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Old 02-20-2014, 12:11 PM
 
3 posts, read 5,347 times
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I'm looking to buy a condo in the lower suburb areas of greater Seattle (Kent, Renton, Auburn, Federal Way). I've been doing quite a bit of research on the areas, Tacoma, Kent, and Federal Way being the worst crime infested areas. The nicest condo within my budget I have found so far is in Federal Way, just off of off I-5 and about a block from S. 320th (around Marlene's Health Food store and the bus transit center). The condo itself is very nice, the grounds look very nice. But the crime aspect is really something that is holding me back. I see there are a lot of thefts, vehicle thefts, domestic violence and even homicide. I am not sure that Kent or Auburn or even Renton would be that much better in terms of crime. Does anyone have some experience with this area? Any thoughts?
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Old 02-20-2014, 12:52 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,105 posts, read 80,190,829 times
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All of the cities mentioned have good and not-so-good areas. Much of the crime in the region is centered around Highway 99, all the way from Everett down to Fife. In order to avoid crime, in general, stay away from 99. When in an area where there is crime avoid places with multiple escape routes. The area where this condo lies is convenient to both 99 and I5 so
makes for an easier target.
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Old 02-20-2014, 01:01 PM
 
Location: Kirkland, WA (Metro Seattle)
6,031 posts, read 6,084,649 times
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Long term trends in Federal Way and elsewhere, may wish to consult Trulia, Case Shiller, and etc. for relative "temperature" of a city's real estate. That might give you an objective feel for where things are going. Sometimes, too, of a specific neighborhood. If data mining is your thing.

More-subjectively, just down the street is main shopping district...arbitrarily...of Federal Way. Haven't been in "the Commons" personally, but I wonder if wandering that area by car or on foot might give you a feel for how comfortable you would, or wouldn't, enjoy living there. I've shopped at other places around there on-occasion with no complaints in the daylight.

When arriving to any new city for business or fun, I hop on mass transit and turn up here and there. Walk it, smell the streets, hear the sounds, various hours of the day if-possible. Probably safer for guys to do than women.

As Hemlock implies, that particular Federal Way proximity to Hwy 99 used to be (still?) attractive to hookers, bums, and gangstas in the past. Dunno if that is still true, exactly, though Hwy 99 north and south from Tacoma through Seattle generally isn't all that attractive.
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Old 02-20-2014, 01:22 PM
 
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Thank you so much for this input. It's really too bad, as the condo itself is really very nice! But given the fact that it is nestled between Pacific Highway and I-5, that may definitely be a potential for major problems.
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Old 02-20-2014, 02:45 PM
 
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In terms of crime, there are parts of Auburn, Kent, and Renton that are best avoided. But that doesn't mean avoid the whole town. As hemlock said, there are good and not so good parts of all of these places. In Renton, there are apartment complexes and cheap condos just west of the Renton Center Fred Meyer, and a couple of complexes nearby on Sunset that have lots of car break ins, and it skews the numbers to make the crime in the whole city look bad. Downtown Renton south of the river is less nice, or just west of 405.
Kent, parts of the West Hill are pretty high crime, and the south part of downtown Kent are kind of run down and sad.
It can be very nice just a few blocks away from these places, so if you can locate something in the nicer part, you might find a more reasonable rent because of the taint of the overall crime rate mostly caused by the very small "bad" parts.
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Old 02-20-2014, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Oakland
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Federal Way is not that bad. The people may appear ghetto or strange at times but its highly unlikely that they would do anything to you. Federal Way is an awesome cultural center for Asians and to a lesser extent Mexicans. There is a lot of really cool unique cuisine that you can try there. It is a little strip mally but the city is making itself more walkable everyday. I feel like Federal Way actually has a lot of potential and compared to other "ghettos" in the U.S. this is very far from anything like that. Also if you take public transportation that is a very ideal location to live.
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Old 02-20-2014, 08:08 PM
 
644 posts, read 1,181,604 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blaserbrad View Post
Federal Way is not that bad. The people may appear ghetto or strange at times but its highly unlikely that they would do anything to you. Federal Way is an awesome cultural center for Asians and to a lesser extent Mexicans. There is a lot of really cool unique cuisine that you can try there. It is a little strip mally but the city is making itself more walkable everyday. I feel like Federal Way actually has a lot of potential and compared to other "ghettos" in the U.S. this is very far from anything like that. Also if you take public transportation that is a very ideal location to live.
The concern in this case isn't so much violent street crime - it's property crime. If the building is good and secure, it might not be such an issue, but that's a difficult thing to evaluate. Even looking at property crime stats in the area doesn't necessarily give an indication of how likely it is for a particular condo or person to be a target.
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Old 02-20-2014, 08:37 PM
 
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If you're that concerned, you need to spend a lot more time in the exact area you are planning to buy. Unless you're getting a great below market deal, a condo in Federal Way is probably not the easiest property to resell. Making a mistake on the location will not be easy to undo. I'd recommend talking to other residents in the condo building to find out more about the character of the neighborhood before making an offer.
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Old 02-20-2014, 09:50 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,651 posts, read 2,765,905 times
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Can you rent nearby for a year? Or is there a reason you need to buy now? 'Try before you buy' can keep you from making many costly mistakes. We managed to rent right next door to where we're living now - it was a good thing. We've also rented in areas where we thought we wanted to buy, only to find out what looked good on paper was really not for us.
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Old 02-21-2014, 10:24 AM
 
3 posts, read 5,347 times
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Thank you everyone for your help. This is not a gated community. And the entrances to each condo are accessible in that you are not walking down a hallway inside a building to get to your condo entrance. Yes, the concern is crime and also if I ever need to resell. The price right now is really good, but compared to what? If it can't be resold easily, or if the area is so undesirable, or of the prices go down again, what good is that? And I have heard so much about the areas around highway 99. This condo is right next to the Transit center (I'm not that familiar with that area), so it's between 99 and I-5. Thanks for your help, I'll keep doing research.
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