Moving to Seattle, need advice or roommate

Axios

I've seen these threads pop up from time to time and I figured it could help me now.

I'll be moving to Seattle early this January (starting at Bungie, woo!) and I have no familiarity with the area. I'll be working in Bellevue [edit: I have a car] and I'm looking at apartments online now, but if anyone has some tips for me, that'd be great. I need to know where to live, whether that is an area or a specific apartment complex. Additionally, I may be interested in a roommate if anyone here has a vacancy. I'm just a single guy with no pets so it's a pretty simple situation.

If anyone has tips or needs a roommate, comment or message me. Thanks guys.

Mark Dygert

Bellevue can be an expensive place to live, the median income is $85,166 and Averages $142,054 so the price of housing follows those trends. I'll use myself as a rough template since I work at a smaller studio and might be making about the same or a little less.

There as been a condo boom over the last few years and most people that live in Bellevue buy instead of rent. There are a lot of houses and housing developments all around Bellevue so you might be able to find a house to rent. The price to buy is almost as low as renting, and some people decide to sublet so you might find a private deal not listed on the big name sites.

Living and renting within walking distance is going to be expensive. Getting a car will open you up to a lot more options. Public transportation around here is very lacking and standing outside in the rain or walking in it blows.

The best thing I can suggest is hit up google maps and use street view to look around the neighborhood and plot out how long it will take to get back and forth to work.

I did some quick searches and found a few places I could afford and wouldn't mind living in if I didn't already own a condo up north.

The Bravern is pretty close, almost walking distance, perfect for biking, but remember it rains here and gets dark at 4:30 9mo out of the year.
http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartments/Washington/Bellevue/The-Bravern/90061/
$1,800-2,000 per month

The park in Bellevue is a 15min walk
It is a little cheaper because there isn't much around it but housing, you will probably need a car.
http://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/1012651.php
$1,500-2,100 per month

Avalon is a 12min walk and you might want a car.
http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartments/Washington/Bellevue/Avalon-Bellevue/18794/

You can go with older (70's-80's) never remodeled construction and go farther out and get cheaper... If you're willing to deal with the freeways you can find a places that are a lot cheaper in Issaquah.

You can also venture into Redmond and kirkland, or Bothell. Don't go any farther north than Mill Creek.

Axios

Ah, thanks, I will have a car so outside Bellevue is the most likely route for me.

Joshua Stubbles

Also check Kirkland, you can get some decent deals there as well. Redmond is gorgeous (I lived there for 2yrs). You can get single bedroom apartments pretty cheap there. I lived at a complex called Avalon at Bear Creek, really great place.

Mark Dygert

Yea with a car you can pretty much live anywhere you want and you will only be restricted by traffic. You could live in Bothell, Woodenville, Redmond, Issiquah or anywhere around Bellevue and have a realtively short commute. All decent neighborhoods.

You can go farther south into Renton but traffic is a bit of a nightmare... and Renton is where fun goes to die... It's mostly a boeing town like everett so its housing and endless mini-mall sprawl. The more the government tightens its screws on boeing the less it pays its people. Where there used to be good paying jobs at boeing they are being replaced with low wages and layoffs which I expect more of as the decade goes on. Boeing is also moving manufacturing to "right to work" states in the south so that bleeds jobs, wages and benefits from the area also. That means those areas get a little crappier and a little scary. So I would stay out of Everett and Renton.

I would try to stick to where the tech centers are, Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland & Bothell. Good neighborhoods, decent places to eat and fairly decent entertainment.

We have a few people that live in downtown Seattle and commute over the bridges but that's a bit of a mess. Seattle has a bit more to do if you're into bars and clubs, but with a car you can drive in when you need to.

I live way up north near mill creek/Mukilteo (close to where my wife works) and have a 20min commute to Bellevue. I go in early and get off early so traffic isn't a hassle, if I had to work normal hours we would move more into the middle like Bothell or Redmond.

praetus

The best advice I can give you is to live on the side of the water that you work on. For a small time I lived off of Aurora near 137th but I worked over at Redmond. The commute over the 520 was absolutely hell. It took me 30 minutes to get to work with no traffic which was never too bad since I left before rush hour really got started in the morning. The way home though was an hour on good days and up to three hours on the bad. If you stay on your side of the water you can learn different routes to get to work if traffic is bad. If you have to cross Lake Washington, there are very few alternatives and you have to commit to them once you're on the road.

breakneck

I'm moving to up to WA next week myself (bungie, woo!)
My living situation is a bit different (wife + kid), but we've heard north of bellevue in the Kirkland and Redmond areas are nice and have good schools. We just found a really nice townhome from hotpads.com up in that area.
I have a buddy that lives by lake sammamish and he really likes it there too.
Also I know of guys that live in dt Seattle and commute to Bellevue for work - that's an option if you're into the downtown scene.
Anything south and you're getting closer to the airport.
Best of luck finding a place! See you at work :P

schneller

My wife and I were actually thinking of relocating to the Seattle area as well, so thanks a lot for that link breakneck, and for the advice, Mark and praetus.

