Moving to Washington looking for place to rent in south King/north Pierce county (Seattle: for sale)

[Cynjaq]

My wife and I are definitely moving to the area, and we are going to have to rent a place at first. We've found two houses that are possibilities. Unfortunately, I don't know if the neighborhoods are safe or not. Here are the locations on google maps:

This house:

200 block of Cedar ST, Buckley

And this house:

is located here:
300 block of Main Street, Algona

Any info you may be able to provide will be appreciated!

[christi1981]

First off where will you be working? Secondly, Algona is close to auburn which is known as a blue collar city (FYI), but Algona is the pretty trashy looking. I just bought a place in Des Moines and looked at ALgona since it was cheaper but man it was like a movie een of a old run down town. Auburn actually isn't too bad. How much are you looking to pay? I have seen many house take down there for sale signs and put up a for lease or rent signs. Lots of people are also offering lease or rent to buy with a renter's credit. I do know one great real estate agent who you might want to call and ask about locations. SHe was really helpful to me when I didn't knwo where to look. No i did not use her as a real estate agent but she still helped me.


Christi

[Cynjaq]

My wife has a job in Auburn (Green River Community College) and I am still applying for positions in the area. We have to rent until I find a job, then we will hopefully buy a house. Our situation is complicated by our two dogs and two cats. One of the dogs is a doberman, so we're having a very tough time finding any apartment complexes that will allow her. We want to save as much money as possible on the rent so that we can put it toward the house. We realize though that we're probably going to have to spend 1000-1500/mo in rent to get a decent place.

[2PAK]

Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, select areas of north Tacoma and select areas of Tacoma, as well as, Auburn and Black Diamond areas can meet your house and rent requirments just fine.

[Lady of Roses]

Hi there!

I live in Algona. Algona is basically a little residential area just south of Auburn. For a point of reference, The Supermall is about a 5 minute drive from here. There are some older houses that do need some TLC, but as a whole the area is pretty nice. I'm in a 5 year old subdivision (we moved in when the subdivision was built), and it's pretty great. Kid friendly, parks, walking trails, etc. I went to GRCC and it's about a 15-20 minute drive from here to there using the #18 hwy. You can buy a 2000+ sq foot house that is less than 5 years old for around $300k here.

Algona is definitely not any sort of 'city' area. There isn't a whole lot of businesses here, it's mostly relatively quiet residential. It's in a GREAT location for getting to bigger cities though. I can get to Puyallup, Federal Way, Auburn, Kent, Renton, Tacoma, and Southcenter in 20 minutes or less (as long as I'm not trying to go during rush hour). There's a transit center in Auburn (10 min drive thru town) that allows you to take the buses, and also the commuter trains to Seattle stop there.