New Job In Kent (Seattle, Vancouver: cheap apartments, rent, condo)

[cluelesstoseattle]

I read a lot about where to live if someone is moving to a job in the city of Seattle, but does anyone have any advice on good places to buy a home within 1/2 hour or so of Kent (where my new job is located)?

I'm from the East Coast and have not been able to explore the areas surrounding Kent as of yet, but would like to focus my search.

I'd like to buy a single family home or nice condo, maybe in the $400s to low $500s. The city of Seattle isn't out of the question, but would also like advice on whether that's too far or too frustrating.

Right now, I live in the NJ suburbs with tons of deer, 1 acre, very low crime and good schools (although I don't have kids).

If you have any advice, I kindly thank you for your time.

[MaikeerinWA]

The Kent area is comparatively affordable, and $400,000 will get you a very nice, new single-family home. Consider builders like Polygon, Harbour and Cambria - just to name a few. Lots of people live in places such as Kent, Maple Valley and Covington and then endure the commute north to jobs in places like Bellevue, Seattle, etc.

[siragwatkins]

The Kent Valley is one of the most beautiful areas you can imagine--except that large parts of it are paved over & industrialized.
However, it should still be possible to find a semi-rural home within easy driving distance--especially if you're interested in something not built last week. HTH! Leslie Sirag

[busy_mom]

You could consider Covington and Maple Valley areas. Traffic from South of Kent heading North in the morning is pretty bad; there are areas in Auburn that are nice, too, and are close. You could also consider Des Moines, which is closer to water, but more congested, being near Sea Tac airport. Look towards the East Hill. There are also some nice, hidden areas on the West Hill, on small lakes, like Lake Fenwick.

[fy10fyr]

You mention living on an acre and tons of deer. If a semi-rural area interests you, you might consider the Buckley-Enumclaw area.

[cluelesstoseattle]

Thanks for the great advice. If I took the suburbia approach, I've been thinking of focusing on the Maple Valley area, but I'm only basing that on one forum referral and looking at Google earth to see where it is. For someone working in Kent, is that a good bet?

My alternative approach would be to live in Seattle, as suggested by some, since the traffic flows in the opposite direction. Are homes in Capitol Hill area completely out of my range? Thanks again!

[PBC19]

Originally Posted by cluelesstoseattle

I read a lot about where to live if someone is moving to a job in the city of Seattle, but does anyone have any advice on good places to buy a home within 1/2 hour or so of Kent (where my new job is located)?

I'm from the East Coast and have not been able to explore the areas surrounding Kent as of yet, but would like to focus my search.

I'd like to buy a single family home or nice condo, maybe in the $400s to low $500s. The city of Seattle isn't out of the question, but would also like advice on whether that's too far or too frustrating.

Right now, I live in the NJ suburbs with tons of deer, 1 acre, very low crime and good schools (although I don't have kids).

If you have any advice, I kindly thank you for your time.

I would definitely fly out here first. I wouldn't recommend buying in Kent - drugs, crime, questionable schools - but that's just me. There are nicer areas of Kent. You need to look first - and preferably rent for 6 mos before buying. By how you described your life now, you will be in culture shock depending on where you choose to live around here.

It really depends on the lifestyle you want and the future you see for yourself. I dont know why you'd want to buy in downtown Seattle and commute @ 20 miles south even if it IS against the majority of traffic - because living that close to the city means a lot higher prices for housing, not to mention that the Capitol Hill area of Seattle is completely opposite of how you live now. (Capitol Hill is very "artsy" with lots of diversity, no parking, high gay/lesbian population, good food, lack of space, $$$$ housing, etc). Every area has it's own general "culture." If you work in Kent, I'd look around Kent for housing which is cheaper ....like Maple Valley, Covington, etc. You have a good price range but here that still wont buy anything like you have now. Good luck - you'll find what you want but it's just too hard to do without spending a little time here first.

[Negotiator75]

Originally Posted by cluelesstoseattle

I read a lot about where to live if someone is moving to a job in the city of Seattle, but does anyone have any advice on good places to buy a home within 1/2 hour or so of Kent (where my new job is located)?

