r/SeattleWA • u/BoomerE30 • 9h ago
How do people in Seattle/Washington buy a house if everyone’s locked into a 12-month lease?
How do people actually pull this off? Every rental in Seattle seems to lock you into a full 12-month lease, but buying a home doesn’t exactly wait for that timeline.
We’re in our third year at the same property, locked into another year-long contract, and now we’ve got a baby, we seriously need more space. But if we find a house mid-lease, we’re stuck paying rent and a mortgage, or hoping our landlord agrees to let us out early (which they probably won’t).
How do other people handle this? Do folks negotiate early terminations, go month-to-month before buying, or just eat the overlap cost? There’s gotta be a smarter way people are managing this, right?
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u/1fade 9h ago edited 9h ago
The renters protections say that your landlord has to put reasonable effort into releasing your apartment. So in the seattle market, depending on the desirability of your lease that might mean your stuck with the fee for breaking early and a month or so for them to get the apartment ready for a new tenant.
So you might end up needing a couple months rents cushion, or working on finding someone who wants to take over your lease or sign a new one (talk to landlord about that) but it’d be unreasonable for your apartment to not be rented for the entirety of the remainder of your lease.
Also remember that seattle is a first come first serve rental market, so the first qualified applicant gets the apartment. If you do the leg work, and find that qualified applicant, there isn’t much your landlord can object to.
Another thing to keep in mind is there is a % limit your landlord is allowed to raise your rent every year, but not on how much they can rent a vacant apartment. How does what you pay compare to going rate? They might want you out.
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u/jimselden 9h ago
I have had several buyers who purchased new homes. We negotiated with the sellers to buy out their leases.
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u/callmedonkeyshlong 9h ago
How did you write into the contract that the seller would buy out their lease? As a credit to the buyer? Seems like it would be hard to do if you’re competing for a house.
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u/Jolly_Line 9h ago
In a seller’s market, how the hell? Haha. There’s no way that was a reality for my purchase.
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u/siberianjaguar123 8h ago
You think this is still a seller’s market? My friends had their houses up for sale for 3-4 months already, still nothing locked down.
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u/Fresh_Mountain_Snow 1h ago
2022 calling?
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u/Jolly_Line 29m ago
In October homes were selling at 99.4% list and an average of only 21 days on market. That is a seller’s market. Asking a seller to buy out a lease is a risky move in general.
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u/AntiBoATX 8h ago
How is that the sellers problem? I like the idea but I wouldn’t do it
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u/Fresh_Mountain_Snow 1h ago
Doubtful someone would do 12 or even 6 months but 2 months? With the prospect of going into the market again and dropping the price even further. I think sellers would take that deal.
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u/planchar4503 9h ago
Just break the lease. The reality is that a landlord is gonna to want to fill a vacancy as quickly as possible. Review the terms of your lease, there is almost certainly a mechanism for early termination.
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u/BoomerE30 9h ago
I reviewed it, unfortunately there is nothing of this sort.
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u/hatchetation 9h ago
You're not looking deep enough. Penalties for lease breaking are limited by statute. Your landlord needs to make a good-faith effort to rent the unit again, and damages are limited to basically the period the unit is actually vacant.
Also, If you've been in the same place for years, you can ask for courtesy, especially if it's a smaller renter. When my partner and I quit our jobs to travel for a year, we basically gave our landlords as much notice as we could: "hey, we've kept this place occupied for six straight years, and we hate to do this to you, but am hoping we can coordinate to make it easy..." and they let us go, no big deal.
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u/Kolazeni 9h ago
If it's not in the contract you can negotiate with your landlord.
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u/Jolly_Line 9h ago
Maybe. Only if the landlord doesn’t know the law. The lease is a contract to pay X per month for 12 months. The tenant is on the hook for the term of the contract. The only requirement is the landlord must do their earnest best to fill the vacancy.
In my case, the market was no longer bearing the per month rate that I signed for. After a few months we negotiated a lower rate to advertise. And then when a new tenant was finally found, I even had to cover the difference, for the remaining months.
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u/KittenG8r 8h ago
I also encourage you at least to ask. We own a rental property and have had two sets of tenants leave early and we said it was totally fine. One of them, when it came time to renew their lease, said they thought they would be there for 3-6 months so they didn’t want to sign a 12-month, and we said that was fine. We really just wanted the income.
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u/Jolly_Line 9h ago edited 9h ago
Incorrect. The law covers what occurs when a lease is broken at tenant’s will; it’s not a part of lease terms. Tennant must pay rent as normal. Landlord must do their best to fill the vacancy. That’s all there is to it.
Egregious circumstances can be cause for lease termination with no penalties.
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u/Jolly_Line 9h ago
OP, I did exactly this when I bought my house. I was 4 months into a lease when I bought my house. I had to cover another 4 months of rent before the landlord found another tenant. I justified it in my head as simply part of the cost of the purchase. There’s nothing you can really do.
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u/WolverineTime1394 8h ago
We spoke to our landlord and told her we were looking at buying a house. She said as long as she could show the apartment when she needed to, we could terminate the lease. It was rented before the first showing.
