Moving to Seattle from Dallas---single, no kids (apartment, rentals) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

SingleNSeattle · 03-10-2011, 10:22 AM

Hello! I'm planning on moving to Seattle. I read a lot of relocation threads and most prospectives seem to either be married or have kids; I have neither.

I'm a single African American male looking to move to Seattle by Nov. of this year. I've been residing in Dallas for the past 3 years and I'm ready for change.

I'm looking to live in a neighborhood where there is a lot of nightlife and/or singles lifestyle. I have a car so I'm able to love further out my first year if I'm not able to afford living in the city. I plan to rent and my budget is $1100 for either a studio/1br. Neighborhoods that cater to "alturnative" lifestyles is not a must but would be appreciated.

Any advice on neighborhoods, weather, and anything else potential new residents should know would greatly be appreciated. I will continue to read/review other relocation threads so I have some familiarity with the neighborhoods some of you way sugguest.

Thank you
SingleNSeattle

SitoUK · 03-10-2011, 12:43 PM

Nightlife, Single, Alternative...sounds like Capitol Hill to me...you'll need an apartment with a parking space if you want to keep your car, on-road parking is a nightmare up here. But you're so close to everything and well-connected with public transport that you might use your car less than you think...You'll definitely find something here within your budget, not a luxury pad but certainly a decent studio or a one-bed flat in an older building (I personally like the early 20th century buildings here, all a question of taste...)

there's lots of nightlife in the Pike-Pine corridor and on broadway in Capitol Hill, a bit of everything, gay, hetero, transsexual...you'll find it all. Do some more reading on the area and I am sure you can get an idea if it fits you..

Quote:

Originally Posted by SingleNSeattle

Hello! I'm planning on moving to Seattle. I read a lot of relocation threads and most prospectives seem to either be married or have kids; I have neither.

I'm a single African American male looking to move to Seattle by Nov. of this year. I've been residing in Dallas for the past 3 years and I'm ready for change.

I'm looking to live in a neighborhood where there is a lot of nightlife and/or singles lifestyle. I have a car so I'm able to love further out my first year if I'm not able to afford living in the city. I plan to rent and my budget is $1100 for either a studio/1br. Neighborhoods that cater to "alturnative" lifestyles is not a must but would be appreciated.

Any advice on neighborhoods, weather, and anything else potential new residents should know would greatly be appreciated. I will continue to read/review other relocation threads so I have some familiarity with the neighborhoods some of you way sugguest.

Thank you
SingleNSeattle

SingleNSeattle · 03-10-2011, 12:49 PM

Thank you for responding. I apologize for the spelling mistakes, YIKES, but it looks like you got the gist. I'm definitely loving Capital Hill. It seems most reloc threads are recommending that area for singles.

AlohaHuey · 03-10-2011, 03:50 PM

Consider Columbia City, and it's not far to Cap Hill and has better parking. You get more for your rental dollar, too.

Bill Loney · 03-10-2011, 09:03 PM

I'd consider Fremont, Wallingford, Ballard and Queen Anne too.

lalagonegaga · 03-13-2011, 07:11 PM

Honestly, if you're married to the idea of Seattle, fine your choice. But as an African-American, I'd say to consider some other choices. In other parts of the U.S.

Before anyone starts, I know every situation is different and"everybody is accepted in Seattle!" and the like. But the reality is very different. I won't really get into specifics, but if you are an upwardly mobile African-American, I would seriously consider someplace else. There something we all know of that is sometimes subtle and sometimes overt. The subtle kind is RAMPANT here. This place has a small town mentality that you might not expect. Yes, I know, I get it- YMMV.

I'm guessing that the vast majority of the posters on here are Caucasian. Well meaning maybe, but they will tell you the truth as they know it, from a certain perspective. I am NOT trying to start a flame war and please don't take this the wrong way. I am only trying to express a sentiment that is not easily expressed over the internet. I think you may find more success someplace else. Again, MMV.

SingleNSeattle · 03-13-2011, 08:30 PM

^^^ I'm not even going to go there. I currently live in Dallas, TX, and to be quite honest, you can't get more racially divided than that.

I've been reading a lot of reloc threads all the way back to Nov. of last year and I finally stumbled upon a map of the local neighborhoods. I've chosen to put Capitol Hill on the top of my list. I saw some apts at seattle-rentals.com and was BLOWN AWAY, by not only the prices, BUT THOSE AMAZING ASS VIEWS! I was expecting $1500+/mo and I found some as low as $700. Now granted those apts look like the dump, but I'm very excited because I thought Seattle itself was extremely expensive. It's not more expensive than the neighborhood I'm in now.

Thank you all for your help.

Malloric · 03-13-2011, 09:20 PM

Careful, you'll set the resident bitters off. They love nothing better to whinge on about Seattle being unaffordable for single people making $100,000 a year.

SingleNSeattle · 03-13-2011, 09:21 PM

LOL! Thanks for the tip.

TotalFat · 03-16-2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SingleNSeattle

^^^ I'm not even going to go there. I currently live in Dallas, TX, and to be quite honest, you can't get more racially divided than that.

As a current Houstonian working on getting to Seattle, I can agree here. Houston is VERY roughly 1/3 white, 1/3 black, 1/3 hispanic. Can't get more DIVERSE than that! Diversity DOES NOT equal open mindedness and lack of racism. I've been to Seattle numberous times and it seemed to have a much healthier attitude toward racial identity, despite being overwhelmingly white. In Houston's defense however, it isn't the deep south, xenophobic, lynching stereotype that people seem to imagine.

Quote:

I saw some apts at seattle-rentals.com and was BLOWN AWAY, by not only the prices, BUT THOSE AMAZING ASS VIEWS! I was expecting $1500+/mo and I found some as low as $700. Now granted those apts look like the dump, but I'm very excited because I thought Seattle itself was extremely expensive. It's not more expensive than the neighborhood I'm in now.

Thank you all for your help.

I have also noticed this. If you want to live in the middle of the action in Houston, prices skyrocket to the point where I've noticed scant difference between Seattle and Houston. Of course the prices drop way down when you go further out. I don't know if Dallas is like this, but you have to go at least an HOUR out of the city to live some place that is affordable AND not very very very very ghetto.