What $1,000 per month in rent looks like in Seattle

The Seattle rental landscape

For all the renters out there, its difficult to find an apartment to rent that’s considered affordable, has the amenities you want, a good location and isn’t the equivalent of a doorbuster deal on Black Friday. In addition, at every unit tour, you must bring a check to pay for the security deposit, first month’s rent, pet deposit, application fee, plus photo ID, proof of employment, 2 referrals, your credit score, your high school SAT scores, your firstborn, and 10 reasons why you’re the best tenant there ever was… in order to put a hold on the apartment unit.

Granted, the last few requirements are for your entertainment only, finding an apartment and then setting aside money to rent is not financially possible for some of Seattle’s less well-to-do. And often, its a race to see who can submit their holding deposit fee first because of Seattle’s first-come-first serve rule for screening tenants.

Making matters worse for renters, the 3-year forecast from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’ Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis shows that demand will continue to outpace supply of apartment units which will exacerbate the already sky-high rents in the region.

According to HUD, the average rent for a studio unit in Seattle/Bellevue metro area is $1,627/month (see figure below). The is the smallest type of rental where you do not have to share living space with someone else. This means no communal kitchens, no sharing of bathrooms and ideally no sharing of heating sources.

The $1,000 challenge

Today, we look at what $1,000 per month in rent looks like in Seattle. Due to popular demand, this is a follow-up to my previous post, “What $2,100 per month in rent looks like in Seattle” – it turns out there’s quite a selection to choose from at this price point and they’re all 2BD+ apartments.

In this edition, there’s certain criteria in place for this challenge since $1,000 in rent doesn’t amount to much in Seattle. They are the following:

• Rent must include the entire living unit (no rent-by-the-room situations).
• No roommates to help with rent
• No communal kitchens
• No micro units (glorified Dorm living at 150 sqft)
• No low-income or senior age restrictions
• $1,000 does not include utilities

Ballard (Link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $1,025/month plus utilities

• 

• 

This Ballard apartment is within a 3-unit building and your unit is separate from the other two. At a generous 335 sqft, you won’t have to mix bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen smells together because the bathroom is in its separate room. As for location, its just a walk and a skip away from tasty restaurants on 15th Ave in Ballard. What’s the damage? $1,025/month.

Eastlake (Link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $800/month plus utilities

• 

• 

I was surprised to find this chic studio in Eastlake. What a great location and a steal of a price. Though it’s only 275 sqft, the lofted ceilings make the unit feel roomier. Through the use of the Murphy Bed system provided, the layout is quite efficient when the bed is stowed away. As a bonus, Woof and Purr friendly!

Lake City (Link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $800/month utilities and internet included

• 

• 

Attention, all hobbit-like folks! I included this one in Lake City because of its… shortcomings (sorry). The ceiling height doesn’t appear to be any higher than 6 feet and it looks like your kitchen stove is just a portable electric one. The positives: the unit comes furnished and all utilities are included plus internet AND you’re only 2 blocks to the Rapid Ride bus line going to Downtown. No pets allowed though.

Capital Hill (Link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $895/month plus utilities

• 

• 

I included this one even though it violates some of the criteria I had for this challenge, but I wanted to bring light to some of the extreme ends of what qualifies as an “apartment” in Seattle. If you’ve seen the videos about Hong Kong’s “coffin homes”, this is probably Seattle’s equivalent. This apartment is an astonishing 116 sqft, includes a kitchen and a shower bathroom. I assume the 1 room is ~10’x10′ and the remaining ~20sqft is the bathroom. Location wise, its phenomenal – just 2 blocks from Cal Anderson Park.

White Center (link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $940/month plus utilities

• 

• 

White Center is about a 20 minute drive to Downtown Seattle so it’s tucked away from the city. The further away from the city, the further your money goes when it comes to the quality of the unit. This is a true 1 bedroom, 584 sqft condo apartment. The common grounds are clean, the unit comes standard with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances AND you have in-unit laundry.

Skyway/Bryn Mawr (Link to ad)

Monthly Rent: $720/month plus utilities

• 

• 

Although this apartment has the lowest walk score and , it is also the most affordable. It boasts a jumbo 691 sqft layout with pleasant finishes (90s-esque, if you ask me). In-unit laundry! Comfortable living and lots of natural lighting as its located on the 3rd floor of the building. The apartment is perfect for a couple who wants plenty of space and is content driving daily.

Summary

There’s a wide breadth of rentals in the city of Seattle. When it comes down to making a decision, there’s always pros and cons. Does it make sense to live close to the city while expecting some degree of the sacrifice? Or would you rather live in a less convenient location, but have more personal living space? You can live in Capital Hill in a 116 sqft apartment or you could pay less and be in a 691 sqft apartment in Skyway. There’s many more factors to consider while making this decision, but I won’t be addressing them here.

Doing the research for this blog post helped shed light on the quality of housing at the $1,000/month . To be honest, I’ve rented apartments in the past, but never this low in price and I now realize that it is possible to find cheap, affordable apartments, but there’s always a catch.

At times on Craigslist, I come across “too good to be true” apartments. Cheap, large, good location, one was even furnished in Fremont. I never went as far as calling the listing to check if it was real. Some ads were blatant scams (no photos of the unit, short descriptions) and some were just borderline scams or did not mention the apartment is income restricted where you cannot exceed a certain income threshold in order to qualify.

So now the question is, which apartment would you pick? Let me know in the comments below!