9 Replies to "The high cost of owning"

• s April 2, 2007 (11:56 am)

  i do not want to leave west seattle. i do not make a lot of money. therefore, i will have to rent forever, i guess.

• K April 2, 2007 (12:24 pm)

  Until your apartments convert to condos (as is happening to me in West Ridge Park) and you lose even your meager apartment. Speaking of condo prices, we just got our offering prices to buy into the new condos at West Ridge and the prices are completely ridiculous compared to the small amount of work they are going to do on the property. Good luck to those foolish enough to invest in buying an apartment.

• WSRenter April 2, 2007 (2:53 pm)

  K, I’m also at West Ridge Park and you’re right, $290k for my 1000 sq. ft. townhouse is ridiculous. (That’s the tenant “discount” price.) And they’re not even going to replace the tub or toilets for that money, just “refinish” them. Meanwhile, the inspection report mentions water damage from bad roofs and siding that they’ll fix as far as legally required and they acknowledge that half the backyards are “swamp” and they won’t guarantee they’ll ever be dry enough to use as a backyard. It even admitted that much of the original work in 1989 wasn’t up to the 1985 Building Codes! Oh, and the part north of Kenyon will remain rentals, but they can use the pool the condo owners pay for. That’ll do wonders for our resale values – that is, if the house doesn’t fall down around us first.

  We can afford (barely) to buy our apartment, but won’t because I don’t think it’s worth what they’re asking. Meanwhile, comparable 2 br/1000 sq. foot rentals are going to run us several hundred more than we’re paying now in rent. It’s really a shame, since I loved living here.

  I was hoping that the new construction townhomes going up on Sylvan Way would be an option, but I see the sign just went up that they start in the “mid 300s.”

• A April 2, 2007 (4:26 pm)

  I’ve looked for the past few years now to buy in the area and it’s just a joke. I have an amazing rental deal in WS with a view of the Seattle skyline, so what’s the point of buying? I would love to buy so I don’t feel like I’m throwing my money away and I could make a place my home, but with the ridiculous prices there is no way. It’s really very sad.

• K April 2, 2007 (6:13 pm)

  WSRenter – I also heard that the management is going to raise the rent on the part north of Kenyon by quite a bit since they figure many of us in the conversion part will want to stay here. Nice, huh? I’m with you – 220k for my 640 square foot 1 bedroom apartment is way out of line compared to the condition these units are in. I read somewhere in the inspection report that the water pipelines are made from a type of pipe that has been involved in a class action lawsuit and recalled, but that the current owners decline to replace them as listed in the declaration and response. I imagine they won’t be replaced because it would cost just a little more. So frustrating.

• Jiggers April 4, 2007 (10:19 am)

  Stop voting yes on everything that’s how your rent or property taxes are jacked up every year.

• s April 4, 2007 (10:55 am)

  i’d love to live in san francisco or paris, or waterfront on beach drive, but i can’t because they’re too expensive. but isn’t that just how it works? desirable places become expensive. living there isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.

• WSRenter April 4, 2007 (3:09 pm)

  “desirable places become expensive. living there isn’t a right, it’s a privilege. ”
  Well, I wouldn’t call the south end of Delridge, near White Center, “desirable” exactly – most of my friends are afraid to visit me, despite my thinking it’s perfectly fine. (Side note: I was on the 56 bus one day and someone asked me if this bus stopped at (wherever) and I said I wasn’t a regular and didn’t know. She asked what bus I took, and I told her the 120, down Delridge. She had this disgusted look on her face and said “oooh, I never go down THERE.”)
  If they were turning them into desirable (and structurally sound) homes, rather than putting lipstick on a pig for unreasonable prices, then I’d less of a problem with it. Instead, over 150 families are being displaced from their affordable homes, it’s not like we want to move into an area we can’t afford; we were here first. Many people have said we should just suck it up and move on; apparently most of these people have never been displaced involuntarily from their homes or they might have a different attitude about it.

• Jiggers April 4, 2007 (5:55 pm)

  I used to live in White Center and W.C is about as tame as a baby’s butt comapared to, I have been thru Rampart LA,the Loop in Chicago, which are all haeavy gang turf area’s. People in Seattle have no clue what a dangerous neighborhood really is. Bunch of pansie friends.

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