Considering move to Bellevue (from CA, don't hate me yet) (Renton: apartments, lease)

[werewolf34]

Interested to hear from people who've moved to the Eastside (Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton) from out of state.

My questions include:
1) suggestions as to where to live (I like to jog so I was thinking off a greenbelt or the coal creek parkway). FYI I have not cased the neighborhoods yet
2) If I work in downtown Bellevue, what sort of commute times would I be looking at if I lived in Renton and other lower costs areas...Ideally I would like a bigger 2 bed apt or a smaller rambler.
3) When is rush hour on the eastside? Is it bad both directions or is the commute/reverse commute a bigger issue?
4) outside of weather, what is likely to be a shock? I live in San Diego now and have lived in London and San Francisco.

Thanks!

[Ira500]

From about 6 Am to about 9:30 AM, you don't want to be driving North of I-405 from Renton, and from about 2 PM to about 7 Pm, you don't want to be driving south from Bellevue.
If you can somehow manage to avoid commuting at those times, the drive from downtown Renton to downtown Bellevue is 15-20 minutes, and there are some back roads to take to avoid it, or at least lessen the pain.
Coal Creek Parkway itself is not anything you'd want to jog on. Too may cars, but there are a ton of trails just off of it that many joggers use, including the Coal Creek Trail, trails on Cougar Mountain, and power line rights of way.

[Heiwos]

I live in Bellevue and grew up in SoCal. The common advice here is to live close to work, to avoid a nasty commute. I-405 between Renton and Kirkland is jammed during rush hours. Living in Bellevue and working in Kirkland is easier commute-wise than living in Bellevue and working in Renton. I'd say rush hours are 6-9 AM, and 3-7PM. Good reverse-commute opportunities are few. The bus can take the HOV lane, so that can help a lot. You can check the Metro Trip Planner for commute times.

You can jog in many places in Bellevue but there aren't a lot of long greenbelts. If you don't mind sidewalks there are "trails" galore. The sidewalks connect to greenbelts and forested areas, like the Lake Hills greenbelt. If you don't mind jogging on hills, the Cougar Mtn. park, which I think the Coal Creek greenbelt connects to, is a jogger's/walker's haven.

[toughguy]

And FYI, we don't hate Californians anymore. That was a shameful prosaic 80's thing.

[MichaelinWA]

It ain't great, but there is something of a reverse commute on congested I-405. Bellevue to Renton in the morning and Renton to Bellevue at night are noticeably faster than the other directions. But living close to work and/or using the Metro definitely make sense in this area.

PS: I agree with toughguy, the California resentment thing is dated.

Originally Posted by Heiwos

I live in Bellevue and grew up in SoCal. The common advice here is to live close to work, to avoid a nasty commute. I-405 between Renton and Kirkland is jammed during rush hours. Living in Bellevue and working in Kirkland is easier commute-wise than living in Bellevue and working in Renton. I'd say rush hours are 6-9 AM, and 3-7PM. Good reverse-commute opportunities are few. The bus can take the HOV lane, so that can help a lot. You can check the Metro Trip Planner for commute times.

[VeronikaW]

To answer your 4th question, as a native Californian who has lived in the Bay Area and San Diego, I think the biggest shock in regards to weather you'll find is just how gray it can be for long periods on end. The rain here is more misty than downpour, so there's often a feeling of dampness. In the 2 winters I've been here, we've had quite a bit of snow (enough to warrant chains on my car, or we couldn't get up or down the hill our neighborhood is built upon).

I don't like being hot, so I generally enjoy the weather here, but it would be nice to see sunshine more often. We try to take at least 1 trip to see my family in Laguna Beach and 1 trip to see my family in Phoenix during the winter.

V. =)

[LeftCoastRider]

I was born and raised in the Bay Area, and I have lived in WA on two occasions now: 1996-1998, and 2003 - present. If I was not married, I would move back to the central coast of CA in a heartbeat (but my wife loves it here). As one poster mentioned, it's not the rain that gets to you (this year has been rather dry, by the way), it's the gray skies. And the cold. When you have spent your life enjoying blue skies and *warm* sunshine for most of the year, it can be very dreary and depressing here. Now, if I had the money, there is no question that I would have a summer home here and live in San Francisco, Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara the rest of the year. Summers in Puget Sound can be absolutely perfect, not too hot and not too cold, and with plenty of outdoor activities to enjoy. So why am I still here? Well, aside from my wife loving it, I am looking out my dining room window as I write this, and I am struck by the beauty of the deep-blue waters of Penn Cove and snow-capped Mount Baker in the distance; it is a rare, perfectly clear, late-winter day on Whidbey Island...one of those days that makes one want to move here. Of course, it is still only 39 degrees outside...

[Mclaurin]

Yah Yah....fair weather friend. LOL

[Molly 56]

Werewolf, have you considered the possibility of living in Bellevue? It's funny, but I ended up finding a modest apartment in Bellevue close to the Lake Hills Greenbelt because my job is next to the Mercer Slough preserve and I hate commutes. I pay $1060 all included except electricity for a one bedroom with a lovely view over a park-like grounds. And it was actually cheaper than that because I got a month's free rent for only an 8 month lease. It takes 10 minutes to get to work--NO traffic to speak of. And it is a simple job as an small office manager, not some high-tech gig.

I always assumed Bellevue was yuppie city, and I suppose in lots of areas it is, but there are quite reasonable parts of it. Some neighborhoods are populated with fairly recent immigrants that can hardly be called upscale residents. It's quiet, safe, and peaceful. When I go to the grocery stores, I see ordinary folks like myself. There aren't obvious poor people or homeless, no, but I think the really high-class areas ring the lakes. Try Crossroads, for instance, or the long string of apartments from downtown Bellevue to Lake Sammamish along NE 8th St.

I would guess if anybody found a job in downtown Bellevue, they can afford to live in Bellevue. Go to rent.com or forrent.com or Craigslist and search on Bellevue for apartments, then call around for deals. You might be surprised. Sure, you could shave a bit off each month by living farther out, but weigh the pros and cons of all that extra time and stress you could avoid.