Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Kailash Ecovillage


Oh man, why didn't I think of this? Oh yeah. I can barely keep a blog going, so having the patience to turn the old Cabana Apartments into neo-hippie paradise would probably make me want to get pregnant at Arby's. Anyway, I hope this works. Good luck to them. They have an apartment or two open, but I'd like to see some bamboo floors in there--more expensive, sure, but they last 10 times longer than carpet. Not to mention the off-gassing properties of petroleum based materials in carpet.

Creston Villa #12, and a little incentive comparison

I have an apartment coming available in a couple days. It's a two-bedroom townhome for $775:

So yeah, there it is. Not a bad little place. It's always been difficult to rent apartments around xmas, but it's especially hard this year because of the crappy economy. So this morning I'm going around craigslist to see what other places are giving away to get people to move in:
  • Ashley Court is giving away 2 weeks free and a $150 Visa gift card.
  • 3609 SE 42nd is offering $200 off your first month rent.
  • 3430 SE 58th will give you one month free.
  • Madrone Acacia will let you sign a month-to-month lease or give you half a month free.
All of these seem like pretty good deals I guess.
But take a gander at MY SPECIAL:
Here is our special, and it is a good one: Upon move-in, you will receive a partial CD discography of obscure 80s band The Chameleons UK, including--but not limited to--"Script of the Bridge" featuring the hit "Up The Down Escalator," which reached #18 on the German pop charts in 1983. One might say it was their seminal album.

I think I know why I haven't been getting much traffic these days.

Attack of the pet-friendly cyber concierge!


Sweet christ, where to start with this craigslist ad?
#C104 comes with 5 weeks free rent and waived deposit, waived admin fee, waived application fee, and 3 months free parking!

I can see them waiving the admin fee, since that fee will be illegal in 9 days. And I can see waiving an application fee, because it's probably only $40 or so. But FIVE WEEKS rent? Waived deposit? It makes me nervous that they are willing to give up $1375 in rent and $1100 in (admittedly refundable) deposit just to get a warm body in there. And let's say parking is $100/mo. That's $2775 in concessions to fill one apartment. Crazy. Why not just make the rent affordable and fill up the entire building in a weekend? Then there's this, which is just poor grammar:
VIEWS OF DOWNTOWN PORTLAND, THE PEARL DISTRICT,CLOSE TO NORTH ALBERTA, BELMONT AND HAWTHORNE MAX TRIMET PET FRIENDLY CYBER CONCIERGE 24 HOUR FITNESS LEED GOLD CERTIFIED GREEN NON-SMOKING, Pearl District, Art, Boutiques, Wine, Night Life, Restaurants, Train, Portland Street Car, Apartments, Condominiums, Walk to Shopping, 24 Hour Fitness, Coffee, Galleries, Views, Water, Jogging, Running, Downtown, Tri-Met, Max-line, Pets Allowed, Large Dogs, Small Dogs, Indoor Cats, 24 Hour Concierge Service, Professional Sales Team, River Views, Storage

I don't usually mind the lack of commas in craigslist ads, but doesn't that "sentence" make it sound like there's a 24-hour pet friendly cyber concierge roaming the halls, luring Fido and Fluffy into random storage closets for who knows what unspeakable green-certified debauchery? He's like The Terminator but instead of killing Sarah Connor he's retrofitting kittens with bioswales. 503.493.1700

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Clifford


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The Clifford has a studio for under $500! I'm so happy that that still exists. Here is their picture-free craigslist ad. I don't really trust anyone that has to resort to specials like the $99 first month rent, but maybe this apartment is awesome. Their number is 503.232.5460.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Creston Villa #12

Weird apartment coming up:

It's the only 2-bedroom townhome I have at Creston Villa, and it should be ready around the 21st or 22nd of December. I personally prefer the flats to this townhome, but with this one at least you don't have any upstairs or downstairs neighbors. And I guess it's slightly bigger than the flats, but just barely. $795/mo includes water, sewer, garbage. Rent this apartment from me and you can have the rest of December for free. And, um, I don't know. How about a $50 New Seasons gift card? 503.771.4040

