f13.net

We have been planning a move from Ohio to Seatte, WA for about a year.  It took a LONG time for my wife's bar application to be processed.  She is being flown out next week for a second interview.  It looks like she has a pretty fair shot at getting the position, and as long as the money is good, we will be moving soon.  She will stay with friends while I stay behind to sell the house. 

Anyone from Seattle have any advice about the city? 

I won't work for the first year or so because I'm finishing my degree, so work isn't a huge priority for me.  We've got school info for my daughter and we've started doing initial searches for apartments on Craigslist and another site, though we are trying to stay away from anything Windermere.  We're trying to stick to living in West Seattle, hoping to get the kid into Schmitz Park or Alki elementaries. 

I think we've got all the big moving issues under control, but I guess I'm just wondering if there's anything I should know about Seattle that isn't really well known by outsiders or "newcomer" guides.  Thanks!

Say good bye to the sun.

We're okay with that.  They've had it pretty cool this summer, my buddy says.  I was bitching about it hitting 100+ and humid as a sauna here in Ohio last month, and he was bitching about how it only got to 80 once or twice.  Told him I'm okay with that, but I'm done with this crap Ohio weather.

This summer has been mercifully cloudy. Last summer we beat Texas heat for at least a few days.

People are grumpy and friendly at the same time, and drivers drive like ass. The beer is excellent. The streets are safe as long as you don't wander alleys in the middle of the night. Also I think the state's broke, and unemployment is...average for the country, but it feels like it's worse. (I'm sure every place feels that way though.)

Check out public transportation routes wherever you're looking to get a home, since to be honest, traffic here is such ass, you'll find that even 'wealthy' people prefer to ride public transport to avoid the stress of traffic.

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/

I sincerely recommend buying some 'natural light' lighting, since you will, no if ands or buts about it, get far less sunlight than you're used to. Do not underestimate the possible effects, SAD is real. Vitamin D supplements are your friend.

Other than that, outside of the clubbing culture downtown, Seattle is just another bland suburban American middle class mire. So, be ready to be bored.

Oh come now, Seattle is great - it's only a two hour drive to Vancouver!

The seafood is outstanding and while it is not Colorado or Lake Tahoe the skiing is not bad at all.  Skiing in heavy fog is  :drill:.

We've been suburban for 10 years and we're done with it.  Both of us want back in the city.  I'm hoping to dump my car and do public transport and local bike when possible.  With some of the bus route mapping features on smartphones these days, it's just too easy.  We've visited friends out there three times in the last year, and each time we maneuvered the city fairly painlessly by bus.  

I've heard the advice on Vitamin D and SAD - we have that info in our plan already.  I don't get hit by it much, but my wife does.  I think we're going to stay away from buying property while we're out there, just renting.  So we can pack up and leave if things don't quite fit.  I have to figure, though, between the national parks, the ocean and a brand new city to explore, we have at least a few years before wearing it all out.  

Also, yes.  Looking forward to the beer.  We simply don't have beer establishments here like Seattle does.  We went into Porterhouse in West Seattle and our waitress knew virtually their whole beer selection by taste.  Again, we just don't have people that into beer here.

I hope you like coffee.

And basketball...  :oh_i_see: no wait, I mean hockey...  :oh_i_see: well, they have the Seahawks right?  :why_so_serious: and the Mariners  :uhrr:

I keeed, I keeeed.... I only say that because I am jealous. Seattle has been in the back of my brain since the late 90s.  Never even visited.

great place to live.  neighbourhoods are actually unique, lots of parks and recreation.

fundamental advice: figure out your commute before anything else.  Once you know where you will work you can then figure out the best places to buy/rent.  Why?  Because of the geography.

There are only 2 bridges (and one is about to be tolled) over Lake Washington, and every entry point into Seattle can be jammed.  Work backwards and you can then locate better places to live, and maybe take the bus or bike (great trails).   Also, the farther East you go, the farther your dollar buys you more room, bigger domicile.

Cf.  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle

Have an automatic. Hills in Skedaddle will cook your clutch quick.

If it is rainy, who the hell wants to bike anywhere?  Dangerous and miserable.

