This is a continuation of my monthly series that records what’s happening in my final stretch to early retirement. If you’re interested in previous posts, they’re here.
There are a few aspects of our life that are up in the air and don’t allow me to plan my first few months of retirement with the granular detail I love *cough* nerd *cough*. One of the biggest ones is our apartment situation.
At the beginning of the year I explained that we were in a weird limbo. We had 5 men walk into our apartment for what we later discovered was a bank inspection because the landlord was contemplating selling our building. This led me to jump into the world of Seattle tenant rights to try to determine how much warning we would receive if they did decide to sell and kick us out.
It turns out that tenant rights in Seattle are pretty robust and based on my research, someone buying the building would by default have to honor our current lease, which expires at the end of July. That was a slight relief, but THEN in February we tried to pay our rent through our building’s online portal and received an error “this portal is not accepting online payments at this time.” Uh – what?! So how do we pay our rent?! I sent an email to our property manager and heard nothing back.
The next day we received a (misspelled) email from a man we had never heard of. I looked him up on LinkedIn and apparently he owned the company that managed our building. His email said that they had transferred the management of our building to another company and that the new company would be in touch. WHAT. IS. HAPPENING?!?
A few days later we opened our front door and saw a paper flyer (apparently) from the new management company saying we had to mail in a PAPER check to pay our rent because their portal was not up and running yet. Where am I supposed to get a paper check in 2019?!? Was this a scam? Anyone can put a logo on a piece of paper and ask someone to send a check to a random P.O. Box! The kicker was that we were home the whole time they must have been putting these flyers outside our door. Coward much?
So we ended up mailing the check and obsessively checking to see if it had been deposited. It turns out it was, about 2 weeks later. Then we received an email that this new management company’s online portal was up and we could pay our rent there next month. When we logged in we discovered…it allowed us to pay any amount *facepalm*. This did not increase the very small amount of confidence we had in this company.
So like the diligent rule followers we are, we paid the amount our lease dictated as well as $50 for utilities (our old company actually calculated our utility usage and split the amount, but this new company wanted a flat fee, which is actually less than we used to pay so there’s a small win there).
After all these headaches, I was understandably nervous about what would happen if we tried to renew our lease this summer. In the end, I kept thinking and worrying and creating Plan A through Z, so I told myself to just stop it and ask our new company what was up.
I had also been postponing booking my summer and winter flights to work from my parents’ house in Atlanta until we knew what was happening with our apartment situation. If they kicked us out or tried to raise the rent a lot we would need to move at the same time I was planning to take that first trip.
So I sent the new property manager a carefully worded email that went like this:
“Hi [Name],
We hope you’re well! Can you let us know what your company’s proposed lease renewal terms are so we can decide if we will move and book our summer travel accordingly? Thank you in advance for your help.”
“Proposed” – see what I did there? 😉 Surprisingly I received a prompt response that they propose a 12 month extension at our current rate – NO RENT INCREASE! I was ecstatic about that last part – we don’t have to move for my last year in Seattle or increase our rent budget! However, when I received the contract it listed our rent as $35 a month higher than what we pay. Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?!
I pointed out the mistake while I also tried to tackle the other half of their response: a 12 month lease. Ideally I want a 14 month lease so that it ends the same month I retire. I reached out requesting a 14 month lease and was sadly shut down, BUT we discovered that in our new lease, it states that after the 12 months are up our contract reverts to month to month AT THE SAME RATE unless the management company gives us notice of a change 30 days prior to that. Also luckily they corrected the rent amount on our contract. Phew!
So we might be able to stay in this apartment at the same rental rate until I retire in 17 months! And if our management company wants to get sneaky and say that the monthly rate is actually $500 more a month like our old management company, we have a month to sell all our stuff and find a monthly AirBnB. The AirBnB’s location would be dependent on my partner’s work situation (he’s looking to change jobs soon), if he needs to actually go into an office and if so, where the office is located. Ideally he would find another remote position, but we’re considering all options right now.
So the apartment saga is at an end! We signed the 12 month lease that starts in August and (fingers crossed) will be able to stay here for 14 at the same rate. If not, we have a plan that would also allow us to live in other neighborhoods in Seattle (we’ve shockingly stayed in the same one all of our years here). Finally a solid plan! It feels so good. Now to tackle the other unknown that doesn’t allow me to meticulously plan out the rest of my life: the partner’s job. Onto the next challenge!
