Considering Seattle....Heard Negative Things About Crime and Taxes (Bellevue: fit in, for sale)

[hey32g]

Our family (parents, a 14 yr old & two 12 yr olds) is considering a move to Seattle, but we have some friends that used to live there and they say we're nuts because of the crime, taxes, and traffic. Not to mention how expensive it is. Oh, and also how over the top liberal it is. For the record, we're pretty conservative, and white collar professionals. Also, my wife was told she'd never fit in because she likes to wear nice designer clothes.

Not trying to step on toes, it's just what we've heard. Looking for other opinions, please.

Thanks.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by hey32g

Our family (parents, a 14 yr old & two 12 yr olds) is considering a move to Seattle, but we have some friends that used to live there and they say we're nuts because of the crime, taxes, and traffic. Not to mention how expensive it is. Oh, and also how over the top liberal it is. For the record, we're pretty conservative, and white collar professionals. Also, my wife was told she'd never fit in because she likes to wear nice designer clothes.

Not trying to step on toes, it's just what we've heard. Looking for other opinions, please.

Thanks.

Some neighborhoods within the city of Seattle are higher in crime, and other neighborhoods within the city are very in crime. Seattle's crime rates compare favorably with similar cities of the same size, and I'm guessing it's far lower than San Antonio. The suburbs east of Seattle are very low in crime.
Compared to San Antonio, home prices are crazy high. I've been told that property taxes in Texas are very high. The Seattle area's are about 1200 per 100,000 of home valuation. But houses are at least twice as expensive than San Antonio.( I've got a childhood friend who's an executive w/ the San Antonio symphony, and he bought a huge beautiful home a few years ago for under 300k. That would probably cost 700k here.)
There is no state income tax. Sales tax is close to 10%, or a little less, depending where you are in the Seattle area. The city of Seattle itself is liberal, but not 100%. There are still a few neighborhoods where you're allowed to be a Republican. And the suburbs have a much more middle of the road flavor, with elected officials ranging from liberal Democrat to Tea Party Republicans to a lot in between.
Nice designer dresses? Some Seattle city neighborhoods that might be considered heresy, and the casual look is a Pacific Northwest thing. People wear expensive clothes, but they don't look expensive.
Sounds like you might be more comfortable in an eastside suburb of Seattle.

[Seacove]

Why do you want to move here? Do you already have jobs? If your goal is to throw these "what you heard" comments out there and ask us to defend it, you might not bother. People have posted endless theories about the Seattle Freeze (we are introverted and don't rush to be your friend) and someone even threw out serial killer yesterday and we didn't say anything. We have a lot of people moving here and don't need to sell the area, especially if someone already knows the area is the opposite of what they are used to.

Have you been here? Do you know the weather in the winter? I've seen San Antonio fashion and if your wife feels her designer wear will be much better than what is worn locally, she could go to one of about five local Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Louis Vuitton, etc. and shop or she could embrace the North Face clothing popular when the skies are grey and misty six months of the year. We don't pretend to be something we are not but you're talking about San Antonio as if it's NYC (and it's so not).

It's a liberal area, Seattle especially so, Eastside slightly less but generally, WA is a blue state.

[hey32g]

Originally Posted by Ira500

Some neighborhoods within the city of Seattle are higher in crime, and other neighborhoods within the city are very in crime. Seattle's crime rates compare favorably with similar cities of the same size, and I'm guessing it's far lower than San Antonio. The suburbs east of Seattle are very low in crime.
Compared to San Antonio, home prices are crazy high. I've been told that property taxes in Texas are very high. The Seattle area's are about 1200 per 100,000 of home valuation. But houses are at least twice as expensive than San Antonio.( I've got a childhood friend who's an executive w/ the San Antonio symphony, and he bought a huge beautiful home a few years ago for under 300k. That would probably cost 700k here.)
There is no state income tax. Sales tax is close to 10%, or a little less, depending where you are in the Seattle area. The city of Seattle itself is liberal, but not 100%. There are still a few neighborhoods where you're allowed to be a Republican. And the suburbs have a much more middle of the road flavor, with elected officials ranging from liberal Democrat to Tea Party Republicans to a lot in between.
Nice designer dresses? Some Seattle city neighborhoods that might be considered heresy, and the casual look is a Pacific Northwest thing. People wear expensive clothes, but they don't look expensive.
Sounds like you might be more comfortable in an eastside suburb of Seattle.

Thanks for the good info. Yes, property taxes are ridiculous here. I noticed you're a realtor, think you could find a house for us near "Seacove" ^^^, he/she sounds like a hoot to hang out with!

