advice needed: Shoreline? Port Orchard? (Seattle, Everett: rentals, daycares, new home)

[mccandy]

Hello, I am moving to the Seattle area, but I am not real sure exactly where to yet, and I need a little help. I have 2 small children so I wanted to find a town that was family friendly, but still fairly close to the city. We were thinking Shoreline or Port Orchard? I have been looking online for jobs and rentals, but so far I haven't found much. Maybe I am not looking in the right places? Any advice would be great. I am pretty lost, normally I just go and then I worry about work and a place, but I have kids now, so I have to find first. Its all very new to me thank you!

[happiestever]

Shoreline and Port Orchard are two very different areas. Shoreline IMO is close to a ton of stuff (meaning a ton of job opps) whereas Port Orchard.. not so much. With two young kids you will want them to be close to tons of good schools/daycares. And living in Shoreline will put you pretty much in the middle of so many choices. Whether you find a job in Everett (north) or Downtown (south) it wouldn't take forever to get there.

Try craigslist. You could live in lake city or maple leaf which is 10 minutes from Shoreline and vice versa for work. Good Luck

[teamirene]

When you say 'fairly close' what length of commute are you thinking about, in minutes, approximately?

[mccandy]

Hmm... fairly close for me is within 45 min to an hour. I will, fingers crossed, find a job close to our new home, but I know that both my husband and I would like to be able to take trips into the city.

I am used to living in smaller/rural cities so this will be a very big change for me. But very exciting!

Thank you for your insight i really appreciate it

[teamirene]

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. Shoreline is just north of Seattle so I'm very familiar with it, Port Orchard I know very little about because it is 'out there' - you'd be taking a ferry into Seattle or anything on this side, so there would be added expense to take into account and it can be a tiresome commute - although a lot of people do it.

I think your work and commute prospects would be much better if you stayed on the Seattle side of the Sound, and the rest depends partly on your price range. It also depends on if you decide to go with an area that has more of the rural feel you're used ot.

There are some cute areas in Shoreline and it's typically far less than an hour into Seattle. It's not rural, but mainly residential, many areas with small older homes and mature trees. Not always the greatest rep compared to having a Seattle address, but there are definitely cute neighborhoods and homes are less expensive than a Seattle address. Lake Forest Park is near there and also a good commute and areas with a woodsy feel. The Brier neighborhood of Lynnwood is cute and tends to have a better 'rep' than Lynnwood proper. (When I say 'rep' this is my totally unscientific gauge of how people react when you say 'I live in such and such place'.) Mill Creek and parts of Everett would also fit your description, although Everett has the 'rep' issue compared to Mill Creek. The Silver Firs area of Everett has a lot of nice newer developments.

Overall, my suggestion is to stay on this side of the Sound, and then your price range will help you narrow down your search as well. Here's a link to school guides in this area in case you need them:

The Seattle Times: School Guide[]=P

This is a real-time traffic map so you can see where the traffic backs up in which direction during rush hours:

WSDOT Seattle Area Traffic - Traffic Conditions and Travel Alerts

Hope this helps!