Seattle,Everett, or in between? (Shoreline, Renton: extended stay, apartment, rental)

[bizmarc123]

Hi guys, I've been cruising the forums and have seen a lot of valuable information but was hoping on some help specific to my case:

Im a 21 year old male coming out of college with a job at Boeing in Everett. Im looking for a medium-to-big city with a decent night life that is also pretty safe (Im not too picky about the "safe" thing but I have read some pretty concerning things about Everett). Also, having access to lots of food places is quite important to me (I'm not a huge fan of small towns). So my question is, is Everett a place that will fit what I'm looking for? I am very interested in living in Seattle, however I am less than happy about the 1 hour commute, so any thoughts on that would be great as well. Finally, if there are any places in between the two cities that could fit what I'm looking for I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks!

[Hemlock140]

At your age, being single and not having to worry about kids and schools, you can find a decent place in Everett. Then you can go hang out in Seattle on Friday nights. Are you sure you will be working in Everett? Some of the Everett people spend 2-3 days a week in Renton or Auburn. If that's the case Seattle is in between. You might consider an extended stay hotel for a while
so you can check out places in person and have more information about the job.

[eskercurve]

The northern neighborhoods of Green Lake, Phinney Ridge, Greenwood, Fremont, and Wallingford and Ballard are great for young folks just starting out. It will take you ~40 min to commute to Everett because you'll be going against traffic. There's also ample carpools and vanpools and even a bus route or two that goes along I-5 to the Boeing campus (though those are usually very early in the morning, the latest I saw posted was getting to the vanpool pickup at 6AM, and the bus isn't much better). Even Queen Anne is do-able. I know some people who live downtown and commute to Everett.

All those neighborhoods have great places to stay and have different feels. I recommend getting a hotel rental (one of my friends is doing this, she just got a job at Boeing in everett too) by the month while your stuff is in storage. Then on your time off "commute home" to places down south.

Everett itself is ... well, not a big town. Lots of strip malls, car malls, mega malls, ... general suburbia Americana, for better or worse. There's also bedroom communities there like Mukilteo. They can be charming but slow. Not necessarily what a young and energetic single person would want. Lynnwood, Shoreline, Edmonds, etc really don't feel like a city, and more like suburbia. You really don't get the Seattle feel until about 85th St, maybe Northgate way.

One place I would not recommend is the U district near UW. That gets old fast. I lived there for two years and after having lived the shifty bums wandering around all over the place, the depressing Ave Rats, ugly prostitutes trolling around, dirty surroundings, noisy drunks at all hours of the day EVERY DAY, and ghetto blasters out at 2 AM on Monday mornings, and people deciding that the bushes in front of your apartment are a great place to urinate, I had enough. The clincher was someone following my then girlfriend home. She noticed that and I had to step outside and scare the bugger off. Couple that with the murders that were happening at the time ... yeah, UW avoid at all costs. Only visit there occasionally. If you must live in the U district, draw a 10 block radius around the campus and just say "nope, not living there."

I also recommend you ignore the higher cost of living of Seattle and just do it. I know most engineers have a cost function and end up choosing the cheaper place that's close to work and end up being bored out of their mind. If you're in airplane development, like myself, you also have a hard job that is demanding maybe ... so if you live in a bedroom community you won't want to go to the city on the weekend and you just wnat to relax. Bad move. You're young! Live in the city, get a sports car, have multiple girlfriends, play sports at Green Lake, etc. You can save money and be a home body when you've got a family.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by bisjoe

At your age, being single and not having to worry about kids and schools, you can find a decent place in Everett. Then you can go hang out in Seattle on Friday nights.

Everett itself does have a bar scene which does get lively. It really depends on what the OP likes. If the desire is there to live in Seattle, then go for it. As for the commute, it really depends on what time you go-- generally it's about 30 minutes. If you already know your schedule, refer to this website @ the times you'd be leaving work/home to get a better idea: Seattle Travel Times (http://www.beatthetraffic.com/traffic/traveltimes.aspx?regionid=5&viewname=Seattle - broken link)

[CarlB328]

Maybe he should live in Shoreline, wouldn't that be about halfway between Seattle and Everett?

[bizmarc123]

Thanks a lot for all the help guys, as of right now I'm leaning towards living in North Seattle and toughing it out for the commute. The one other question I had was if the travel times listed on the site mentioned above were accurate? I feel like I can handle a 30-40 minute drive which the site says it would take....but any longer and I don't think the idea is feasible. Thanks again!

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by bizmarc123

The one other question I had was if the travel times listed on the site mentioned above were accurate? I feel like I can handle a 30-40 minute drive which the site says it would take....but any longer and I don't think the idea is feasible. Thanks again!

Its been accurate from my experience and the local news does refer to the site. It's updated @ least every half hour or so. A lot more accurate than Googlemaps, et. c.

[bizmarc123]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

Its been accurate from my experience and the local news does refer to the site. It's updated @ least every half hour or so. A lot more accurate than Googlemaps, et. c.

Cool, thanks, that helps quite a bit.