Have you ever dealt with shady or uncommunicative management companies? If so, how have you dealt with it?
We have had similar issues when management swapped out in my last apartment complex. The whole portal went down and we had to physically hand in paper checks. Thankfully in our new apartment we have a great couple as landlords and they have been very flexible about letting us extend our lease for 2 weeks while we move out in June. Going month-to-month at the same rate would be a steal at the end there! Hopefully you can do that without a hitch. Good luck to your partner on the job hunt!
First of all: what are you doing up so late?! I’m sorry you had similar issues ugh. But yay for a nice landlord couple that lets you extend a little! And yes month-to-month would be a steal, which is why I’m suspicious but luckily have my backup plans in place. And thank you! I hope your move goes well!
Wow, this is textbook how not to be a management company. While it’s not quite life-and-death I feel for people that like detailed plans this just throws a huge wrench into everything. I make a plan – and backups A through Z – and would prefer if the world would just kindly stick to it please 😛
Good on you for catching their mistake! And the small utilities win 😉
I’ve been lucky with living situations so far but the bad management company this time was actually the school I’m working for. The top management makes 0 effort to talk to the staff and issues confusing and contradictory emails. I’m dealing with it by quitting and moving schools lol.
Right?! This isn’t as bad as what we endured with NYC management companies (no heat in the dead of January and no exterminator for the rats, roaches and ants we had…all in 1 apartment). So it could obviously be much worse, but I’m still not loving it. I like my planning! Though I am surprised and delighted they let us sign a new lease 3 months early. That does ease my planning heart a little.
Oh no – the school you’re working for IS the management company? Or just because it’s like a dorm type situation? Good on you for taking it into your own hands! Good luck with moving schools!
Yikes! Uncertainty sucks, as does poor communication (and paper checks!). In my experience, there’s no great way to deal with these companies. My last two years of involvement with the brewpub has shown me the other side of the business: owners, investors, property management and the like. It’s terrifying how incompetent most of these people are, and how willing they are to just stop paying for something (or refuse to fix something) if they don’t feel like it. Good luck with your last 17 months there!
Yes – I didn’t love any of it 🙂 . I’m sorry to hear that there’s no great way to deal with them. I was hoping to discover a magic pill 😉 . Interesting to know this extends outside of residences. What did they stop paying for or refuse to fix with you?? I haven’t had that experience (yet??). And thank you! We really like our apartment so it’s working out well!
actually, “we” (the brewpub) were the dirtbags in the situations I’m referring to. I don’t have any ownership of the venture, but the people who do constantly refuse to pay bills to contractors, landlords, vendors, me, etc etc… Seeing how sh*tty everyone can treat each other, business to business, is eye opening.
Yikes! I had no idea that was a thing (not paying). Making me harden my ‘no entrepreneurship for me’ stance. Ugh – I need to go look at kitten for a while.
I would find this situation incredibly unsettling. But I also think it is an inherent risk that comes with renting.
Don’t get me wrong; home/apartment ownership is not without its perils. That’s a topic for another discussion.
But renting does put the control of your living situation in the hands of another party. This is not a bad thing, but worthy of some expectation setting and planning.
The world has its share of good landlords and terrible landlords. And all it takes is a management change to really turn the tide. Being willing, and able, to up and live somewhere else is beneficial. An alternative is to have some wiggle-room in the budget to be able to temporarily tough it out.
I’m glad it all worked out! 🙂
That’s fair. I’m always willing to up and move if necessary. We would just have preferred not to, not just because of the cost (moving even with a moving company in Seattle is really cheap compared to NYC and we had already found an apartment that’s actually less than our current one that would give a kickback to a blogger friend), but because of how much we like our current place and the time suck of moving. Since we both work from home the amount of light and noise in our apartment is very important so I’m very glad we get to stay here. And yes the budget is always flexible – gotta roll with the punches as YNAB says. And thank you!
I always have paper checks. Lol That is some shady crap though.
I spent most of my childhood in apartments. Most shady was during the housing boom, they sent us a letter to vacate in 30 days. Turns out they wanted to convert to condos and we had 30 days to move unless we wanted to buy one. They had no pricing and no information on fees, so we moved and got slapped with market rent which was $500 a month more.
Glad you will be able to stay through your last days of working. 🙂
Then I need to have you around more often. Why do you always have them? And oh no! That sucks I’m sorry. Ugh these companies – that’s horrible. But yes thank you – it worked out this one time over here.
