trying to relocate from california to washington, help much appreciated! (Seattle: apartments, rentals)

[yohanna]

hi there, my husband and i are just soo tired of california alltogether, we have seen videos of leavenworth and seattle, and we are totally in love with those places and the state in general. my husband and i have no children, but have few chihuahuas and would need to rent a house, we are ready to pack our stuff and move, but my husband feels very hesistant because we don't know much about the cost of living and employment over there, and curently he works in constryction and is the only provider since i went back to school. he works for the carpenters union and earns a descent wage but work is very unstable, sometimes he will go on for two to three months without work, and we are hardly making it. can anybody give us that overlook and/or piece of advice to possibly help us decide to leave everything behind and start a very needed life and enjoy of a snowfall for the first time? any advice will be much appreciated, especially when it comes to construction jobs, rent prices, locations, etc...

[mthomson]

Construction jobs will be tough here as well. We probably outgrew ourselves a little too quickly, and builders (residential and commercial) are stuck with too much inventory now.
I am only speaking of the South Puget Sound area (Tacoma, Gig Harbor, etc). I really don't know much about the eastern side of the state, or even the Seattle market. I do know that rents in our area will be much more affordable ($900-$1500 for a nice place) than the Seattle area.

[allforcats]

To add a bit of Seattle info to mthomson's excellent advice --
this is for rentals. It's the combined classifieds of the two leading newspapers in a very wide area in and around Seattle:
NWapartments: Seattle apartment rentals, house rental listings, rental classifieds and other property rentals in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue and other Washington areas, cities and neighborhoods
Click on location names in the little map to drill down to smaller areas and neighborhoods.

Other resources for rental information are craigslist, rent.com, forrent.com, apartments.com

If you're interested in the job market, for either of you:
Seattle area jobs, employment advice and information | NWjobs

Western Washington doesn't usually get much snow, but it does usually get a few days (usually separated) each year; the snow usually melts in a day or so, so no shoveling! And all winter one can drive toward and up the mountains to get all the snow one could ever desire!

[yohanna]

thank you for your information and very useful links!