Which areas west of Seattle would you recommend?

Thanks.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by hey32g

Thanks for the good info. Yes, property taxes are ridiculous here. I noticed you're a realtor, think you could find a house for us near "Seacove" ^^^, he/she sounds like a hoot to hang out with!

Which areas west of Seattle would you recommend?

Thanks.

West of Seattle? That's going to be tricky!

Sorry, your post did annoy and probably not intentional. The traffic is bad. It's bad because it seems everyone wants to move here (especially in the summer months when the rest of the country is grilling like a steak). It sounds like you've never been here and if you haven't been here in the winter, you genuinely may not like the weather as it is overcast a lot of the winter. To compare Seattle crime to most cities is laughable - we have a lot of petty crime in parts of Seattle but I wouldn't be surprised if San Antonio has more with its much smaller population.

And whether the locals wear a lot of designer wear, Ira is right, the clothes may not look expensive but is often more than your wife's designer wear. And it's probably not a good idea to judge the locals by what they're wearing. The guy in cargo shorts and North Face jacket could easily be worth a lot more than you might guess and might be the CEO.

[branh0913]

lol@ Crime in Seattle. You people can't be serious. Seattle is safer than Atlanta, and Atlanta is pretty freakin safe.

[hey32g]

Originally Posted by Seacove

West of Seattle? That's going to be tricky!

Sorry, your post did annoy and probably not intentional. The traffic is bad. It's bad because it seems everyone wants to move here (especially in the summer months when the rest of the country is grilling like a steak). It sounds like you've never been here and if you haven't been here in the winter, you genuinely may not like the weather as it is overcast a lot of the winter. To compare Seattle crime to most cities is laughable - we have a lot of petty crime in parts of Seattle but I wouldn't be surprised if San Antonio has more with its much smaller population.

And whether the locals wear a lot of designer wear, Ira is right, the clothes may not look expensive but is often more than your wife's designer wear. And it's probably not a good idea to judge the locals by what they're wearing. The guy in cargo shorts and North Face jacket could easily be worth a lot more than you might guess and might be the CEO.

No, my intent was not to annoy. I've been annoyed by what our friends here have said. I have been to Seattle, but living and visiting can be very different. As far as the weather goes, I absolutely hate San Antonio weather. I enjoy the cold/cool overcast weather.

As far as crime goes, I'll put it this way. Last week we had helicopters hovering over our house from 3am to 4:30am because the FBI/DEA was in the midst of a standoff with an upper level zeta drug cartel guy at his $2million + home.

[Hemlock140]

There is very little crime on the slightly more conservative eastside suburbs but prices are high. We currently do have a house for sale in the neighborhood that's a fixer, 1,400 sf on 12,000 sf lot built in 1979 for $375,000, and it's a short sale.

Traffic is bad due to the tremendous growth that started in the 1980s, with little or no attention to additional infrastructure. The designer clothing would fit in fine around downtown Bellevue and in the financial district of Seattle.
There is an extreme diversity of styles in Seattle from homeless in rags on up, but in general it's a pretty casual city.
When you see someone in a suit and tie you figure they must be a lawyer.

[tatania199]

Crime would not be on my list of concerns when considering Seattle.

I know lots of people find the traffic bad here. We come from a small city with no remarkable traffic and I still would say that in a year, I can count on one hand the number of times I've really considered the traffic here truly bad.

Expensive - that is certainly true. This is not an inexpensive place to live.

It is liberal overall, but I've yet to see anyone run out of state for being less so.

The designer clothes thing is weird. There is a lot...A LOT of money here. I think it's safe to say that she'll be fine. More importantly, I find that most people won't care what she's wearing. Judging some one by their clothes here would be foolish - the Park and Rides are full of luxury cars and the guy behind you at the coffee place in a North Face fleece is as likely to be Bill Gates as he is to be your kid's kindergarten teacher. Clothing is just not judgement worthy. Not in a city full of tech geek millionaires.

[evergraystate]

Seattle is in over rated dump with high taxes, high crime, insane traffic and extremely liberal. Not only that but the people are self absorbed and anti social. Don't put your family through this. You will regret it.

Originally Posted by tatania199

The designer clothes thing is weird. There is a lot...A LOT of money here. I think it's safe to say that she'll be fine. More importantly, I find that most people won't care what she's wearing. Judging some one by their clothes here would be foolish - the Park and Rides are full of luxury cars and the guy behind you at the coffee place in a North Face fleece is as likely to be Bill Gates as he is to be your kid's kindergarten teacher. Clothing is just not judgement worthy. Not in a city full of tech geek millionaires.

You have an over active imagination.