Paper checks are useful still. Pay a few bills with them and since I work in real estate (where a personal check is still king), I know it helps to have them. 🙂
Fascinating! I didn’t know they were still prevalent in real estate, but it makes sense. In fact I think the last time I used them was when I signed our original lease years ago.
i always had small time landlords whom i knew. i never lived in a large building with many units. i know that moving sucks so it’s good you don’t have to do it.
you coming back to the northeast this year?
Interesting! I guess that’s on me for living in super big cities. Our current apartment is the smallest we’ve been in – only 8 units. And yes I was not looking forward to packing everything up just to sell it in a year, but thinking positively I guess it could have made ‘sell everything in 1 month’ into a 2 step process, which might have been nice. I’m not coming back to the northeast this year sadly, BUT I’ll be there multiple times next year for a wedding in the spring/summer and for at least a month around Christmas. Will you be around?
oh, yeah. we’re not going anywhere that i anticipate. we’re in buffalo but have reason to be in the albany area (saratoga springs) for family. a month sounds like a good long time. you gonna stay in NH?
NH or NY 😉 ? I’ll be retired so I can stay as long as I want lol! Planning to be in NY near Saratoga Spring/about an hour north of Albany.
see you there. saratoga was my home before i moved here. that’s how i know all about skidmore. that city was so nice i never even locked my door when i left for a weekend trip.
Sounds like a plan! And oooh I love Saratoga. So fancy!
We had a similar situation at our last apartment. An odd and sudden shift in management, along with notices on the door. We had never used their online portal because they charged too many fees for online payments so we used money orders. (Very time consuming, and if I had put more thought into it I could have just used online bill pay but oh well.)
There was a lot of drama with the utilities and we suspected they were jacking up the costs since the rent was pretty cheap at the time. We were moving out of state right before the end of the lease so we paid up the last couple months and documented everything carefully in case they tried to stick us with some bogus charges. Luckily nothing crazy happened (and we even got our deposit back!) but it was a nightmare for a while. Glad things are working out with your situation though, hope it stays that way!
Oh no! It’s sad this seems so prevalent. I’m sorry you went through that. And yeah fees on the online portal when they’re taking out of your bank account (which I believe is free) is a little crazy. Was this place rent controlled? Was that why they were trying to inflate the utilities while the rent was cheap? I haven’t heard of that scam before. So smart you documented everything! I still have pictures from before we moved in – in case they try to say we caused this damage. Nope! It was there already. I’m sorry it was a nightmare, but am so glad you got your deposit back. Things are looking good over here – fingers crossed!
Ugh, sounds like quite the headache. The company might have been hesitant to do above 12 months because, if I’m remembering from my apartment manager days correctly, special rules kick in on leases over 12 months long. That’s why most apartment buildings only do up to 12 months. So it wasn’t just a(nother) way they were trying to make your life more difficult. Probably. Who knows?
Glad you get to stay in your neighborhood for so much longer. Fingers crossed that the month-to-month conversion at the end of 12 months doesn’t come with a rent increase.
Interesting! I didn’t know there were different rules for longer leases. They did mention we would need a notary and I was countered with that’s easy I can get one right now. Fingers crossed indeed, but if it does we’ll just sell everything and enjoy a month in an AirBnB or two. Not a big deal. Plan A to Z!
I’ve had plenty of incompetent managers in my time. I always wondered what the owners would have thought if they knew how their property was being treated. Shudder
That’s a great point. I just assumed they knew and didn’t care, but your explanation seems more plausible. That’s no way to treat your investments!
Yay! So glad everything worked out with the apartment. Hopefully you’ll be able to do month-to-month with no problem, but if not, sounds like you have a great plan. Best of luck to your partner in the job search!
I love how you act like paper checks are the 8-tracks of the financial world lmao. It hasn’t been THAT long since people used them. I still have paper checks for a personal account and a joint account with my husband. They have my maiden name and old addresses on them, and although we hardly use them, on the rare occasion we need to, we just write in the correct info and haven’t had any problems. Gotta be prepared, Purple! 🙂
Thank you on both counts! It’s a big relief. And it’s quite possible I’m in a bubble, but checks and cash are my 8-tracks. Everyone takes cards over here and I don’t know if a random vendor would even accept a check – I think I’ll ask a few later today. You can write in different info on your checks – I didn’t know that! Super cool. Currently I’m fine not being prepared in that way since any checks I have would be gathering dust on a self somewhere lol.