On my way to work this morning I had an interesting conversation with a very nice fella who is moving to Seattle with his family. He needs to find a place to rent some where between $2,000 – $3,000 a month. Should be doable. But there are honestly more houses for sale than there are single family homes to rent in Seattle right now. What??
Let’s look at the general Central District area. The CD is consistently a favorite hood with our Diva Dwellers. I used PadMapper and compared the results to the NWMLS. There are all of 3 real houses to rent. Everything else is an extra large apartment. The results there are 30% more homes to buy in the same area as there are to rent. WTF??
To Rent = 3 real houses / handful of townhouses or large apartments
Criteria: $2-3K / 2-4bd / Using PadMapper
To Buy = 9 real houses
Criteria: $400-500K / 2-4bd / Using the NWMLS
Now of course it is always best if you figure out if it is right for you on a personal level to take on the responsibility to own a home. Owning a home is for those of us who cannot imagine a different type of lifestyle. Those of us whose souls hurt when we do not own our own spaces. And for practical reasons sometimes we just want to get a pooch without having to deal with a landlord!
For those more analytical folks I am a huge fan of Home.com Mortgage Calculator mobile app. They have a great little Buy or Rent nugget on the App that gets into the nerdy financials of why one should buy or rent in Seattle. I ran the app just recently for someone who is currently renting at $3,000 a month and is thinking about buying at $500,000. Well the results were super clear — >BUY!
Or for you can check out the slew of news articles on the subject…..
Local Apartment Rents Continue to Rise ->
Can Seattle’s Middle Class Still Afford a Home in Seattle ->
