[Dawn] Brundage recently returned to her rented home — just a chip shot away from the entrance to Chambers Bay, where the [US Open] tournament will be in June — and found a notice taped to her front door.
The rental agency was demanding that she vacate the property by the end of April.So that it would be vacant during the golf tournament, and instead of collecting the monthly rent of over $1,900 for May and June;
The owner of the property, Abdulaziz Karim, has listed the house for rent at $38,000 — for the tournament week.Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth;
[Ms Brundage] has lived in the house for eight or nine years. She is raising two teen daughters who have grown up in the neighborhood and who attend nearby Charles Wright Academy. Although she has no record of the transaction, she said she signed an online, one-year rental agreement last year.Too bad she didn't think to save a copy of it. Had she done so, she'd be the one who could collect the $38,000 (while living in a motel) for giving up her domicile for the week.
When she saw the notice, she said, “I was so embarrassed.” She feared neighbors might think she was being evicted for being a bad tenant. She said she is indeed a good tenant and is a dispatcher for the Washington State Patrol.We suspect that the neighbors are making hay while the sun shines themselves, and are well aware of the economics at play. No need for anyone to be embarrassed, it's merely a change in the supply/demand equilibrium. Temporarily.
After Tiger, Phil, Rory and Jordan go on to the next tournament on the schedule, the owner of the house will want to rent the house to someone. For the market price in a normal market. Why not a proven good tenant--taking Dawn at her word--with a good paying, stable job? The proverbial bird in the hand.
Here's (free of charge--hey, we used to charge for this kind of advice!) Ms Brundage's negotiating position strengths; She has a houseful of furniture that, if she moves out, the owner will need to replace for the use of the week-long tenants. The owner will need to provide some security and maid/maintenance services. She should appeal to the self-interest of the landlord, not to his benevolence.
She is a known entity to the landlord, and won't require a background check, nor an advertisement or a showing of the property for her to resume living in her (as she calls it) house. She has something any landlord wants, the ability to buy what the owners of rental housing have to sell.
We have all the conditions for a win-win (more than most of the golfers can say). All she has to do is negotiate a mutually satisfactory agreement.
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