Scams in Seattle Rental Market

The Seattle Times has announced that there are currently scams in the housing market to be aware of when browsing for your new home. Online scammers are advertising listed homes and foreclosures as "For Rent" that they most likely do not own, and very likely have never even seen before. These homes are usually For Sale, or currently being foreclosed, and scammers are taking advantage of the new vacancies right and left. Potential renters are asked to send a deposit before receiving their keys. This scam may seem like an obvious one, but these kinds of scams have been on the rise along with unemployment and desperate apartment seekers looking for a low price ticket. Be wary if a manager asks for wired funds through Western Union or Money gram without letting you into the Unit first. For a detailed description, read the extended article here.

Seattle Rentals on the Rise

According to Bloomberg.com, U.S. apartment and rental vacancies have decreased over the last few months, which have allowed landlords and apartment buildings to increase their rental rates. There has been an increase in the number of families relocating to Seattle with companies such as Amazon, Fred Hutchinson, local hospitals, and other companies going through hiring frenzies. Many of these families aren't in a hurry to purchase, since they aren’t familiar with the Seattle neighborhoods, and aren't sure which would best suit their needs; almost all also have the luxury of temporary housing.  Larger companies tend to offer temporary housing which allows tenants the time to learn more about which neighborhoods they would prefer to live in, while simultaneously leading to a decrease in Seattle apartment vacancies. Owners of single family rental homes throughout the Puget Sound area have benefiting from those wishing to find their dream home, and opting for a house instead of an apartment. These owners benefit due to a lack of inventory and a large amount of people searching, which consequently has allowed landlords to obtain higher rental rates. To find more about Seattle Rentals, check out some current listings here.

Seattle Makes List of "Cities Where Rents are Rising the Most"

The folks on MSN Real Estate published a list of U.S. "cities where rents are rising the most", and not surprisingly, Seattle made the cut. Seattle was given the No. 9 slot, and it’s no wonder considering how hot the rental market currently is. The weak housing market coinciding with a decreasing (albeit slow) unemployment rate is forcing Seattleites into renting. If I remember the concepts of my microeconomics class correctly, then yes, it’s likely a large majority of renters will be seeing rent increases in the coming year(s). A recent Seattle Times article published in March revealed that vacancy rates fell to 4.9 percent, the lowest since 2007. Developers are also taking advantage of the trend with proposals for apartment buildings and complexes in multiple Seattle neighborhoods. For example, the Pine Street Group is planning a twin-tower complex in Denny Triangle, Schuster Group changed condo proposal plans to an apartment proposal set for Belltown, and Avalon Bay Communities plans to have two, seven-story apartment buildings in the U-District-just to name a few. Don’t fret, renters. If you’re phased by the increasing rents, consider finding rentals from private parties through agents or a listing database. Not to say their rates won’t reflect the current market, but they could be less likely to systematically raise rents which can often happen with large apartment buildings. Please follow the link if you’re a renter and searching for your perfect Seattle rental.

New Program Has Building Owners Tracking Their Energy Consumption

The Seattle Department of Planning Development launched a new program this week to help commercial and multifamily residential business owners measure their building’s energy efficiency over long periods of time. Owners will use the U.S. Energy Star ratings and disclose these ratings to the city and other related parties like tenants, sellers and buyers annually and/or at request. The program is called the Seattle Building Energy Benchmarking and Reporting, and is aimed to reduce gas emissions and reduce energy consumption in Seattle’s buildings by 20%. Part of the program’s appeal is gaining results at a very low cost, and job creation in the green field. The “benchmarking” portion of the program calls for owners to calculate their rating based on actual utility bills, averaging them with number of tenants, building usage, etc. and comparing it with other local buildings. This process kind of reminds me of Microsofts Hohm website which I previously blogged about, encouraging homeowners to do the same sort of energy use tracking. This is a great way to expose owners to their building’s green footprint, and an easy thing to track. Although benchmarking for large buildings is considerably harder, utilities now have automatic applications to upload energy data to the EPA. All commercial buildings 50,000 sf or greater must comply with the program by October 3, 2011 and report annually every April 1st, and commercial buildings and multifamily building of 10,000 sf or greater must comply by April 1st of 2012, and annually report every April 1st. For more information on the Building Energy Benchmarking & Reporting program, please refer to the official website.

Twin Tower Apartments Breaking Ground Soon

According to the Seattle Times, a Seattle developer plans to start construction on a twin tower apartment complex in Denny Triangle. This apartment complex, Sixth & Lenora Apartments, will have 654 units available for rent and will also have approximately 18,000 sqft of ground floor retail available. This article is further truth to our last blog "Seattle Rental Market Is Hot". To get more details on the project, please click the link above.

Seattle Rental Market Is Hot

It's great new if you are landlord and not if you are in the market for a Seattle rental. The article, Hot Apartment Market Settles in For a While, in the Seattle Times gives details about what is going on with the Seattle apartment market. Basically with less people owning their homes, whether they are scared to buy (debate per the article), they lost their home, or if they are just moving here and do not want to commit until they experience Seattle, the demand is going up for Seattle apartments. And that applies to the luxury rental market as well. For example, The Bravern, the Bellevue 440+ unit building that was converted from condos to apartments, is already half full even though not all the units were on the market until past October. In addition, the supply for rentals is increasing slowly since there are not as many apartments being built as there were in the past. According to the graphs on the article vacancy in King county apartments is down to 4.3% from 6.8% two years ago. In the same time period, average rent has gone from $1,015 to $1,045.

To get more details, read the article by clicking the link above. It is an interesting article if you are looking for a Seattle apartment or if you are a landlord.

Seattle Real Estate News- March 18th

Seattle Commercial Real Estate News:

Office space leasing is picking up in Seattle, from the Dendreon deal in the Russell Investment Center to Amazon.com’s transaction of 460,000 sf in the 1918 Eighth office tower. The space leased by big tech companies in downtown Seattle has made for some of the biggest commercial lease transactions of 2011.

Seattle Real Estate News:

The owners of a Leschi home that was injected with tear gas canisters, after police mistakenly thought it to be the location of police-shooter Maurice Clemmons, is getting or over $900,000 in damages from the city of Seattle. About $250,000 of will be attributed to home repairs.

Rent demands are on the rise and the people of Seattle shall be heard. Some, like the Schuster Group hear loud and clear. The Schuster Group recently changed a condo building proposal to an apartment building proposal set for Belltown as a result.

Developer Avalon Bay Communities has proposed a new apartment complex to be in the U District near University Way N.E. The two buildins will have a combined 385 units and 12,000 sf of retail.