Moving from Washington, DC to Seattle? (looking for, information, addition)

[5chevin5]

My wife is Japanese and Seattle is where I will be moving to when Im done here in Japan.
Seattle and Tokyo are amazingly similar weather wise. Being a chef here in Tokyo, Im happy that there is a big Pacific/Asian influence in the restaurants, markets and culture.
It will make not only the restaurant I want to open in the right demographic, but also when the wife and I want a little dinner out the options are more vast.

Another big plus in my book....
The other great cities of the West coast are within close reach (Vancouver B.C, San Francisco and Portland)
I lived in Seattle for years and the weather is just weather...If you are a sun-bum then dont move there...period "Warning...its not California". If you like diverse weather with great summers and mildish winters (yes,yes..overcast...its winter!!) , fall is crisp and football-y, spring is a bit warmer with sprinkles of sun with chilly nights and some showers...Just the way it should be!

Then start packing!!

My humble 20 yen....
5

[LookingtoLeave]

Doesn't Seattle have the MetroRail up and running now? Is that a pretty good option in terms of its coverage?

[Ira500]

The Sound Transit Central Link will be running sometime in '09. Initially, it will only run from downtown to the airport.

[mlv311]

Originally Posted by LookingtoLeave

Doesn't Seattle have the MetroRail up and running now? Is that a pretty good option in terms of its coverage?

Not really. The commuter rail is limited in its route coverage. Most people who use public transportation rely on buses.

[Natthapol]

Originally Posted by HistoryAficionado

Sounds auspicious for you.

Two points:
Traffic: In my opinion, traffic here can be worse. Depends on where you live and commute now as a comparison. If you're going to work in, for example, Redmond or Bellevue, then Kirkland is probably about as far north as you'd want to venture (maybe Bothell). Commute from Woodinville/Bothell, for example, is comparable to say Sterling to Tyson's Corner or Reston to Arlington (non-HOV). I think they're experimenting with letting people pay to use the HOV lanes non-carpool (single occupant), which would theoretically help.
School districts: all of your information points you toward the East Side suburbs rather than the city itself. Seattle city has poor public schools, while the East Side suburbs are considered pretty good (not Fairfax or Loudoun county calibre, but good for WA).
Housing: less than DC area, but the home construction is quite different (more wood composite). East Side has newer homes, older neighborhoods seem to list older homes for around the same price range. Same type of planned communities you'd find in Ashburn, for example, have cropped up here, but they're not as widespread.
Asian culture is prominent here as it is in DC. Probably a little moreso.
Definitely more suitable for your hobbies like snowboarding than DC is.

Overall, though, it sounds like Seattle would be a good place for you given what you've shared and what you seem to be looking for.

I was surprised to hear that traffic could be worse! So commute from Bothell/Woodinville to Redmond/Bellevue could be like 45 minutes?

[Natthapol]

Originally Posted by weisla

My husband and I are in our early 30's and moved from DC to Seattle last July. We were in Boston for 8 years before we moved to DC in 2005. We loved Boston, although in my opinion it has a similar 'freeze' factor as Seattle. DC we did not love, and even though all of our family was in the area and we miss them, we do not miss DC much at all. Seattle is so beautiful and, as my husband likes to point out, 'has tall buildings, its a real city' compared to DC. DC has laws against building higher than the capitol, so it lacks the 'city feel' that Boston and Seattle share.

No offense to the previous posters, but the traffic in Seattle cannot be compared to the traffic in Northern VA/DC. The DC traffic is Hell ! The Seattle traffic is heavy, but nothing like DC (I still shudder when I think about driving on 66 West, where I regularly experienced a 5 mile long crawling back-up because drivers were rubbernecking at a cop giving a traffic ticket! Not to mention 495, or 95, or even 295!). We have friends here who relocated to Seattle from DC at the same time that we did and they agree with this assessment.

Yes, the so-called "Seattle Freeze" could be a factor, but I didn't find people in DC to be very friendly either. At least here people are exceedingly pleasant and polite to interact with on a daily basis, even if they do not become your best friend overnight. My impression so far is that it depends a lot upon your individual neighborhood/neighbors.

The decline of housing prices in the DC area is ahead of the decline here (although there is a decline here, don't believe anyone who says different). When we first visited Seattle to look at housing a year ago, we heard a lot of "Seattle is different, we are immune to the housing bubble" (from realtors, no suprise, but also from our co-workers). Having experienced the decline in DC and watching the decline in Boston after we left there, we were very skeptical that Seattle would be so 'different'. Well, low and behold, the Seattle housing market is slowly starting to unravel. This is a national problem and there will be almost no areas that are untouched, including Seattle, beautiful and amazing, full of good jobs as it is. Even though Seattle had fewer sub-prime loans that other parts of the country, we still had lots of people who treated their homes like an ATM and cashed out as much equity as possible, who are now 'upside down' on their debt obligations, as well as 'prime' borrowers who took out short term adjustable, or crazy interest only loans who now find themselves unable to make their payments.