That is great advice Soln.

Also, good tip on the automatic transmission. I have manual, and its bad downtown for that. In fact, I wore out a clutch within the first two years here.

I shouldn't be so down on Seattle. It has great food and amazing nature, a decent music scene, and some good museums.

As for biking in the rain, as long as you don't have a big downhill run, you get used to it. I ride my bike from Capitol Hill to the U District every day, but do have to skip rainy days because 24th downhill is nigh suicidal in the rain. Other areas, however, its fine. In fact, if you live and work anywhere near the Burke-Gilman trail (http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/burkegilmantrailmaps.htm), you can ride your bike every day to work, rain or shine pretty much.

If you are dead set on living in West Seattle, get a good security system, and learn quickly where the neighborhoods change from decent to extremely shady (it happens quite quickly in that area). Parking is exceptionally shitty over there too, so if you have more than 1 car, be prepared.

Spud's Fish and Chips and Alki Bakery are both must-visits (right near Alki Beach). Salty's (on the other side of the spit from Alki- faces back to Seattle across Elliott Bay has pretty decent seafood, good drinks, and a great patio on which to consume said drinks if you can find a decent day. Some good pubs and taverns up and down California Ave too- should have fun exploring!

Hey Mariners kicked some butt this year in a few games!  :awesome_for_real:
Also there's the Sounders....  :oh_i_see:

WAP is sadly right about security in W Seattle.  I have several colleagues that live there and have had problems.

If you are not working and schools are driving your location decision, be sure to check all the possibilities.  Seattle schools are under a lot of fire lately because of cut backs, and there are board elections coming up.  Bellevue and Mercer Island have great reputations for public schools, and hell, if your wife is working downtown, then check out Bainbridge Island.  Some of the best schools in the State are there.  It would be a quick commute for her from the terminal to downtown (~10mins).  I know people who do it.  FWIW, if Lianka wasn't planning to work somewhere, we'd be looking at Bainbridge Island.  Instead, we'll be looking at Mercer Island for elementary schools.  It's also top shelf, and while it's expensive to own there, the rents seem normal.

also, greatschools.org

I moved from the mid-west to Seattle for a few years before, some of the things I learned:

-Public Trans is pretty awesome
-Pedestrians are dumbasses and have more self-entitlement issues than anywhere I've lived before. I'm all for rules to provide way for pedestrians and driving safely in their presence, but when ladies carrying babies commonly walk out in front of your car (not at a crosswalk or anything) without looking for any traffic while you're doing 40 in a 40mph zone  :oh_i_see:
-Buddha Rhuska for Thai food (in west Seattle) is the shit, go buy their Crispy Garlic Chicken. I still haven't found a Thai place back in the midwest that compares.
-As was mentioned, West Seattle can be shady for crime/safety in places, otherwise it's a pretty safe city imo
-during football season, avoid the U-dist (especially NE 45th st) on Saturdays if there are home games. There were days that would take me 2hours to drive what was normally a 10min commute. Public trans doesn't help at that time since all traffic is jammed and I didn't own a bike back then, though I did the next day.
- even if driving an automatic, use your emergency parking brake even on small hills, it does help you in the long run. A friend of mine is a mechanic and their shop makes mad bank on transmission service/rebuilds and that was one of the main tips he gave me.

That's weird about West Seattle crime issues.  I have friends that live near the Zeke's pizza/Beveridge Place area (I think that's Fauntleroy and California) and they have absolutely no issues.  I have to imagine that more north in the Admiral district it might get a little shadier because of the beachy-feel.  Anyways, good to know.  Thanks. 

We're actually really looking hard at getting a place a block or two off Beach Dr.  We'll see.  It's expensive rent, but not much more than our mortgage here in Ohio.  I figure our first year will give us the lay of the land pretty well, so we can settle down from there and figure where we want to live for awhile.  It's tough to move cross-country and find the "perfect" place to rent.

We tried Salty's as our "expensive" dinner when we were out last.  It was by far the worst meal I had out there; all the pubs and such had much better food overall.  Just from my single experience, of course. 

Lots of good info.  Keep it coming!!

