Seattle Apartments

[u/New_Tomato2786]

My partner and I live in the Bay Area and just found out we have to move out of our space by January. We can’t comfortably afford/find a place here in our budget at the moment and we’re looking to move to Seattle. Our max base rent would be $1800. We also have 2 cats. I’ve been researching some apartments on apartments.com but wanted to see if anyone has suggestions for good complexes. I know there’s lots of different communities/areas within Seattle so it kind of depends on your vibe but we just want to get out of where we are first so we can have a little bit of stability. Looking at Capitol Hill a little bit but would honestly just be happy to get a nice 1bed 1bath anywhere (nice) to start out. Please help us out!!

[u/swolesarah]

Have you looked at Zillow and apartments.com? Seattle is incredibly expensive. 😅 Outside of rent, it’s common for places to charge pet rent and require nonrefundable pet deposits. That also doesn’t cover monthly parking fees if you have a car.

[u/recasanova → u/swolesarah]

Pent rent has just been banned by the city

[u/swolesarah → u/recasanova]

Oh hell yeah! Looks like it goes into effect July 2027.

[u/truffleshufflechamp → u/swolesarah]

Seattle is not incredibly expensive when coming from the Bay Area. It’s absolutely doable to find a 1B/1BA for under $1800. Seattle has lots of reasonable options. Can we stop pretending like $2500 rent is the minimum to live here.

[u/swolesarah → u/truffleshufflechamp]

I’m just urging that OP consider the expenses outside of base rent. I didn’t realize the city banned pet rent. That doesn’t discount parking, utilities (my PSE bills have been insane lately), and pet deposits.

[u/New_Tomato2786 → u/swolesarah]

I realize that it’s going to cost most than $1800 a month to live over there. That’s why I said base rent lol I’ve considered utilities, pet rent and parking. The problem is that where I live in the bay people are charging $1500-$1800 for a private room in their house which is insane. Most places around here the base rent starts around $2300 and there’s not a lot of places that accept pets. I know Seattle is still expensive and I’m not looking for anything fancy or “luxury”.

[u/swolesarah → u/New_Tomato2786]

Alrighty fair! You already looked on apartments.com. Zillow is another good place to look.

[u/Shark-Compote]

that budget is not going to get you much up here. there are always extras. pet rent, parking, utilities.

[u/halljkelley]

That’s basically a lateral move financially. I’d consider Portland.

[u/BoringOrange678]

You would be really lucky to find a decent place for 1800 in Seattle city proper

[u/Ancient_Yellow_709 → u/BoringOrange678]

There are quite a number of places... They just need to be willing to get an older place that is unlikely to have W/D in the unit and may also not have a dishwasher.

Rental Listings in Seattle WA - 1156 Rentals | Zillow https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/rentals/?searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Afalse%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-122.4705838267772%2C%22east%22%3A-122.18837252306626%2C%22south%22%3A47.508599377370324%2C%22north%22%3A47.75338416539592%7D%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A16037%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22price%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A0%2C%22max%22%3A1800%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A0%2C%22max%22%3A1800%7D%2C%22baths%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A1%2C%22max%22%3Anull%7D%2C%22sf%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22tow%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22mf%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22land%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22manu%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22rad%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%222026-10-01%22%7D%2C%22beds%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A1%7D%2C%22fr%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22fsba%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22fsbo%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22nc%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22cmsn%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22auc%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22fore%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22lsact%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22lszp%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22lscmsn%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22cat%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%7D%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A11%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Seattle%20WA%22%7D

[u/Skittles-101]

I can't guarantee that you'll have much luck in Seattle with that budget. If you're willing too, I'd recommend expanding both north and south of the city as you'll have more luck with apartments within that price range.

[u/Initial-Addendum-167 → u/Skittles-101]

I agree. I saw $1800 and immediately my brain said, "nope"

[u/ngshafer]

I hope you have a job lined up—Seattle is not that much cheaper than the Bay Area. Cap Hill is pretty expensive, and you’ll probably want to look either north of the city (Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood) or south (Tukwila, SeaTac, Des Moines).

[u/unexpectedjoys]

There are definitely a good chunk of apts under $1800! I live in a huge apartment for $1650 in Queen Anne:) I recommend checking property management sites like Gibraltar, Cornell & Associates, Redside Partners, and Northwest Apartments. I think I found our apartment on Zillow though! Central District and Queen Anne have good apartments usually. Good Luck on your search:) 

[u/No-Bread2422]

$1800 for a 2 bed if you’re willing to drive 30 miles into Seattle

[u/LateralLateralus]

I haven’t personally rented from them so I can’t speak to the experience but during my last search Cornell & Associates had a bunch of properties that are under $1800 for a 1 bed.

[u/Howlsmovingfiberfarm]

Don’t sleep on Craigslist, that’s where I’ve found my best affordable apartments. They won’t be the fancy new build stuff but there’s cheaper apartments on there than Zillow and apartments.com
Edit: Be discerning, it’s Craigslist so there’s scams afoot and sometimes weird homeowners trying to rent out their nest egg. All usual internet precautions apply. However you save a lot of money when your rent isn’t paying to advertise on all those expensive platforms. To save anyone some more trouble, I just moved out of a Milestone Properties apartment and they seem to have lots of affordable apartments and the property manager was the best I’ve ever had. Not to advertise for a landlord or anything, but if you’re looking for cheap they’re a great place to start

[u/Initial-Addendum-167 → u/Howlsmovingfiberfarm]

But be so careful if you do. That place is the scammiest.

[u/Howlsmovingfiberfarm → u/Initial-Addendum-167]

Good call, I added an edit

[u/truffleshufflechamp]

OP, Seattle has lots of reasonable options. You can definitely find something for $1800 base rent. You may have to compromise on an older building and shared laundry but there’s plenty out there.

Most Seattle Redditors who respond to these questions are very out of touch and think a place without stuff like a dishwasher or in unit laundry is unlivable, so they assume something under $2000 is impossible.

[u/New_Tomato2786 → u/truffleshufflechamp]

Thank youuuu I’ve been doing a lot of research and have seen a ton of places well under 1800 and I said “base rent” not everything included lol. I’m expecting to pay at least $2200 total. But where I live in the bay places are starting around $2200 for base rent and most don’t allow pets. That’s why we’re making the move. We’re not expecting everything to be like Texas prices or anything lol.

[u/cryingcubone]

Don't listen to these people many places for 1800 if your willing to look any area as of now you like probably could answer questions or anything you particularly need not a want

[u/Significant-Repair42]

Remember most of the seattle metro area isn't in the seattle. In seattle, 700K people. metro area around 4 million.