
Some tenants want an apartment so bad they’ll bring resumes, dress up and work hard to strike up a rapport with the landlord or manager.
“I think we’re noticing more tenants treating the application process almost like a job interview, because they know they’re possibly competing against other people,” said Brian Seutz, a property manager for Windermere Property Management.
Brickey, the general manager of a Lower Queen Anne espresso and catering business, said she recently looked at a one-bedroom apartment near Green Lake advertised at $545. One young woman stood out from the crowd.
“She wanted that place, and she was going to do whatever it took,” Brickey said. “She came really, really dressed up. She was talking about her job. You knew she was vying to make herself look better than everybody else. I left.”
Erin and Todd Chase, the parents of a 3-month-old baby, found out after they were accepted as tenants for a West Seattle house that appearances made a difference.
Their landlord told them that she selected them as tenants because their car was clean. She also looks at how would-be tenants dress.
“My husband, I found out later, intentionally washed the car that morning, which is something I had never thought of,” Erin Chase said.
Money remains the big barrier for most tenants.
Jim Nell, executive director of the apartment association, said landlords are making up for cost increases of the past five or 10 years. “They’re in catchup mode,” he said.
“The effect is that people are moving out of the city because they don’t have that kind of money,” said Catherine Castillo-Cota, director of The Tenants Union, which fields 15,000 calls a year from tenants.
xxxx ROOMS TO RENT Apartment vacancy rates for selected counties in Washington: King, 1.8 percent Snohomish, 2.0 percent Pierce, 6.4 percent Spokane, 11 percent