Tukwila, Burien, Kent ? (Seattle, Tacoma, Shoreline: apartments, rental, crime)

[valthenya]

Hi, my family is considering moving to Seattle. Husband would work for the city in the water dept and earn somewhere between 35-40/hr. I know in seattle is hard to get with that kind of spending ability for a house but we are looking just outside of it. We have a dog too as well as a rabbit and a hamster and are looking to rent. Would these be good areas to have small children in? Also wondering about Tacoma, where to really avoid and where is a good neighborhood? Other places we are considering : Port Orchard, Bremerton, we would love Vashon as well as northern seattle. Hubs needs to be able to take public transit or bike to work in SODO and we would love to keep the commute down to at the most an hour. To note we will be moving from Phoenix and selling our home here.

[amaiunmei]

Commuting from Bremerton to SODO will be closer to an hour and a half, and commuting from Port Orchard will take more time than that.

Vashon would be well within the hour limit, but houses are pretty expensive out there.

[treuphax]

The traffic to work in SODO downtown Seattle will break your heart.

Try to find something as close as you can. Even in the city you could find someplace with enough space for the bunny. hamster and dog.

Forget about the islands or the other side of the Sound. You could drive in from Canada or Tacoma in the same time.

Look in the south end along the light rail if he can get to work that way. Buses get stuck in traffic more than the rail.

[valthenya]

Whats the best method to find rental housing in that area? I've looked at Zillow and Craigslist. It seems most are either A. Fake or B. really really expensive.

[amaiunmei]

Be ready to drive around in the neighborhoods where you want to live and look for "for rent" signs.

There is a significant portion of housing stock (at least 30%) that will not show up on the internet. The main reason I have heard for this is that many landlords up here value being able to meet and assess potential tenants in person. Also, it's less work (for them).

[beautifulseattlehomes]

Your husband will always be commuting the further you go and quality of life, which in my opinion is so important, diminishes greatly in relation to commute time especially here.

Our traffic really is as bad as you have heard. I would stick to the mainland and look, if possible, in the city in neighborhoods such as Greenwood, Broadview, West Seattle, Crown Hill, Victory Heights...or just outside of the city in Shoreline, parts of Edmonds and Burien.

If your in the city your husband can most definitely bike to work...if he is working in SODO, being on the Sounder commuter train line would be ideal and allow you to push further out of the city.

I don't know how old your children are but school districts vary in our area so keep that in mind when looking too.

[Adrian71]

My wife takes the 102 bus from SoDo to Renton three days a week (I drive her the rest of the time), and the ride takes about 45 to 50 minutes. Inbound would probably be about the same. Renton is one of the south suburbs, comparable to places like Burien -- costs about the same, and it's nice but nothing flashy. Both working-class suburbs, with a few sketchy areas, but for the most part perfectly safe. We have a 2-year-old and she has a nice, clean, quiet neighborhood to play in here.

Your best bet if the hub needs public transit is to look for a place near the light rail. I'd consider Tukwilia or SeaTac, near International Boulevard. You'll find apartments out that way, but a house might be a little more of a challenge. The light rail has a SoDo stop, so that would probably work out well for you.

Sounder train is definitely an option, if you want to look farther out. It stops in SoDo, too. I don't know much about the Tacoma area, so I can't offer any tips there. Same with northern Seattle.

I'd write off Bremerton or anywhere in the Kitsap Peninsula. Commute would be way too long. As for Vashon, I absolutely love it out there and would have liked to move to the island, but I think having to take a car ferry every day would get tedious, not to mention expensive (around $18 every round trip, if I recall).

[valthenya]

School districts are not important since we homeschool. Neighborhood, crime etc are more important. Price of public transit isn't that important either since he'd be biking onto a ferry or bus or train and using a ORCA pass that he would get from work (free or close to it). We would really need a home since we have a dog (she's 13 and cant do stairs very well). Is Tukwila actually a safe area? I saw a lot of crime on city-data's page on it.

[amaiunmei]

Stay away from the area immediately around Southcenter. Stay away from the area closest to Skyway. There are pretty quiet parts of Tukwila, and I'd recommend giving the place a chance.

[amaiunmei]

By the way, Burien may be a slightly better choice since schools aren't important. Hwy 509 goes directly into the area where you would be working.