Moving from Denver to Seattle advice (Vancouver, Shoreline: sales, to rent, credit)

[jrand00]

Hello, My wife and I are currently living in Denver, Colorado and we are considering a move to the Seattle area within the next year. I'm just curious to get the opinions of some of you in the area about some of our wants/needs.

OK so, It's just the 2 of us. No kids. We do have a dog and 2 cats (just in case that matters). We are in our mid 30's. We are looking for a house no further than a 1 hour drive from Downtown Seattle.

Here are some more facts about us that may be helpful; we love the city but we don't want to live in the heart of it. Looking for a country feel without being disconnected...if possible. We (mostly I) hate cookie-cutter-new-family suburbs where all the houses look the same. We prefer older communities with character and history. We're not opposed to living in a college town as long as it's not huge (like Boulder, where I lived for many years). Small markets and small businesses, cozy bars/lounges and restaurants. Some nightlife but not a party area. We are liberal, artsy people. We are both very big into gardening. We would also like to possibly be towards the north, northwest of the city. I have friends in Vancouver and would like a little less distance, but we're flexible on this matter. We are not millionaires...or even close. We prefer a more blue collar, financially sensible lifestyle. Although we do make decent money our credit unfortunately is quite poor. I would love to be on (or very near) the water. A fishing community or something.

Please forgive my ignorance, I have lived in Colorado my whole life and only know Mountain/Plains life. I have been to Seattle several times but only as a brief visitor and I never got to explore the neighborhoods or nearby communities. I would greatly appreciate any friendly input. Even small leads on neighborhoods or communities that I could do more research on from home. We are not interested in anything immeadiate, this is simply my first attempt to gather information regarding our possible move. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to your responses!
Jason

[texastrigirl]

Would recommend you look at Woodinville, Bothell and even Edmonds. Edmonds is not really country but it's close to water and has it's own feel. You can take the train into downtown or to BC, you have great access to the water and it's on the way to Vancouver. Woodinville is more like the country, with wineries (the marketing side) and a several nurseries have growing fields out there. Bothell is in between the two. Seattle is not really full of huge subdivisions, especially in the more established parts of the city. I also love North Bend but don't know that it's doable in under 1 hour in rush hour. It's under 1 hour in normal traffic, but just barely.

[ldsant]

I would strongly suggest you visit Seattle for a bit before you commit to living here. It has gotten VERY expensive in the last 18 months and a lot more people as well. Just a suggestion.

[tobester]

Every thing you want is right in Seattle ... I'd suggest living in one of the neighborhoods right in town. Everything would then be very close. I agree with previous poster to come back and visit, seeing the many neighborhoods we have. Only question is housing budget ... buying/renting?

[Inkpoe]

While there's many kinds of towns and neighborhoods around... there isn't a town that's predominantly a blue-collar fishing community in the Seattle metro area. There'll be traces and remnants of that particular history... but that sort of thing has died out. We do have lots of recreational fishing as such, but a town based on that particular identity? Nah, dem's the old days. Lots of fishing companies that go out to Alaska tend to be based in Ballard, but Ballard's been more growing into a quite urban upscale neighborhood.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by jrand00

...Please forgive my ignorance, I have lived in Colorado my whole life and only know Mountain/Plains life. I have been to Seattle several times but only as a brief visitor and I never got to explore the neighborhoods or nearby communities. I would greatly appreciate any friendly input. ...

Jason... I came to We_tside WA 30+ yrs ago from No Colorado / So WY (25+ yrs).

1) Best advice (from many co-workers who moved from CO to WA and returned or divorced...)
DO NOT BUY / RENT a house in the trees / heavy vegetative growth. IT will be DARK / DAMP / mossy, potentially dangerous (trees blowing down...)

