More thoughts on renting - compared to Redmond

As I continue my search for a new rental somewhere in San Carlos and Belmont, I recalled some experiences that my colleagues and friends have had renting in Redmond/Bellevue, WA and some of my visits there.

Let’s just say that if I were moving from WA to the Bay Area, I’d be pretty appalled at generally how old, small, unkept, and cruddy most of the rental stock around here is. The times I’ve visited rental homes there, I’d always been impressed by how nice they were.

But the most interesting difference is this rumor I’ve heard that some complexes actually waive the security deposit if you’re a Microsoft employee. If that’s true, that completely blows my mind . Having rented in California for 7 years, and knowing many other rents, I’ve long come to expect that security deposits were nothing more than an additional $300-$1xxx on revenue for the landlord. Could this possibly mean in other places, you actually get back your full security deposit? Or that it’s actually held for… security?

Of course, there’s also the general price difference (~$1380 vs ~$2170 for a comparable 2 bedroom) - but that’s no surprise.

Between that and the income tax (0% WA vs 9.3% CA), I’m sometimes surprised more people haven’t moved to Redmond already. Me? I’ll never move there - people drive too slow there.