Cost of living, crime -- Dallas vs. Seattle (Tacoma, Vancouver: violent crime, credit score)

[ness]

Originally Posted by txspamom

Unfortunately we have to go where his company sends us. My choice was East Coast but they don't have an open district there. Grapevine prices are a little high here too -- houses about $225k -- you can rent a nice old shack for about $1200/mth.....we rent an apartment, 3 bedroom in an older community and our rent is $1065/mth.

Believe me, I am all for a change of scenery, but truthfully West Coast is not really where I want to end up -- it just looks like the cards are stacked in that direction.

I have friends that live in Olympia and I've visited them numerous times. They just bought a nice 1980s home with over 3,000 square feet for 350,000. I'm from SoCal and that seems like a screamin' deal. They back onto a beautiful area with tons of trees.

I have friends in Gig Harbor, Fox Island, Whidby Island, Tacoma, University Place, and Olympia. They are all areas I would live in a heartbeat. Tacoma has nice areas and bad areas b/c it is a large city.....so just be careful when looking at real estate there. if something seems too good to be true price wise....it is probably b/c it is located in a high crime part of the city.

[txspamom]

I was on rentclicks.com last night and checked into home rentals in the area. We will probably rent because in about 2 years, I we might relocate to the East Coast where we really want to be. Anyway, I found some good rental prices for nice homes in Pullayup and in Tacoma.....not sure about the areas, but the houses looked nice.

[CityGirl72]

Stick with Puyallup - Tacoma is hit or miss

But be aware if you need to commute to Seattle, it's a hell of a commute

[Cowlitz County]

Originally Posted by txspamom

Unfortunately we have to go where his company sends us. My choice was East Coast but they don't have an open district there. Grapevine prices are a little high here too -- houses about $225k -- you can rent a nice old shack for about $1200/mth.....we rent an apartment, 3 bedroom in an older community and our rent is $1065/mth.

Believe me, I am all for a change of scenery, but truthfully West Coast is not really where I want to end up -- it just looks like the cards are stacked in that direction.

3 Bedroom for $1065 is pretty nice! I have a one bedroom in Shoreline (just south of Lynnwood) for $900. Three bedrooms are at least $1200. Lynnwood isn't the nicest of areas.

[Lakewooder]

If you want more of a boho-cosmopolitan-intellectual-old money mixed with all others vibe look to the Lakewood / Old East Dallas area...

[Mommy05]

Originally Posted by txspamom

I was on rentclicks.com last night and checked into home rentals in the area. We will probably rent because in about 2 years, I we might relocate to the East Coast where we really want to be. Anyway, I found some good rental prices for nice homes in Pullayup and in Tacoma.....not sure about the areas, but the houses looked nice.

If you want to check out the neighborhood for sex offenders, etc, type in the address of the area you're looking in on familywatchdog.us. My husband & I are house-hunting right now & I use this site all the time!

Good Luck!

[dajam_fxdli]

Haing lived in Dallas, Irving and still talk to my friends in the DFW area. I would stay there. Cost of living in DFW is sginificantly cheaper. Better food, and people in my opinioin are friendly. Seattle area folks will rave about how great it is then when you need help, first to be last in line. The attitude here is beyond SMUG. I am very dissapointed with that it used to be so nice.

I used to think Dallas was plastic until it was redefined by the attitude in this area. You alway knew where you stood with Native Texans, that can not be said about here. I have lived here for close to 20 years and my true friends still are from Texas. I would move back if I did not have family to take of.

For housing costs, You get a really nice home for 189,000 in the DFW area here you might be able to get a trailer in a trailer park.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by txspamom

We might be relocated to the Seattle area -- I have heard conflicting information on a few things can you help?

We are a family of 4....we have 2 kids, one will be entering 4th grade and one 2nd grade when we relocate.

We currently live in Grapevine, TX which is right outside Dallas near the DFW Airport.

