Very OT: MGoBloggers of Seattle, any advice/tips on moving to the area?
Last day of OT, might as well get this in, but I just graduated with my masters, got my first real big boy job out in the Seattle area (job is in Bellevue) and could use any tips from those of you familiar with the area. What are some good areas to live in? Areas to avoid? What are good things I should see/do/get involved in? Any other tips you feel are noteworthy. Thanks for any help!
EDIT: Thanks everyone for your help! I was shocked to receive this much quality information. Go Blue!
August 24th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^
Have you been to the outdoor go kart track at PGP/SIR? In my book, it's vastly more fun than the indoor tracks.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
I haven't yet, but would love to try it. Feel silly that I haven't yet, actually, I live in Snoqualmie so it's super convenient.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 1:56 PM ^
I forgot about South Lake Union. That's not really my kind of place but if you're into steel & glass high-rises and super buffed corporate chic, that's the spot. The best part, though, is that the city put in a streetcar line through there a few years back. The neighborhood is called South Lake Union, so S.L.U., so they called line South Lake Union Transit. Or like the t-shirts say, Ride the SLUT!
August 24th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^
This is an above and beyond post. I super appreciate it. What are your thoughts on Newcastle?
August 24th, 2017 at 1:45 PM ^
But I've got a close friend in Capitol hill and a cousin in Bothell. Both excellent areas for very different reasons. Bothell is much more "settle in with a family" while Capitol Hill is downtown-y and exciting.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:51 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^
Not from Seattle, but transmitting thoughts from a Midwestern friend who now lives in Seattle (his wife is from the PNW) Keep in mind that he still loves living in Seattle, as would I. Nonetheless....
Although it's generally bad form to speak of any demographic group with a single-stroke broad brush, people in Seattle are famously passive-agressive and many of them will even admit it.
Seriously, read this article on the "Seattle No"
It's a bit tongue-in-cheek and goodness knows each region of people has its foibles, but you know how you have friends on Facebook who you invite to an event, who always check "maybe" and you all know that means they're 100% not going to show up? You're about to move to a city with 2 million of these people.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
This is true. I stick out like a sore thumb here because I don't often play that game.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^
Having been to Milwaukee last year (to see Wicked), if that's the size/vibe of city that wifey likes, don't coerce here into moving here. Seattle and its nearby suburbs are hectic places. My take on Milwaukee was something of a laid-back, easy-going, mellow midwest town/city.
There are some very good K-12 schools here. There are also some that are really not good.
August 24th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
Schools are pretty good, especially on the East side. Seattle proper can be hit or miss. Personally, I would recommend If you're at the family stage of life, I would look at Issaquah or Kirkland. Maybe Redmond.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
I would agree with much of what has been said in this thread. I just moved to Seattle with in October with my girlfriend and we are loving it. It is a very cool city with lots of different neighborhoods and pockets to explore. Hopefully you like outdoor activites, because that is one of the best features of living out here. Mountains, views, trails, water sports, etc.
We live in First Hill (downtown) and love that we are so close to so much and are pretty centrally located. However, that may not be best for you. Kirkland is a nice area that I would consider for you, and Cap Hill is awesome, just really depends what vibe you want to live by. The traffic is bad and getting worse, but public transportation is pretty solid. In the mornings everyone is trying to get into the city from the North, South, and East, so keep that in mind when searching.
I did not know about Buckley's, so I will be planning on checking that out as well for Michigan games this fall! I am not a U of M grad (SAD!), but my dad is and thank God he raised me to be a huuge Michigan fan!
Looking forward to drinking some beers and watching Michigan Football with fellow MgoBloggers next weekend!
August 24th, 2017 at 2:55 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 7:13 PM ^
Thanks! And I'm the exact same in that I didn't go to Michigan as well, but my entire family are die hard fans. I'll cheer to the death for Michigan any time they are not playing Oklahoma (my alma mater).
August 24th, 2017 at 2:22 PM ^
I moved out here 15 years ago, here's some advice I wish I had. I started with an apartment in Bellevue, but didn't really like the whole suburb vibe. After a few months I moved to a smaller, more expensive place in Capitol Hill and absolutely loved it. The commute to the east side was worth it, and it's gotten better now that the new bridge is up and running. As others noted, Seattle is booming and the job market is on fire. My advice would be to get a place downtown and unless you absolutely love your job, see if there's a company located downtown that is a better fit.