Get a place with BIG WINDOWS and a nice view (south facing preferred)

2) Leave your bike home (tough in cheek...) You will be doing EVERYTHING in the rain, so if you can deal with mud stripes up your front and back, + NARROW dark roads... then a bike in WA is fine. Many folks ride them, but not the majority... thus they are NOT seen by drivers and are not granted FULL USE of right hand lane. (Hint:.... WA roads DO NOT have wide shoulders like CO) Many have ~ 4" instead of 10' (no need to blade snow in We_t WA)

3) Get decent raingear and waterproof shoes (bikenstock with wool socks if you go to OR, 'ducks' are acceptable in WA.) Consider swinging by Helley-Hansen Outlet in Centralia, WA (1.5 hrs south of Seattle) (or Bend, Woodburn OR, or Bozeman, MT ..= no sales tax) depending on your rte. (We usually do 287 from Ft collins to Laramie, then I-80 and 84 ~ 22 hrs west bound (headwind...?) and 19hrs eastbound (downhill on map... uphill in elevation... DOWNWIND in WY )

Grab some of those CHEAP SWA fares and come visit anytime between Election Day in Nov, and April 10. (most probable dreary and heavier drizzle... It takes a lot of drizzle to add up to 45", and I get 110" of drizzle/yr... but more clear days, due to 80 mph winds)

[Ira500]

There are a lot of neighborhoods within the city of Seattle that are not the heart of the city and are quiet amd mostly residential. Not exactly country, but lots of trees around, and have that "lots of character, with history" feel, and are full of liberal, artsy people.
Like Inkpoe said, Ballard has the fishing history, and just south of Ballard is the Fisherman's Terminal, home to one of the largest fleets of fishing boats in the country. But Ballard itself has transformed into something more hip and urban(but still liberal and artsy)..Within an hour of Seattle, there just aren't any liberal, artsy, working class fishing villages. LaConner would meet the criteria, except it's more than an hour.
Closer in, Renton has more of the working class feel, and the Cedar River in Renton has one of the largest sockeye salmon runs in the continental US. It's 20 ish minutes from downtown Seattle, and has history and charcter(and characters). It's also a less expensive place to live than most of Seattle. It also has a small off leash dog area, and a walking and bike trail than runs for 17 miles.

[jrand00]

Thank you all so much for your advice. I have taken everything into consideration and I feel that I have enough to get me started on some research. I am going to come to Seattle at least twice in the next 8 months so I will be able to do some exploring as well. Thanks again and cheers!

oh and Tobester I think you were the only one who asked a question.
We are renting now and we are paying $1300 for a smaller (1100sq ft) 3 bedroom, 1 bath house just outside of Denver. We are comfortable at this price range, but have some flexibility.

[Stalemate]

Hi,

I am not sure how much help I can be since I seem to be late to the ball. But my wife and I recently moved out to the Seattle area. We came from the East coast and notice some differences. We have only been here about 7 months but do not regret our decision...sometimes my wife misses pizza, pretzels, and bagels. Although the pizza is lacking I have been able to find a great british pub to get my much missed grub.

Expense wise, I think it's a lot more reasonable then we expected, largely becasue we looked at moving here in 2008 and had sticker shock. We did rent at first but then got a house, we thought it was a great time to buy. DISCLAIMER - when it comes to houses, unless you live further out in the country, what I have found is the yard situation was a little shocking. We also have a dog and we went from a 1/2 acre to a postage stamp for around the same price and without a basement. Unless you live in some old houses in the city I was told basements are not common place.

The weather is a change too. it's not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Doens't rain constantly. It's quite akin to English weather. Summer is coming into swing here and it's been high 70's and sunny and little humidity!

We decided on living in Bothell and we often go into Edmonds (or used to before we had a little one recently). Edmonds is more expensive, mainly becasue of the sound. But it's beautiful. Seeing mountains everyday and such green scapes is worth it's weight for me.

the water that I have seen is lake washington and the sound - houses with views of water obviously are more expensive. But like I said we live in Bothell and can get to water in 20 minutes and get down town in 30 (depending on traffic HA).

This is all infomration you don't really need, so in short we looked at:

Woodenville - too far removed for us
Bothell - just right (especially NS SD), new constuction is key here
Mill Creek - strange little area in a not so great SD, but very up and coming, we would dine here often
Edmonds - beautiful area - if you can afford it
Shoreline - not our cup of tea
Lake washington - beautiful area - but like edmonds if you can afford it, espeically with the great SD.


If you want more specific infomration I would be hapy to give you all I know. I have not been here long so it may not be completely sound.

Hope my ramble helped some.

[xcalgal]

Bainbridge Island has most of what you describe but I would ditto renting for a while.