I'm from the East Coast and have not been able to explore the areas surrounding Kent as of yet, but would like to focus my search.

I'd like to buy a single family home or nice condo, maybe in the $400s to low $500s. The city of Seattle isn't out of the question, but would also like advice on whether that's too far or too frustrating.

Right now, I live in the NJ suburbs with tons of deer, 1 acre, very low crime and good schools (although I don't have kids).

If you have any advice, I kindly thank you for your time.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE! Just kidding. But here is the truth.

WEST KENT:
Kent is VERY tough to get around and since the Sounder (Commuter Rail) has a stop in Kent, it brings people of all walks of life. You get alot of undesirables in WEST Kent. Stay away from WEST Kent, away from I-5 area its filled with cheap apartments, bad people and trailer parks (Not that trailer parks are bad, but these in particular ARE)

EAST KENT:
The best part of Kent is east kent as far as nice houses. Stay away from area immediately north & east of Lake Meridian area, around 104th street, its pretty much Gangster characters. If you MUST choose kent, go EAST Kent near Highway 18 or near Covington. The BAD thing is the TRAFFIC HELL HOLE you will be in. It will take you 45 minutes just to get to I-5. Dont let google maps fool you, it ALL looks so small and not far but its the heavy traffic that sucks.

You can also consider RENTON in an area called FAIRWOOD its damn near close to EAST Kent. Near 140th street its VERY nice area but overall, everything around that is Harsh.

Overall, the Seattle area is tough to drive around and navigate. Just read my other posts on Seattle. I am very fair with my comments, I dont focus on the negatives. Everyplace has both negatives and positives. Just so happens that Kent seems to have more negatives.

If you have $400k to $500k to spend, do yourself a favor, go to Bothell, Kenmore or Kirkland instead. You get sightly smaller Square footage there but a higher quality of life in those places. Plus if you decide to sell, prices there are stadily going up. In Kent the are going down. Dont risk it.

[PBC19]

Originally Posted by Negotiator75

STAY WHERE YOU ARE! Just kidding. But here is the truth.

WEST KENT:
Kent is VERY tough to get around and since the Sounder (Commuter Rail) has a stop in Kent, it brings people of all walks of life. You get alot of undesirables in WEST Kent. Stay away from WEST Kent, away from I-5 area its filled with cheap apartments, bad people and trailer parks (Not that trailer parks are bad, but these in particular ARE)

EAST KENT:
The best part of Kent is east kent as far as nice houses. Stay away from area immediately north & east of Lake Meridian area, around 104th street, its pretty much Gangster characters. If you MUST choose kent, go EAST Kent near Highway 18 or near Covington. The BAD thing is the TRAFFIC HELL HOLE you will be in. It will take you 45 minutes just to get to I-5. Dont let google maps fool you, it ALL looks so small and not far but its the heavy traffic that sucks.

You can also consider RENTON in an area called FAIRWOOD its damn near close to EAST Kent. Near 140th street its VERY nice area but overall, everything around that is Harsh.

Overall, the Seattle area is tough to drive around and navigate. Just read my other posts on Seattle. I am very fair with my comments, I dont focus on the negatives. Everyplace has both negatives and positives. Just so happens that Kent seems to have more negatives.

If you have $400k to $500k to spend, do yourself a favor, go to Bothell, Kenmore or Kirkland instead. You get sightly smaller Square footage there but a higher quality of life in those places. Plus if you decide to sell, prices there are stadily going up. In Kent the are going down. Dont risk it.

I agree that Bothell, Kenmore or Kirkland have a much better quality of life .....but NO WAY would I move there if I worked in Kent. Traffic is a BIG consideration here :-)

[Negotiator75]

Originally Posted by PBC19

I agree that Bothell, Kenmore or Kirkland have a much better quality of life .....but NO WAY would I move there if I worked in Kent. Traffic is a BIG consideration here :-)

Think about it for a minute. You would be traveling in the opposite direction of traffic! That would be sweet! Plus its only 30 minutes to get back and forth.

But in all honesty I would NOT live OR work in Kent or anywhere near Seattle for the matter. If it had to be Washington I would rather live in a normal city, maybe like Vancouver, WA or Portland OR (since it's bordering).