How do I find a job/home BEFORE I move? (Seattle: housing, rental)

[AZ_singlemother]

Originally Posted by ShadowXOR

I had a friend move from my very town, to the area in Seattle I want to move and he says traffic is much lighter, and he pays less rent for more house. I don't think you know how expensive it is in the town I live!

Plus I like rain, and want to live near a big city that isn't L.A.

Right now I do customer service over the phone (take orders, help people, etc.) for $16/hour. I'm hoping to get comparable pay up there!

I am very much aware of Southern Cali, have family there and and in Northern Cali - San Francisco of all places. You are definelty broke if you only make 16/hour. For customer service jobs, I will expect 12-14/hour. 16/hour is excessive in the Seattle area for that line of work. Remember, where you pay less rent, you end up getting a lower salary in the area. It's an employer's market in WA - employment at will state, very competitive environment.

About traffic, I do not know where in Seattle your friend lives in. If he works and lives right close together? But if you live 6 miles north of Seattle, expect to drive 1 1/2hours each way to/from work during rush hour. If there is an accident on the 5 which occasionally occurs, expect that time to increase by far. My friends from Cali who moved to Seattle area were shocked to see how bad the traffic really is. Especially when it took 3 hours to get home southbound I-5 after a semi jacknifed after road racers crashed into it closing down all lanes but 1.

Seattles great but I do not want to hear someone bragging about the place when they have never resided there before.

[ShadowXOR]

Originally Posted by AZ_singlemother

I am very much aware of Southern Cali, have family there and and in Northern Cali - San Francisco of all places. You are definelty broke if you only make 16/hour. For customer service jobs, I will expect 12-14/hour. 16/hour is excessive in the Seattle area for that line of work. Remember, where you pay less rent, you end up getting a lower salary in the area. It's an employer's market in WA - employment at will state, very competitive environment.

About traffic, I do not know where in Seattle your friend lives in. If he works and lives right close together? But if you live 6 miles north of Seattle, expect to drive 1 1/2hours each way to/from work during rush hour. If there is an accident on the 5 which occasionally occurs, expect that time to increase by far. My friends from Cali who moved to Seattle area were shocked to see how bad the traffic really is. Especially when it took 3 hours to get home southbound I-5 after a semi jacknifed after road racers crashed into it closing down all lanes but 1.

Seattles great but I do not want to hear someone bragging about the place when they have never resided there before.

You seem to be providing all the WRONG information. My friend made $16.50 here and he's making the same in Seattle. I thought he lived in Mountlake Terrace but he actually lives in Lynnwood. I will take someone who is living there right now over your consistently wrong info. Don't tell me I'm wrong when I just talked to a person on the phone that lives there. Seattle is less expensive, and appears to have comparable wages (according to many website statistics as well). California has at-will employment also.

And why are you calling me "broke" when I make $16/hr.? I make more than most people I know (without a college education) and I'm doing well enough here to drive a brand new car, but I want a higher standard of living. I'm making my own way to college since I had no one to help me. I'm also engaged and so we split all bills. That was quite rude and frankly I find you very insulting and would appreciate it if you no longer frequented my threads if you're going to make such offensive responses. You have never lived in the town I live so you don't know how expensive it is here. I have only provided FACTS not opinions. He pays less rent for more house in a better area. That is a FACT, so don't tell me that they are wrong.

[magrack]

Ah, the enthusiasm of youth.

Gotta just love it.

Shadow, you asked, people responded. Nothing requires you to accept their (our) opinions.

You just have to process those opinions and decide if there is any merit to what has been posted and decide how to best use the information to your advantage.

Pretty much appears to me that you've made up your mind, so just go.

Enjoy your youth and all you have yet to experience.

Sixteen bucks an hour is more than double the state minimum wage and yes, you can live on it; many make do on less.

My annual income was in six figures (low six figures) and there were times when I felt pinched, and I had no kids at home, plus I lived in an area that was less expensive than most areas in the immediate Seattle area.

It's not just how much you make, it's also how you live, and how you're going to provide for yourself in the future.

As you grow older, start a family and realize you need to plan for their education in addition to providing for their immediate needs you'll probably find that 35K a year is not very much.

You'll grow weary of apartment living and realize you're buying real estate for someone else and decide you want to build equity in something for youself and have the pleasure of being king of your own particular castle...and find that all the little things the landlord took care of are more expensive than you think.