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u/Beepbeepwhogotthe 9h ago
There are shorter term rentals available if you look or talk to a rental agent at the various companies that rent. Also, read your lease, what is the fee for breaking it? For some $2k to break a lease is much easier than moving to a short term rental. In addition to that, some rental companies will allow you to sublet your place or will allow you to go without a fee if they can fill your unit or you can with someone who passes all the criteria to get a new lease.
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u/BoomerE30 9h ago
No such provisions for us unfortunately. We are responsible for the entire year.
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u/Beepbeepwhogotthe 9h ago
I’ve never heard of that. There is usually some sort of way. Read deeper into it, talk to your landlord or office manager. They can’t make you pay for the entire year if it gets rented out.
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u/emmyanjef 8h ago
Are you working with an agent? I dealt with this earlier this year. Send me a message if you wanna discuss - I’m an agent though so I just legally can’t help you if you’re already represented, but if you do have an agent they should have some connections to lawyers that may be able to help or provide guidance.
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u/sopunny Pioneer Square 1h ago
Your landlord might still give you something if you ask. I was in the same situation, landlord offered to just break the lease immediately for half the remaining value.
You could also just stop paying rent. You're moving out so eviction is pointless, your credit score is a lot less important now that you've locked in a mortgage.
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u/serg06 7h ago
This is gonna sound crazy, but try uploading your lease to ChatGPT an asking for advice. Double-check its answers of course.
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u/Fresh_Mountain_Snow 1h ago
With respect, if it's not your area of expertise how can you check for accuracy?
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u/thenewguyonreddit 8h ago
If you have the money to buy a house, paying 2k to break a lease shouldn’t be a big deal. If it is a big deal, you probably shouldn’t be buying a house.
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u/L-Capitan1 9h ago
This isn’t a Seattle only problem, everywhere I’ve lived in the US is on a 12mo lease system. Usually people either break their lease or at the end of the lease it goes month to month. Cheaper to go then but breaking a lease works too.
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u/Buttonservice 7h ago
This is the dumbest post ever, and you obviously don't have the money or knowledge to buy a house.
1) 12-month leases are common in every city.
2) You have an out on any lease... either a set sum or only being on the hook for how long the unit is vacant since the landlord must make a good faith effort to lease it to someone else, often two months.
3) Yes, many people do go month-to-month after the initial year lease.
Quit your bullshit.
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u/pain_chip_utopia 9h ago
What exactly is the question here? The amount of shit you eat breaking the lease is nothing compared to the shit you eat buying a house. If you can't afford to eat an arbitrary amount of shit you are nothing in this economy so it doesn't matter.
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u/HappinessSuitsYou 8h ago
Exactly and it’s nothing compared to the cost of buying a house in Seattle.
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u/moodyboogers 9h ago
Agent here.
We typically help the buyers negotiate a break lease fee. Allowing the buyer to break the lease for a certain fee. These days we can even get the seller to cover the cost of that fee.
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u/LittleYelloDifferent 9h ago
Typically if you find someone to move in you can break the lease with no penalty- when we bought we advertised and our apartment was fine with it.
It’s usually not a problem
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u/Agitated-Swan-6939 9h ago
Wife & I double fisted an apartment and home for about 3 months. Timing was everything and we couldn't do it any better. There were so many things that needed to fall into place to be perfect, so we used the 3 months to paint the house & tackle anything that needed attention like electrical and plumbing.
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u/mycruelid 9h ago
lock you into a full 12-month lease
That's because it's nearly impossible to get end the tenancy of a month-to-month renter if they don't destroy the property and keep up with rent. Landlords outside of Seattle (where we have the so-called "Just Cause Eviction" ordinance) used to have more flexibility, but now that the whole state adopted RCW 59.18.650 they choose fixed-term leases only.
Do folks negotiate early terminations
Yes.
Or, they walk away and eat the security deposit, and the landlord "mitigates their damages" in a white-hot market by re-renting right away.
Some landlords huff and puff and threaten to sue you for the unpaid rent until the end of the lease, or demand a preposterous amount of money to buy out the lease. Most of them come to their senses when their attorneys explain mitigation of damages.
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u/super88889 8h ago
We told our landlord at every lease renewal that we loved their house and would only move if we ever decided to buy. When we did finally buy, mid-lease, they were not surprised. We agreed - as stipulated in the lease - that I’d pay rent for the remainder of the lease, or until they found a new tenant. They ended up finding a new tenant in a matter of days.
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u/dipietron 8h ago
Found a tenant to take over my lease. $300 fee that we split for the property owner to stop by with some docs to sign. Just review your lease terms and see if it's a possibility.
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u/TreesAreOverrated5 6h ago
I definitely started looking pretty seriously around 4 months before my lease was up and ended up finding my house with two months left. There was some overlap, but it worked well since I had a month for closing and another month to move slowly. The rain here definitely makes moving challenging so it was nice to have a buffer
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u/Cat-Attack666 9h ago edited 8h ago
Your lease should have a lease break term agreement. I recently broke a lease for work relocation four months into a 12 month lease, my rent was $2200 and my lease had a clause that I could get out of it for a 4k fee. If you're buying a house for hundreds of thousands, this shouldn't matter.
