Possible move to Seattle (Bellevue, Federal Way: house, catholic schools, live)

[Ira500]

Ok, you're a Jersey guy, and you mentioned Puget Sound and pizza. Now I know those two things don't go together! What pizza did you find there that you like???

Abruzzi's in Normandy Park. Filiberto's in Burien isn't bad either. Vince's in Burien and Renton and a few other places does a very decent crust.I hear great things about Big Mario's on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Flying Squirrel near Seward Park and another branch in Ballard is really good. Angelo's in Renton reminds me of a New Jersey pizza joint.
But really, there aren't more than a dozen really good pizza places in the Seattle area, and even fewer good bagels or delicatessens, and an enterprising Greek American could make a fortune by opening up a real diner around here.

[mslady007]

A few great areas I would recommend that are family friendly are Renton (Bryn Mar area), the Central (or CD, close to UW, and the water way), and Northgate. I have live in some of these areas over the years and have friends in some of them too. They are all wonderful places to live. Beautiful homes and lots to do as well. The commute wouldn't be that bad either from the CD about 5mins, Renton & Northgate about 30 by transit and 15mins by driving in. If it is M-F rush hour (between 4-5:30) tack on another 5 or so mins.

[mrman78]

Originally Posted by ThaBigCheese

I am going to start this off, by saying I am getting a little ahead of myself here, but I do want to be prepared to research specific areas.

I'm interviewing for a spot at the coffee giant in the corporate office located in Seattle, for which I am very excited I must add. Getting back to the NW would be wonderful. I'm currently in Houston, TX and I feel a little out of place at times. I spent 20 years in the the NW, mostly in Portland and now I have an opportunity to possibly return.

Anyway, I would be moving back with my wife and 2 daughters, 11 and 8. One is a soccer player and the other a gymnast, and both very good at what they do and where I live will be a combination of the best gym, soccer club and commute for myself. My wife works from the home. I will be renting a home and would be looking to not spend more than 2k in rent, preferably less. I need family oriented communities and a commute of not more than an hour from the corporate HQ's. I'd like less of a commute but an hour commute is really nothing to me as I've been doing it for years.

I am somewhat familiar with Seattle, but not the individual suburbs because I never really had to be. Thanks in advance!

I'm currently interviewing for a position in Federal Way and currently live in Houston, TX too! Found this thread informative. I've been trying to get out of Houston and move to Seattle since before the recession began, but had been playing it safe. This is my first interview in the Seattle area in since 2009 so pretty nervous, but keeping my cool. I know one day my opportunity will come! Anyway, good luck with everything!

[texastrigirl]

I was actually in Austin which is lovely BTW but houses and houses and houses for miles once you leave the city proper and head to the surrounding suburbs. I came from Circle C Ranch in Austin...a subdivision at the time with about 11,000 people. Yes I said a subdivision not city. And it's only grown since I left in 2007. Not knocking it because I loved it there but where I live now is no comparision in beauty and peacefulness with proximity to the city. So again, surburban sprawl means different things to different people. When I lived in Dallas briefly I was actually in Dallas proper and it definitely made it feel smaller than it really is...but we wouldn't have stayed there anyway because of the schools. The Eastside where I live (Issaquah/Sammamish) feels quite a bit different because the landscape is full of water, mtns and trees instead of being flat. There are a few larger housing subdivisions in the area I live in but there are also many pocket neighborhoods with 30 homes or less in the "subdivision". Also, in TX there is strip mall on every corner it seems with a nail salon, a drycleaners, a bank, a Walgreens, fitness center, etc. They would build them on all 4 corners if it would be supported economically. But here we have about 3 retail areas in all of Sammamish (Pine Lake, Town Center and Klahanie). The rest is homes, beautiful parks (Pine Lake, Beaver Lake, Duthie Hill, Soaring Eagle, Ebright Creek, et etc), schools and city buildings and the like. It's not overly developed which actually is a problem for some people (not me!). It's quiet out here and we have fantastic schools, great hiking and water accessibility (Lake Sammamish boat launch is less than 2 miles from my house) and nature galore. Yet we are less than 20 miles from the heart of Seattle (I consider that Pike Place Market). We go to the city all the time as we have family in Queen Anne, we love to sail on the Sound and Alki Beach is one of our favorite hangouts. But for where we get to educate our children and let them be in nature easily, it's worth it to us to be out here. When we moved here we were in awe of the bald eagles that fly over our house, the blueberry farm just steps away and walking down the street to pop our canoe in Pine Lake. 4 years later...still in awe.

