Considering choosing Tacoma to call home (Seattle, Bellevue: affordable apartments, rental, houses)

[VegastoSeattleArea]

I will be moving from Las Vegas to the Seattle area to work between 2 offices in Woodinville and Tukwilla. I have come across that Tacoma seems to have the most houses for rent and in my under $1000 per month budget. I am flying out this Thursday to look at places and I'm overwhelmed and lost. Thanks

Is there areas that are bad and is that why the rent is so cheap?
I would plan on commuting on the 405; how is traffic during the week heading north?
Any cities that I am overlooking?
Any good house rental sites or property management companies that have sites I should look through?

I appreciate all the information.

I have looked in Shoreline, Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Sammamish, etc.

[Hemlock140]

Yes, there are reasons the rent is a lot less in Tacoma. It has it's really nice areas, mostly along the water, but there are rough areas so you want to be careful about where you live. The Tacoma Mall Area, Hilltop, and downtown are probably the worst. Then for the commute, no way I would want to drive from Tacoma to Woodinville during commute times. One of our worst commutes is 405, and the worst direction is south to north in the morning and the reverse afternoons, though both directions are bad. I'd suggest being as close as you can to the middle, for affordability and still being in a safe area, Kent, or Renton. If you have a schedule where you will be at one place or the other more often then maybe be closer to that one, but you couldn't have picked many worse pairs of places to be working for a brutal commute.

[Inkpoe]

Tacoma is one of those places where its better to do a lot of research or be very familiar with the areas because it does have its bad areas. I like it, especially the Downtown area. However, since you're working in Tukwila and Woodinville: I wouldn't rec Tacoma. Tacoma ----> Woodinville is way too hellacious a commute. You may be saving yourself a lot on rent-- but not so much on gas (do keep in mind: gas prices are pretty high here), so its a wash-- might as well live closer to the work locations.

If affordability the key here... then look into Tukwila and Seatac: Plenty of affordable apartments. Shoreline would painful for the Tukwila location. Sammamish, Bellevue, Kirkland are not known for "affordable" apartments; these are posh areas. Renton would definitely work. Not really a huge fan of Kent-- 405 sucks already, adding rt 167 traffic (assuming OP works commuter hours) sucks its even more.

However, I should note for the record: 1K a month for a house isn't at all realistic for this area.

[Apathizer]

As Inkpoe said, I'd look for something in the Tukwila/Seatac area. The commute to Woodinville will still suck (at least during normal commute hours), but at least you'll be close to where you work in the south end.

To be honest, I think finding a house for about $1K/mo will be difficult even in the south end. If you do find something, it's likely to be a crap-shack. Do you really need a house? You could probably find a nice 2 bdr apt for about $800-900/mo in Tukwila or Seatac.