Oregon Senate Bill 771

I just got back from a lengthy law seminar regarding all the changes to how I do things beginning January 1st, when Oregon Senate Bill 771 goes into effect. Most of it doesn't effect how we rent apartments, but there are a few important new laws that I thought the renting public should be aware of. Here's the short list:
  • Landlords can't charge any more pet fees. My current dog fee is $300 and my current cat fee is $100. Those are out. I may have to start charging "pet rent" which means that if you have a dog the apartment is $625/mo, and if you don't the apartment is $600/mo, for example.
  • Landlords can't charge move-in style fees. You know, like a $100 cleaning fee or a $200 "lock change" fee or anything like that. We only do that when times are really good (for us) anyway. I haven't done that since about June of '08.
  • Landlords can no longer charge you to transfer apartments within the same complex.
  • Upon moving out, landlords can now charge you for repairs they don't necessarily do. For example, if you scratch your hardwood floor just a tiny bit in the corner of the closet, the landlord can charge you for that--even without actually fixing it before the next tenant moves in.
  • Using that example, landlords can now charge you for the days it takes to fix that hardwood floor (as long as it's done in "a timely manner.")
  • The whole "non-compliance fee" thing has been restricted to only certain things. I've never charged a "non-compliance fee," so I'm not real clear on this. I guess in the past, landlords could charge you $25/day for having--using an example I heard today--a blue tarp on your patio. That's out.
  • If you've lived in your apartment for a year and your landlord wants you out, they can't give you a 30-day no-cause notice anymore. Now it's a 60-day. Unless you're a horrible resident or have gone through a condo conversion, you probably have never heard of a no-cause notice.
  • If you have a gas stove in your apartment, or if there's a boiler in your building, expect us to start knocking on your door to install CO detectors beginning 7/1/2010.
  • Yes, we can still charge you $250 for taking the battery out of your smoke detector. I've never heard of anyone actually charging that, but there it is.
Most of the other stuff seems like general common sense, or just doesn't apply to 99% percent of renters. I'm sure I'll get a bunch of clarification on this in the future. If anything interesting pops up I'll let you know.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Queen Marie #203

I have a pretty sweet one-bedroom coming up next week, and it looks a lot like this:

After she moves out I'll have a video of the actual apartment, but the one in the above video is pretty similar. $800/mo includes water, sewer, garbage, and hot water. It's right across the street from the farmer's market, and it's just an all-around sweet pad. Please rent it so I can stop worrying about having a vacancy over the holiday. I will make you a mixtape.

Arby's Makes You Pregnant


When I first read this review of my Creston Villa property on yelp dot com I was a little disappointed. The bumfights--sure--are seemingly a nightly occurrence, but they only happen at the Safeway bottle return area a block away. The reviewer says I'm awesome, which is nice. But she also implies that although she cleaned her apartment, I kept her deposit. If you look at her other reviews on yelp you can see that she's kinda funny in a 20-year-old girl sorta way: Arby's got her pregnant, the food at the swinger's club sucks, etc. Anyway, I looked up all the people that moved out between 6/14/09 (her first 7 reviews) and 7/28/09 (when she logged back in to yelp to review creston villa). I've narrowed it down to two people, and since I can't figure out how to respond to her on yelp I thought I'd just address the issue here.
If you break your lease, I have to charge you. It's stipulated on your rental agreement, and there's no way I can fudge the paperwork past the accounting department at the corporate office. If you do spray-painty art projects in your apartment, lay some newspaper down because spray paint doesn't come out of carpet. It just doesn't. If you adopt a cat, please make sure they're spayed or neutered so they don't spray on the walls and in the fridge. A fridge that smells like cat urine is so very, very unpleasant. And how did it spray in the fridge anyway? Were you keeping it in there at night? Weird. Finally, don't ever make me do a google image search for the phrase "pregnant arby's" again. At least not without changing the SafeSearch settings first. I can't unsee that.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Freedom Center 1

Via bojack: 300 square foot apartments in the Pearl for $795. $2.65/sq ft is a lot of money. My 360 sq ft studios on Hawthorne would rent for $954 if that were the standard.
There are two kinds of people in this world.
Type 1:
For two women who work in the Pearl District - Kristin Collins, a Moule shopgirl, and Emma Wegener, a Caffe Umbria barista - the answer is ‘no way.’
And type 2:
Because her parents pay for her housing, [Becky Gilliam] said the proximity of Freedom Center 1 to school would outweigh the cost.