Other than Vegas, Seattle is the only city I've went out for pitchers of beer at 6 am.  This may have also occurred in WI but if so I wasn't in a condition to remember it.

New Orleans... oh the broken memories I have of that hole.

Ha!  After my wife took the bar exam, I picked her up from the third day and we drove straight to New Orleans.  Somewhere around night two of our bender, at 4 or 5 in the morning, we figured that they had to kick us out sometime, right?  So I asked the bartender what time was last call and he just laughed and laughed.  I had a terrible, terrible next day.  Even keeping myself drunk wasn't enough.

I only lived in Seattle for ~6 months, and lived and worked downtown, walking distance to office, right down the hill from Space Needle, and stones throw from water. An automobile was entirely unnecessary (and actually burdensome). Everything (bars, groceries, coffee, music, sports, restaurants, etc.…) was within walking distance or a short train/public transit ride. I loved this, maybe because living in Arizona, one must drive significant distances anywhere to do anything…

It rains a lot, but I believe Seattle actually receives less rainfall than NY -- it's just drizzly and overcast most of the time, and really not hindering of walking/biking other than just wearing hat/hood.

A number of folks I worked with lived way out east (which is a commuting nightmare, though many did the van pool thing) or ferried in from across the bay -- a lot of time traveling to/from work, but according to work mates, pristine deals were to be had there, for better and prettier unspoiled chunks of land.

Yes, there is hockey in Seattle (http://www.seattlethunderbirds.com/).

what sort of fattened oligarch are you that you live downtown?

:eat:

No oligarch, but did have my monthly suite bill reimbursed by client…

…apartments are not that expensive, seemed cheaper to me than San Francisco or New York or Boston.

They actually play in the 'burbs now (about 10 minutes from my house!), so they are no longer accessible by walking from Queen Anne.

Its all relative, but ya, not as expensive as the three probably most popular cities in the US :)

I'm also curious about where in downtown you live that you have quick walking distance access to a supermarket, unless you mean the Whole Foods on Denny.

I lived right by the Vashon ferry dock in West Seattle for a few years. I think the crime problem came from White Center up the hill. White Center is still sketchy, but you will find some great ethnic places up there. If you move there, keep an eye out for a salvadorean bakery. The only thing I miss about West Seattle was the restaurants, but I lived there in my bachelor days.

Now I live in Belltown (downtown, kinda). QFC is probably the best grocery in walking distance. Washington state has had an explosion of local distilleries. Many wine tasting spots now have menus of local liqueurs too. If it's your poison, I hear Dry Fly Gin from Spokane is quite the thing.

I've found many people from warmer and sunnier places here. We have lots of Hawaiians. My girl is from Phoenix and can't say enough good things about our abundance of cool cloudy days. Different strokes.

Lived right up from Elliot/Western -- perhaps that is not technically "downtown" -- there was a Safeway right up the hill (I believe it was 1st avenue W. just a street/block or two over from Key Arena / Space Needle / etc.… …and I used to walk to Pike Place Market, a brisk walk, but not more than a mile or so…

Is that technically Belltown? In any event, yes, I've had a friend or two living in that area. A bit higher rent than even Capitol Hill, but not insane like the actual downtown corridor. Not that I see any benefit actually living next to the Columbia tower or anything. At least in Belltown you're smack dab in the middle of decent clubs.

Is anyone who lived in Seattle old enough to remember a dance club down town during the 80's/90's called Oz?
I loved that place.

There was also a Trattoria Italian restaurant down town that served some of the best Tuscan Italian food I have EVER had at 4am that we would go to after Oz closed at 4am.

I have good memories of Seattle.

I do remember Oz. I only went there a couple of times,  since it was an underage club, and I would rather get drunk with my friends than sit around sobering up not dancing. GodDAMN I hate dancing.

Amazon fresh also delivers to most areas in Seattle.

I moved from Dallas to the Seattle area in December.

Weather-wise, it rains almost everyday in the winter months and not much in the summer months. This summer was my first up here and I was very impressed. It seems like it rained, at most, twice a week and most of the time it was highs in the low to mid 70s and sunny. It's been awesome in comparison to Texas summers.