In the meantime, I might suggest; you're wasting time posting on this forum when you could be preparing for your move.

[janb]

Originally Posted by magrack

Ah, the enthusiasm of youth.

Gotta just love it.

...
Pretty much appears to me that you've made up your mind, so just go.

Enjoy your youth and all you have yet to experience.

... have the pleasure of being king of your own particular castle...and find that all the little things the landlord took care of are more expensive than you think.
...

lets see... my little castle in WA state monthly costs me ~
taxes - $1000
payment $575
utilities .. $300 (mostly phone..., and ISP, no cable, no trash, no sewer, no water - well and septic)
insurance $100

= $13.75/ hr wage @ 174hrs + 22% tax (fed + SS + Medicare)

but then there is food....$300
med insur. .................$1000
LTC ....................... ...$150
transportation .............$280 (no payments, 27 yr old car @ 50 mpg )
coffee ... ....................... 0
entertainment (Wendy's) $3.96 (4 small frosties / month)

= $25.91/hr wage (combined with castle - but w/o clothes, dog food, dental, vision, shoes, vet, music lessons, sports admissions, movies)


now add,
savings for catastrophies and fun (broken cars, funerals, $5000 medical deductable. beach trip...)
savings for retirement
savings for school
and coffee...

+Kids, +++divorce
oops - my income = Zero

Originally Posted by magrack

Enjoy your youth and all you have yet to experience. ...

[ShadowXOR]

I have made up my mind, I was angry because the post was very insulting. But all the math you can show me really doesn't mean anything when my friend is living down there on the exact same wages I make and has a better quality of life.

And no, $35k/yr. isn't going to last me, that's why I'm going to college for a career. I can't just start out making big money.

[Stonecoldharbours]

Holidays Inns, at least most I know of, will allow you to bring pets!

[Stonecoldharbours]

Well, if it helps you feel any better, my hubby is a professional and he is nearly 50 and makes about 70 grand a year and we are not even sure we can afford to live in Seattle comfortably, meaning no bullet holes in our walls, drug deals and etc...so don't feel too bad, its this way everywhere, even those of us make good money worry if we can afford some states and areas...stay in college and save now cause its not going to get any better anytime soon!

[anyone101]

but I need a place to go. Also I don't want to move up without a job

NO you don't want to either. It's VERY possible to find a job remotely BEFORE you go. I've done it before and in fact, on Craigslist.org I've found a few Seattle employer are looking for people in other cities outside of Seattle. (mainly in engineering) That speaks volumes about your chances of landing a job BEFORE getting there. But, on the other hand it also depends on what your skill-sets are and what kind of job are looking at. That also will tell if they are willing to pay for your relocation or you have to go on your own dime.

My biggest issue is interviews, do companies do over the phone interviews or otherwise?

Yes most will do phone interviews and if they want to talk to you more then they'll ask you to come up for an interview. By the time you get there it's almost for sure that they want to hire you. No Gaurantees either. I've been down that road before.

I can't afford to fly up there, especially considering I may fly up and not even get the job! Are there alternatives to securing housing and a job before I go up?

Sometimes with them compensating your travel (or at least the flight) could be an option and they might be wililng to pay for your flight. Usually if you plan ahead by 7 or 14 days with a Saturday night stay over you can get better airfares. Which is fine because if you stay in Seattle over a weekend you can use that weekend to find some rentals and pick up some application forms for rentals as well as familiarlizing yourself with the area and decide if you want to live here or not.

You can look on http://www.kayak.com and mobissimo.com and find your airfare that way and see what's available. Also look on http://www.southwest.com as Southwest Airlines do NOT appear on third party sites as Southwest might be cheaper. Same thing with JetBlue and ATA. Prior to the trip if you can arrange multiple interviews the better. Also look like on careerbuilder.com; jobdango.com; craigslist.org; and nwjobs.com to see what other jobs and job fairs are happening at the time you're in town and perhaps even go to that while you're in town. So the more the merrier.

Also for car rentals, most companies would not rent to people under 25 but there are still a few that may or may not charge extra for it. Alamo (yes the do charge), Enterprise, Thrifty, and PayLess are the ones I know that do rent to people under 25. I've rented from Enterprise when was 23 and no problems there. So do ask if before you give them your credit card number.