Isaiah Sherman

Kirkland, Totem Lake, and Juanita Bay are affordable and a decent commute. Renton is kinda ghetto, dirt cheap, and awful commute (because it's dirt cheap, too many people live there).

You can also live in Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, and Wallingford and have moderate commutes, they're all close to the I-90 and 520 bridges.

For an apartment by yourself, expect to pay between $900-$1200/mo. Get a roommate and you can cut that down of course.

Ferg

Check bus routes while looking for places to live, traffic here is really shitty most of the time. I live in seattle (capitol hill) and work in bellevue, own a car but communite via bus, and it takes so much stress out of my day (plus it's much cheaper). If you find the right place it's also much fast than driving since you'll be using the carpool lane.

As for districts, east side (bellevue, kirkland, redmond, etc) are generally more suburban and family-friendly. West side (seattle proper - capitol hill, wallingford, fremont, downtown, queene anne, etc) are much more urban, i.e. walkable, bus-friendly, more bars and restaurants, higher population density, and younger population in certain areas. Just to help a little with choosing your place to live... if you're a hardcore gamer and just want to work and hang out at home mostly, go east side for sure. If you're more social (outside of your work crowd), want to be able to walk to lots of bars and restaurants around your place, and don't mind a potentially longer commute, check out the west side.

oXYnary

ferg said it best. Though haiasi, Beacon Hill? I live here and it's boring; almost as boring as the east side near Bellevue and Redmond ( yea, I went there with the thread :b ). Awesome park though here that even has a skateboard section in it. I can't think of a single bus up here that goes east. You would have to take the light rail to the bottom.

It is right if the i90 split so its easy to get across by car. BUT traffic has increased across 90 since 520 went toll.

leleuxart

I'm planning on moving to Seattle after I graduate around August. This has been a good source of info. I'm considering moving into the downtown area if I can afford it.

Mark Dygert

oXYnary wrote: »

It is right if the i90 split so its easy to get across by car. BUT traffic has increased across 90 since 520 went toll.

The new floating bridge will help with traffic a bit, that is if it doesn't sink first...

Since here seems to be a few more of you guys showing up in town maybe we should do a meet up once everyone gets settled?

Axios

Thanks for all the info, guys, I'm starting to get a feel for what I'm looking at. Of course, as one of the new guys, I would obviously be down for a meet up.

Autocon

When I was working up at Bungie I lived in Kirkland. This was when Bungie was in downtown Kirkland so the drive was only 5/10min to work. From Kirkland it would be more like 20min to there new place.

Rent was really cheap (at least compared to CA) 850 a month. Very nice area, really green and quite, but lacking in any kind of light life. Even "downtown Kirkland" was more like a downtown of a small town with just a couple of bars/club (The Central is fucking awesome though, there is a Master Chief helmet in there!) I was a single guy when I moved up and trying to go out to any kinda downtown Seattle bars/clubs was a bit of a hassle. There needs to be more bridges over the pond.

But in all honesty I loved Kirkland area, would love to live there again some day. So green and beautiful. Congratz on Bungie to the both of you!

Cheez

If you opt to live in the city, like I do, what I have found is that the 520 floating bridge is usually pretty quick in the morning but can get back upped during the evening rush (5-6ish). However, given the increasing construction on the east side of the bridge, the morning commutes are starting to see traffic again. Also, the 520 is a toll bridge FYI.

AlexCatMasterSupreme

Woodinville can be a nice place too, cheaper, kinda in between a lot of things.

DavePhipps

I used to live in Everett and commuted to Redmond on a daily basis. It was a 20-25 minute drive. Living up near Mill creak, Everett area was pretty cheap compared to most areas that I looked at.

If you are not a parent I would suggest getting a motorcycle. A little CBR250 gets great gas mileage (60 mpg) and then you can use the HOV lane. It sure beats sitting in traffic during the commute home.

I can't wait to move back to the PNW. It looks like two years till I can do that.

Andreas

Axios wrote: »

Moving to Seattle, need advice

;P

System

i live in bellevue, rent is 913 for a studio. live where you can walk to work, the thruway is a joke during commute

System

excalibur, avalon, gallahad are the top of my list for living if you can pay the little extra in order to stay in bellevue. nice thing is you rarely have to drive

iamtravis316

I live In Redmond at The Colony at Bear Creek. The rent is around 1000'ish (small one bedroom 650sqft?) water included. About 5 min from everything you need (groceries, food, etc.) But I would say its a good 15-20min (give or take a few minutes) to get to Bungie. The traffic really hits around the 5-7pm time on 520 . I have a friend at Bungie that lives about 5-8 min away from there In Bellevue and the rents 1200 for a small one bedroom.