Buckley's in Belltown is the place to watch games. It can get crowded so come early. The rain thing is overblown, summers are generally pretty amazing. Be sure to get out to the mountains to hike/ski/snowboard. The Sounders games are fun, Seahawks games are awesome, and people are generally not excited about UW sports outside of the campus. Best of luck with the move!
August 24th, 2017 at 2:28 PM ^
DON'T DO IT
August 24th, 2017 at 2:29 PM ^
The best thing politicians could do there is invest in infrastructure - both highways and public transport. Unless the US stops immigration Seattle will become unlivable. They should have built up the infrastructure decades ago, it's almost too late.
Don't let that stop you though it will be a great experience.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:46 PM ^
Voters just approved a massive expansion of the light rail/subway system. Of course, its going to take some time, but its moving in the right direction (albeit slowly).
August 24th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
Eh. Seattle's big mistake was not building a mass transit train system for regional transit in the late 60s when the feds offered to pay for it. It was turned down by politicians and went to Atlanta instead. There's some ok local transit; yeah regional transit is still poor with how limited Sounder and Link are.
Is there a political movement underway to stop white American brogrammers from CA/TX/OR etc from migrating to Amazon jobs in SLU? Because that's basically the demographic of people who keep coming to our city and "ruining" it.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^
Have lived in Seattle since 2003. I commute to Redmond each day from NE seattle on the 520. There is a toll but it's not a terrible since my comp is a 1.5 hour commute to the South or East Bay from SF prior to that.
If you are single looking to go out to bars, restaurants etc. and are ok with a semi-suburban vibe Kirkland/Juanita is a great option if you want to stay on the east side, but you get a pretty generic albeit fun experience though it's right on the lake and there are some solid bars and restuarants. Bellevue is fine if you want to live and work in the same place but expensive and not really anything different than you find in other "high end" corporate areas (Somerset, Scottsdale, Domain in Austin, any NJ/NY suburb). Not my cup of tea.
If you want a more diverse cultural experience, live in Seattle. Living in the city allows you to get the Corporate Chic, highly curated craft beer experience Downtown, the fun/funky (though increasingly gentrifed) neighboorhood experiences of Greenwood, Ballard, Fremont with great bars, music scenes etc. and interesting cultural aspects of the south end (Vietnamese, Ethiopian, etc.) you can choose if you want to pay through the nose and live next to the Amazon/Google/Facebook/Microsoft 20-30somethings, or find a more out of the way neighboorhood in the north or south of the city. Also easier to get to West Seattle and Ferries to the islands.
Also, I really like the parks in the city (Golden Gardensw/beach on the sound, Magunson park with opportunity to go fishing/sailing on lake washington, Greenlake etc)
If you are solving for commute agree w/commenters on the east side. If you are solving for quality of life, I'd vote for Seattle. For me it's worth the commute and crowds, for others it's not.
On buying a house, two schools of thought. The bubble continues due to isolated economic trends and lack of developer-friendly zoning, so you need to buy now, or there's a better opportunity in a couple years if the economic cycle cools a bit, but it will remain expensive either way.
Good luck and remember, nothing is as bad or good as people make it out to be.
August 24th, 2017 at 3:24 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
I love it here, cant beat the summers, frienldy people, great economy...etc.
If you are younger (20-25), Id look at places to live in Fremont, Capital Hill, Ballard....great spots for the younger crowd as there are great bars, food spots, breweries, and its close to Buckleys the Michigan alum bar.....place is awesome on game days.
If you are high 20s or in 30s I would suggest eastside, which is closer to your job in Bellevue, little more quite, but still great attractions. I lived in Bellevue for 2 years, very fun city....lots to do.
I live in Snoqualmie, towards cascade mountains....the burbs....also very nice because you are tucked in the mountain/foothills...but mostly family type atmoshphere when you start to go further east of Bellevue.
Welcome!
August 24th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^
Housing is very expensive here. A starter house needing some fixing up in a not-so-great neighborhood is gonna run you $350,000. My wife and I are currently house shopping in some good-but-not-great areas and we don't have any kids, and we still may wind up spending 7 figures for a less than 3,000 sq. ft. house on a probably less than 7,500 sq. ft. lot.
Renting is, believe it or not, even worse in many places; you'll wind up paying more in rent than you would on a mortgage. Also, watch out for HOA fees; I always thought of them as just being for condo owners and people that live in gated communities, but it turns out they're more common than that out here (not sure how it is in the midwest), and can be quite expensive. I work with someone who pays north of one grand a month for his condo HOA fee.
Traffic is genuinely awful. If I drive home from work at 11pm, it takes be about 17 minutes. If I drive home at 5pm, it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. And I'm paying close to $150/month in tolls on the 520 bridge for the privilege.
