Moving to Redmond/Seattle (Bellevue, Kirkland: apartment complex, rental, home)

[ATLguy]

Hello all, I just completed my Masters from GA Tech (Go Jackets!) and got a job with Microsoft in Redmond. I am a bachelor and am looking for a more happening place (like a downtown) to rent an apartment in. I hate driving and love transit since it gives me a lot more to experience about the locality and the people in that area. Also good connectivity would be nice for times when you have to work late or meet a deadline. What area would you recommend that I look at; a couple of my friends suggested Seattle and Bellevue downtown. Though nice, I was wondering if my choices are limited to them? Also I love walking and roaming around (maybe even biking) and would prefer if stores and all are nearby or even if they are accessible through transit. Lastly, though not absolutely necessary, a non-premium rent would be nice since this is my first job

Thanks for reading my post!

[jenlion]

A "happening downtown" is definitely not Redmond. Seattle certainly, followed by Bellevue, then perhaps Kirkland.

Bellevue is a mini-city; has some bars, has some good food, has places to go drink, but it's not really huge past a certain hour. It's much more yuppie. You go drink and play pool on the 3rd floor, then take the elevator to the 20th floor and use your badge to get free cokes and look at Seattle across the lake in Bellevue. Kirkland is more artsy; you instead have shorter, smaller, different sorts of places. You walk along the lake; you have a nice dinner; you have a glass of wine. You don't let the skateboarders bug you when they brush by, and you have a lovely evening stroll. You won't be staying out dancing till 2:30am there, though, I don't think. (Actually, beyond dinner and nice drinks, I'm not sure WHAT you do in Kirkland after, say, 10pm? I think there's something, but not sure what).

You can take transit from Seattle but traffic S-T-I-N-K-S getting over the bridges at rush hour. If you plan to do the standard Microsoftie hours -- from about 9:30 in the morning to about 7:30 at night -- you could maybe happily live in Seattle and commute on the bus system over. But heaven help you if you need to come in early or go home early -- you will be stuck for a long time in traffic. And I don't think any of the Connector buses go to Seattle, so you won't have wifi except on your phone.

I'd advise checking out Bellevue and Kirkland on a weekday afternoon and a Friday/Saturday night. See if they're at all your style. If you like either and can afford, jump on it, and take the bus to Seattle to party on weekends. If you hate them? Live in Seattle but know you're in for a looooong commute.

You'll be a very eligible bachelor out here. Lucky you got in to MS; they've cut way back on hiring, compared to 18 months ago (when we got in). If you plan to lose bachelor status anytime soon, keep in mind it's very, very difficult to live in Seattle and commute to MS once you've got a family.

[ATLguy]

Thanks for the detailed reply! So from what it seems my choices are indeed limited to seattle, bellevue and kirkland. The transit site says that there are buses almost all through the day from these cities esp during the weekdays. So I guess it is reasonable to assume that my daily commute can be handled using transit. Perhaps on a weekend or such I might have to get the car out or go on a bike trail or walk (love those things). About the rent, on the internet it looks like all of them are similarly priced around $1100 for a 1 bedroom flat . What are some good communities/apartments to stay in these areas?

[julielyda]

I recommend you check out Redmond as well. With Microsoft in your back yard, why even commute? Redmonds offers biking trails, the park at Marymoor on Lake Sammamish with summer outdoor concerts, shopping at Redmond Town Center and plenty of rental housing available. I've included a couple of links to get you started. Redmond will even pay you $50 to bike to work!

http://www.redmond.gov/cityservices/maps/bikemap.pdf
http://www.grtma.org/yourBicycleWalkCommute.asp
http://www.concertsatmarymoor.com/
http://www.archstoneapartments.com/S...98007&radius=6

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[seattlenextyear]

Bellevue is just as close to MS as Redmond. Both cities are nice but Bellevue is more urban.

There's a bajillion apartment complexes in the area, so its hard to pick one for you. You could just use rent dot com or a similar site to narrow down complexes based on your criteria. Then maybe come back and post your choices. People here might have experiences with them.

[ATLguy]

Thanks for your replies. I understand that there are a lot of apartment complexes in and around the area. What I wanted was to ask for some specific ones with whom people had a good experience (on that note, it would be nice to know which ones to avoid!).

[BellevueGuy]

Rent for newer buildings in Bellevue downtown is quite high, though it has come down significantly since last year. I live in Avalon Meydenbauer, $1300 a month for one bedroom. Very nice place, high quality new construction, professionally managed.

Bellevue is an affluent new city so you got good shopping, eating, grocery, etc. It's going increasingly upscale, so it's either a plus or minus for you.

After you decided which city to stay, Craigslist is a good place to find rental deals.

[seattlenextyear]

I guess the first thing to do is decide if you want to live in Seattle (more exciting urban life with all its pluses and minuses) or the Eastside: Bellevue/Redmond/Kirkland etc (more suburban, but easier to get to work).

If you're looking at Redmond/Bellevue/Kirkland, you should be alright almost anywhere. There's fellow Microsofties in almost every apartment complex on the Eastside. If I had to point out bad ones, I'd say maybe avoid the few apartment complexes right across the street from Crossroads Shopping Center that are a little rundown (Commodore, Central Park East). They're not terrible, but you can find nicer places for the money.

If you want to live in Seattle, I'd limit myself to places on the MS Connector route and go from there.

[ATLguy]

All the comments have been really helpful Thanks!

Where does the Connector go in Seattle and at what times? I mean I can start looking at apartments close to where one can get the Connector in Seattle if I could know the routes/landmarks, the information doesn't seem to be publicly available on the Internet... I will be coming down to WA next month and am shortlisting apartments to visit once I am there.

[seattlenextyear]

Well, here's a low resolution map:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...p-new-one.html

Another good bet would be to contact Microsoft HR . When my husband was brought here by them back in the day, they took him around to apartments and gave him temp housing until he found one he liked. I don't know if still offer this.