Should I move to SF or Seattle? (San Diego, San Jose: 2015, condo)

[GraceSF]

I say Seattle. Visit SF, but if given the choice move to Seattle. SF has a huge homeless problem. Every time I take my kids to SF they see things I wish they wouldn't. I took them to a musical and they got to see a man shooting up with a needle and after the show they got to witness an ambulance picking up a homeless person who looked like he'd OD'd and as I tried to leave SF, a man stood in front of my car until I gave him money. I lived single in SF and walking down the streets in the morning, smelled urine, feces and marijuana. I've seen homeless people pooping on the sidewalk, more than once. People completely high and acting strange in Burger King or fill-in-the-blank. Plus, when I lived in SF in 2006, my tiny studio with a kitchenette cost $1400 a month.

I planned on leaving after my studies but met someone who couldn't leave. Now I live in a nice suburb south of SF but you can't buy a home for 1 mil here. My husband owned a home before we got married, so I don't have housing issues but for a young couple to get into a neighborhood with good schools and etc, costs a pretty penny. As a result, lots of the ladies in the dating pool are focused on money because raising kids here is very expensive.

Seattle is laid-back and you'll find tons of restaurants. You certainly don't need to move to SF for ethnic food, although sure, there are probably more restaurants here but Seattle has lots as well. I also remember Seattle being very bike-friendly. There are SF areas that are, like Palo Alto, but most places you have roads that are hilly and narrow and need to be shared with cars or course. Not much in the way of bike paths. My husband is an avid cyclist and you can bike here, I just never saw it as too ideal because of the narrow roads and traffic.

My sister used to live in Kirkland which is right next to Redmond and it's pretty sunny there. Also, going into Seattle for nightlife is not difficult from a location like Kirkland. Living in Oakland and working in SF? I guess you could take BART. The Bay Bridge is a difficult commute.

It seems your main concern is weather and meeting people. Well, like I said, places like Kirkland have weather pretty much like most of the rest of the US. SF has lots of overcast days, if you truly want sunny weather year-round, places like LA offer more of that.

Meeting people? You mentioned that meeting people in Seattle may be more difficult. I would actually say the opposite is true when comparing SF. Plus, you could get a nicer and larger place in the Seattle area and you could host get-togethers as a way to meet people. Join a cycling group or something. Meeting people in a new city is always hard, but I would say people in Seattle are, as a whole, more friendly than the Bay Area. Plus, you will find people in all sorts of situations here in SF. I went on dates with men working FT who needed roommates because it is just that crazy here. Or you get people living way out in the East Bay for lower rents and that's hard, to date someone who lives really far.

I had a good friend move, with her husband, to Indiana. They are both medical doctors, and were barely making ends meet here. They both had FT jobs but he got an offer from Indiana and they went from a 2100 sq ft home which sold for 1.8 mil a couple years ago to a 5000 sq ft home for about 400k. She doesn't work anymore and is a stay-at-home mom.

If you want a family someday, look at some real estate sites and plug in the zip codes for family areas in both places and compare. Like some people have mentioned, you could meet someone great in SF, who can't or won't move because of a job and/or family, and then you are stuck. Once your kids are in the school system, you really need to try not to uproot them and moving would become much more difficult. Also, look at crime rates.

I'm ok living in SF but I had to, and still have to, tell myself I am okay with it because I am from Minnesota and used to wide, open spaces and super friendly people. I make the most of it and it's not terrible or anything, but I'm not super crazy about living here.

Here's an example of Kirkland weather which I think is bearable (spacing is off) -

CLIMATE Kirkland, Washington United States
Rainfall (in.) 35.1 36.5
Snowfall (in.) 3.1 25
Precipitation Days 152 100
Sunny Days 153 205
Avg. July High 75 86.5
Avg. Jan. Low 37 20.5
Comfort Index (higher=better) 72 44
UV Index 2.6 4.3
Elevation ft. 150 1,443

- and by Redmond, I am assuming the company may be Microsoft, it's right next to Kirkland so I assume the weather is similar. Redmond also has nice apartments. There are also so many lakes. For nature I would say Washington State. The SF/Bay Area has these beautiful Eucalyptus trees but their roots cut up the roads and/or raise them in areas. They are hard to see around if you are trying to make a turn. I don't remember any Eucalyptus trees to battle in the Pacific NW.

Good luck making a choice.

[04kL4nD]

153 Sunny days is horrible. Kirkland's weather may be better than Seattle's but that's saying a whole lot...

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by GraceSF

I say Seattle. Visit SF, but if given the choice move to Seattle. SF has a huge homeless problem. Every time I take my kids to SF they see things I wish they wouldn't. I took them to a musical and they got to see a man shooting up with a needle and after the show they got to witness an ambulance picking up a homeless person who looked like he'd OD'd and as I tried to leave SF, a man stood in front of my car until I gave him money. I lived single in SF and walking down the streets in the morning, smelled urine, feces and marijuana. I've seen homeless people pooping on the sidewalk, more than once. People completely high and acting strange in Burger King or fill-in-the-blank. Plus, when I lived in SF in 2006, my tiny studio with a kitchenette cost $1400 a month.

You definitely see homeless shoot up on the streets of Seattle on any given day. Granted, Seattle has less homeless than SF.

[bmw335xi]

Homeless in Seattle compared to SF are so different. SF homeless are quite aggressive, a lot more mentally crazy, less regard for civility and there are so many of them.

[Spodi90]

It really depends on what kind of smug you want.

[04kL4nD]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Homeless in Seattle compared to SF are so different. SF homeless are quite aggressive, a lot more mentally crazy, less regard for civility and there are so many of them.

We've been over this before, but I disagree. The homeless in DT Seattle are just as crazy/aggressive as the ones in SF/Waikiki/DTLA/you name it. Homeless high people on drugs or off their meds are pretty much the same wherever you go. They aren't "special" in SF- they're just more of them visible than other places.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

We've been over this before, but I disagree. The homeless in DT Seattle are just as crazy/aggressive as the ones in SF/Waikiki/DTLA/you name it. Homeless high people on drugs or off their meds are pretty much the same wherever you go. They aren't "special" in SF- they're just more of them visible than other places.

I don't know where you get this, maybe anecdotal? I don't know. But homeless in Seattle and Hawaii are way more chill than homeless in SF.

The only ones that have the bums in SF beat are the ones in LA who smoke sherm on skid row.

[04kL4nD]

Not in my experience. Visible homelessness is a West Coast thing- mostly because of milder weather and more lax attitudes about it. I've seen junkies shooting up in all four places, people screaming/acting crazy, people peeing/pooping in the streets, etc. Maybe I'm just unlucky or particularly observant, but I haven't exactly sought out the homeless in any of these places. They're all right there in the open. I was most shocked by the homeless in Waikiki tbh- going for a sunrise stroll can be pretty damn disturbing if you aren't expecting it...

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

153 Sunny days is horrible. Kirkland's weather may be better than Seattle's but that's saying a whole lot...

They may have 153 horrible days but at least one can enjoy the other 212 cool comfortable cloudy days a year.

[04kL4nD]

No,I'm saying just the opposite. 153 sunny days out of 365 is nothing to write home about. Seattle is probably around 90-100 truly sunny days and 90% of them come during the summer.