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Topic: Moving to Seattle (Read 13643 times)
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Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
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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.
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"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
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Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
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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.
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"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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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.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
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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.
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"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
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Lianka
Terracotta Army
Posts: 115
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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.
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. :) |
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Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737
the opportunity for evil is just delicious
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Can you buy a house for less than $350k that's within an hour of downtown
No you cannot. Excellent point. Edit: missed the "an hour of"... answer is yes'ish |
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« Last Edit: August 16, 2011, 02:35:39 PM by Soln »
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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« Last Edit: August 16, 2011, 01:47:26 PM by Sand »
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Ingmar
Terracotta Army
Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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Those seem like incredibly reasonable prices by the standards around here, maybe I should look into Seattle.  |
The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT.
Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
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Maybe things have gotten better since the housing bubble burst.
I guess that they have. I wonder if that place in Seattle is still hiring?  |
"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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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.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531
Like a Klansman in the ghetto.
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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.
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TheWalrus
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4321
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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.
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vanilla folders - MediumHigh
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WayAbvPar
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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. |
When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Torinak
Terracotta Army
Posts: 847
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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. |
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Bunk
Contributor
Posts: 5828
Operating Thetan One
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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.
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"Welcome to the internet, pussy." - VDL
"I have retard strength." - Schild
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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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. 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. |
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Slayerik
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4868
Victim: Sirius Maximus
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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.
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"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together. My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
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Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531
Like a Klansman in the ghetto.
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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.
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naum
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4263
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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.
Flint, MI was a scary place ~20 years ago when I was there for brief stint -- has it become even more dilapidated? |
"Should the batman kill Joker because it would save more lives?" is a fundamentally different question from "should the batman have a bunch of machineguns that go BATBATBATBATBAT because its totally cool?". ~Goumindong
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Slayerik
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4868
Victim: Sirius Maximus
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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.
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"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together. My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
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WayAbvPar
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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. 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. 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. |
When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Slayerik
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4868
Victim: Sirius Maximus
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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.
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"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together. My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
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WayAbvPar
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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.
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When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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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.
 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? |
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Daeven
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1210
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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.
In Seattle? The concentration of bums pissing on the freeway abutment becomes greater than the observers threshold of noticing it. |
"There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot." -SMStirling
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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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.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531
Like a Klansman in the ghetto.
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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.
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Chimpy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10633
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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?
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'Reality' is the only word in the language that should always be used in quotes.
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WayAbvPar
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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 |
When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Ozzu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 666
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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.
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Furiously
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7199
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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. 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. 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. 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. |
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Hawkbit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5531
Like a Klansman in the ghetto.
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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.
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WayAbvPar
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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.
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 |
When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM
Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood
Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
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Slyfeind
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2037
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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.
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. |
"Role playing in an MMO is more like an open orchestra with no conductor, anyone of any skill level can walk in at any time, and everyone brings their own instrument and plays whatever song they want. Then toss PvP into the mix and things REALLY get ugly!" -Count Nerfedalot
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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It is closer to the sketchy bits than I would like (several big apartments about a mile down the road to the W),
 There aren't *gasp* minorities living there are they!?!? You should buy a gun.  |
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