Moving to Seattle - never been there before. Tell me what I'm in for?

Moving2Seattle wrote:

You guys.. thanks so much for the awesome responses. It's great to hear intel from the local Seattle folks.

I plan on doing lots of ultras there & traveling, so its sounding like perhaps the suburan route is the way to go.

i.e. While downtown is super attractive, it's very expensive and not feasible having a car there

If ultras are your thing then living in Issaquah is ideal.

Farking Socal FTW. Carry on.

Honestly? In my honest opinion. Nothing good to report!!! Mostly extremist liberal (soy) views. Police force will NEVER enforce crimes committed by minorities. Extremely dangerous for whites/men. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS.

MUSAGA

you will love it if you like bum camps, human feces, and liberal nutjobs and virtue signalling.

Trust me. Avoid him at all costs.

I grew up in Seattle suburbs, moved for college and came back 12 years later and have been back for almost 10. I live in the city with my wife and two kids - the suburbs are nice, but I prefer the amenities of the city and I don't have to deal with traffic (usually)

The good:

* The natural beauty is almost unbeatable - three great national parks within 2.5 hour drive

* lots of great areas to run both in the city and in the suburbs

* decent skiing a short drive away and great skiing 4 hour drive

* summers are awesome from July - September

* it never really gets that cold in the winter (or hot in the summer)

* lots of cool neighborhoods to explore

The bad:

* Realestate has gone way up in the past 5-6 years. I thought it was expensive when I bought my house 6 years ago, but it has more than doubled since.

* Homeless problem - the city has made some honest efforts to improve things this past year, but this has been a big problem the past 5 years

* Gloomy winters - its not the rain. It doesn't bother me. Its a light sprinkle (you will almost never need an umbrella), but it is overcast with light rain from mid October through April and it doesn't warm up until fourth of July. Winters are like 45 and light rain for weeks on end. I grew up here so it doesn't bother me and I actually like the rain, but most new transplants complain about not seeing the sun for 6-8 months.

Neighborhoods to live in:

In Seattle:

Magnolia has the most suburban feel and is less than 10 minutes to downtown and great running with Seattle's biggest park - Discovery Park. This is a family friendly neighborhood. Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford and Greenlake areas are all great just north of downtown with more of a mix of residential and urban feel. West Seattle is a great neighborhood, but traffic can be awful on the West Seattle bridge if you're commuting downtown. If you're young and single, Capitol hill is full of night life and super close to downtown. Downtown/Belltown - lots of condos/apartments and good bars and restaraunts - close to the Market, but also lots of homeless. Lower Queen Anne & Queen Anne - super close to downtown - Queen Anne is mostly residential, but has its own nice neighborhood downtown and is an easy 5-7 minutes to downtown Seattle - Lower Queen Anne is more condo's and apartments with lots of great bar and restaurants right next to Seattle Center and the Space Needle.

Eastside:

Mercer Island is super nice if you have a ton of money - short commute to downtown and some nice areas to run, but its all families with lots of money and not much going on in the downtown area.

Bellevue - also very expensive and traffic is terrible through downtown Bellevue

Kirkland - also very nice, also very expensive - toll bridge to downtown Seattle or have to drive through terrible traffic through Bellevue

Issaquah - right at the foothills of the cascades so some good running there, but a little further commute. It shouldn't be too bad though as you are on i90 the whole way to downtown Seattle.

Renton - less expensive and more blue collar

Check out the Seattle Rain Festival when you're there:

https://cdn3.volusion.com/cywub.pnehc/v/vspfiles/photos/S6973-P21-2.jpg?1379085094

explain it please wrote:

Good, Bad, Ugly wrote:

Good: food, Rainier, Whistler, Olympic NP, Cascades, Victoria, markets, coffee, short flight to Kauai

Bad: bums, the "freeze" hard to make new friends

Ugly: traffic, cost of housing, constant drizzle

What is the "freeze"?

Seattle Freeze is referring to the cold shoulder you get from strangers. The idea that its hard to meet people because they keep to themselves and that people who live in Seattle are passive aggressive.

I find that funny since most people who live in the city are transplants themselves...most of my friends who are still in the city are not from here originally.

I haven't read through the entire thread but here is my 2 cents (I've lived here most of my life and I'm 32):

Good:

-You can travel 2-3 hours in any direction and it feels completely different (ocean, mountains, desert), great for day trips and hiking or camping

-Mt. Rainier (and Rainier Beer)

-The music scene is unreal here, lots of great venues and local bands

-The city itself is clean and the tap water is way better than average

-Lots of great micro-breweries and coffee shops (pot is also legal for recreational use)

-Lots of great Asian food if you're into it

-One of the most educated cities in the US

-Pro & college sports scene is for real, we'll be getting a hockey team in 2020 and the NBA should follow soon after

-One of the healthiest cities in the US

-Long days in the summer (sun sets at 10pm)

-Cheap flights across the West Coast

-Public transportation within the city is actually a viable option

-Progressive city

Bad:

-Rent and housing are incredibly expensive

-There is a giant lake in the middle of the city which is why it takes forever to get from one side of the city to the other

-Short days in the winter (sun sets at 4:30pm)

-Parking is shite everywhere

-City Council has no idea what they're doing

-Air pollution during the summer from fires in surrounding areas (California/Oregon, British Columbia, Eastern Washington)

Ugly:

-Traffic is terrible if you live 10 miles+ outside the city proper

-Homeless population is getting out of hand

-One of the most expensive cities to live in

-IMO the city is growing too fast which is causing a lot of the issues aforementioned

Some advice:

-Pickup skiing or snowboarding, you'll actually get to see the sun and it will provide you with a hobby that will get you through the winter time

-If you're buying a home in the suburbs, I would make sure its close to the future light rail (

)

-Burke Gilman Trail is like the highway for bikes and pedestrians (runners)

-While Seattle is right on the Puget Sound, there are no real sandy beaches and the water is COLD

-South Seattle suburbs lacks the infrastructure that North Seattle suburbs offers

RIP Paul Allen

Rick in the D wrote:

I've been here two years

get a #12 Seahawks jersey

Barf.

