Commuting (Seattle, Tacoma, Redmond: real estate, to live, prices)

[catknsn]

OK, so it's pretty obvious all of the good jobs are in Seattle and Redmond. But the cheap real estate is closer to Olympia and Tacoma! For those of you who make a substantial commute, how do you do it? Public transportation or your own? How long does it take? What directions out from Seattle are the easiest to come in from? I am doing an hour one-way commute to work now (SW Washington to Portland) and am OK with that but don't want to go much worse.

[scirocco22]

I probably shoudn't be responding to your questions because I've never made a "substantial commute." I always lived close to where I worked.

I'll just chip in this advice: try to live close to where you work.

Even though it may mean more expensive real estate prices, I reason it this way and if you've read my responses in other threads, you've already heard it: The closer you live to work, the less time you spend commuting. Time that you could be spending with your family. More time you could be spending on things you like to be doing, more time to relax, more time to savor the presence of those that mean the most to you. Isn't that worth something?

Also, driving especially, can really take its toll on your nerves and eventually your health. So if you're spending your commuting time driving your own car, to most people, it gets rather stressful dealing with traffic day in and day out. Isn't that worth less stress, lower blood pressure, and better overall health not to be doing it or doing it as little as possible?

I really don't understand folks that spend an hour and a half to two hours or more one way commuting. That's a huge chunk of time taken out of each day that you could be using more productively.

Ok, end of lecture. Just something to think about.


Thanks.

--'rocco

[benemadre]

My husband commuted from Tacoma to Seattle for many years. The bus system worked pretty well for him, but he was easily spending an hour and half commuting each way(he had to catch connections up to Capitol Hill). He decided that was way too much time out of his life and found a job in Tacoma. I agree that if you can avoid commuting, do so. In my case, I commute to Auburn from Tacoma every day, and it's bearable but not ideal. There are always enough days when someone has an accident, or contruction/weather/you name it gets in the way, and it doubles the commute time. (in many ways it's like the commute from Portland to Beaverton on 26) I wouldn't even consider commuting from Olympia to Tacoma, as you have to go through the traffic of two metropolitan areas--you'll spend more time commuting than working. Obviously, there's no easy answer. If you aren't tied down to a job in a particular city, I'd try to find something close.

As far as I know, there's no easy way into Seattle. Once you get close to the city, traffic jams up, arguably from 2:30 to 8ish.