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We are seriously considering a move in between Portland up to Seattle. I have lived there before (seattle, olympia) but a long time ago and now we have kids, mortgage, etc. I am trying to get real experience on traffic, the housing and cost of living. All of the houses I'm finding are outrageous -not much house for a good amount of $. We have a 5400, 3 level house on a 3/4 acre wooded private lot with swim/tennis in the nhood and are in a very affluent, desirable area close to business/shopping etc and we only paid 344 and it's now worth over 450k. Looking at homes around 300k in Washington doesn't buy much even in Olympia. I also have a son on the autism spectrum so I'm looking for a school district that can handle that. My husband will be travelling -50% seattle, 40% portland and 10% montana, idaha, alaska.
Seattle, at 300k probably not anything you would consider. Olympia, 300k can get you something ok but not with the lot/house size you had. If you're spending 90% of your time in Seattle/Portland, you might want to check into the Chehalis/Centralia area (fairly close to in between the two cities). 300k there *might* get you closer to what you're used to.
Traffic to me was worse in Atlanta, but moreso because of the speed people drove at. It's probably very similar here in terms of traffic with the recent growth. Most of my time in Hotlanta was during 00-02 so someone else might give you a better opinion on that.
Obviously the cost of living in Seattle is higher. It's not just the housing, but everything in general from food, gas, taxes, liquor, sales tax 8-9% (offset by no income tax), property taxes.
When I left Georgia, gas was around $1 a gallon. I couldn't believe it was $1.25-$1.50 in Seattle. Pretty funny considering what we pay now.
We had an autism scare with one of our children when she drew the attention of a phd at our daycare center. There were plenty of resources available though and after a year she made a *huge* turnaround. We're extremely thankful for those who helped. Now that Autism has been in the spotlight lately, you'll probably find good resources for it anywhere in WA.
anything else? West coast living is very different. Takes about a year to get used to it.
If you are moving from the South (in general), expect the cost of living to go up by a ratio of 1.5 to 2 (that is nearly twice to twice the amount in question). This is particularly true for housing prices.
It's a harsh (but true) statement: unless you are from NYC, Boston, SF, or LA, expect housing prices to be more than what you paid for where you are from. And you won't get nearly as much for the money.
What DOES sell this place really well are the wonderful people, the gorgeous natural beauty of the area and the many activities that one can engage in here. Seattle is like no other place.
I am from SC but have lived in Georgia; perhaps I can help?
Several things to consider here: First of all, the weather. It will be overcast and/or raining 9 months out of the year. The summers are glorious but all too short. With children, that may definitely be an issue if they enjoy being outdoors.
Second, housing prices. We live west of Seattle in Kitsap County in a little town called Seabeck, which is where a lot of the doctors live; however, most of them DO live right on the water, which is about 5 minutes from where I live. A new house down the street from us (and we are in the "country" about 20 minutes from Silverdale (the shopping mecca of Kitsap County) is selling for $299,000. I doubt it has even a quarter of an acre of land with it and is a modular home. You certainly would not want it for your family with children. We live in a very simple 3-BR 2-BA 1450 sq ft home on 4.4 acres that we built in 2001; it currently appraises for $370,000, which is almost $200,000 more than we paid for it.
Cost of living: Quite a difference. For the money spent shopping for 2 weeks worth of groceries in the Pacific NW, I could shop for a month in the South. Everything is more expensive up here, and I mean everything.
Our school districts are quite good (I am thinking of the Central Kitsap School District, which is where you would be if you lived where I do). They would probably be able to help you meet your son's needs.
Thanks so much for all your replies. I do hope the traffic is not much worse than Atlanta - we keep hearing horror stories so that is a major concern although dh has a ton of flexibility and probably won't leave the home office until after 9am which looks like a lot better time to be driving. I've really liked what I see in Kirkland and we've bumped up our home price to 400k b/c the job will be paying more now to adjust for the huge spike in living cost. We're still looking at getting way under 2000 sq ft but I think if we really like the area, good schools, good neighbors that will be okay. We're still looking to rent for a year and really know the areas. I am shocked that there is no free pre-k all full day kindergarten..I guess we have the GA lotto to thank for all those free perks down here as well. So, our cost for next year will be between $150 and $280 for kindergarten and then the following year we'll have to pay for pre-k at $200/mo instead of it being free here. I had no idea groceries were almost double too..geesh! Time to go back over my budget numbers. Is the Kirkland area almost all yuppies with a lot of 2 income earners? I definately don't want to move somewhere too over our heads and feel like we are constantly trying to keep up...The weather is not scaring me as much but I do wonder how that will come into play...that and the job market were the 2 biggest reasons I took a huge risk and moved to Atl right after college..I think the job market has improved/rebounded a lot and even the weather has warmed up, but it appears the same # of rain days exist?
