While many lament Seattle’s home-buying woes, which are being affected by the incoming droves of tech workers, it’s easy to overlook another part of the housing market — rentals.
But as King 5 reports, some tech workers get sweet deals that the rest of us don’t get when renting a pad.
Many of the city’s newer housing complexes offer special deals to workers at the big tech companies, including Microsoft and Google. The incentives may include cuts in deposits and fees to lure in those tech renters.
Why? According to Coldwell Banker realtor Dorothy Ennes, the tech worker is the perfect tenant. “I tell owners my ideal tenant is someone who works for high tech companies and is never home,” she tells King 5.
Tech workers: Stable incomes and less “wear and tear” on apartments.
These incentives are called “preferred employee specials,” and may be considered a form of discrimination. Seattle’s Office of Civil Rights will now research these deals to see if they are, in fact, discriminatory.
In a hot rental market, where the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is around $1,500, according to data tracked by Rent Jungle, these incentives might be considered one more hurdle to getting a decent place to live if you don’t work in tech.
While Ennes says that she does not offer these types of incentives due to the “gray” area in that whole discrimination thing, many properties do, including Luna Sol in Kirkland and Aperture on Fifth downtown. Those properties’ representatives told King 5 that “this is a standard marketing practice and deny there is any discrimination going on. They also say the specials extend beyond tech companies to other large, local employers.”
What do you think: Are “preferred employee specials” good business or a form of discrimination?
Watch the King 5 report below:
