Our family has enjoyed owning and renting out one one of the duplexes in the Highlands. While it sounds strange to say we’ve enjoyed being landlords, it’s because this building has attracted the nicest tenants for all the years that we have owned it.

Most of our renters have lived with us for many years, and then gone on to purchase homes of their own.

The last renters from the unit we’re working on in the picture below leased from us for fourteen years, and then went on to purchase a home.

In the other unit, we had a tenant that had been with us five years, and previous tenants had resided in that unit for seven years, and another for three. One couple left many years ago, but they remain cherished friends and they are doing a wonderful job fixing up a beautiful home they purchased in Everett.

In addition to long term tenancies, we’ve never had a day of vacancy in these units. This is something that the building’s previous owner, former Renton Mayor Don Custer, told us was true for him as well. Don Custer’s remodeling skills are a great part of why the units have been fun and popular….Don did a first class job updated the building, all the way down to the wall studs, in 1980.

We’ve now entered a new chapter of our lives, as we’ve moved our own grown children into these units. To prepare for my son’s move in, I finally took out the once-stunning orange counter top that Don Custer had installed. Don’s craftsmanship was great, and the material held up very well over the years, but the color was no longer working. Long-time readers may remember me discussing this before in a highlands blog here

Cathy, Andy, and I work on the counters. Cathy irons on the Formica edge piece, while I install the new faucet. (Councilman King Parker might recognize the nice Whirlpool appliances under the counter, which came directly from his little red store!)