In the year that I’ve been renting my condo I’ve had my fair share of adventures but nothing too outrageous; a tenant’s first rent check bounced (he then paid me in $100’s) and another tenant wanted to contest my lease because he changed his mind about the length of the lease (I told him I’d gladly go to court, he decided the lease was valid.)
Here’s my quick guide to renting your Seattle condo.
Learn More
Search Craigslist, Seattle Rentals, and rent.com for similar rentals. Be sure to figure out all your costs (mortgage + HOA + taxes + maintenance + who knows what.)
Read up on the Seattle Landlord Tenant Information page hosted by the government.
Check With Your HOA
Are there rules concerning how many units can be rented? Is there a move in/out fee? Are there any stipulations on minimum lease terms?
Advertise on Craigslist
I’ve had the most success with Craigslist. And oddly I find it hot or cold. That is I’ll go a week without getting any calls and then get a flood. Keep in mind people likely look the most on the weekend so time your ad to appear Friday or Saturday.
And it helps to have a great ad. Fortunately I have some high quality photography of my unit from when I tried to sell it. If you have a high end unit it might be worth the $150 to get really good photos taken. I also include as much information about the unit, building and neighborhood in the post as possible. My phone number is included so they can contact me as easily as possible. I’m also upfront up all the fees etc. $35 application fee. $750 refundable deposit (kinda high, but my unit is fully furnished). $250 non-refundable deposit (for cleaning, lock changing, etc.)
Due Diligence
Do a credit/background check and/or call their last two landlords.
Paperwork
Here’s the lease [doc] and the property condition checklist [doc] that I use. Disclaimer: I am Not a Lawyer. Use at your own risk.
That’s it. It’s not too hard. Post your questions, war stories in the comments. I’ll add to the post as I think of more.
And of course, thanks to Chelsea for helping me through this.
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11 responses so far ↓
1 Jason // Sep 3, 2008 at 6:19 am
Earlier this year I picked up this Nolo book of leases and rental agreements. It’s created without a single state in mind but it has some great advice and some useful tear-out forms ready for photocopying. The book I bought, which looks a little different than this one (older edition?) also had a CD-ROM with printable forms.
2 Mike2 // Sep 3, 2008 at 9:54 am
Well, as long as your keeping the condo occupied and receiving rent, you’re doing fairly well.
Were you able to raise the rent at all between tenants? I remember you mentioning that the initial rental rate wasn’t covering the ownership costs.
3 Matt // Sep 3, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Occupancy hasn’t been a problem. As for losses, I still lose a small amount of money on it. Though I only put 5% down on the place.
4 Mike2 // Sep 3, 2008 at 4:57 pm
What’s the strategy then?
5 Peckham // Sep 3, 2008 at 9:49 pm
“What’s the strategy then?”
Lose money until the market stabilizes at a new bottom in 2012, then sell at some imagined break-even point. He’ll use the “profits” to buy an entertainment center. He could have made a killing at Wamu, but he hates CDs, except for the kind you can pop into his car stereo. ;)
6 jcricket // Sep 4, 2008 at 8:40 am
Example #1000 in why I don’t blog about personal stuff. No matter what the topic, it inspires the “haters” to come out and “gloat”.
But I do love the financial certainty of the bubble bloggers/commentators. They’re probably as savvy as most yahoo financial message board shills.
7 Matt // Sep 4, 2008 at 8:48 am
@Peckham, I couldn’t have said it better!
8 Peckhammer // Sep 4, 2008 at 11:04 am
See, at least Matt has a sense of humor. I credit Matt for being open about his rental property situation, and for understanding the difference between humor/sarcasm and gloating.
9 Mike2 // Sep 4, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I’m asking honestly, as I’m considering buying a place that doesn’t quite break even as a rental to live in for the next 2 years.
Part of me is saying “hey, it’s only a few hundred bucks a month extra” - and the other part is saying this might not look as good 2 years from now when prices are lower and rents have stayed flat or dropped.
In my area, the $2K+/month rental market looks really weak. If prices drop the way they have this year, there’s little compelling people to pay over $2K/month to rent. Unless they can’t buy - which doesn’t bode well for prices.
10 Matt // Sep 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Sorry, I didn’t know where you were coming from with the question. Now that I do…
Yes, I currently lose a few hundred a month. And yes, it’s a gamble; the unit could lose value and the higher end rental market could collapse.
So the first point, when I looked at comps recently they showed it has appreciated so it would need to first lose the appreciation before cutting into my equity. I’m also of the opinion that prices for good units under $500,000 will be stable over the coming years (this assumption could prove to be very false, I do get nervous when thinking about what is happening in Southern California.)
On the second point, my take is that right now there are almost no “nice”/high end places for rent on Capitol Hill. If you’re in the $2k+/month club for housing the pickings are very slim and whatever comes on the market is generally rented fairly quickly (counter example, it took 5 months for a unit at Portofino to rent, but when it did there was a bidding war.) But look at Trace, there are a number of people willing to pay $2k to $3k to $4k for a rental even though they could likely afford to be (I’d be curious to poll them and ask why they’re renting instead of buying.)
Would I advise someone to buy to do what you’re proposing? Maybe. It’d depend on the quality of the unit and it’s location and what else is happening in that market. If there’s a lot of high end rentals, then likely not. If there isn’t a lot of high end rentals but it’s a neighborhood that yuppies want to live in like Capitol Hill, then it might make sense. And of course do whatever you can to get your monthly costs down (put more money down) and understand the true cost of renting (move in/out fees, repairs, and the cost of a pro-longed vacancy.)
It’s also worth pointing out I have a higher tolerance for risk than most folks. I’m also not an American so if things go completely down the toilet then I’m out of here! :)
11 RCB // Sep 23, 2008 at 6:11 pm
“…I’m outa here”. This says it all!
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