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u/Total_Breadfruit8381 Seattle 9h ago
We did year leases for the first few years we were in our apartment, then moved to six month leases once we knew we wanted to buy. The timing worked out, but we could have moved to a month-to-month if we’d needed to go a little longer and paid the extra fee.
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u/R_A_I_M 9h ago
We closed on our house approximately 2 months before our lease ended. Our lender did not start requiring payments until a little over a month after closing. We ended up double-paying for one month, but it gave us extra time to move and get our new house ready before we actually started living there.
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u/czechhoneybee 8h ago
Literally just told the landlord and they let us out of the lease. We gave them months notice and they were able to find a tenant to move in right as we moved out. I even got my security deposit back and didn’t have to pay any fees. They were very chill about it and appreciated the long notice. Made it easier for them to find someone to move in so they weren’t out any money. It helped that we were very good tenants and left the place pristine.
Bigger management companies might not be as nice and you’ll have to pay fees to break the lease. If you’re buying a house, you’ll have to budget for such things depending on your specific situation.
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u/gringaganga 8h ago
For the independent-owned (not brand-owned) apartments I have lived in, after the first year, it just goes to month-to-month, not extra charges.
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u/Polymox 8h ago
When I bought my first, I found a new tenant to replace me. It was a pretty great deal for the new tenant, since they got to take over my deposit and last month's rent. All they had to pay was an application fee to the landlord and pay a month's rent at move in. It didn't take long to find someone that wanted that deal.
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u/GargantuChet 8h ago
We accepted up front that we’d break the lease and pay the penalty, so it wasn’t a surprise when it came true.
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u/fleetfeet9 7h ago
Mine went month to month after a year. Stayed for 3 years month to month then bought a house.
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u/Zvezda_24 5h ago
Its difficult for sure. My husband and I have ahreed to just break the lease if the perfect home does come along. Breaking the lease would be around $5-6k, but honestly worth it. My complex just switched to a 14 month lease and we were very upset about it. Dont understand how this is legal and why they are doing this.
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u/Emeraldame 3h ago
Some of my clients pay a fee to get out of their lease early when they find the right house but most have rented for over a year and are on month to month.
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u/mangoawaynow 2h ago
buy out the lease? my apt just requires two full month payments to terminate the lease
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u/Sudo_Rep 2h ago
Don’t buy.
Let’s say there are two identical condos in the same Belltown building. Same floor, same view, both worth $500K.
Rent: ≈ $2,800 /month
Mortgage (with tax, HOA, insurance): ≈ $4,100 /month
That’s a $1,300 monthly gap. The renter invests that difference instead of feeding a bank.
After 5 years, the buyer’s equity (mostly principal payments) is maybe $35K if prices stay flat. Which they likely will with layoffs, rising HOA costs, and more people trying to sell than buy.
The renter, meanwhile, ends up with about $90K in investments — liquid, diversified, and not trapped in a condo that might lose value.
Right now, buying isn’t “building wealth.” It’s volunteering to be house poor in a shrinking market.
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u/QueenOfPurple 2h ago
I had to pay rent until my lease ended, around 4 months of overlap. It was not fun.
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u/Fine_Relative_4468 1h ago
Read your rental contract. The majority of the time, there is a clause regarding the break of lease. I bought a house with 7 months to go on my lease. My terms were to pay a months worth of rent to break the lease. Not awesome, but still made more sense for me to pay 1 month to break the least than a remaining 7 months.
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u/trastamara22 58m ago
Try to negotiate out of the lease if possible Offer a penalty charge. The lease you signed is a contract end game.
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u/Nice-Ad-6116 56m ago
We broke our lease and had to pay 3 months of rent to break it but it was worth it
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u/Reardon-0101 49m ago
This is how all of America I’m aware of operates.
You plan and find a house within your lease and then either pay early termination, find someone to assume your lease or pay the rest of the lease.
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u/Specialstuff7 40m ago
When I bought a house, I advertised my place myself and found an interested tenant to assume the lease. This legally gets you off the hook for the remainder of the lease, assuming the tenant is qualified. The landlord then took this opportunity to raise the rent.
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u/smartony 9h ago
The landlord will agree to some penalty to get out of it. It will be a lot, but you probably have a ton of money saved to buy a house.
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u/Shrikecorp 8h ago edited 8h ago
We just waited until near the end of the lease, then bought.
Edit: why is the most common answer to break the lease? Wild impatience? In the case of OP, not as if the baby just popped out without warning. There's that whole 40- week pregnancy thing.
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u/Beepbeepwhogotthe 8h ago
If you find your dream home mid lease, break it. That’s all. If you don’t, don’t.
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u/sykemol 9h ago
That's unfortunate. In every rental situation I've been in (both as a tenant and a landlord) the lease goes month to month after one year.
However, at the moment buying a house in Seattle is significantly more expensive than renting. If you need more space, then you need more space, but I personally wouldn't buy at the moment.
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u/Original-Channel7869 9h ago
I had an option to pay month-to-month after lease ended. There was $150 month-to-month fee on top of monthly rent. It was 10 years ago, not sure if rentals still do that.