house rental quote
I got a call back from a leasing agent recommended by my real estate agent. She says that my place is in the $1650-$1750/month range. $1850 if it is in pristine condition (which it is not, after 5.5 years of tenants and cats). I don't know if I would be able to charge for utilities on top of that or if they would have to be included. Oh, and we forgot to talk about the garage..but somehow I doubt that it would change her price quote even though I've been able to rent it out to past tenants for $100/month.
The listing agent's services cost one month's rent for a listing and 10% going forward for management. She isn't taking listings but she could set me up with one of her other agents.
I told her that my mortgage is $2300, so her quote wasn't encouraging. She said that the reason I couldn't get a higher amount is because of the neighborhood. The places going for my mortgage amount are in Queen Anne and comparable neighborhoods.
The benefit of renting my whole place out gives me an additional $500/month over what I am getting right now ($550 for each of 2 bedrooms, $100 for garage, ~$100 utilities, $25 for me to vacuum/take out garbage/recycling/compost instead of us sharing the job). The additional $500 is something but it still eventually costs me to live somewhere else which puts me back at paying what I would if I just continued living there and trying to rent out the other bedrooms/garage (or more, depending on what the other place would cost me).
Awesome.
Like they say, "be careful what you wish for, boys and girls. You might just get it."