If you're looking to socialize, outdoor activities are really big here. Lots of people spend the weekends biking or on the water or hiking in the mountains. If that sort of thing appeals to you, I don't think you'll have any problem finding people at your work that can invite you along. Failing that, there are a gazillion meetup groups for those activities.
Seattle is a big film town: we've got lots of small independent theaters, and we host the Seattle International Film festival, which is quite good. You have the chance to see a lot of movies that never show in most cities, and can meet some cultured and interesting people along the way.
Your go-to place for watching Michigan games is Buckley's pub in Belltown.
Welcome to the area; I moved here in 1990 and have never really wanted to live anywhere else since.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^
Moved out to Seattle about 5 months ago on really short notice for a job in Redmond/Bellevue. Had the opportunity to see that area one day before I had to choose between Seattle proper and the Eastside and that was all I needed.
As a mid-20s guy, Seattle proper is 100% the way to go, so much more character and unique things to do/places to go around every corner. Find some roommates through work or elsewhere (if needed for financial reasons) and move to Capitol/First Hill. Queen Anne, Ballard, Fremont are cool neighborhoods too but that's an extra 10-15 mins to the commute. The commute, whether it's driving or public transit, seems awful at first, but it's the reality and 100% worth it if you ever want to go out IMHO
August 24th, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
Agree with the last couple posters. It all depends on what life stage you are in. If you are 24 and getting out of school then you should consider living in Seattle and coping with the commute. That wasted commute time will be more than offset by the fun vibe and activities going on in the city for a young single person in their 20s. I'd consider Cap Hill. You might look at Sound Transit express bus routes and try to find something along a SEA-> BEL route. Maybe Broadmoor. If you get a little further away then Fremont, Ballard.
Bellevue is nice in a way but is basically upscale corporate suburbia. I like the Kirkland waterfront and Issaquah more myself. Redmond can be good if you're a geeky type as there are a lot young people but with the strong tech culture due to Microsoft.
Understand what you are getting into cost wise. The median home listing in Bellevue costs $900,000. The median pt rent is $3000/month. It varies by location obviously but the whole region is not cheap. I love Seattle and am still happy to live here. But be aware that the long term trend is that we are basically becoming San Francisco-lite (but with more Marmot jackets) in terms of some of the housing costs, traffic, tech, politics etc. In both good and bad ways.
August 24th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^
Also, as far as "areas to avoid"-- Seattle really is extremely safe and all that. But the sketchy neighborhoods would be considered:
Rainier valley
Skyway
White Center
Renton (in part)
Downtown (kind of...3rd and Pike etc)
It's a big city and shit happens. But it's nothing like the major cities in the E or Midwest or CA. Certainly gets a bit more complicated than that if you start looking at like Tacoma or Everett or parts of Pierce County. A lot of the "worst" places though are gentrifying and changing so they may actually be hubs for redevelopment and perhaps not a bad place for real estate investment.
August 24th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^
20 years ago, I couldn't say this. Dump Seattle. Move to Tacoma. Thank me later.
August 24th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^
Eh. Not with a job in Bellevue. Not a good commute.
Also, while I get what you are saying, you have to be pretty careful on Tacoma, there's some serious sketch not too far from nice spots. Probably not the choice for someone new to the region. Get to know it a bit and then decide if that's right for you.
August 24th, 2017 at 7:12 PM ^
Good luck. Traffic here is horrible. Live as close as you can to where you work. Housing's getting expensive too.
August 24th, 2017 at 7:58 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 8:35 PM ^
Moved here in 2002 for a job in Bellevue. Still at same company but the area has changed significantly in the past 15 years in terms of growth. I lived in lower Queen Anne for a while then had a family and migrated out to Sammamish. My advice would be to live in or near the city while you're young and enjoy it. (Sorry I didn't read every comment so not sure of your family situation.) If you're here long enough to want more space and a calmer lifestyle then move to the eastside. Obviously nothing is cheap anywhere in this area so don't expect too much. I read several of the posts and agree with most. I'm from Michigan and met my wife while working in SF (but she's originally from PA). We love it here and most likely will be here for the long haul. The climate isn't bad at all. In fact most years it feels more like northern California than the PNW. It's an awesome city with a lot to do and you simply can't beat the outdoor options within a short distance. Not too many places where you can ski all day or hike in the mountains then hang out in an incredible city. Good luck and welcome to the area!
August 24th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^
August 25th, 2017 at 3:07 AM ^