Possibly relocating...need help with neighborhoods (Seattle, Bellevue: apartments, rental, townhouse)

[Knh1229]

Hello, my husband has been offered a job through his current company in Seattle. We currently live in the NYC suburbs. While neither of us has ever been to Seattle we are definitely interested and my husband is going out there in a few weeks for a working interview and to see if it would be a good fit for us.

However, before he makes the trip out, we want to make sure it would in fact be a good move, and have some idea of what areas to look for apartments in. Eventually would like to own a house but need time to get familiar with the area.

Anyway, we are both 30 and have a one year old daughter. Most important thing to me is a family/kid friendly area also convenient to downtown Seattle. Parks/ playgrounds and walkability are a big plus for me. His office would be on the southern end of downtown. Schools don't matter right now, obviously. Budget would be around 1700 for a 2 Or 3 br apt. Ideally a townhouse/duplex type rental as opposed to a larger building. I've seen Columbia city which looks good location wise, but I've seen some mixed reviews on these boards in posts that are a few years old. How is it now?

Outside of Seattle, Kirkland seems nice, but what type of commute would be expected from there?

Any other suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[Hemlock140]

Your budget of $1,700 would make anything good close to downtown out of reach. Columbia City has improved greatly over the last few years, it's a lively, diverse area that is much more reasonably priced.
Kirkland is totally different, again the prices would make it hard for you but it's not at all urban, just a small downtown strip and the rest very suburban. The commute by car would be 20 minutes but with a toll on the bridge both directions.

[Knh1229]

Thanks. What would be a more realistic budget then? From my quick searches it seemed like $1700 was possible, but I'm finding it difficult to know what area of the city I am looking in since it is so spread out. Is it possible to find a 2 br for $2000?

Also, what are some decent suburbs, as it seems that may be the direction we need to go. Besides kirkland, I've seen Renton and bellevue mentioned a lot on here. I believe the latter is way out of my price range though. We'd like to keep it within a 30-45 minute commute taking traffic into consideration.

[Seacove]

There are many suburbs you can look at and the $2K budget will work in several of them depending on rental. If his company is in Seattle, you might look at Issaquah and developments such as Klahanie. That would give good access to I-90 to cross the bridge to Seattle without tolls and lots of children's activities there.

Renton would work but everyone has discovered the cost/location benefit so I wonder if prices have increased there. There's other locations along I-90 like Newport Hills, a development of older homes in Bellevue, Factoria/Eastgate in Bellevue, also older, Redmond is expensive due to Microsoft, Kirkland can be expensive due to the beauty of Lake Washington but there are a few older homes, doubt $2K rent though.

On the other side of Lake Washington near Seattle, you could look at Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and maybe even up to Edmonds (nice, but a little further north). If you're looking at Craig's List, that will give you some cities to look up.

[Inkpoe]

If your husband is working at the southern edge of DT and it looks like you're wanting a bit more urban living... look to West Seattle, Columbia City/Mt Baker/Seward Park, Beacon Hill, and Georgetown. $1700/mo isn't "unrealistic"; you'll definitely be able to find something in those areas, and they're close to DT (notice that particular poster said: "anything good"-- his standards could very well be different from yours).

Suburban: Renton, Burien, Normandy Park are good choices to start with. Burien/NP have easy access to Seattle DT, both driving and buses (its actually faster to use the bus from these parts, than it is to go over to the neighboring Tukwila and using the light rail).

If you can avoid the bridges (i90 and 520), do so. If you want your husband to deal with less traffic, avoid looking towards anything North of Seattle.

[Knh1229]

Thanks for the suggestions. Now I at least have a bit more to look into before he heads up there. We just want to make sure it makes sense financially before we commit to something. Never having been there we are kind of unsure whether urban or suburban is what we want, but since we would be renting I think it might be fun to experience more of the city life for a short time. I'm sure if/when the time comes to purchase a home it would be the suburbs, so it helps to have some decent towns to look into for a cost of living comparison. Obviously coming from NY we are used to high prices, traffic and tolls, but hoping if we make the move it will be for the better

As far as west seattle goes, as long as its safe to walk with my daughter and we wouldn't have constant worry of break ins, I'd be fine with it. I'll definitely add that area to the list.