r/SeattleWA

Hello, we've had a rough time with our landlord over the past few years and when we got our second rent increase in 13 months we decided to move out. After probably half a dozen showings, the land lord has reduced the listing price twice to now what we originally paid two years ago. Is that illegal or just annoying? (no one has rented it and we are still in the house for a few more weeks).

My co-founder and I are building the kind of café we’ve always wished existed. If you’ve ever thought, “I’d love to build a café that people genuinely love spending time in,” I’d love to chat and share more about the vision and plan.

At its heart, it’ll serve authentic Punjabi chaah alongside genuinely great coffee. We’ll keep the menu intentionally focused, doing a small number of things exceptionally well, while introducing seasonal drinks inspired by different regions of India throughout the year.

More than a café, we’re trying to create a true third place, a space where people study, work, meet friends, and feel part of a community.

We’re starting with pop-ups and community events before opening a permanent space in Seattle’s University District.

We’re now looking for our third co-founder.

My co-founder and I will continue leading the brand, product, long-term vision, fundraising, and overall strategy. We’re looking for someone who gets excited about turning ideas into reality—someone who wants to own the operational side of the business: building systems, leading pop-ups, working with vendors, hiring and developing a team, and eventually running the day-to-day operations of the café. The big decisions will always be made together as partners.

You don’t need to have opened a café before. Hospitality, restaurant, events, or operations experience is definitely valuable, but what matters more is that you’re proactive, dependable, love creating memorable customer experiences, and genuinely want to build something meaningful over the long term.

If that’s you..or someone you know...send me a DM. Even if it isn’t the right fit, I’d love to meet more people who are passionate about hospitality, community, and building great spaces.

Hi. I'm not sure why I'm making this post. Mainly to vent. I'm at the end of the line here. I know everyone here wants death to landlords, so, I dunno. Maybe sharing my story can help provide a different perspective?

I'm an army vet that was stationed down in Tacoma at JBLM. I bought a townhouse with the VA loan and I thought life was good. I then took a job overseas back in 2024 and signed a lease with an older family that seemed pretty normal. 60 yo white Dad. 41 yo Asian mom + her kids 18 and 22. They passed screening with no issues and nothing came back on their background checks.

We got a lease signed and everything was good for the first few months. Then, they stopped paying rent. Started claiming that they paid, or that there were technical issues with the payment portal, or issues with my bank being unable to receive payment. They started submitting forged and poorly edited documents and "receipts" of payment. They also had friends and associates calling me, pretending to be the "bank" to confirm that from their end, a wire transfer was made, so surely, the issue was on my bank's side.

Everyone suggested I hire a lawyer, so I did. Of course, the tenants got assigned a free pro bono lawyer from the city / Housing Justice Project. 1 year later, the case is at Superior Court, but the case keeps getting extended or "continued" month after month without a hearing. Now we're up to the point where there is a school year eviction moratorium starting in 2 weeks and the earliest eviction possible would be June 2027 because the 18 yo kid is in high school.

All the while, they've racked up over $40,000 in unpaid rent. I got laid off from my job overseas and have had to come back to the US in January of 2026 unemployed. I don't have a mountain of cash savings, so everything I had in savings has gone to paying the mortgage for some other people to live there. I'm completely zeroed out and have been couch surfing and living out of my car the past 6 months. Can't pay my lawyer anymore either so they withdrew from the case lol and I'm told "landlord bad. landlord evil" so I can't get any legal assistance from the housing justice project myself as a homeless vet.

To rub salt on the wound, the "Tenants" are out here posting pics on social media dining at Michelin starred fancy restaurants weekly and drive around in a Mercedes and a Range Rover.

The property will be foreclosed on soon. My credit will be destroyed. And not sure what will happen to the tenants. Awesome.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Wish you all the best.

EDIT:

1. For those who think this is fake, I'm sorry it came of that way. By "Michelin starred restaurants," I meant "very fancy" and I'm sorry for the confusion and/or exaggeration there. Intent was to say it is pricy. I don't personally know the list of starred restaurants in the area.
2. I don't necessarily want to doxx myself, which is the reason for the new account. Otherwise, I would have pasted the superior court case number that anyone can look up, but I am considering it. I posted the scenario to a real estate investors group on FB last week. It had the case number, all the "Tenant's" info and socials, etc. but the lawyer blew up on me so I took it down. Hence my hesitation to do that again. Iunno I'm at a point where I don't have much else to lose, but I'm holding out hope that a judge will see this case, and if they do, I'm told they won't like that I put the tenants on blast.
3. I did reach out to A&E for the Squatters show and coincidentally I just got a call today from one of the producers, Francis, that I was selected to move forward in their process for next season. They are planning to come into town the first week of September. I'll try to attach a screenshot of the voicemail.

https://preview.redd.it/jieuqmxsr9kh1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa6d1da370a2eeefe2070970a5648a7e1affc10e

To date, 23 barista apprentices have completed the program, and several have become shift leads and general managers at their two current locations. For the new Central District location, all five incoming personnel completed the program, including their general manager.

The intersection at 23rd and Jackson Street has recently experienced several closures. The Walgreens closed in May, and the Amazon Fresh shuttered in February.

~ Two national chains walked off that corner this year. The outfit moving in trains kids out of foster care and shelters to run it.