retitled: more earthquake information needed (Seattle, Pacific: real estate, apartments, for rent)

[seattle scott]

my wife and 2 friends want to move to the seattle area. we have been watching craigslist and local papers like hawks. we are thinking of letting a realtor find our next apartment. the only thing is we have never contacted a realtor ever and really dont know what to look for or ask.
Do any of you know of a reputable and friendly realtor company that can help us fond a 3 bedroom apartmrnt or houe for rent?

(mod interpose: any realty agent recommendations should only be done via Direct Message. This thread should only be discussing the second part of seattle scott's inquiry below. For questions regarding what to look for and ask a Realtor, please do a search in our Real Estate forum, seattle scott. If you don't find your answers there, feel free to post a thread in that forum. Also, your second inquiry has quite a few threads dedicated to discussing the earthquake situation in the area. Please do a search in this sub-forum to supplement what answers you receive here. Thanks!)

off topic question: i noticed the earth quake in 01 and the one a few weeks ago and just now the one in bellevue. what are geo-scientist and researchers saying?

[70Ford]

Well, it is what is is. It's a city built on the ring of fire.
Pacific Ring of Fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click that, look at what happens when lahars attack. (Mt. St. Hellens pic)
http://web.pdx.edu/~jduh/courses/geo...esentation.pdf

Two words of advice. Do a search of the Seattle forums for "Prostitution/prostitute."
Can also include gangs/drugs/and bum/homeless as you wish. This will show show you places where people have seen that sort of activity, usually. Gangs is sort of hit or miss. Some people define "gang" as 3 Hispanic guys standing on the curb.

Second word of advice. School districts. Do a search of the Seattle forums for "Schools". You will find thread about "what are good and bad schools." These threads will (many times) have links to sites that have school scores. Good schools are in good neighborhoods. Why? Money, that's why. Bad schools....bad neighborhoods.

Not always, but a general rule of thumb. Houses/apartments cost more where the good schools are. Cops patrol there more to keep out the "bad elements." Bad people can't afford to live there. It's not a pretty portrait of life, but it's true pretty much in every major city. Find the good schools and you'll find the good neighborhoods.

I wish life was fair.

/sigh

You can try apartmentratings.com. I'd imagine 1/2 the ratings are from managers of the apartments, though.

[eskercurve]

The earthquakes, since I've gotten here, were unnoticeable. The most serious one was the Nisqually quake you mentioned. If you really were worried you should get earthquake protection, but from what I've noticed, it won't do you much good as most are very minor.