I live in Seattle for 7 years and absolutely loved it. I now live in Tacoma, but still work in Seattle . . . traffic is not as bad as people are stating, IMHO.

I actually really really like Issaquah and it puts you in great position to do ultra stuff. But if you're a young, single, social person, don't do any of the burbs, move to the city.

Issaquah is a great place. It's really changed over the years from a sleepy little town to a commuter town to Bellevue and Seattle. Traffic is bad in Issaquah because the roads haven't kept up with the increase in population. Lot's of high tech workers there that commute to Microsoft and other tech jobs. I would suggest getting a kind of 10 year old crappy car but runs and use that to drive and leave at a Park-n-Ride and then take an express bus using your Orca card (bus pass). Many companies provide it as a perk. Why a crappy car? Because the heroin/meth/crack head types will bypass your car to break into the Lexus and BMW's. Leave your nice car parked at home in the garage. Crappy car is also good for parking at trailheads when you go hiking, snowshoeing, etc. for the same reasons. My crappy car is 16 years old and I love it! It's also very possible to do a bus to work and bike home commute as every bus can hold three bikes on the bike rack.

No one has mentioned it yet but Capitol Hill is the center for the LGBT community. In addition there are a lot of great restaurants there but absolutely no parking. Uber and the bus are your friends! It is a high crime area but it's also where a lot of really good hospitals are located.

I would also look at Redmond. Quick bus commute into Seattle on the 545 express bus and a quiet community. Lots of good running areas in town plus trails nearby.

In the city I would look at Ballard, Fremont, and Wallingford. Each area has a good night life and nice restaurants. Easy bus commute into the downtown area or just bike it like hundreds (thousands?) do everyday.

Oh, and don't believe what you see on that new TV show Station 19 that is supposed to take place in Seattle. It looks like every episode takes place in early August when it's sunny and warm.

the430miler wrote:

Theoniongoat wrote:

OP, are you the430miler? Are you moving to Seattle because you have always wondered what it would be like to live in the West after a lifetime of living in the South?

I haven't lived in the south in several years since I moved to Texas, which is 100 percent in the western United states.

Seattle is more Canada than it is United states. It's not in the west either. The old west does not get 100 inches of rain per year

Bruh, no idea who you are, but are you unaware that Texas literally is on the East/Wesr centerline of the US? It most definitely is in the South, not in the West.

Anyway, carry on with the discussion about Seattle.

No your 2.12 miles away still. Meskel square is not 2.5 miles from Addis Ababa stadium. To the below poster, that Mosque is in the wrong direction

Nothanksjeff wrote:

you will love it if you like bum camps, human feces, and liberal nutjobs and virtue signalling.

I had a similar experience on a visit to Seattle recently—especially in regards to virtue signaling. I was there on a Sunday and went to a Church (Lutheran) service. Man, oh, man was there a butt-load of virtue signaling going on in the pews and from the pulpit.

But, come to think of it every time I go to Church—regardless of which Christian denomination or the city—there seems to be a lot of virtue signaling. It’s like non-stop virtue signaling during the service. It’s almost as if Churches are in the business of virtue signaling or something. Like they invented virtue signaling or something.

If you are black and bring your family, you will double the black population of many neighborhoods.

As a black guy I was mistaken for a Seahawks player several times (never the same player), and I weigh 155.

Hardloper wrote:

Downtown traffic is a nightmare and I don't know why anyone would put up with it if they don't absolutely have to. If you live on a direct bus line or close enough that Uber is cheap then that helps. The cost of owning a car is insane between parking in the city, parking at apartment, registration fees. There are lots of good running paths here (Burke Gilman, Green Lake, Lake Union, Discovery Park). I would look at Magnolia, Wallingford, or maybe Westlake from a running persepctive.

I hear this a lot. Is the traffic really all that bad say compared to NYC or LA. Is it just that it's a new thing that people aren't used to. I've only been to Seattle once but I didn't notice the traffic from the airport to downtown being all that bad. Also is the homeless problem worse than anywhere else. Statistically NYC has way more homeless, but people in Portland and Seattle seem to complain about it more than anyone I've met. I agree it's a different breed of homeless, way more aggressive and entitled. Trustafarians turned heroin addicts. The tents in the streets are interesting too. I've pretty much become inured to seeing grown men shitting in the middle of the sidewalk, would Seattle's homeless problem bother me?

Banana Bread wrote:

No your 2.12 miles away still. Meskel square is not 2.5 miles from Addis Ababa stadium. To the below poster, that Mosque is in the wrong direction

I know! I know!

The Bob Marley statue!

I've lived in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and the Bay Area currently. I go back to Seattle to visit, and my friends there always complain about the traffic. They had built it up so much that I was expecting it to be super horrible, but honestly, it wasn't that bad compared to Bay Area traffic. Same with the homeless population. I've found SF far worse, especially with regards to human waste on the sidewalks, and drug paraphernalia.

Closer but still 0.92 miles away