Help with moving from Florida to Seattle (Bellevue, Redmond: sales, real estate)

[averost]

We are visiting Seattle in early May in order to verify that we want to move there. I love love love rainy cloudy cool days so weather is not an issue. We just need to visit areas that are lesbian family friendly as I have an 11 year old and feel having friends with whom she can relate with would be excellent for her. I don't want to be in the city and am willing to commute up to 30 minutes if needed. I understand the schools to be very good out there and am interested in specific recommendations for middle schools. Any and all help is greatly appreciated and would even like to make some contacts with anyone while we are out there. We will be looking for jobs before we move, however, it seems unlikely to get hired before we move. I am an administrative assistant in a home health company and my fiance is a massage therapist, any suggestions on where to look for employment would also be greatly appreciated.

[crust-n-patti]

I would suggest getting a job or at least having sufficient prospects lined up BEFORE you move. Way easier to get a job when you already have one.

[ilkhd2]

Seattle area is very-very expensive so I would not advice moving here without either having a job or a lot of savings.

[YoMaMJ]

averost -- did you decide on moving to the Seattle area? We are thinking about relocating to the Seattle "area" in November. We have two young sons; so we would also like to know about LGBT family friendly areas. Good luck!

[averost]

Yes as a matter of fact we are planning on moving to the Seattle area. We are hoping to leave the end of August as school starts the first week of September. I did not see that it is expensive to live there, well of course in the city, but we are looking in the Issaquah area. Rent is not much different than around here but the pay is much much better!! We loved all the outdoor activities and loved seeing all the families out and about. I just got a big pay cut and all the jobs around here pay $10 on average. Combining that with the cost of living and all the crime we are done. Ready for a fresh start. We did look at Portland as it is cheaper, however, not near as many jobs there. My daughter loved it there and is looking forward to moving. Feel free to contact my through email as I hardly ever get on here anymore.....dajv99@aol.com

[Blondebaerde]

Since you're coming, best of luck. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a lot of data around occupational outlooks by-region, salaries, etc.

Guess I don't understand this statement, however: "I did not see that it is expensive to live there, well of course in the city, but we are looking in the Issaquah area." From one website (take with grain of salt: one data point): cost of living in Issaquah is 21.2% greater than the Washington average. The cost of living in Issaquah is 22.6% greater than the national average.

I live Eastside (Kirkland, not terribly far from Bellevue, Redmond, and Issaquah). The above is obviously correct in terms of real estate, taxes, and everything else: it is indeed "expensive" to live here, to say the least. I'd be gravely concerned about arriving to an area with one of the highest concentration of college degrees in the United States without-same. Competition for non-degree roles appears to be fierce, based on local news stories past couple years.

If you'd like to scratch on by, with non-professional positions and "no" job waiting, you're both pretty brave. Presumably you've at least the wherewithal to arrive with 6 months of living expenses taken care of. At median national pay for AA's of $34,660 (BLS, May 2010), plus about same for massage therapists, if-accurate, I think personally you'll at least do alright "best case" (both working). Eventually.

[Nicomis]

Averost.. Where in FL are you moving from? I am just north of Tampa, and I don't believe many of the people that post on this forum understand how much better they have it. My brother moved from here to Seattle in November. He left here with next to nothing so when he got there he lived in a tent city, but he has 0 drive or ambition, and is OK with being a bum. He now makes $15 an hour, shares an apartment, and smokes pot all day. He loves it there. I flew out, stayed with a friend, for a week, and have a job locked up paying more than double what I make here. The only thing that seems a little scary out there is the cost of housing. BUT the cost of renting a 3 bedroom house is not significantly more than renting a 2 bedroom apartment. If you ONLY made $11 an hour each and worked 40 hours that's $3,520 a month. You could get a place, and still maintain a better standard of living than many people in FL. It's way easier to get work there as well. There is just more of it. The biggest hurdle is 1st, last, and deposit. Damn near 5 grand to move into a rental. Their utilities are less, and they don't pay sales tax on food. I'll be there first week of July. Good luck!