As far as places to live? In Seattle, I know that the White Center area is pretty sketchy. Outside of Seattle? You probably want to avoid most of the cities south of Seattle. East of Seattle, Mercer Island is very nice, but expensive and Bellevue is a good place to live. North? I'm not as familiar with.

My step brother lived in Bothell for a few years. I visited him there, and it was pretty nice but it was definitely a bit of a hike into the city.

Lived the better part of the first 20 years of my life in the Seattle area.  When people ask me about, I usually tell them about how within 2 hours of driving you have:

A bustling metropolitan area surrounded by water
Skiing/Mountains
Desert
Rain Forest
Ocean
Indian Reservations

Name another place on the globe that can claim all those things.  And that doesn't take into account the somewhat unique culture of the place.  And the fact that it is close to Canada.  Whoever said it was boring was probably being deliberately obtuse...there are few places as interesting as Seattle.  If you can adapt to the weather, I imagine you will love the place.

Seattle is a wonderful place to live if you're making over $80k a year.  The high cost of living is a barrier to entry for many as are the long commutes if you can't afford to live near your work.  The road systems in and around Seattle are a nightmare. 

Eh, I don't make that much and I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else (in the US). It used to be cheaper, sure, but its still doable for the vast majority of folks that don't earn that much money.

The most salient factor going for Seattle, in my admittedly skewed world view, is that Seattle has a largely tolerant and liberal mindset. It actually has minorities that it has to tolerate, unlike Portland, for instance, which doesn't have minorities and can be quite provincial once you scratch at the patina of champagne socialism.

Naturally, San Francisco is also quite progressive, and doesn't have the weather problem, but that's why its even more expensive.

Can you buy a house for less than $350k that's within an hour of downtown and not in a demilitarized zone?   Maybe things have gotten better since the housing bubble burst.  I know when I considered a job in Seattle 3 years ago, the standard of living calculator said that average house price in Seattle was around $380k.  That's a pretty stiff monthly payment with commuting, taxes, and insurance.

Most of my extended family lives in Seattle and Portland and they are wonderful places to live and raise a family.  If I found a position there that paid enough to allow me to maintain my same lifestyle, I'd move there in a heartbeat. 

And this is considered a BAD summer by local standards!  :) 

I've been here 3 1/2 years.  I've had to break out an actual winter coat all of three times.  Back east, I can barely handle it over 20C (~70F).  Here, with its lack of humidity, I can handle it up to 80F!  Sure, it's grey and dreary in the winter, but it's just like fall and spring back east, except you're not trudging through ankle deep slush all the time!  If you want to see snow, you go to it - even in the summer! 

The people are friendly, but beware of the Seattle freeze - people will be friendly on a casual basis, but back off once you try to build more of a friendship, at least I'm told.  Most people I've met here aren't from here, and don't follow those rules.  Besides, there are Seattle AntiFreeze groups where you can build a social network if you so choose. 

I find the traffic engineering atrocious.  Never before have I seen traffic come to a near stop for every on or off ramp.  And people here don't really know what a yield is.  Merging is more like a game of tetris.  Having said that, they're generally relaxed, patient drivers. 

To speak for the northish area of the East side (Kirkland, Woodinville, Bothell), housing prices are more reasonable, streets are wider than in Seattle (here, you can park cars on either side of the street and still handle 2 lanes of traffic.  In Seattle, streets are very narrow with a lot of cars parked on either side, allowing only one lane and a lot of the "no you go!  No no, I insist. you go!" game.)   Yes, you have to handle the clusterfuck that is the 405 North where it merges onto the 520, but if you're far enough north, you can also avoid the bridges by going north of the lake. 

In addition to Pike Market, each neighbourhood has its own farmer's market from the Spring to the Fall, and you're 20ish minutes away from the farms, anyway.  :)

No you cannot.  Excellent point.  


Edit: missed the "an hour of"...  answer is yes'ish

http://www.trulia.com/property/1093561718-7723-39th-Ave-S-Seattle-WA-98118

http://www.trulia.com/property/3012020546-2715-49th-Ave-SW-Seattle-WA-98116

http://www.trulia.com/property/3052966733-11517-23rd-Ave-SW-Seattle-WA-98146

I seemed to find quite a few on Trulia. Dont know that much about the neighborhoods though. But doing a listing search for the $300-$350k price range turns up quite a few pages worth.

