Although they have hung their hats in New York since 1974, Kathy Meehan and her husband dearly missed the Pacific Northwest, the place where Kathy spent her childhood.
"It has always been a dream of ours to come back, but we both worked in New York, which is 3,000 miles away, and our concern was that we would be priced out of the Seattle/Tacoma area. The area is still hot despite the economy and housing market," she says.
But timing was everything.
In 2006, the Meehan's decided it was time to buy an investment property in their dream area, just minutes from Kathy's mother and childhood home. They decided on a Beautiful, first-floor condo that overlooks Commencement Bay and is near Seattle's booming business district and public transportation. They bought the condo knowing it would serve as their vacation home part of the year and as a corporate rental (investment property) for the rest of the year.
She says, "We also knew we couldn't afford to do this unless we had someone renting it for most of the year to help off-set our mortgage payments. The only catch was we didn't want people prancing in and out with their furniture. Making it a corporate rental just made sense for us."
Kathy says that she has made the furnished rental property one that she is "very proud" of.
"It's professionally decorated and furnished with a business person in mind," she adds. "It has a classic look and feels like home when I'm there. Any renter should feel right at home too."
Plus, Kathy says that finding renters has been a non-issue for her.
Corporate Housing by Owner has been crucial in our success. We have had a consistent string of renters for the past three years since listing our property on the landlord-renter matching site," she says.
Kathy says that she loves her west coast home and can't wait to move to the area when she retires.
"I love that I can get off an airplane, get in my rental car and I can move right in. All I have to do is turn on the lights and buy groceries. It truly is our home away from home."
