News, Your salary is $46,075? You can't afford to live in Seattle. (Spokane: homes, to buy)

[tortoisegirl]

Comcast charges everyone different rates; their practices are very unfair. If you call and get the right person, everything is negotiable though. They can put you back on intro rates, but then you still have to call every 6 months and hope you get the right person (some don't want to talk and ask if you want to be transferred to the department for cancellations). They don't care about customer retention or good customer service. Our bill more than doubled after the introductory rates were up, and we could only get it so low. It's about $105 for cable, internet, HD, and HD DVR. I've heard from friends they too could never get it to the intro rates again.

[70Ford]

$145 mil Seattle housing levy: Now it's up to the voters

Seattle voters in November will decide the fate of a $145 million, seven-year levy dedicated to helping poor people find homes in the city.

The delicious irony in the article is that they use the 450K house as an example for taxation purposes. So, you're paying an increased tax to help poor people live in a city where houses cost roughly 1/2 a million bucks.

Nice.

[JesseJB]

Don't go for the Clearwire either. I signed up for the $25/month deal on my friend's advice. After taxes and fees it actually comes to $43 a month. Im stuck in a 2 year contract.

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by JesseJB

Don't go for the Clearwire either. I signed up for the $25/month deal on my friend's advice. After taxes and fees it actually comes to $43 a month. Im stuck in a 2 year contract.

I hear that the service is also terrible...very high latency and spotty coverage.

[JesseJB]

Originally Posted by toughguy

I hear that the service is also terrible...very high latency and spotty coverage.

Yeah I live downtown and cant watch streaming video with it. I also have to fully load YouTube videos before watching them.

[jm31828]

I have a question for everyone here- I have read all about Seattle being expensive, especially housing costs. Is most of that really high housing in the city proper, or is the entire metro this high, even 30-45 minutes out? My wife was looking at new homes online and seeing some in Tacoma and then farther out in some farther out suburbs for as low as $170,000.
It's hard to wrap our brains around what things cost out there, and how much more similar jobs to what we currently have would pay there to make up that gaping difference.

[Jennibc]

Unless housing has fallen substantially since we left six months ago, I cannot imagine a home for $170K anywhere in the puget sound area. Housing in Seattle proper is higher than some of the suburbs but anything on the eastside is going to be as much as what it is in the city. The difference would be that you get more for your money in the eastside suburbs (the further out you go) than you would in city.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Unless housing has fallen substantially since we left six months ago, I cannot imagine a home for $170K anywhere in the puget sound area. Housing in Seattle proper is higher than some of the suburbs but anything on the eastside is going to be as much as what it is in the city. The difference would be that you get more for your money in the eastside suburbs (the further out you go) than you would in city.

This is the first time we'd really looked- but there were new construction homes that had 3 bedroom/2 bathroom/1800 square feet both in Tacoma and out in Puyallup for $170,000. Those just caught our eye since they were fairly low and so I was wondering if there was indeed a big disparity in home prices in the city proper vs. farther out.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by jm31828

This is the first time we'd really looked- but there were new construction homes that had 3 bedroom/2 bathroom/1800 square feet both in Tacoma and out in Puyallup for $170,000. Those just caught our eye since they were fairly low and so I was wondering if there was indeed a big disparity in home prices in the city proper vs. farther out.

I remember reading that the biggest drops in home values were in Peirce County. But as far as being a suburb, Tacoma is not really a suburb of Seattle, it is it's own city and it typically takes about forty minutes with no traffic to from Tacoma to Seattle. Puyallup is a ways out of Seattle as well. With traffic the way it is, I cannot imagine a daily commute from Puyallup to Seattle. But there may be some on this site that do it, so I will defer to them.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

I remember reading that the biggest drops in home values were in Peirce County. But as far as being a suburb, Tacoma is not really a suburb of Seattle, it is it's own city and it typically takes about forty minutes with no traffic to from Tacoma to Seattle. Puyallup is a ways out of Seattle as well. With traffic the way it is, I cannot imagine a daily commute from Puyallup to Seattle. But there may be some on this site that do it, so I will defer to them.

Yes, sorry I should have been more specific- I was referring more to the entire region around/connected to Seattle and not necessarily the specific metro area, so places like Seattle, its 'burbs, Tacoma, Everett, and all the sprawl off in each direction.