Godspeed, Freedom Center 1. Godspeed.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

rental-data.com

I think I've found either a scam or a poor business model. I was looking around on craigslist when I found what I thought at first was a two-bedroom house for $895. Turns out it's just a spammy post that wants you to go to this site and give them $35 to find you a rental. Why would I pay $35 to search some private company's database, when I can search craigslist for free? I'm thinking craigslist has a bigger selection by times a billion, so what gives? Am I missing something?

Monday, December 7, 2009

Sellwood House #8

The Sellwood House has a studio coming up in a week or so. I think it's the last one we have to remodel, so everything in it is pretty brand-spanking new. I won't have a video of the apartment until it's done, so in the mean time here's another look at the outside of the building in 2007:

Your $700/mo rent includes pretty much everything: Water, sewer, garbage, hot water, heat, gas, electric, and cable. Give me a call if you'd like to see it before I put it up on Craigslist.
503.231.9169

Hawthorne Court


I see Kathy has her sign out again, which is always rare at Hawthorne Court. This is one of the few dog-friendly buildings in the neighborhood. At least, I'm pretty sure dogs are allowed since I see people with dogs coming in and out of there all the time. I'm not sure how much her apartments are going for these days but if her one-bedrooms are less than $800 then I'd tell you it was a pretty good deal. 503.233.8865

Facebook


I'm not sure how long I can actually stay interested in Facebook, but if you're a resident of the Lynnwood, Warnell, or Queen Marie Apartments (or even if you just want to be annoyed by more Facebook friends), you can friend me by looking up "Lynnwood Warnell Apts" on said social networking site. In the future I might set up another account for Creston Villa, and maybe one for the Sellwood House and Curry Court. I'm taking it slow.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

2 things you don't see everyday


This one-bedroom apartment for $725 at 1511 SE Morrison has a fireplace, which is weird. The other odd thing about this place is that you share a bathroom with two other apartments. The ad says that the bathroom is cleaned for you, which is nice, but I wonder how often it's cleaned. It seems that the going rate for one-bedrooms in the neighborhood is about $825, so this seems like a good price. Guess it all depends on how considerate your two neighbors are. I hate to go all George Costanza here, but how thick is the bathroom door?

Saturday, December 5, 2009

2230 SE Yamhill


The pictures for the listing of this one-bedroom apartment are totally giving me vertigo. It's a nice enough place, and I haven't heard anything bad about Palisades Property Management. But these pictures make me think that I'm in a Johnny Depp movie, and not one of the good ones like Crybaby. More like Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Damn Montananites

I thought I had rented this apartment, but people from Montana tend to be flaky sometimes. I blame that "River Runs Through It" movie. For some reason.

Please rent this apartment. I will be your BFF. It's only $600/mo!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The 20


Live the 20! You can get a 2bd for about $1400 or so. They have a fancy garage that stacks your car somewhere like in the future. I was fixing a faucet yesterday, and my tenant's Mom or Aunt or someone like that lives there and has supposedly been very late to work a few times because of said futuristic garage. Also, I saw a youtube video (can't seem to find it right now) in which someone touts the garage as "sustainable." Does that word even mean anything anymore? It seems to me that unless it runs on solar power and grows fresh ripe plum tuhmaters, then "sustainable" is just a fake marketing term. So, other than the crazy garage, it looks like a really pretty place.

Curry Court Studios

Here's the craigslist ad.
Here's the video:

I've been having trouble getting these rented lately. It's in a neighborhood where every other rental is either an ugly 2bd or half a house. But it's so close to OHSU, NCNM, and PSU. You'd think these would be easier. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Creston Villa #6

Hey, I don't have a video for it yet, but it looks a lot like this one:

I'm even offering a $75 gift card to New Seasons if you move in before the 1st. If it were me, I'd spend it all on this. I gotta say, Creston Villa is getting more and more awesome. I would've avoided that place three years ago, but nowadays it's the bee's knees. Or many bees' knees. Call me and rent it! 503.771.4040

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sellwood House

Oh, vFlyer. I'm not sure if I like you or not.


Photo Gallery










Description
This beautiful studio is located at the Sellwood House in the heart of the Brooklyn neighborhood. Originally a Catholic School, the 1906 Sellwood House is an award-winning eco-friendly remodel with bamboo floors and many other green features. Please call 503-349-8679 to schedule a viewing. Price includes all utilities.


