Poulsbo and Orting areas? (Seattle, Tacoma: apartments, rentals, crime)

[MarketingGuy]

Looking at home rentals in each area.. Found some great rentals.

How are the commutes to Seattle? How are these areas overall? Safe? Clean? Family life? Restaurants and things to do? We like urban/populated areas. Not so much on the rural stuff.

I've been to Seattle, Renton, Bellevue, and the eastside.. but neither of these cities..

[LMB]

We moved to Poulsbo from Orlando last summer. We love it here, but we work from home, so commuting isn't an issue for us. Several of our neighbors and friends here do commute into Seattle, but depending on where they work, it can be challenging and expensive. Our next door neighbor commutes daily into downtown Seattle--he walks to our neighborhood park & ride, takes the shuttle bus to the Bainbridge ferry dock and is a walk-on (which is not only much cheaper, but also guarantees you'll make it on every ferry--not always so with a car.) His is an "easy" commute because he doesn't have to drive and deal with traffic, but still requires an extra 3-4 hrs a day for transportation to and from work. Others we know have a more difficult commute from this area because they need a car to get to their office. They seem to manage, but I sure wouldn't do it. One friend ended up renting an apartment on the other side, and just coming home on weekends.

Poulsbo is a very small town and in no way could be described "urban," however, it is very clean, friendly, and has a variety of restaurants, shopping and services. If you like outdoor activities, there's plenty to do all around this area. For additional commercial options, Silverdale is only 5 miles away and has most of the big box/chain places. Crime has taken an uptick recently with a rash of burglaries, but it appears to be a burglary ring that has been busted. Overall, for small town living, with a larger city nearby (Seattle), Poulsbo has been perfect for my husband and I.

Hope this helps, but you really need to visit in person a few times in different seasons. Perspectives from others is helpful, but nothing replaces your firsthand impressions! :-) Good luck!

Lynn

[MarketingGuy]

Great info! Thank you!!!

Sounds like I'm going to rule these areas out.

[mthomson]

Maybe look into Gig Harbor. About a 50-75 min commute, depending where in Gig Harbor and where in Seattle you're going. Issaquah would be another option much closer.

[Prple]

The Sounder, commuter train runs from Sumner (close to Orting) to Seattle, might be an option from Orting. However, you should know that Orting is not really an urban environment. It does have somewhat of a rural feel. Also, some people may think I am paranoid for mentioning this, but, Orting is in the path of the lahar if Mt. Rainier to erupt.

Orting isn't really similar to the places you've mentioned, but it is considered safe and family friendly. However, it sounds like Orting is not really what you were looking for. What is your price range, we might be able to suggest other areas for you.

[mthomson]

Ooops...I missed your comment about urban/populated. Rule out Gig Harbor! Issaquah is an option, and Tacoma is another option.

[allforcats]

Hi SSpiro. Welcome to the idea of moving to western Washington!

You should Search on the Washington forum or Google for "Orting", where you'll find that this little town is right in the expected path of any pyroclastic flows and lahars that will come someday from Mt. Rainier. If there is one place in western Washington I would NOT live, it's Orting simply for that reason since active volcanoes generally don't warn us in time to move everything we own. :-)

Search on the WA forum for "Poulsbo". Lovely, quiet, fairly rural place. Pretty removed from urban and populated. "Safe? Clean? Family life?" -- yes. "Restaurants and things to do?" -- some, but not in the urban sense.

If you will be working in downtown Seattle, you might like one of the neighborhoods around the downtown and within the city limits: Capitol Hill, First Hill, Madrona, University District, Green Lake, Ravenna, Fremont, Magnolia, West Seattle, etc.
All of these neighborhoods are urban & populated, are pretty safe, quite clean, and have lots of families, restaurants and things to do, and are a pretty short bus ride from tons more restaurants and things to do.

This link is for NWSource, the combined Classifieds of the two leading newspapers for the wide area in and around Seattle. It will give you a quick overview about rentals -- how much space, for how much money, where:
NWapartments: Seattle apartment rentals, house rental listings, rental classifieds and other property rentals in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue and other Washington areas, cities and neighborhoods
If you click on locations on the MAP on that page you will see where the various locations are.
There are also: rent.com, forrent.com, and apartments.com. You might also want to check Craigslist.

Have fun!! C'mon back with more questions, okay?

[MarketingGuy]

Great info. Thanks!!

[tudorjason]

Seattle is far from both cities. You have to take the ferry from Poulsbo, which gets pricy. And Orting has the danger of Mount Rainier. It will be the first city hit by a lahar if it erupts. You have only a 30 minute window to walk and climb on either Ely Hill (Bonney Lake) or South Hill (Puyallup) in order to save your life; Forget about driving because you won't make it down the street before congestion starts.

[MarketingGuy]

How is Poulsbo, as far as walkability?