Edited:
By far my favorite.
http://www.trulia.com/property/photos/3045029619-7262-S-129th-St-Seattle-WA-98178#item-0


Even seemed to find a few gems out on Bainbridge Island though Im not sure what the commute time is by ferry.

Those seem like incredibly reasonable prices by the standards around here, maybe I should look into Seattle.  :-P

I guess that they have. 

I wonder if that place in Seattle is still hiring?  :grin:

Never mind buying a house, I didn't figure owning real estate was a necessity of 'living' anywhere, especially Seattle due to the property tax. Different perspectives, I figure, but to me owning a home is a separate matter. Renting is still perfectly feasible for someone earning ~$40K, especially if you're a DINK.

My wife is an attorney, as I've mentioned.  She specifically represents banks during foreclosures, helps the mediation process and such.  What she's seeing is that Seattle and the NW in general is just now getting hit with the 'crisis' that hit the rest of the US a few years ago.  In fact, that's one of the reasons she is being looked at for this position. 

That should mean that in the next year or two property values should dip a bit in the NW.  Seattle has potential to get hit hard, but because it is hitting so late it is hard to predict.  For people like us, it might work out just right to buy when it dips low.  Which is right in our plan to rent for at least a year or two.

Mostly what it means is that up here the economy is usually so shit we don't notice much when we take a giant fucking. This last dip was pretty bad but it honestly didn't do much different on the peninsula than happens every year that isn't spectacular.

I personally wouldn't buy or live in any of those neighborhoods. All of them are either directly in the high crime districts, or can see it from their front doors. The 98116 one might be ok- I would have to drive to it to be sure.

As for housing prices, I took care of that for you- I bought my house in October 2006 and burst the bubble. You're welcome. Feel free to send me a check for $75k or so so I am no longer upsidedown on my mortgage.

Oh, that was you? Thanks for lowering* our property taxes!

We bought about a year before you did, but ours has only dropped to about 5% below what we paid. We're on the east side, though, 25-30 minutes out of downtown Seattle if there's not bad traffic.

The greater Seattle area is down ~25-30% from the absolute peak, but like a lot of areas it's highly variable--some got crushed (townhomes and condos, low/middle-class single family residences), others escaped pretty much unscathed (high-end in downtown Seattle proper, and in Kirkland and Little California Bellevue). If you go north a bit on the east side, you can get a pretty decent house in a decent neighborhood for under 300K (many down from ~400K at the peak).

But, if you'll be working in Seattle proper, you DO NOT want to live on the east side--the commute is a nightmare at best.

* for one brief, shining moment, until the county raised fees to more than make up for the drop in assessed property value.

Your property taxes went down? Lucky you. My condo is currently assessed at $277K, and I couldn't even get a sniff when I listed it at $249K.

That last one?  #98178? Is at the end of a Cul De Sac between two nice parks. I think your version of "high crime districts" might be a bit skewed compared to the rest of the country then.
Just saying.

Being from Flint, MI... your 'high crime areas' look like lovely neighborhoods :) Stop being such pussies. If the houses around it are worth around 300k, I'm sure its not that fuckin' bad.

That's been kinda my thought during this thread.  I grew up in Toledo, which is pretty much mini-Detroit, and I live in Columbus now.  It has some areas that are really fucking rough. 

I'm just wondering what the 'high crime' stats look like.   

Flint, MI was a scary place ~20 years ago when I was there for brief stint -- has it become even more dilapidated?

Yes, it is a total shit hole now...though downtown has been revamped and it is ok. It is truly scary in some areas of town, and not like this whole 'Crime is a little too high on the west side for me to be comfortable with' shit from earlier in the thread. More of the 'Be ready to run this red light if this guy gets too close, cause he will jack a white boy out of principle' kind of way. Or the 'you couldn't pay me 1000 bucks to drive through here at dark, let alone walk'.

