Seattle questions again
polycounter lvl 18
Since I can't check my seattle post on the old boards, I'm going to ask again. What's a good area to live in Seattle? I'm looking at the King county area right now. Bothell seems nice. Give your suggestions I'm all ears. Only about 9 months till the move!
Replies
If you'll be working on the EastSide, I'd recommend living on that side of the lake. This would be any of the cities such as Redmond (Microsoft area), Bellevue, or Kirkland. The eastside is pretty much strip mall USA. Not a lot of nightlife, some areas are pretty expensive, but others are moderately priced. Out of the bunch, I'd prefer Kirkland over there, as it has a nice little downtown.
If you're going to live in Seattle proper, I highly recommend the Ballard neighborhoood, as it's got lots of stuff to do, and is one of the last semi-affordable areas in the city. Wallingford, Freemont, and Phinney are nice as well, but quite expensive. Greenwood is cool, but is also getting up there in price a bit.
Whatever you choose, I just highly recommend living near to where you work. I live in Ballard, and used to work in Redmond which is only 11 miles away, across the lake. I spent an average of 2 hours in the car commuting per day. The bridges really bottleneck up, and there is no subway, light rail, or any other form of rapid public transit to avoid this. Traffic is just bad, so avoid it if you can.
I guess the equivalent location on the south end would be Renton or Tukwilla, which would put you equal distance from the east and west sides. Also I think transit options are a lot better coming from the south, at least to the west side - I had a friend who rode the train up every morning, and they're building light rail from Seattle to those south areas (although it's still a few years off).
edit - out of those two I would pick Renton, I think they're trying to make Renton nicer and more stuff going on there, but I think it's still pretty cheap
Forgot to mention I have a car so a commute isn't out of the question. Heck if it's within 12 miles I can ride a bicycle.
Cute letter play Andy. I like the new nic
Let me know whenever you want me to send on your resume to my friend. Actually she just got engaged to my brother in law, so I shouldn't be losing touch with her anytime soon
some houses-
http://www.windermere.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=listing.searchMap&map=soking
I think ryno hit it right on the head, where you work should be where you buy. I have lived in Bothell on and off for 20+ years. I love the area, it is where I work and live. Since most of my hobbies involve a keyboard and mouse I don't really care about night-life or things to do. If I really want to do something on the weekends I'll drive the 5 miles to get there.
Bothell/Woodinville/Mill Creek
The neighborhoods are clean, almost crime free. Good place to raise some tots. The NorthShore school district WAS one of the best in Washington state, and is still pretty good, even if it has fallen out of first place. My mother and a few friends who are teachers subs on and off for other districts they like NorthShore and Mukilteo the best. The air is clean and there are a lot of trees all over the place, even if there are less than before. So if you like green its a good place
I have seen the area go up in that time and its sad to see forested areas turned into the outback steak house. But for the most part they do a decent job of incorporating as many trees as possible into the newly developed areas. I still think it is a great place to live even if there are less trees. Canyon Park has a good mix of apartments, condos, new homes, old homes all in different price ranges, and it is all close to the free way. However like ryno said, traffic is hell. The freeway often backs up everything in the Puget Sound area including surface streets, you can't get away from it. So the closer you get to where you work the happier you will be.
I lived .5 miles from work for 3 years and walked/rode my bike to work, LOVED IT! Then moved to the other side of town to a better place. It's nice, but I regret not being able to walk to work...
Personally I would look at the Bothell/Woodinville area. I lived on 228th in canyon park(Bothell) for most of my life. Good schools, just on the boarder of King County, so you get all the benefits of being close to Seattle (via freeway) but you don't get taxed and don't have to deal with dirty air.
Lynnwood
Lynnwood is the kind of crappy sprawl I strongly dislike. WAY too much pavement, not enough trees or usefull areas. Just miles of strip malls and 1960-70's houses. Not that houses build in that time couldn't be nice homes, but I notice most of the time people just don't care about them. Unless you are at the Alderwood mall or manage to find a pocket of goodness in in miles of older housing sprawl, Lynnwood is not the place for me and I don't recomend living there. The bigest perk in lynnwood is the Alderwood mall, I guess (which parking now sucks thanks to the new open air add on) Lynnwood pretty much sucks to live but is a nice place to go, atleast certain parts.
House Hunting
One thing to keep in mind if you come to house hunt. It's ok to visit a place durring the day, but if you want a true feeling of the neighborhood, come back later in the evening when poeple are home and the kidies are out of school. YOu would be amazed at how many neighborhoods are quite durring the day but come to life after 5pm. Make a few trial runs durring peak travel hours to get a taste for the commute, you would be amazed at how much a commute will impact your decision.
