Wanting to Move to Washington (Seattle, Tacoma: apartments, rental, houses)

[thekid1138]

Hi,
My girlfriend and I want to move from San Diego to Washington for various reasons. We were thinking about the Tacoma area and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the area there? Job market, (human resources and tech support), apartments, city life, different areas, that kinda thing. Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

[Sobefobik]

Downtown Tacoma used to be a very dumpy and dangerous area--prostitutes, gangs, garbage, etc. It is now being revitalized, and it's actually quite a nice area now. I still wouldn't walk downtown by myself at night, but it has much improved.

It has many new restaurants, coffee shops, and galleries. I know that San Diego is a beautiful area, so I would imagine that you would like to transfer to a like area. Tacoma is generally a dumpy area except for North Tacoma and now the downtown area. I would not move to any other area in Tacoma, and I would definately NOT move to South Tacoma. South Tacoma is not a nice area at all, and you will not like it. No one does.

The job outlook is fairly good in this area. Tech support is a good bet because of Microsoft in Seattle, although I can't be sure because I don't work in either of those areas. If you do get a job in Tacoma, you should check out Gig Harbor. It's a very nice small town right on a harbor. It's very quiet. It is expensive, but it's nice. Apartments in North Tacoma are plentiful because of old houses converted into apartment buildings. They are harder to come by in Gig Harbor, although you can find good deals on rental houses if you look hard enough.

If you were really looking for administrative jobs, I would look in Olympia, the capitol. It's about an hours drive south of Tacoma. It's also a great city and reasonably priced. North of Tacoma there is not much there until you reach Seattle. As I'm sure you know, Seattle is large and so there is plenty going on there.

Realize that we get A LOT of rain here. People from California often don't understand the effects that nine-months of rain can have on you. The summers are beautiful, but the winters are not. We rarely get any snow--unless you live north of Seattle--and it is cloudy 90% of the time during winter. I would definately come visit in the winter before I made the move.

[thekid1138]

thanks for all the info

[CityGirl72]

I'm from Calif (originally from Santa Monica)

We are moving back to Calif - the weather here is awful (not much rain but drizzle for 9 or 10 months AND COLD!! DAMMM IT'S COLD!)

Tacoma (in my opinion only) is like Inland Empire, it MAY have some nice areas but the majority of it is run down and yucky

[rheadabovewater]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

I'm from Calif (originally from Santa Monica)

We are moving back to Calif - the weather here is awful (not much rain but drizzle for 9 or 10 months AND COLD!! DAMMM IT'S COLD!)

Tacoma (in my opinion only) is like Inland Empire, it MAY have some nice areas but the majority of it is run down and yucky

Just curious - someone on this board said that northeast Tacoma is nice, and it's in a good location - any comments?

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by rheadabovewater

Just curious - someone on this board said that northeast Tacoma is nice, and it's in a good location - any comments?

I don't like northeast Tacoma. It's not the worst, but there isn't really much there. If I had to move to Tacoma, the only area that I would consider is north Tacoma--stadium district, proctor, ruston way, etc.

[mary10]

What areas in or within commuting distance from Seattle are good places to live? Cheaper, but not dumpy, and not too bad of a commute if you ended up working in downtown Seattle?

[mary10]

Rent, preferably a one bedroom under $1,000 for now.
Community - clean, safe, young families or singles, cool bars nearby, but not trendy over crowded ones. I'm not huge on the night life but I like to go out every now and then. Someplace down to earth, not flashy, or expensive.
Scenery - don't really care if i have a view of the water or mountains. Again, just somewhere clean, nice, but not upper class or snobby.
Commute - preferably under 30 mins with traffic, but I can put up with 45 mins
Good places to live - recommended areas. What's parts of Seattle are considered ghetto and that I should stay away from? what are the middle class areas? If you had a friend that was moving there, where would you tell them to look?

Hope this helps. Thanks!!!!

[Prple]

Originally Posted by mary10

Rent, preferably a one bedroom under $1,000 for now.
Community - clean, safe, young families or singles, cool bars nearby, but not trendy over crowded ones. I'm not huge on the night life but I like to go out every now and then. Someplace down to earth, not flashy, or expensive.
Scenery - don't really care if i have a view of the water or mountains. Again, just somewhere clean, nice, but not upper class or snobby.
Commute - preferably under 30 mins with traffic, but I can put up with 45 mins
Good places to live - recommended areas. What's parts of Seattle are considered ghetto and that I should stay away from? what are the middle class areas? If you had a friend that was moving there, where would you tell them to look?

Hope this helps. Thanks!!!!

According to your criteria, I would recommend these areas of Wa, depending on your job's location:

Seattle area: Wedgewood, Shoreline/Lake Forest Park
Tacoma area: Proctor/The area near the University of Puget Sound
Olympia or Bellingham