yes and no

[susandennis]

Swim class today was a bust.  Dave the idiot was teaching.  Happily I got there 20 minutes early and got in some good laps and, he started off the class by announcing he's be working at the beaches this Summer so we will not have him for class again which is great because as an instructor, he really truly sucks.

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No more real news about the fire - more of a confirmation of what I had guessed, surmised and gotten from Twitter.  Damage to the building was minimal and we (the HOA) are not fiscally responsible for the fix.  Thank you.

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seattlejo got the skippy on the rents in the new building outside my terrace. "Square footages for our one bedrooms start at 599-1004 sq. ft. and pricing from $1575-$3320, and two bedroom homes start at 891 – 1162 sq. ft. $2680-$4150." I am a leetle surprised the prices are so high.  I am also more grateful than I have been in many years to have bought my place.  I used to think that I would have had more fun renting and easily movable to try out all the different neighborhoods in town.  But if I had to pick one, I'd pick this one.  I have 13 years left on my mortgage which is under $1,000.  (Of course, HOA fees are nearly $6K a year and taxes are another almost $4K so my real monthly nut is closer to $1,300 but still... I've got 1,300 sq feet!)

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My new swimsuit arrived and it is a gynormous NO!  It's hard to get into, uncomfortable and makes me look like I have back fat screaming to break free.  Yikes.  Happily, it's $3.74 to send back.  Unhappily, it means that I really don't love any of the styles of suits that last the longest.  Sigh.  I'm exchanging it for a style that I hate the least.  Since it's light enough to go first class, I'll probably have the new new one by this time next week.

And on the way home from the post office, I stopped in the gym and booked myself a massage appointment for a week from Friday.  I'm trying the other masseuse this time.

Comments

[zimzat.livejournal.com]

I'm becoming very alarmed at the monthly price for rentals in these areas. The prices you've mentioned for 1 bedrooms seem to be in line with what I've seen in the Capitol Hill area on Craigslist as well. I remember two or three years ago the prices for units on Capitol Hill were 2/3 to 1/2 as much as they are now.

If we look at the median salary income for the Seattle area by years experience (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Location=Seattle-WA/Salary#by_Years_Experience) it looks like they've priced these units close to the 1/3 income for housing rule. I prefer closer to 1/4.

That leaves us with 1/3 toward housing, 1/3 toward taxes, and 1/3 toward things like food, transportation, etc. Saving up to own a house/condo is going to be a stretch goal it seems.

/rant

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Unless they are assuming full living wage of $20/Hr, or more then yeah, that may be correct, but NOT when about half the populace makes less than a median living wage. Go for older buildings, and the rents drop a good bit, especially for studios.

Some as recently as the past month were advertising for just shy of $900/Month but no views though, and on lower floors.

[zimzat.livejournal.com]

Go for older buildings, and the rents drop a good bit, especially for studios.

This seems like a good way to marginalize half or more of the population.

Personally I don't get the whole studio thing. It seems like a way of telling people they don't need anything more than a place to sleep, shower, poop, and maybe eat. I don't have a house full of stuff, but I do need a decent sized living room for my full-size table and couch; a tiny studio really isn't an option.

They also have those new 'Apodments' going for something like 600-800$/month as well so that's encouraging a price bump / money grab for anywhere with even marginally larger space for rent. Great for extroverts; not so great for introverts. Is it really worth living in an area if the only affordable living is a closet?

It's probably just me. It is making me seriously reconsider living here after all this time of wanting to move here. I'm okay without a view and whatever floor (as long as above second floor has an elevator). It's more about accessible location (I don't own a car) and space.

I feel a bit like Don Quixote now.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Seattle isn't alone in this respect.

I've lived in studios and they can be quite nice if you find a decent one. I had a 450SqFt studio in a 20's era building and it was clean, had a separate kitchen, and a nice vintage one at that, on the 2nd floor over on Queen Anne hill, but this was between 1996-2001 though. Today, I have a need for at least a 1 bedroom due to wanting to bring my creative muses back to the fore, and thus need the room for them, and I live in an older 1 bedroom on Capitol Hill, but I've been in it nearly a decade, and my income has not kept pace with the cost of living.

That said, you don't really gain any savings by moving further away from your job, in both time and money it takes to get there. I do own a car, and drive it a fair amount, and to me, it's worth having, and I am not a slave to it for mundane things as I can walk to the nearby grocery store, or walk downtown when necessary.

[zimzat.livejournal.com]

At the moment I'm doing freelance work from home so distance to work isn't an issue. Otherwise I agree with you. When I lived in Atlanta it was infamous for people driving 1 or more hours per day per way every day of the week. It was insane and the traffic matched it.

My current place is a 1 bedroom of about 700 square feet (usable space; not this 'part of the walkway, part of the wall, part of the common area' nonsense I've seen in a few places) on the north-ish side of Capitol Hill. I was paying 950$/month but it just got bumped by 100$/month. It's a good bit more per month than I'd like to be paying and doesn't have a dishwasher (yeah, I like certain 'modern' luxuries), but after doing a very quick comparison on Craigslist it's better than I'm likely to find without doing a major site change or downsize.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's quote good, I pay 850 for my 600SqFt 1 bedroom on the West slope near Denny Way, and the building was built in '60 and has no dishwasher either, and communal washers/dryers the basement, and no working elevator, but hey, a view, and a balcony so not to shabby.

[zimzat.livejournal.com]

Yours sounds like a much better deal. I'd love a balcony, even if it didn't have a view of downtown or the mountains or whatever. Just so long as it wasn't a balcony into the neighboring building and nothing else (I have a friend downtown whose studio has a window into a narrow alley between two buildings and that's it).

If I knew I were going to stay somewhere for a while, and there was room, I would even look into getting a dishwasher and working out something with the property for it.

My building also has a set of coin-op washer and dryer units in the basement. It costs me $4.50 to do two loads of laundry. Quarters only.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yep, Quarters only here too, at $1.75 per load though.

Still, it could be worse.

[zimzat.livejournal.com]

it could be worse

Now there's something I've heard a lot from various people in my work career. It's often used to excuss bad behavior or poor designs. "It could be worse" can be said about anything and it's really not a positive statement. I've found it to be statement of giving up for trying for better.

I'm getting sent to the gas chamber today, but it could be worse: I could've been sent to the gas chamber yesterday.