[ThaBigCheese]

Originally Posted by mrman78

I'm currently interviewing for a position in Federal Way and currently live in Houston, TX too! Found this thread informative. I've been trying to get out of Houston and move to Seattle since before the recession began, but had been playing it safe. This is my first interview in the Seattle area in since 2009 so pretty nervous, but keeping my cool. I know one day my opportunity will come! Anyway, good luck with everything!

Still waiting to hear back from the company to fly out for an interview. It's been a couple of weeks and I'm getting a little antsy. Boy, another Houston to Seattle person, how awesome! Houston is well......different. The NW is definitely more of the place to be for me. After 3 years here, Houston has never felt like home and I don't think it ever will. Not that it isn't nice, because some places are very nice here. But the sauna like conditions for 8 months is a little too much to handle for a person who likes to be outdoors working in the yard or something.

Texasgirl, you sound like you don't miss TX one bit! I know when I get out of here I certainly won't miss it. Well, I may miss the winter and the thunderstorms, but in the end, that's not enough to keep me here!

[mrman78]

Originally Posted by ThaBigCheese

Still waiting to hear back from the company to fly out for an interview. It's been a couple of weeks and I'm getting a little antsy. Boy, another Houston to Seattle person, how awesome! Houston is well......different. The NW is definitely more of the place to be for me. After 3 years here, Houston has never felt like home and I don't think it ever will. Not that it isn't nice, because some places are very nice here. But the sauna like conditions for 8 months is a little too much to handle for a person who likes to be outdoors working in the yard or something.

Texasgirl, you sound like you don't miss TX one bit! I know when I get out of here I certainly won't miss it. Well, I may miss the winter and the thunderstorms, but in the end, that's not enough to keep me here!

Haha. Yes, I'd take 8 months of cloudy/dreary weather over 8 months of hot, humid, sauna heat any day! I've lived here over 10 years (between two stints) so I can't wait to get out really. There are just too many nicer places to explore and live!

[ThaBigCheese]

Time to revive this thread, as I completed another round of interviews on Friday and things are looking really positive. The wife really likes the gymnastics center in Auburn, Auburn Gymnastics Center. She is checking on the quality of coaches there. (We also have 2 other gyms in mind, Cascade Elite in Mount Lake Terrace (I think) and Gymnastics East in Bellevue). That looks to be about 20 miles from the HQ's where I'd be working, but the Eastside is definitely NOT out of the equation because we are considering all of our options. Now we don't necessarily need to live in Auburn but we'll probably be close by, and I know there are soccer clubs all around the city so I'm not concerned there. I should have a trip scheduled to Seattle in the next couple of weeks for my final round of interviews.

[ThaBigCheese]

Another update:

Just got back to TX on Friday from my trip to Seattle. I must say that I do think I was impressive and I expect to be there by July, but it's in the hands of the company now. It's looking more and more that the wife likes the gym in Auburn, so I'm looking at towns/cities/suburbs around that area. My little one is going to be home-schooled and going to the gym twice a day on some days so we'll need to be relatively close to there. My older daughter will be going into the 7th grade so schools are still a factor. Do the middle schools there wear any type of uniform? They do here, khaki's and polo shirts.

Next step, offer and acceptance!

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by ThaBigCheese

Another update:

Just got back to TX on Friday from my trip to Seattle. I must say that I do think I was impressive and I expect to be there by July, but it's in the hands of the company now. It's looking more and more that the wife likes the gym in Auburn, so I'm looking at towns/cities/suburbs around that area. My little one is going to be home-schooled and going to the gym twice a day on some days so we'll need to be relatively close to there. My older daughter will be going into the 7th grade so schools are still a factor. Do the middle schools there wear any type of uniform? They do here, khaki's and polo shirts.

Next step, offer and acceptance!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I'm sure they'd be complete idiots to not offer you the position

So....if you want to be not too far from the Gymnastics center in Auburn and also a commute that's not too horrendous to south downtown Seattle?
Lakeland Hills in Auburn has a lot of nicer, newer homes and is nearest to Auburn's best public schools ( Mt. Baker Middle, Auburn Riverside High), but if you don't want to live in Auburn, Maple Valley ( great schools, pleasant semi rural feel) is not too far away, and parts of Federal Way are very nice and also close.

[LyraNgalia]

ThaBigCheese, as another potential soon to be Houston-to-Seattle transplant, thank you for this thread! It's been very informative.