Thats about all the info I have... If you feel like you want a tour guide I have mondays off and would be more than willing to shuttle you around for a day, and help you get a feel for the places around the area. Shoot me an email if you are interested. vig at vigville.com or mdygert at atari.com
Any advice or information about Marysville?
Now here are the draw backs:
Cheap housing, but there is a reason
- A lot of cheaper housing is on the Indian reservations, they don't care where you are from as long as you make your payments. They often have funky clauses tied into deals when it pertains to the land. Each time I have talked to someone buying on the res it is a little different and that worries me. They do have a common theme, they agree to either lease or in some cases sell you the land but reserve the right to revoke that lease or sale at any time. As scary as that sounds I know quite a few people who go through with it. It is very hard to sell a house when you don't own the land, most of your property value is tied into the land, you won't get much if you can't claim it as yours when you go to sell. So keep that in mind, buying a house and leasing the land could be bad , not horrible in the short term in fact you will save on the monthly payments, but that comes around to bite you in the assets later when you go to sell. You can still get more bang for your buck even off the res so its a good place to look, just make sure you ask is this on the res?
Schools
The Marysville school district has some of the worst paid teachers in the state, they where on strike this last year and caused a lot of issues trying to get a raise that was promised to them, crazy long story, Ill cut it short, they where forced back to work and nothing has really been resolved. Angry, disgruntled, under paid, teachers but most of them are doing it because they love to teach so at least they care about the kids. Otherwise they would have moved to another district or another state, which some of them did. The raise issue kind of stems from the population boom, so if it grows more it might become more of an issue.
Casinos
- The tribe has put up casinos, which isnt bad, in act they have done a lot for Mayrsville. But it does attract that 45-75 smokes too much and gambles even more type crowd. The type of people that torn between cigarettes and more scratch tickets, and totally for get about things like toothpaste I dont mean to scare ya but there are some scary folks hanging around. Its a bit of a culture clash at times, you can drive thru Marysville and see a group of older guys in dirty t-shirts and missing teeth then see a few 04 Jettas roll by. Soccer moms in SUVs and those who I mentioned above, kind of a weird mix but everyone pretty much seems to keep to themselves in their own parts of town.
Tribal Authority
- If you buy on the res you save money, but at times you have to deal with the Tribal authority instead of local, state or federal governments. You put a call in to the cops because your neighbor is drunk and shooting out porch lights, well they might just sit on that for a while because Bill is part of the tribe and they would rather not get Bill angry (or get shot at) =( Yea I have a few stories about the tribal authority But again dont let me scare you most of the time everything is happy land and the Marysville PD is right there for anything, they are pretty quick to respond. A lot of people see the tribal authority as an added back up security force and are really happy to have them respond instead of the officials, of course dont treat them like that...
Growth
- Now because Marysville is starting to grow, prices are going up and the once sleepy little town is expanding pretty fast. The issue is where one house stood, now there are 200. So the roads are designed to handle the 1 house per acre of land 10 years ago. But now they dump all these new houses and new people in town and roads are not fully updated yet. I say YET because they are working on it, which means more delays all over the place. Of course they are not planning for the future so if it keeps growing the roads are going to be over loaded yet again. Its kind of a mess with construction in places. The roads that are not being widened are being torn up to add in new wider sewer lines.
Commute
- The freeway comes to a stop from Bothell to Marysville every day. The commute is hell, everyone I know complains about it, unless they work off hours. Most of the magical shortcuts people take have all but dried up. With light traffic it takes 15 min to go from Bothell to Marysville, on a typical work day during peak hours that stretches to an hour, hour and a half, longer if there is fog or an accident. Now if you work and live in Maryville life a big bowl of peaches, you have it all and even if it rains the sun shines on ya. Birds break out in song when you walk down the street.. you get the idea Unfortunately that means you are working at the Casino, Walmart, or Fred Meyer, (WEE I love stockin shelves and calling out bingo numbers.)
- I wont buy in Marysville because of the traffic nightmare and the miles I would put on my car. If I was retired it would be a different can of beans.
- The farthest north I would go is South Everett.
- If you are really looking at Marysville I would suggest you try to drive from (wherever you plan to be working, to Marysville during the peak hours if you dont mind it and think you can hack it every day 5 days a week, then your gold. But trust me, Books On Tape = Your Friend.