Your budget should be more than ample to buy a nice townhome, or even a single family if you are willing to look outside of Seattle proper. We're still renting, waiting for the market to cool down and trying to get to know the area a bit more, and the prices are definitely coming down.

The asian food here is terrific, and the area is incredibly beautiful! I cracked up reading another post on the board where the posted said the same thing I said to my husband a few months ago, sometimes I think that it is so beautiful here that "This isn't a place where people live, its a place where people vacation." As for the weather, yes the rain and gray skies can be a bummer (especially February) but overall its nowhere near as bad as the exaggerated impression that people on the East Coast have of Seattle weather. Not to mention that the summer is perfect, no humidity, barely a drop of rain, and hardly any bugs - really! You actually can be comfortable here in the summer without air conditioning - imagine trying that in NOVA/DC!!

The only downside is that if you'll want to be returning to the DC area, inexpensive direct flights from Seattle to DC/BWI/Dulles do not exist! You can fly for under $300 with a connecting flight though.

Thanks Weisla, this is a great post -- very informative!
Yeah, non-stop flight to Seattle from here under $300 doesn't seem exist.

[Natthapol]

Originally Posted by 5chevin5

My wife is Japanese and Seattle is where I will be moving to when Im done here in Japan.
Seattle and Tokyo are amazingly similar weather wise. Being a chef here in Tokyo, Im happy that there is a big Pacific/Asian influence in the restaurants, markets and culture.
It will make not only the restaurant I want to open in the right demographic, but also when the wife and I want a little dinner out the options are more vast.

Another big plus in my book....
The other great cities of the West coast are within close reach (Vancouver B.C, San Francisco and Portland)
I lived in Seattle for years and the weather is just weather...If you are a sun-bum then dont move there...period "Warning...its not California". If you like diverse weather with great summers and mildish winters (yes,yes..overcast...its winter!!) , fall is crisp and football-y, spring is a bit warmer with sprinkles of sun with chilly nights and some showers...Just the way it should be!

Then start packing!!

My humble 20 yen....
5

The weather sound perfect to me! not too cold in the city and snow is within driving distance! I hear that Seattle has great great sushi?

[HistoryAficionado]

Originally Posted by Natthapol

I was surprised to hear that traffic could be worse! So commute from Bothell/Woodinville to Redmond/Bellevue could be like 45 minutes?

Sounds about right -- could be longer, depending. Bellevue's actually a bit farther, but I-405 S generally clears up after the Redmond exits in the morning, but is pretty congested all the way back up to Bothell in the afternoons.

It's also harder to predict traffic here -- you can have slow traffic at any time of day; although you're usually okay if you hit the road before 7 am.

[maybemovingfromDC]

All these posts have been very informative. My husband and I are deciding whether to move out from DC as well. He is in his mid-thirties and I am in my late twenties. We are in AU Park right now and DC taxes and traffic are just too much. The first idea would be to move out farther in NOVA, but I can't imagine braving 66 in to work. Also, we think the eastside of Seattle might be better for starting a family. We are looking to have a healthier lifestyle, better work life balance, access to lakes, and more affordable housing. We work in DC downtown and the commute down Mass Ave to the upper NW part of the city can take 45 minutes. 45 minutes sounds like a dream to be honest. The only concern is the gray weather. Any thoughts from people have made the move are greatly appreciated!

[allforcats]

Hi Maybe. I really encourage you to scroll slowly through both the Seattle forum and the WA forum, as there are many, many, many threads in which people have asked your questions, and more, and many contributors have given their wisdom.

As someone who spent the first 30 years of my life in Manhattan, I understand well the climate, crowding, energy, longitudinal, and lifestyle influences of the mid-Atlantic states. I will never go back. I no longer even miss the Metropolitan Opera because the Seattle Opera has grown with such excellence!

The climate can be a concern, with 8 to 9 months of guaranteed clouds to a greater or lesser degree. This place stayes green all year, and drizzle and mist make it so. And clouds make the drizzle and mist. The air is usually quite clean, there's a light breeze most of the year from the Pacific, there's very little snow, there's no biting cold or winds, no blizzards, no sleet, and no snow-shoveling.

You are best advised to live near where you work. We don't have enough roads for all the cars that are showing up. The east side, which is where I live, is gentle, green, calm, chock full of resources from excellent school systems to medical, grocery, gym, entertainment resources.

We usually advise relocaters to plan on renting for at least 6 months at first, to actually learn where you want to live and why as there is truly so much variety. Here is a great resource, the combined classifieds of the two leading newspapers in and around the wide Seattle area. Click on locations in the little map to drill down to smaller areas and neighborhoods:
NWapartments: Seattle apartment rentals, house rental listings, rental classifieds and other property rentals in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue and other Washington areas, cities and neighborhoods
Here is my favorite real estate link for this area. No selling. All inclusive. Lots of manipulation of info by you:
TheMLSonline.com - Seattle Real Estate, Top Seattle Real Estate Search - Call 425-467-6577

Have fun planning!