Federal Way

[LongDawson]

Try this
The Village At Redondo Apartments For Rent in Federal Way, Washington - Apartment Rental and Community Details - ForRent.com

[wannabeaTexan]

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

Well, I wasn't initially looking at the real estate, but I noticed that rents were significantly cheaper there. Usually that means it is probably a bad area, which seems to have been backed up by people outside of this thread. I was looking at one apartment complex that offered only month-to-month leases for dirt cheap. I thought it would be a good laugh to look it up on apartment ratings, but hey, it had a respectable 60% approval. For AR, this might as well be a B+ rating. When your worst complaints are about people stealing your parking spot, then I think it is not too bad, all things considered. No mention of serious crime. I looked on CD's profile page of Federal Way and it had the crime rating listed at 425. My city's is 702. So, it made me think to ask here what was up with Federal Way.

Cheaper compared to where? Seattle?

As for people outside of this thread leading you to believe it's a bad area... Federal Way, Auburn, Kent and Renton aren't good enough for everyone and so they sometimes get labeled as places you just wouldn't want to live. And that is not the case for alot of people.

[Sonnenwende]

Originally Posted by wannabeaTexan

Cheaper compared to where? Seattle?

As for people outside of this thread leading you to believe it's a bad area... Federal Way, Auburn, Kent and Renton aren't good enough for everyone and so they sometimes get labeled as places you just wouldn't want to live. And that is not the case for alot of people.

Yes, compared to Seattle proper. A good number of two bedrooms I've seen run about $790-$950 down there, which is in my target range.

[mitsuturbo]

Originally Posted by dpgtfc

1200 a month is about 220,000 dollars with a decent interest rate, no?

Looking on hotpads.com I see quite a few houses in that area that look good.

i don't know. but with a fico score that i would compare to being in the negatives, i'm sure there's no way in hell i'd ever get into home ownership, ESPECIALLY with a decent interest rate. the sad thing is.. i've never even HAD a credit card OR a loan!!

according to mortgagecalculator.com the most i could afford would be about 150,000 with a 6.5% over 30 years
220,000 seems more in the range of someone making closer to six figures (about 80k or so?)

[dpgtfc]

Well, the recommend you spend 20-30% of your income on a home, if you go for 30% sure. With 65k income (Seattle median income according to city-data) you could make 1200 a month payments and be between 25-30% pretty comfortably.

The mortgage calculator I used was the one built into Hotpads. I don't know how reliable it is though or if it only takes cost into consideration. Personally making 65k a year and paying 1200 a month as a mortgate is a bit much for me. I'd rather be low to mid on my price range. 150k-189k would be decent, and there are some in that price-range in Federal Way.

If you are looking to rent though, check out that link, it has rentals and they have em anywhere from 600 for a studio to 1200 for a 3 bedroom apartment, all in Federal Way (also Auburn, Tacoma, etc). It's a handy map based alternative to craigslit, IMO.

[mitsuturbo]

That site is way cool. I've been checking it out since i first read your post. Hell, i thought i was doing ok taking home around $800 a week after taxes (man the feds rape me when i get my check). In my mind, im doing quite well, as i have NO debt and NO bills other than insurance/phone/rent/electricity. I could easily AFFORD to pay 1200 plus utilities on a place, and since i can't buy a house (i'm pretty damn sure of this although i know NOTHING about buying a house, i certainly can't get financed for a car or anything else unless it's like a rent-a-center or buy-here-pay-here) i'm looking to rent one. I refuse to live in an apartment if i can help it. I'd rather live in a crappy house with a garage than a nice apartment with "amenities" where i can go swimming but i can't even change oil on my car.

[wannabeaTexan]

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

Yes, compared to Seattle proper. A good number of two bedrooms I've seen run about $790-$950 down there, which is in my target range.

That makes sense. Well I never look at stats, but from personal experience, looking at crime, for instance, I knew of worse crimes going on in Seattle than Fed Way.