As young dumb kids, we would go to the Norf end to buy nickel bags...we are lucky we didn't get fucked up. Crazy ass white boys!

I'm in the burbs now, Swartz Creek. It's nice and quiet out here, but still a little too close for total comfort.


Anyway, back to your Seattle paradise. My grandpa lives on Bainbridge Isle. I loved the ferry ride into town, and the market. It seems like a pretty cool place (at least, it was 20 years ago). For me, growing up grunge, it was like a mecca! Went and got a rubbing of Hendrix's grave, though I lost it long ago. Enjoyed the juggler and fish throwing at the market, and space needle was cool. Beautiful mountains.

Yeah, I am sure you know better. Not like I grew up 5-7 miles from there or anything. And went to high school with people who lived right in that same area. And have gone to parties, or restaurants, or have driven through there dozens of times. Or was recently excused from a jury for a home invasion rape and robbery that happened less than a mile from there. No, you are probably the expert here.

Oh, and don't get me wrong. I know all major cities have their bad spots, I'm just from a place that has houses for sale for 5k downtown and is perennially in the running for most dangerous city in America. If WAP says the area is shitty, I believe em. I would probably compare it to a decent area of my city is all. I just find is very hard to believe that an area with 300k houses can be THAT bad. Probably just a matter of perspective.

There is a small pocket in that area that is actually reasonably nice (has views of Lake Washington), but it is surrounded by some dire places. So if you could teleport in and out of your 10 block community (and no one else could get in), you would be fine. I wouldn't really relish sending my kids to school in the area however.

 :oh_i_see:
Dude chill. Just saying its all a matter of perspective.



When most of us think "high crime" area we think this:
Bronx

or this:
Flint, MI



Not so much this:



Is this like that movie where the kids from Malibu claimed to live in the 'hood?
 :grin:

In Seattle? The concentration of bums pissing on the freeway abutment becomes greater than the observers threshold of noticing it.

Still, There's a point to it all. Seattle has lower crime than most other large urban centers. Sure, it has its sketchy areas, but by and large its a safe-ish place.

Also, it depends on how you're defining Seattle. Some people include Everett, some people say anything north of the UW is no longer Seattle.

When I visited the first time, my friend lived in Magnolia near the train yard off Gilman.  It looked sketchy as hell at the time (again, knowing nothing about Seattle).  As we took a walk around, I couldn't believe all the shit people left in their yards - full sized sheeled generators, bikes, boats... you name it.  All of it right there for someone to walk off with.  Yet it all just sat there. 

We don't see that in Columbus.  Hell, I've had fuckers try to walk off with my grill multiple times, both in the city and the suburbs.  I'm not saying crime doesn't exist there, but it just feels different from the 10 days I've been there.

Criminals in Seattle are too depressed from the weather and it is a lot of work to run off with a BBQ grill when you have to carry it up a hill in the rain, ya know?

I was almost one of those grill stealing thugs (by mistake). A coworker of my wife's had given her an extra grill, and told her to come by and pick it up (she was not going to be home at the time). We pulled up, I walked into the backyard, saw a nice gas grill, and thought 'really? she is giving us THIS?'. I thought I would double check with my wife before I took it. So I went back to the car and asked my wife what address we were looking for...yep, we needed to be 2 blocks over. Glad no one was home at the first house  :oh_i_see:

I lived in Dallas my whole life and in the few months I've lived in the Seattle area, I'm realizing that the "bad" parts of Seattle are nothing compared to some of the sketchy parts of Dallas. Plus, it's just a nicer city overall to actually bother visiting and spending the day.

It's still very expensive to live anywhere close to the city limits of Seattle, however. Right now, my wife and I are looking at houses in the Maple Valley area. She works in the southern part of Seattle and I work in Kent. So, that makes sense for us commute-wise. We currently live in a pretty small apartment in Mercer Island which is insanely expensive, but very nice.

That's like four blocks from where I grew up. Not a bad area really. But..... if you have kids.... I would look somewhere else.  They will be going to some horrid schools.  See the two circular buildings to the SE of the place. That's Renton Alternative High.  Once you cross Renton Ave, you get into a lot of low income rentals.

