Half the people that move to Seattle hate it. (prices, moving to)

[OneTimeSEALover]

Originally Posted by noyoucantell

Not true at all, the city declined in the 70's and 80's just like every other American city.

Take off the rose-colored glasses and stop the hometown boasting. The standard of living is better in most other U.S. cities.

Anyone but me remember the huge layoff of engineers by Boein?

[skidamarink]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSEALover

Anyone but me remember the huge layoff of engineers by Boein?

Boeing lays off mass amounts of employees every year. They are notorious for that.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

Boeing lays off mass amounts of employees every year. They are notorious for that.

I remember the massive layoff in the late 1960's when they laid off several thousand. There were billboards saying will the last people to leave the city please turn off the lights.

[mhays25]

Originally Posted by noyoucantell

Not true at all, the city declined in the 70's and 80's just like every other American city.

Take off the rose-colored glasses and stop the hometown boasting. The standard of living is better in most other U.S. cities.

You're really not paying attention. We had heavy population growth in that period. Seattle was a boomtown during two parts of that span, and the metro grew all but one year in the estimates.

If you're talking about the city of Seattle only, that's your error. The average household size shrank, so Seattle itself shrank a little until the 1986 estimate. But we gained households even in that period. And the metro boomed.

I'm just laughing...if you had lived here you wouldn't say these things.

[OneTimeSEALover]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

I remember the massive layoff in the late 1960's when they laid off several thousand. There were billboards saying will the last people to leave the city please turn off the lights.

I was a Portlander at that time. I was thinking of all the effort the guys put into getting engineering degrees and now to be in a market overloaded with candidates. Not to say by moving they couldn't get another, maybe even better, job. Probably in defense. But their job seemed the very thing the country wanted more of in the space race. And yet corporations pulled the rug.

[A1eutian]

Seattle is a magnet city due to the business friendly environment and the cluster effect of large companies. There will be a lot more turnover on average. It's not uncommon for big company tech workers to relocate back to a state where an average starter home is well under $150,000, at the same salary.

Moving away from the coast is like getting a 30-50% raise if you consider rent and living expenses, so it's easy to see why after living here for 5 years someone would decide to move on, especially if they were deciding to start a family.

[Tim Randal Walker]

Originally Posted by tofur

Why would you visit in the best time of the year when it's only a couple months long? The majority of the time it's overcast/drizzling/cold.

I think that someone contemplating a move to Seattle should visit during the winter months. The grey months seem to be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

As for summer.... Let people decide first that they can accept the grey/drizzle, and later let them be pleasantly surprised by summer.

[sacite]

I can’t speak to the weather, but I did live on the eastside of the state for 9 yrs and I got symptoms of SAD. I even get it to a lesser degree here in CA during the winter, but I have come to realize that what you are doing with your life is FAR more important to your happiness than than the weather in any area is. The COL is a fact of life in all major WC cities. People should heavily research that and consider it before moving. I don’t undersand comlaints about COL when you know what you’re getting into ahead of time.

[Tim Randal Walker]

Originally Posted by treuphax

Everybody has different priorities and ideas about what would make a great new place to live.

No hard feelings if the place or the person doesn't fit. There is no one pair of jeans for everybody's butt. There is no place that'll make everybody happy either.

Good points!

[Flightoficarus87]

Originally Posted by sacite

I can’t speak to the weather, but I did live on the eastside of the state for 9 yrs and I got symptoms of SAD. I even get it to a lesser degree here in CA during the winter, but I have come to realize that what you are doing with your life is FAR more important to your happiness than than the weather in any area is. The COL is a fact of life in all major WC cities. People should heavily research that and consider it before moving. I don’t undersand comlaints about COL when you know what you’re getting into ahead of time.

All good advice.

In the defense of some people complaining about the COL here in the Seattle area though - Many of them are natives/long term residents, or even people who moved here, say, 5 or 6 years ago, finding themselves caught off guard by such a rapid increase in COL. Seattle basically went from "above average, but reasonable for what it is" to the upper echelon of pricey US cities virtually overnight.

I will agree that someone thinking of moving here today though, shouldn't act surprised/should know what they're getting into.