Relocating from Toronto to Seattle. (apartment, rent, neighborhoods)

[YYZ2SEA]

Hello.
I'm going to be relocating to Seattle from Toronto for a job at South Lake Union. Just wondering what neighbourhoods would you recommend for a newcomer like myself? Looking for an 1 bedroom apartment, possible $1,000 max - is that possible in Seattle?

[beautifulseattlehomes]

That rent would be hard to come by unless it is tiny, far away from your job, not so nice, or a room in a house...bump up your rent if you are able and then look at the vibrant area where your employer is as well as up the hill on Capitol Hill, Pike/Pine, Belltown...if I was coming from Toronto which is such a cosmopolitan city and working in SLU, I would definitely want to live in one of our close in neighborhoods.

Good Luck!

[Inkpoe]

Yes, it's possible but definitely a challenge in the more desirable/popular neighborhoods.

For sure, you'll find something in your budget in the Northgate area, Lake City, U-District, maybe even Maple Leaf, Greenwood.

[Kayela]

You can certainly find a 1 bedroom for that, even in some of the hipper, closer-in areas. You may have to wade through a bunch of crap to find something decent, and it'll probably not be large, but that's doable. The further away you go, the more options you'll have. If you could bump that up by $100-200, that would help.

ETA: the closer neighborhoods where you might get a bit more for your money would likely be eastlake and lower Queen Anne. Not saying they're cheap, but they're not as spendy as Belltown or Cap Hill.

[ctr88]

I just went though the process of looking for a 1 bedroom apartment and found one on a bordering area of Capitol Hill a few blocks from Trader Joes. For $1,000 you are going to find pretty dumpy places with street parking only. I had to really, really search to find my place and I pay $1,150 base rent, but with parking + water, etc.. it's about $1,220. A lot of nicer stuff I was looking at in Capitol Hill was $1,550-$1,900/mo for a 1 bed. I looked pretty thoroughly at the popular neighborhoods (Lower Queen Anne, Upper Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard, Wallingford, Green Lake, Ravenna, West Seattle, etc..) and I personally liked upper Capitol Hill by far the best. Super cool area. Amazing what you can walk to and/or take a quick bus to. Very happy with my decision. I highly advise living where ever you can to use your car as little as possible, as traffic is bad in Seattle.