YES!
We finally found a decent apartment in our price range. We made the correct rent amount, double one months’
rent, and we were finally beginning to feel hopeful. That was a mistake. We were certain everything would go through,
because we made sure to discuss everything so we wouldn’t be surprised with the
outcome, or so we thought. I just
received a phone call from the apartment complex informing us our application
did not get approved.
Why? You ask.
Because they require
that applicants have had their job for at least three months. Now my friend is moving from Bellingham after
graduating from Western Washington University.
She needs to live here to be able to get to work, however; she apparently
needs to be working at her job for a minimum of three months. I ended up calling around after hearing this,
and it seems to be a very common practice in West Seattle.
So I implore this new question, how do you work at a place
for three months if you have nowhere to live?
Kirstin, you pose a very interesting question. Now that you've come across a situation, you might want to reconsider how you apply for the rental. For example, could you apply to rent the apartment under your name only, not using your friends? Also, this rules are very common rule for apartment rental because apartments want to make sure that the person renting is a reliable person, that is they can hold down a job. so the big question would be this: if you come across this rule again, how might you navigate this problem?
ReplyDeletelie
ReplyDeleteBut in all seriousness, I feel that you have to find a way to work the system otherwise you have to find a friend who has a couch that they are willing to let you sleep on for three months while you wait for that grace period to kick in. It's not that we were unwilling to go through measures to assure to them they would get their rent, they just weren't willing to bend, (something I am not used to at all after going to school at WWU where the landlords were happy to have anyone move in.)
ReplyDeleteThat is a major bummer, when I first moved out of my parents house I was moving with a friend and we had to work the system to get the apartment. We had to use her name since she was living on her own longer than I had been. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteKirstin,
ReplyDeleteI encountered this problem a lot when I was searching for an apartment last year. I found out that it is mainly due to the fact that landlords want to be sure that their tenants will, without doubt, be able to afford their rent (in order to do this, most of us need to 'prove' that we have a stable job and income versus an unstable, temporary 'gig' that may not be able to support us in a few months). I thought it was kind of ridiculous at first, considering that when I moved into my apartment I had also been searching for work and just recently landed a new job. My landlord was kind enough to accept this and a 'projected' estimate of my future income as means for an acceptable renter/applicant. But, it does vary from landlord to landlord.
Actually, if you are still searching for a place for you and your roommate from Western (my brother is going to school up there right now and I've had a ton of friends graduate from there in the past few years, I almost went there myself, as well!), my dad is in real estate and he/we have lived in West Seattle for most of our lives...he knows the area like the back of his hand. If you'd like any help with finding a cheap but cute apartment/house, I'm sure he would be happy to help pull up some listings (and I'd be happy to ask him for you/give you his contact info!).
Let me know...otherwise, I hope the search turns out better soon and I'm looking forward to hearing about it on your blog.
Cheers,
Kate
That's actually what my friends did too, lied to get an apartment. Only one of them signed the contract and get listed as the tenant of the house and the other one acts like he would come visit his brother often so he doesn't have to be on the list as he's still under 18 without any guarantor.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I hope that you can look for your apartment anytime soon. Have your time doing searches on craiglist for a condo more because I think you can negotiate about the terms with the owner better. Best of lucks!
Thank you all. Kate, I myself have actually grown up in West Seattle as well. The only time I left was to attend WWU, but have been back since 2010. Since then I have been employed at the same job but make just under the 3xs rent amount that a lot of places require. Therefore I got a second PT job but now they are saying I need to have been working there for three months. We check craigslist every 20min... Yes that is correct 20 minutes
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ReplyDeleteHi Kristin:
ReplyDeleteI have been to West Seattle for several times in summer time. I feel it should be a beautiful place to live, and I like it very much. I did not know that it was that hard to rent an ideal apartment there. I cross my fingers for you and hope you get what you need soon.
Good luck and looking forward to hearing good news from you.
Huian
Hey Kristin, this is super interesting because when I was at WWU it was pretty easy for us to get an apartment. Have you tried looking for apartments in a different area of Seattle? I think the 3 month rule may not be as common if you looked in a different area near a university campus.
ReplyDeleteJordyn- What I meant to say but may have written it confusingly was that I was able to continuously find a place so easly in Bellingham that I was shocked at how hard it was to find one here in Seattle.
ReplyDelete