My friend up there MIGHT be able to get me a job with Verizon but I don't want to rely on that

NO you don't want to rely SOLEY on your friend or on any ONE source of information. But you still have a better chance of getting in with Verizon through your friend then if you sent in a resume to HR or if you walked into one of their kiosks at the mall and filled out an applicaton. Every little bit helps. So no hurt in seeing what your friend could do. PLEASE if you DO get into Verizon try to be upmost on your job w/ Verizon. Not only would it be good start and good karma for you but also if they let you go due to poor performance or whatever reason it could also reflect negatively on your friend too.

As for the dogs who's dogs are they? Your's or your friend's? If they are yours you'll have to make some tough choices. The others above suggest boarding them up at the kennel which is fine if you're gone a fews days, out of town, to attend interviews. But, how about the long run when you FINALLY have to move? Most aparment communities would not rent to people with dogs especially if they are big dogs and with high cost of living you also want to maximise your choices too. Yes Seattle is a high rent area too. So the less choices you have the more expensive it can get. So if you are going have to decide what to do with the dogs before you committ to moving. Or to keep it affordable you may find yourself living further out from your workplace and it may not be to fun either. You decide.

I had a friend move from my very town, to the area in Seattle I want to move and he says traffic is much lighter, and he pays less rent for more house. I don't think you know how expensive it is in the town I live!

Where in Seattle is your friend at? Do you know the approximate locations of potential workplace(s)? Which city are you moving from? If you're from S Francisco or New York then yes Seattle is cheaper. But, if you're from Boise, Reno or Montana be prepared for a sticker shock. If you're from Los angeles or S. Diego, Seattle could be compareable maybe a bit cheaper. So it's all relative to what you're used to at where you're at.

I also read your reply to AZ_SingleMother and needless to say, she could be right. Again that's relative to what you're used to back at where you're at. I am telling you all this from living in the Seattle area for 8yrs and my own house searching and previous job searches prior to moving here from Portland, OR and perhaps again to Phoenix,AZ. So perhaps $16hr may be pretty damn good but it may or may not support an aparment by yourself. Basically you want to figure out how much does $16hr translate per month and divide that be 3 which will give you your maximum rent you can afford and comapre with what's out there. Some the landlords/agents could base it on that and decide if they want to rent to you along with your credit history/scores and your past rental history. Some may go as high as 45% of you GROSS monthly income which could be to hight whereas 30% is more conservative. If you don't have anything substantial they can either deny or ask for a co-signer too so keep that in mind.

See:
http://www.rent.net
http://www.apartments.com
http://www.seattletimes.com
http://seattle.craigslist.org

and judge for yourself before you reply to me the way you to AZ_SingleMother.

[zilfondel]

IMPORTANT!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/

This is a message board for internet postings - you can post anything for free.

I have found my last three living situations (apartments, shared housing, etc) and several jobs from this site, as have virtually all of my friends (for professional jobs, mainly). You can even buy laptops, motorcycles, and sofas on it, too.

[ShadowXOR]

Originally Posted by anyone101

and judge for yourself before you reply to me the way you to AZ_SingleMother.

I replied to her the way I did for a good reason.

In response to your questions I have two small dogs, I am moving up there with my fiancee so I have a second income. I've already research on Rent.com and other sites. From my place in Southern California the average variance is an equivalent apartment in/around Seattle costs $200-600 a month LESS than where I currently live. I've already found tons of apartments that will accept my dogs (since they are so small). The only thing I have to do is a larger security deposit. I feel I've done so much research that I know more than SOME of the people that are replying. I think that this point I just need to move because I have gleaned as much information as I am going to from this forum. It has been invaluable but I'm beginning to see answers that contain false stories, or do not give me the whole story. Seems a lot of posts are one sided between people that love or hate a place. And others seem to think it is "so much more expensive" than where I live, when they just assume, because where I live is FAR more expensive. Maybe the very HEART of Seattle is comparably expensive, but the amazing towns surrounding it that people call expensive (such as Bellevue) are much cheaper than where I live. I am in a pricey beach town. To give you a reference, the town next to me (Santa Barbara), their median home value, MEDIAN, is one MILLION dollars. Seattle's median is much, much lower, and has MANY more homes available.

zilfondel: Thanks for the link, I'd heard of the site but never been there. Looks like it has a lot of stuff!