Moving
The chances are that you will move again in 5 years, mostly because you will be new to the area and will find another place/neighborhood you like better. You might want to rent one side of a Duplex while you get settled and used to the area. That way it gives you more time, and you still feel like you are in a house. Most of the Duplexs rent for roughly (some times cheaper) than a house payment. So it might give you a good idea what you can afford without having the long term debt hanging over your head.
So there you have it, my low down on Marysville, I think I came off a bit harsh but then I only half like the town, and it is a bit to far off the beaten path for my tastes.
Probably a month bfore we move out there Barb will be visiting Seattle. That way she can take a look around for a week while I take care of the kids. Hopefully she can find a place that we like then and have some interviews.
It's going to be an insane summer. Barb gets back from Kuwait, we get married, and then move to seattle. All in a 2 month period. I think I'm going to have TUMS on hand at all times.
I'll have Barb read your reply Vig. I think she'll find it as enlightening as I did.
So it looks like I'll be seeing everyone around July or August. Have a pot of coffee ready for me
If someone would want to steal my 10yr old rusty Dodge caravan it would really suprise me.
I'll probably be emailing everyone with a million questions about a month before I move.
The Creepiness Factor
I would stay out of down town Tacoma if you can. Personally Tacoma is the one city I don't ever feel comfortable walking around, I don't even like driving thru it. Not to mention actually let anyone in my family out of the car
Quoted from a co-worker "In Bothell I complain about the trees being cut down. In Tacoma I complain about the crack heads trying to jack my car or worse my wife" It sounds like your wife is a tough cookie but still.
Toyota Tacoma Trucks are Tough Because...
Just because Toyota names a truck after it doesn't mean its a good place. It means the truck is tough, and can take a few bullets to the grill and keep going, much like the residents of Tacoma. If I bag on any city to drive you away from it, it should be Compton, err I mean Tacoma...
Might Have Been Harsh on Marysville, but...
I am sorry if my critique of Marysville was a bit harsh but I didn't want to build it up of the land of milk and honey, when it is not. Real estate agents and local news make it out to be a THE hot post housing. They don't mention its issues, all the while thier hype adds to them. I really should let numbers do the talking and button my hole. Of course I think where I live is just fine and perfectly safe, which it isn't but since I am here every day there isn't much of a "precieved" threat. Like the towns/cities I don't spend much time in, like Tacoma.
Last time I was in Tacoma, which was for Kiss conncert, they set the tacoma dome on fire. Someone forgot to tell them it was made out of wood and a small for pyrotechnics. I came back and someone puked down the windshield and dented my hood. And that was in a pay parking lot... It could have been the crowd of 40 year old freaks trying to relive thier glory days, but I blame Tacoma.
If you go to far north you will hit south Seattle, which is warehouses, machine shops and trucking ports not much in the way of housing. Also known as the harder hit area of Seattle. Since the tech boom here, those places have both boomed and suffered as thier jobs are shipped over seas.
Instead of my baised opinions here are some hard and fast stats to look at.
http://tacoma.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
http://marysvillewa.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
http://lynnwood.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
http://woodinville.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
http://bothell.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm <-Where I live)
One last thing, if you plan on Tacoma (I would urge you not) you might want to fit the kids for kevlar vests. I hear the schools are a bit rough. I don't think kevlar trips off the metal detectors? Sure the Marysville teachers are underpaid but atleast they don't worry about that if they hand out detention they might get jacked on the way out to thier car.
Please take all my crits on these towns with a grain of salt, I am sure there are much worse places to live in the US. But I would feel really bad if I didn't tell you about the downside of these places. Since most of what you will read on the web will be the Mr Rogers/City Hall version of the cities =(
If you couldn't tell I don't like going out to heavily populated urban areas. About the only time I go out it is to woodinville, Alderwood, Ballard, or South Everett. Or it is out for a hike in the woods. Which is about 30 min away.
Looks like she's going to be skipping the tacoma schools, she had a bad enough time teaching in Oakland.
Jungle George...
I was using www.househunt.com, its good for finding general prices, not good for finding a house, I would use a buying agent when looking for a home. Normally thier services are covered in the sale of the home, so NORMALLY there is no out of pocket expense. My wife and I used a buying agent from Century 21 and she where great. She also helped my mother sell her house in just 2 weeks. Her name is Susan George I can't say enough good things about her. If you talk to her, she will find you what you are looking for. By the time all is said and done she knew what we wanted more than we did. She worked VERY hard to get us into our first place. She even offered to pony up ernest money. When we knew we where not going to have enough liquid cash and would have to pass on the deal. In the end she didn't have to put up any money and we got it with no money down, not even ernest money. The selling agent said he had never done that before but was excited to see the deal go down the way it did. She will send you TONS of listings in your price range, I must have had 40 pages of listings to go thru when we where buying.
