A few weeks ago I spoke with Ross Reynolds on KUOW about finding cheap rentals in the Seattle area. You can listen to the 17-minute segment on their site.
Here are a few of the tips I shared for finding a cheap rental in the Seattle area, and some relevant links to previous posts on the topic:
- Avoid the overly “trendy” areas (e.g. Ballard, Capitol Hill, etc.) if low price is a priority.
- Search on off-beat rental sites, including various local property management sites.
- Literally drive around your target neighborhood with an eye out for “For Rent” signs.
- Sign up for an RSS feed of your Craigslist rental search to get alerted immediately when a new rental listing hits the market.
- If your job is near a bus line or other reliable transit option, open up your search to further-out areas with direct transit to your job.
Rents have risen quite a bit recently, but in general I expect the rental market to ease up over the next year or two as all of the apartments currently in the pipeline come online, flooding the market with supply.