One reason the decision to buy rather than rent was watching what was going on in the rental market. When I moved to Seattle in 2000, I thought it was outrageous to rent a 3 bedroom house in West Seattle for $1100 a month. I had grown up in Nevada and moved from there to staff housing on a Job Corps Center in Astoria Oregon, where my rent for a four bedroom mansion on the edge of the Columbia had been $650 a month. We coughed up the $2200 to hold the place and, because me and my partner were both working, we found that the good wages in Seattle allowed us to rent a nice place and save money. Over the years, that formula stayed true. My income went up, and so did the rental prices, but it seemed to be at about the same pace.
In 2011, I moved into the apartment I am getting ready to move out of now. The rent was reasonable. The apartment was a little run down, but had nice amenities like a gas fireplace and washer/dryer, so it seemed worth it. Shortly after I moved in, one of those behemoth property management companies took over, and everything changed. Every year the rent went up, along with the fees that we paid for parking, storage, etc. I would have been fine with that, but no money was coming back into the building. The elevator was old and slow, carpets in the common areas and hallways were literally wearing out from the lack of care, and even items such as window latches were not being fixed when requested by tenants. From my perspective, the property management company was bleeding the property dry by getting as much as possible for rent while doing as little as possible to keep the building up.
An article in the Seattle Times from August of 2013 titled "Soaring rents force lifestyle changes" cited how market forces are permanently altering the familiar face of many neighborhoods. The article states: "Low housing inventory, a growing population of young tech company workers and changing attitudes about when to buy a home are still contributing to rent increases throughout the Seattle metro area."
What effect will this have on our fair city? My concern is that rising rents will drive many musicians and artists out of the area. Why would someone continue to live here if the cost of living is so much lower in Portland or Austin or Nashville? Those who have to because of family or other obligations will stay, others will head to where they can make a living while still having time and energy to pursue their passion.
I was already feeling good about my condo purchase when it closed last week. It felt even sweeter when I reached my apartment door and found a note about my rent going up another $155 a month on January 1, 2015. When I added up the cost of rent, parking and storage in my building, the principal and interest on my condo (in Eastlake) is lower. It's sort of a no-brainer for me, but not everyone has that option. I hope Seattle pays attention and starts to address the rising rent issues before we start going the way of our sister city San Francisco. It's not looking pretty over there.