The key with Susan (and most buying agents) is specifics. Be specific about what do and don't want. If green shag gets you going, but orange shag doesn't let her know... She will ask about square feet, price, rooms, flooring, paint color, just about everything. Check out the listings she has, a few in the bothell area caught my eye. But then I don't know what price range you are looking at. She is hooked into MANY more houses than what is listed on the site, these are just the ones she is just the selling agent for. Last I checked her price for doing bussiness is 3% but might have gone up. My wife and I consider her our agent and when and IF we sell and move again she will be the first person we call.
I would recomend Edmonds, they have some good condos, are going for $130,000 - $200,000 (996-1216 sq ft.) A few Single Family ramblers (of slightly older constructions also, or so I would think). Sure they are kind of light on the space but at least you won't get jacked on the way to your car...
Gathering more info, because its just not a mortgage...
One thing you might want to do is get a feel for what bills you will be paying such as water, sewer, gas, garbage, electricity, cable, phone, ect... I found this page on the city of Edmonds site, it might be good to ask questions, ike how much does it cost to heat a XYZ sq ft house vs a condo, gas or electric?
Even if you don't investigate Edmonds as a posabitly you might want to get that info for the city/county you will be in.
Is renting for a while an option, or do you HAVE TO buy right now?
Your moving in the right direction. If it was me, I would find a nice place to rent in a neighborhood you like and hold off buying until later, IF you can. Always easier to get out from a place you rent than it is a place you own =(
If you are selling a house (which I think you mentioned) then you might be pinched to buy now?
The Hook Up, part 2
I know a wonderful couple in there late 20's that lives in one side of thier duplex and rent out the other half. The town house is in the good part Mill Creek/Lynnwood, I feel totally at ease walking about the neighborhood at night, alone. He spent part of his life growing up in the lynnwood area so he might be better suited to tell you about the inner workings of Lynnwood. Ther might be other "dork related" social contacts made if you manage to rent there for a while. Greg is a pretty big game dork like me, maybe even bigger because he is "in". Not saying anything could happen or would happen, just saying the land lord would share a common interest. Which is always good when negotiating rent (WINK WINK!)
My brother in law and his wife also own a duplex in marysville and rent out both sides (they have another house they live in). I have never been out to it so I have no idea where it is at or what the neighborhood is like.
But then I live near the central district in Seattle and I feel pretty safe walking around alone at night. In fact I had much worse problems with crime when I lived in Factoria than when I moved to Seattle.
To me Edmonds seems like a long commute, bothell or renton would be better if you're back to commuting to Seattle or the east side.
Vig: I emailed the realtor that you mentioned. Also I might be in touch with you about your friends place as the move gets nearer.
Joolz thanks for the windemere link we've been looking trough the listings about 5 hours a day since you posted that.
ndcv: After a bit of research I'm going to steer away from tacoma. If I had no kids I'd live there, but I'm looking for a place that my spaz kids can roam freely.
Thanks again to all of you who gave advice and links. Also I wasn't kidding about having a pot of coffee ready for me when I get there. French roast is preferred.
Also If someone has a line on an IT job for an A+ certified technician with 5 years helpdesk experience, feel free to drop me a line.
Baahh you look over the listings you know beter than me what you are looking for, that is if you haven't already. Right now Atari in Bothell (where I work) is hiring temp phone techs. But it is a hire this week kind of thing and will more than likely stop sometime in Feb when the phones die down. There are a few techs looking to leave before Xmas that means perm positions might open up. I will keep my ears open. Don't get your hopes up, and don't think the job is all that. Its call after call from 80 year old scrabble players and ubber UT04 players trying to get .5 more FPS out of the game. They tend to hire a temp before going outside.
I don't think you have to worry about much when it comes to helpdesk jobs, they seem to always be a few open some where. A friend of mine works at The Colbolt Group Last I checked they are hiring. If you see a job you want to apply for let me know and I can put you in touch with him, he will submit your resume from the inside
lastly I talked to Greg the town house owner. He has renters right now but he is not sure if they will be sticking around. SO he is not sure if it will be open. He will know more when it gets closer to move time for ya.
Shoot me an email if and when you want me to put you in touch either Greg or Jason (colbolt).
vig at vigville.com or mdygert at atari.com