FWIW, we are looking to stay in the North/Northwest part of West Seattle.  We're pretty much looking at 2k/mo rent and we want our kid to attend Alki, Schmitz Park or Lafayette elementary.  Those are all highly rated schools if you look them up.  Alki, in particular, is about 2 blocks from the Sound and supposedly they go down to the beach for classes often.  I think Schmitz Park uses the old-growth forest for learning as well.

I don't think we'll end up down near White Center at all, rather trying to stay north of Fauntleroy and west of California.  We actually found a nice rental on the beach up near the lighthouse, but it was a tad small for us and they didn't allow pets.  /bummer.

Maple Valley is growing like a weed. 15 years ago it was just farms, now it is a suburb. Access is still pretty shitty- only a couple major roads to get out there, so if there is an traffic issues on either or both, you will have a nasty, nasty commute. Other than that, it is very sedate. Other than the occasional meth house, but that happens almost everywhere.

Or you could come live in my neighborhood- there is a house 2 doors down that has been on the market for quite a while. It is a 3 or 4 street little subdivision near Kentridge High School. It is closer to the sketchy bits than I would like (several big apartments about a mile down the road to the W), but it doesn't have any through streets and so is very quiet and mostly ignored by the criminals (haven't heard about anything happening in the 5 years we have been here). That would be 20-30 minutes closer for your commute  :grin:

Been meaning to say, North isn't bad. I live in Lynnwood and ride the bus downtown every day. Takes less than half an hour; 20 minutes on a good day.

 :ye_gods: There aren't *gasp* minorities living there are they!?!? You should buy a gun.

 :why_so_serious:

Holy shit people, you'd all probably think the area I am living now is SUPER SKETCHY !! I see, like, minorities...all day.  :oh_i_see:

Well, the area might just be a bit old - my 2br is $1800/mo., so it's not terribly low rent.

This is my last response to you. STFU and go jump up your own diseased asshole.

 :heartbreak:

Okay. It was a joke Super Sensitive Guy. Other people in the thread also ribbed you in the same way, but feel free to take your anger out on me.
Nice personal touch bringing my surgery into it. Very mature. I see why they made you a mod.

 :oh_i_see:

Anyway. Seeing as we're arguing about crimes, know that Seattle rates fairly average to low in violent crime, but WAAAAAAAAY above average in people stealing your shit.

Compare that to say, Atlanta where your odds of getting raped, shot, or murdered are about 4x the national average.

So yeah, lock your stuff up in Seattle. I wouldn't worry too much about getting robbed at gunpoint.

I lived in Cap Hill for a stint, and can attest that things go from pristine to pretty sketchy in a few blocks.

That said, I tended to roam the streets at midnight with no fear, because I HAD been living in DC, and Seattle sketch was notices posted that SoandSo the drug dealer was no longer welcome there. DC sketch was "That place is more than two blocks from the metro? In THAT neighborhood? Fuck it, tell your friends we're not going."

Pretty much anything in the past two cities I've lived that's south of the major Interstate was a DMZ

Wowzers.  My wife just accepted the position, she has to start out there on 9-26!!  I feel like a ton of bricks just got dropped on me.  Not that I wasn't planning for this, but damn!!  It's going to be a crazy couple of months.  We should have the house on the market by Monday....  Here's hoping we can get it to sell without taking a bath. 

Yeah, good luck with that.

Yah, last time we looked at selling it was just as bad as a short sale. Probably worse now. I think we bought in 2004.   :oh_i_see:

My friend ended being in the hole $50k to his parents when he had to move to Virginia.

The news is terrible with it right now, but actually our subdivision is trending really nicely, at 1-2% up or down asking price for this year.  When our realtor pulled sales in mid-July, there were only two foreclosures and there was a 45day turnover on sales.  So we're trying to be optimistic.  But we're also listing at a shitty time of year.  If it doesn't move by November, this might be bad.

You know, before reading this post, I thought WAP's insult was just generic...as bad as it is, this made me laugh just a little.  :oh_i_see:

You're all gonna die anyway, I seen the documentary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Disasters#Season_1_.282006.29) (ep 4).