Make Your Rental’s Bedroom Feel Like A Retreat

*Synced from the Seattle Luxury Rentals Blog
With customization options at a minimum, apartments often never quite feel like home for many renters. Living with your landlord’s choices for wall colors, flooring materials and finishes can leave renters feeling dissatisfied with their surroundings. But there are some things you can do to make one of the most important rooms in the apartment – the bedroom – feel less like a hotel and more like your own restful and relaxing retreat. Using some inspiration from the designers at Zillow, here are some ideas:
To start with, overhead lighting in apartment buildings is usually not the most flattering, but since you most likely can’t change the main fixture in your rental, invest in table lamps or floor lamps to give your bedroom a nice glow.  Stylish lamps can often be found inexpensively at stores such as Target or TJ Maxx.
Giving walls a fresh coat of paint is one of the cheapest and simplest ways to personalize your bedroom, but many landlords are not ready to let you wield a paintbrush of your own. Check in with them first, and if you get the go-ahead, a soft grey or classic white will give you a serene space that is also a blank canvas for the rest of your personal touches.
Once you’ve painted, pick up some new bedding in your favorite color palette to add some interest to the room. Along with a nice set of sheets (Target also carries inexpensive sets that feel much more luxurious), you have an opportunity to make a statement with your duvet cover and unique throws and pillows.
Can’t paint your walls? Paint your furniture! Take an old, tired dresser, give it a good sanding and dress it up with whatever color paint you’d like. Paint the whole thing, just the legs, just the top, it’s up to you! Heavy, dark furniture tends to weigh a room down, especially if there is little natural light, so adding some color in the form of furniture can be a major upgrade and is budget friendly.
Now you’ve got some ideas, so get decorating!
If you are interested in renting in the Seattle area, contact your local real estate agent today!

Walkability Score- What is it and why does it matter?

*Synced from Seattle Luxury Rental

Walkability- it’s a word that some of you may be familiar with already, and one that real estate marketing often uses. But what exactly does it mean?
Used by Walkscore.com, it’s intended definition is to indicate how easily and readily connected a property is to the neighborhood and community around it. For instance, is the nearest grocery store within easy walking distance? Or would it be necessary to drive there?
The higher a property’s Walk Score (or Transit Score or Bike Score) on a scale of 1-100, the more connected the neighborhood is with the property. Take this chart example. But what makes a community walkable?

• A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a center, whether it’s a main street or a public space.
• People: Enough people for businesses to flourish and for public transit to run frequently.
• Mixed income, mixed use: Affordable housing located near businesses.
• Parks and public space: Plenty of public places to gather and play.
• Pedestrian design: Buildings are close to the street, parking lots are relegated to the back.
• Schools and workplaces: Close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
• Complete streets: Streets designed for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit.

Now, why is this score important? It’s generally known that those who walk more, whether it’s just a few steps or hundreds of steps a day are generally healthier than those who don’t. By walking more, not only do you get outside, but you also use your car less, and thereby reduce your carbon footprint. If you were able to find a property in a highly walkable area, you might be able to forgo the car altogether!
And here’s some great news: Seattle is rated as one of the most walkable cities in the U.S.! With a Walk Score of 71, a Transit Score of 57, and a Bike Score of 64, Seattle is the 8th most walkable city, with it’s most walkable neighborhoods being Downtown, the Denny Triangle, and Pioneer Square.
How important is the walkability of the neighborhood to you when looking for a new property?

Credit Bureaus Now Considering Rent Payment History In Score Criteria

*Synced From Seattle Luxury Rental Blog
Your credit score. That elusive number between 300 and 850 that seems to follow you around wherever you go, determining whether you can buy that new car, rent that apartment, and perhaps most distressing for many Americans – whether you can become a homeowner. For many mortgage lenders, the minimum credit score required to approve a home loan is 640, and until now, on-time rent payments have not been a factor in determining your score. For many long-time renters who have accumulated a perfect track record of on-time payments, that omission has been a lost opportunity to give their credit a boost.
But now, Experian and TransUnion, two of the major national credit scoring bureaus, have begun using rental payment data in their credit-scoring criteria in partnership with a website called RentTrack. The site aims to help renters build credit by allowing them to pay their rent online, and by allowing landlords to report their tenants’ payment records to the bureaus. According to this report, almost 20 percent of renters saw their credit scores increase by 10 points after just a month of their landlord reporting payments. While it costs $1.95 per month for renters to use the site to pay online, they can also use it to track their credit progress, and many landlords will cover the cost.
For someone who hasn’t had much opportunity to build credit, this is a great way to practice good habits by making sure your rent is paid on time while simultaneously raising your credit score and opening the door to a future mortgage and home purchase. For more information on renting in Seattle, contact your local real estate agent today.