Features
Bedrooms: 0
Bathrooms: 1
Located on Floor #: 1
Floors in Bldg: 2
Square Footage: 360
Parking Spaces: 1
Pets Allowed: Cats
Year Built: 1906

Powered by vFlyer.comvFlyer Id: 2461590

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Yamhill Apartments


I love it when an apartment building has its very own website. They have a one-bedroom for just $675 right now, but be sure to take your shoes off after stumbling home from the Speakeasy. You know, because it's carpeted.

Bagdad Basement?


What? You can rent the basement of the Bagdad? How weird would that be?
Such a weird craigslist ad. No contact info, but they invite you to text them?
Out of curiosity, I called one of the managers of the Bagdad. She told me there is no apartment in the basement of the Theater. So your guess is as good as mine.

Curry Court #6

Here's a studio we just finished up:

$665/mo on a 9-month lease includes water, sewer, and garbage. Lair Hill is kind of a weird neighborhood but it's about 18 blocks or so from PSU. Life will be a lot cooler there if this ever gets past the planning stages.
503/349.8679

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Dangerous Phrases

I've been searching craigslist to see if this is still for rent, but can't seem to find it. But I did find this ad which made me nervous:
Spacious 1898 Victorian now available for rent! This is a perfect home for a professional couple. It has 2 bedrooms (the downstairs bedroom could be used as office, the upstairs bedroom has sitting area in front), remodeled bath, hardwood floors, high ceilings, elegant molding in the living room and dining room. Excellent location, quiet neighborhood, and you can walk to the New Seasons Food Market, and Hawthorne stores. (bold is my doing)

That's so close to saying that this isn't a perfect home for a family, or a single person, or whatever else you can think of. I'd probably be fired immediately if I put that phrase in one of my ads. Or maybe I'm just being too picky because of that fair housing class I had to attend last month.
Anyway, it's a nice house if you can afford $1650 for a two-bedroom.

Sellwood House #4


I'm still sitting on this one. $695/mo includes all utilities: Water, sewer, garbage, hot water, heat, gas, electricity, and cable. I originally had it for $750 but that did NOT work at all. Oh, also there's no monthly cat rent here. Please rent it? 503/349.8679

2102 SE 12th Ave.


I never see apartments come up at the good ol' Virginia Lee, mostly because it's only a 12-plex. I've always really liked the front of the building, as it reminds me of the Enchanted Forest. $795/mo is pretty standard for a vintage one-bedroom in the neighborhood, but I'd be a little worried about paying for your own gas heat. I think the windows are the original wooden ones, so you could see a $100 NW Natural bill come winter. I could be wrong about that. Also, it's interesting how they work their cat policy. You have both a $150 one-time fee, and a $15/mo fee.
Pet rent is a relatively new concept to me. I personally think that it kind of encourages people with pets to move out sooner, whereas a one-time fee would encourage tenants to stay longer. For example, let's say you move into a place that has a $200 pet fee and you stay there for 20 months. You've basically paid $10/mo to have your pet. Compare that to, for example, a $20/mo pet fee and no one-time fee due upon move-in. That would be incentive for me to find a new place.
Of course, the Virginia Lee has both kinds of pet fees, so I'm not sure where the logic in that is. Maybe I just dislike cats.
UPDATE: Please see the comments about the heating bill! Also, see the comments about how I was totally wrong about the cat fee. It's OR not AND. I didn't read the ad carefully...
503/757.5201

Thursday, August 20, 2009

804 SE 39th


This one-bedroom apartment is only $610/mo! What's the catch?
Basement level?
Facing 39th?
Ugly carpet?
No, it's one of those income-restricted places that make you prove you make between $14,640 and $29,400 annually. Which, with our current economic situation, probably includes about 90% of Portland.

Creston Villa #30


Although this video is of #5, it looks exactly like #30. I'll have a video of #30 after I get it finished--which might be a little while. The girls that just moved out were YOUNG, 19 and 21. They were also artists. Or at least I'm assuming they were artists based on the amount of stray spray paint all over the walls, doors, deck, ceiling, etc.
Young girls and property management--like young girls and everything else--are kind of a mixed blessing. It's nice having them bake you cookies and pretend-flirt with you, but sooner or later they're going to move out and you'll have to scrape their glow-in-the-dark stars off the ceiling.
$785/mo on a 9-mo lease includes water, sewer, garbage.

