Info from people living in WA

[lilyournamelil]

hey everyone. i live in so cali and i'm planning to move pretty soon. i was thinking about washington....maybe seattle. anyone who lives in washington can u tell me if it's a nice place to live? how's the living cost? where are the nice area to live? 1 bedroom apts.......how much average? is it easy to find jobs? or if not seattle....wut other good places are there? just need some help in determining if washington is a good place to live. thanx...

justin

[aaire]

If you plan to move to Washington you should visit sometime in the fall or winter, and not in the summer. The winters here are long, cold, very wet, and extremely gloomy (if you haven't already heard). I've heard many stories of people visiting in the summer and thinking its beautiful here (it is) but they see it in the summer when its nice and green. Its so green because it rains so much!

The cost of living is fairly high in the Seattle area, although not as bad as say the silicon valley. We were recently rated Forbes most overly priced place to live in the US Great... How much you pay will greatly depend on what area you live in. Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland are very expensive (for what you get) because they're so close to Microsoft. The downtown Seattle area is similar in price but at least you get that downtown big city feel. You can go further south towards Renton, or north towards Kent and find more reasonable living but the drive will be longer to get anywhere. Since its so hilly here we don't have the quality grid like freeway systems of CA so traffic can suck.

The economy is pretty good here, lots of high tech with big companies like Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, etc. dominating the area. Oh don't forget we have a Starbucks on every corner and thats not exageration.

The people here tend to be more polite than in California, although more clickish and tight knit.

And that's my two cents.

[lilyournamelil]

ok kool. so any suggestions on a certain place to live? i mean a nice place that is decently priced? wut about jobs? easy to find? how's the crime level and theft and all those things? any ohter input would be greatly appreciated....thanx...

[Truth]

Not too bad...

And yes, we were rated the #1 over-priced city to live in the US

I think he posted in error, but Kent and Renton are both south of Seattle...

The north end is not too bad, and is where I've lived most of my time here in Seattle..north of Seattle is Shoreline, then Edmonds, Lynnwood, then Everett

I currenty live in Woodinville, which is technically east-side, just north of Kirkland, which is just north of Bellevue, which is just west of Redmond

Pretty much the closer you get to downtown Seattle, the higher the rent

And as long as it's not downtown Kirkland, I think rent is decent

Rent has been decreasing because of all the people buying houses these past couple of years..you can get a 2 bedroom anywhere from 650 - 900 for a good place

We do have excellent summers here and it is beautiful..otherwise, the winters can be cold, and yes, it does rain...but you get used to it, I suppose. It will become the norm.

How old are you? Single? Are you just looking to "start a new life"? Job experience/resume? It shouldn't be too hard to find a job as long as you have the skills--depending on your industry.

Sportbikes-wise...really picking up this past 1-2 years...everyone went out and bought a bike this past year..and many many many went down unfortunately
I think we'll keep seeing more as more exposure is given

If you do come up, we'll have to go ride and represent some R6's!

[lilyournamelil]

thanx for the info about the cities. i'm 22 and single. yeah the main reason is to start a new life u know? getting sick of living in so cali. i have about 1.5 yrs of graphic designing. i'm going to school to major in business admin. about 1.5 yrs working in mortgage. das about it. well i've been riding for 1.5 yrs but if i was to move up there i'd have to sell the 6 cuz i'd need a car u know. wouldn't be able to afford a car a bike and an apt or wutever. but maybe after i settle down and have money saved up i'd probably buy a new 6. i'm thinking maybe i'd move there next winter cuz i' starting a business and it's gonna open a lil b4 summer so i gotta work on the business and wait till it becomes more stable...then i'd move out. but juss wanted a feeling of how seattle area was....

[Truth]

no problem...

that's cool man. my girlfriend works in mortgage, she's a jr. loan officer

plenty of opportunity in mortgage up here...i'm thinking about getting into it as well

i'm going for business administration as well...still have about 2 years left until the degree :\

come visit some time and think about it, good luck

[711michaelR6]

i lived in kirkland before i left for the navy which was a whole 4 months ago. washington is an awesome place to live. it really doesn't rain as much as people say it does. the rain started tapering off after el nino or some time around there so the winters have been better than before. yeah it still rains but its light rain. i miss washington and i can't wait to go back. where else can you go to a rain forest, mountains with snow, the beach which also doubles as a highway that you can drive around on, a desert and farmland where you can get very fresh fruit all in one day. like i said washington is awesome.

[Flanders44]

hey, im from olympia, which is about an hour south of seattle. if ur wantin to live in a big city i would go with what the other guys said, but olympia/lacey/tumwater are all pretty nice too. they are a lot smaller cities, at about 40k a piece. i would much rather live around here though, becuase you can pretty much live wherever you want. you could have an apartment in the middle of the city or rent a house 10 minutes out of town and have all the privacy you want. there are tons of lakes and a coupla rivers nearby also, and the bay is about a 10 minute drive. it all depends on what ur lookin for man. im not into big cities at all, so if i were coming to washington from a different state i would probably settle down in lacey or oly. pretty friendly people, not a lot of crime, private college in lacey, community college in olympia, fairly cheap rent (500-700 for a 1 room) and lots of trees. typically it rains a shit load here, seriously about 9-10 months out of the year just about everyday, but this past year has been really dry (for washington standards) if ur still lookin to move up here pretty soon, pm me and take a visit up here. ill show ya around oly if ya want. summers here kick ass btw