Puyallup area??? (Federal Way, South Hill, Spanaway: renting, new home, to buy)

[Gubbinsgal]

There seems to be a lot of nice-sized houses at reasonable prices available in and around Puyallup. Is there a catch?? I've read about bad traffic in South Hill but can anyone explain just how bad it is? We are looking for somewhere (renting initially) within a reasonable commute to the airport but nice, safe and with good schools. Ideally we'd love to be out of suburbia but not sure this is feasible. We love a small town feel, are moderately liberal and my husband and I are mostly vegetarian. We'll be looking to buy hopefully within the year and our budget is no more than $300K.

Pros and Cons, and suggestions for other areas greatly appreciated

[klhrn]

I have lived in the South Hill area since 2000 and the traffic is a nightmare. The main road through South Hill/Puyallup is Meridian (Hwy 161) and it can take 20-30 minutes to go just 5 miles. The city engineers had poor foresight as everything and I mean everything (2 Super Walmarts for example) are on Meridian. There are few roads that allow you to get around Meridian and even those are becoming congested at peak traffic times (especially getting to the freeways). The price of houses in Puyallup is reasonable still so my advice is to go west of Meridian. Downtown Puyallup homes seem to more expensive. Graham, Spanaway are growing-they are a little farther but they are not as congested. Unfortunately though there are a distance from the freeway. Hope this helps. If you drive out here- look around Canyon Rd, Waller Rd, 176th (off of 176th you have 3 options in getting to the freeway and there is new construction at reasonable prices). Good luck!

[magrack]

If you're looking for places in the vicinity of Puyallup, rather than in the city proper, you might also try Milton or Sumner, both to the north of Puyallup, but within minutes of downtown.

IMO, the previous poster understated the traffic problems on South Hill/Meridian ;-), but the entire Puget Sound region is terribly congested and getting worse daily; no matter where you might choose to live in the metroplex (it's not quite a true metroplex yet, but it will be soon enough) you will face traffic.

There used to be many alternate routes that were mostly known only to the locals, but, as the population increased, the secrets got out.

It's not just the city engineers in Puyallup who had no foresight, I'm convinced every traffic engineer on the wet side of the state had/has their head in a dark, enclosed place.

It's not entirely their fault; I'm not sure anyone envisioned the population pressures/changes 40 or so years ago when something should have been done.

The local geography contributes to the situation, natural bottlenecks 'n such.

Now, the fixes will be expensive.

In the meantime, if you live there, or plan to move there, you just have to learn to live with it.

[nwraider]

you might also try Milton or Sumner

Not to pimp my new hometown, but Milton would be a far better choice than South Hill, if even just for the traffic situation alone. We get our fair share of traffic here (HWY 161), but it's NOTHING compared to South Hill. We're only about 20 minutes or so from the airport and close enough to both Federal Way and Puyallup to get some shopping or dining done. And we've even got a couple of nice places here in town for grubbin'.. Definitely a small town atmosphere, but close enough to "civilization" to not feel too far out of touch at all. And for $300K I'm sure you could find a very nice home here no problem..