Friday, April 10, 2009

3436 SW 1st


Walking around the neighborhood of Curry Court yesterday when I saw this interesting place. Built in 1885, it's a one-bedroom in a triplex with 650 sq ft for only $695. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. No pets or smoking, of course. 971.237.2289

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Creston Villa #41

I also have an apartment for rent, shown here:

$775/mo includes water, sewer, parking, and garbage.
Pet friendly, quiet building next to the Safeway.
The address is 3640 SE 40th, and my phone # is 771.4040
Here's the CL ad.

Unicorn Burial Ground

As usual, I am late to jump on the latest Portland meme:  In this case, our response to that article about how Portland is the nation's most depressing city (I'm not going to bother to link to it) is to counter with the fact that Portland was built over an ancient unicorn burial ground.  Explains a lot.

Ashley Court Apartments

I see that other apartment managers are finally utilizing youtube.  It's worked exceedingly well for me over the last 2 years or so, but now that the economy stinks and my job is getting harder (at least I have a job?) I'm not sure I like the competition.
Check out Ashley Court:


The classical music probably doesn't come with the apartment, but the color scheme is kind of a refreshing break from the Polar White standard in this town.  503-232-8200.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Stuff I have coming up

Creston Villa #41 should be ready 3/10 or so for $775:

Creston Villa #30 should be ready on 3/8, and it looks a lot like 41 but with a better kitchen for $775.
Creston Villa #19 is a funky ground floor apartment that I don't have a video of, but it's only $720 and should be ready around 3/10.
Queen Marie #207 is $830 and it will be ready around 4/10:

At the Warnell, I have a one-bedroom coming up around 3/15 for a cool $700. It's not my favorite because it's on the ground floor, but it has hardwood floors and is pretty big. Sorry no video.
Available now, I have this, and this.

I'm giving out New Seasons Gift Cards for referrals these days. If you know someone that needs an apartment and they rent from me, I'll kick you back a $25 or $50 card depending on which property.

Live like Jerry Seinfeld?


Wait. What?
You ever notice how when the economy's down apartment ads start getting weird? What's the deal with that? And airline food...

5625 se gladstone


View Larger MapThis sounds interesting: Hardwood floors, energy trust package, tiled bath. Not the best neighborhood in the world but not horrible either. Bad news for people like me that have apartments coming up next month, but good news for you. Sounds like they have 15 pretty nice apartments coming up soon.

Frozen blue penis as social commentary?


Okay, this post is a little blue, I know (!). But check out what awaited me when I pulled up to Creston Villa today. Yes, it's a gigantic frozen blue penis. The cell phone pic doesn't do it justice, but it's actually a very artistic frozen penis and whoever made it really put some work into it. Perhaps someone thinks I'm a dick. Of maybe, as Freud said, sometimes a frozen blue penis is just a frozen blue penis.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

How to peak my interest and then immediately kill it.

Mention Jackie O in the title of your craigslist ad so I'll click on it, and then mention Austin Powers in the first sentence so I click the back button.
And what's with the pictures of the full trash cans?
UPDATE: These guys are starting to grow on me.

2121 Belmont LOWERS their prices

The proof is in the pudding.
That 707 sq ft 1-bedroom that faces a concrete wall has gone down from $1275/mo to $1230/mo.  That's a savings of over 3.5%!!!one!
In all fairness, I haven't actually been inside.  Maybe it's totally worth it.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Palisades Properties

Anyone know about these guys?  First time I'd heard of them was today.  I'm totally going to get on their "Vacancy Hotlist."  Looks like they have quite a few neat things around town.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Sellwood House #2


I'm renting this eco-friendly studio is on the first floor facing south. $775 includes ALMOST everything: Water, sewer, garbage, hot water, heat, gas, electric, and cable.
It's in a quiet neighborhood and includes storage, bike room, off-street parking, laundry room. It's on 3 bus lines: 70, 19, and 17.
503.349.8679

1905 se morrison


This place keeps popping up on craigslist. Either no one wants a $550 studio anymore or this place is impossible to rent. Judging by the pictures in the ad, I'd guess the latter is true. Is that a stove in the living room?

Gone Fishin'


If things seem slow around here lately it's because of two things:
Number one, the market is SUPER slow right now so I'm actually starting to have to do some actual work.
Secondly, I'm taking a lot of time off this year in celebration of Oregon's Sesquicentennial.
http://150or.blogspot.com/

Won't you please move to SW?

I'm having trouble renting these two places:

Only $650!


Only $675!