Relocating to Seattle- need neighborhood advice (Bellevue, Redmond: sales, to rent, house)

[newtoseattle2008]

Hello! My husband has been offered a job in Seattle and we are planning to relocate from California (Orange County) in the next month. I am starting the process of finding a place to rent and would love some advice on neighborhoods!

I am 29, he is 40...we are childless so we enjoy going out to dinner at fun restaurants but otherwise are over the "scene". We are looking for somewhere in Seattle proper (not Bellevue, Kirkland, etc.) that is ideally a single family home with a yard on a mature tree-lined street near either a park or a greenbelt. We have a dog so exercising with the dog (ideally off leash!) is a priority for me. I would also love to be in walking distance to a hip, nice neighborhood with coffee shops, restaurants, a grocer, etc.

(For anyone who knows San Francisco, I would would like the similar vibe to living in Cow Hollow/Marina with Chestnut and Union St. shopping nearby)

My husband is in sales and will be working from home, so we need a minimum of 2 bedrooms...ideally 3. I am envisioning the perfect spot may be a craftsman house in Greenlake? Or possibly the neighborhood near the arboretum (not sure what it is called- Broadmoor?) What other areas are there that I should consider? We don't want to pay much more than $2000 per month.

Also- I am nervous about establishing a social network in Seattle...can anyone recommend good activities or organizations to join to meet new people? Are Seattle residents considered friendly?

And finally, from a girl who has never lived long outside of CA- how truly bad is the weather?!

[VeronikaW]

I grew up in Orange County (Irvine), and I currently live in Issaquah (outside of Seattle). Some of the neighborhoods in Seattle Proper that I like are Wallingford and Ravenna. We chose the suburbs, however, because we just weren't finding what we wanted in the city for the price we wanted to pay.

As for Seattle residents being considered friendly, read the stickied post on this forum about "The Seattle Freeze". I have found that the residents can be friendly, but are not really interested in making friends. I've heard this is worse where I live on the eastside than it is in Seattle proper, so you might have more luck meeting people. My husband and I have both used Meetup.com to find groups of people to do stuff with in Seattle.

As to the weather, it is definitely hard to deal with coming from CA. I don't like being hot, so I actually quite enjoy the weather here in the Seattle area, but not seeing the sun can get old after a while. This year seems to be better than last year. I feel like this year we got a full 3 months of summer weather, and this fall there have still been some beautiful sunny days, like today.

It doesn't rain (like heavy rain) so much as there's just a lot of gray days. There's a lot of drizzle, too, so there's this feeling of being cold and wet for a lot of the winter. It also gets darker earlier here in the winter (for example at 4:30 it is already getting dark here). But, the converse of this, is it stays light out later in summer.

It's truly beautiful here, which is a definite plus!

Good luck with your move!!

V. =)

[Ira500]

There are a ton of off leash areas in the Seattle area, some really nice ones. In fact, some people choose certain areas based on how close they are to Marymoor Park in Redmond or Magnuson Park in Seattle. If you want to live in Seattle proper,the Magnuson Park area is really nice, and a great off leash area with a doggie swimming beach.

[Prple]

I think you would like Laurelhurst or Madison Park, but there are a lot of really neat areas in North Seattle that would work. Good luck!

[motor80]

Some parts of Upper Queen Anne, Wallingford, Ballard, and Madison Park sound like what you're looking for. Of coures there are many other neighborhoods that fit that bill - but these four popped into my head first. Wallingford and Ballard would be the most "affordable" of the group. Personally, if I had my choice, I would love to live in a home in Wallingford (39th through 44th, with 40th St being absolutely adorable, 45th st is where all the cafe's restaurants, grocery stores, etc are in Wallingford) or Upper Queen Anne (Queen Anne Ave between Galer and McGraw is where all the "stuff" is for Upper Queen Anne.)

Best of luck!

[motor80]

PS. Street view is available for Seattle now on Google Maps, so you can actually take a walking tour of those neighborhoods.

[newtoseattle2008]

Thank you so much to everyone for your replies! This is incredibly helpful.We are concentrating our search in upper Queen Anne, Greenlake, and Wallingford and Madison Park.Any insider knowledge of Greenwood and Phinney?

[CityGirl72]

What kind of insider Knowledge are you looking for - I am in Greenwood /Phinney 80% of my time