My husband was told that the cost of living in Seattle is about the same as where we live now. I heard that Seattle is one of the most expensive places to live.

My husband heard that there is hardly any crime in Seattle, I heard that Seattle's crime is getting bad.

I've never moved in my whole life, so to up and move away from family and friends so far away, I want to make sure we are going to have a decent quality of life on whatever salary they decide to bump him to when he is relocated.

I would like to live in a decent area with decent schools for my kids.

Help????


Jennifer in TX
Moderator cut: link removed

YOU-HAVE-GOT-TO-BE-KIDDING-ME

Seattle, Tacoma and Everett are in the top 100 most dangerous cities in the United States. Seattle is #100 (look it up/JoSon.com). The cost of living doesn't even compare. Just go to CNN Money. Say your husband makes 100,000 a year. If that is the case, he would have to make 123,000 in Seattle to even it out (about 2000 a month more obviously). Of course, I could only plug in Dallas and not Grapevine. That being said, go to Realtor.com. See what you get in Seattle for 350,000. It's not much (no offense to those who recently spent 350 on a house). 389? I think is the "average" cost of a house in King County. I stress "average".

Look. I live in the Seattle area. To be honest, I'm thinking about moving for a number of reasons. They are 1. School spending/support (not much). In Texas, especially Grapevine, the schools are pretty good. It's an act of congress to get anything done to improve a school here. 2. Crime. It's no Detroit, but it's pretty freakin' bad up here. I live in the country. It's pretty rare to have a month go by where the police aren't chasing someone in/near my neighborhood. And...I live in the country. There is a lot of Meth related crimes here. I guess that encompasses about every type of crime. 3. Traffic. Good lord. Take your idea of bad traffic and times it by about five. Welcome to Seattle. And yes...I have driven during Metroplex rush-hour. 4. The weather. If you don't mind it being gray and rainy for literally like 10 months out of the year, it won't be that big of a deal. 5. The cost of living/time it takes to do anything. The cost of doing anything here is crazy. If something eventually looks like it may get done, it won't. We like to just talk about doing sh!@ up here until it's too late. Like traffic. They will put cluster housing everywhere without the roads to support them. Then...they will take everything to def-con 12 because they figured out that, well, they didn't figure for the traffic. About the only thing higher in cost in Texas is property tax. But...Texas does stuff with that money (you know...gets sh!@ done). We just wonder where the "F" all our tax dollars are going. When I was in Texas (although for a short time), I couldn't find anything more expensive than this area (besides property tax). I think WA pays about 1 percent more overall anyhow.

Western WA was a great place to live (like 20 years ago). It sure is pretty when the rain stops (like 2 months a year). This is just one person's opinion though. Hopefully, if you have to come up here, you will like it. My guess is, that for the simple reason you have never moved, this will be a little of a shock to you. Like anything new, it will be pretty cool for a couple of months. Then, after about the third month of rain, you will be like "What the? Does it ever stop?"

I strongly encourage you to do all your own research.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by txspamom

So, someone said that it would cost ALOT more in Seattle than Dallas, then the cost of living calculation says LESS? Confusing. Our average home price here is probably around $189,000 for a decent house in a decent area. One poster said the average in Seattle is $500K? That is a huge difference!! is that correct?

For 189,000 in Seattle you might get a garage at least. Maybe...that's pushng it

[JDTD]

[quote=CityGirl72;1481648]Crime depends on where you live - being a family I doubt you'll live downtown, that's where the majority of crime is (just like any metropolitan)

The problem with Western WA is that crime doesn't depend on where you live. You can't move away from the city and expect to be safe. The tweakers are highly mobile and like country trolling for burglaries, etc. There are places where there is more crap going on in some of the smaller towns than in Downtown Seattle. Some of the wackiest stuff happens out in the country up here. Many of my friends have been victims of vehicle theft, burglaries and identity theft from "mailboxing" or whatever.