If you want to buy a house in Kirkland, you'll more than likely have to bump up that price figure a bit higher. I don't think you'll find much in Kirkland for under 400k. Central Kirkland, forget it. The only places you may have hope for finding anything in the 450k range is in northern Kirkland ...Kingsgate, Totem Lake, Finn Hill, etc. areas.
You can take a look at one of the MLS sites to see what's available but like I say, the last time I looked, there wasn't much in the 400k range. Let me know if you want some MLS sites to view that are easy to use.
Hello, I have lived in both Atlanta (2000-2004) and Seattle (2004-present).
Kirkland is nice. If I had to define it, I would say it is more middle-class with pockets of upper-middle-class folks. Seattle in general is/has become a very white-collar area, much more so than Atlanta. The Kirkland area is a mix of families and professionals depending on where in town you live (closer to Lake Washington seems to have more of a yuppie vibe). You’re probably not going to be able to touch anything decent in Seattle’s eastern suburbs (i.e., Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, etc.) for fewer than 500K. The house in Atlanta that you describe in your first post would easily go for over a million dollars in almost all of Seattle’s suburbs. In fact, it would be in the multi-million range if it had views of the mountains, water, etc. Keep in mind that while in the past year home prices in much of the country have began to plateau or decline, the Seattle area is one of the few areas in the U.S. where housing prices continue to rise. We also consistently have some of the highest gasoline pieces in America.
While traffic in Seattle can be bad, it is nothing compared to Atlanta’s. The freeways out here seem to come to a standstill during rush hour, but other than that they are pretty clear. Also, people in Seattle drive very passive and very slow. I have lived in several majors cities throughout the U.S. and have never seen anything quite like it. It can be refreshing knowing that people are not going to try to run you off the road when you’re driving, but most of the time it becomes very frustrating being stuck behind four cars in each of the four lanes in front of you all driving 55/60mph on the freeway. What’s more, people here drive so passive and so laid back here, that they become lackadaisical. In other words, be on your guard. It’s common for people to back up without looking or to merge onto the freeway at 30mph. I think you will be shocked to see the way people drive out here. Again, Seattle freeways = 55mph, Atlanta freeways (and most other big cities) = 80+mph freeways. Just Google “Seattle Drivers,” there is some very funny stuff posted about it all over.
In regard to Seattle weather, I personally like it. The stories about the rain, however, are true. We don’t get the average-type rains that the rest of the country sees. Instead we get days and days of gray skies accompanied by drizzle. Needless to say, if you are a person that likes the sunny weather the Pacific Northwest is not for you. You probably know this already being a prior resident.
Based on your budget and having a special needs child, I would recommend Puyallup Washington. It is east of Tacoma about 15 minutes and has one of the best special needs programs in the state. How do I know this?? I have a severely disabled son who attends a school in the Puyallup School District. PSD is the hub for special needs programs and many school disctricts bus their special needs kids to Puyallup for school.
Puyallup proper (city and county) is about 75,000 people and a nice combination of city and rural. A standard 4 bedroom, 2500 sq ft home will run you around $310,000 in unicorporated Puyallup. The biggest drawback to Puyallup is it experienced rapid growth during the past several years with low interest rates. Traffic is an issue between the South Hill Mall and Graham on S. Meridian but locals know how to get around it.
I used to live in the Seattle area(Everett) and now I live in the metro Atlanta area. The summers in Seattle were wonderful. Nice clean, clear skies(as opposed to the overcast that Seattle is typically known for). In Atlanta, there is so much pollution in the air and the summers are terrible. Too much muggy air and bad air quality. Yes it did rain when I lived in Seattle, but it rains much more in Atlanta and the rain in Atlanta can soak through a jacket and many cases an umbrella is useless. There is less snow in Atlanta than what I saw in Seattle(and both cities don't get that much snow, Seattle considering it's latitude). A drawback for Seattle is the higher cost of living.
I am from SC but have lived in Georgia; perhaps I can help?
Several things to consider here: First of all, the weather. It will be overcast and/or raining 9 months out of the year. The summers are glorious but all too short. With children, that may definitely be an issue if they enjoy being outdoors.
Second, housing prices. We live west of Seattle in Kitsap County in a little town called Seabeck, which is where a lot of the doctors live; however, most of them DO live right on the water, which is about 5 minutes from where I live. A new house down the street from us (and we are in the "country" about 20 minutes from Silverdale (the shopping mecca of Kitsap County) is selling for $299,000. I doubt it has even a quarter of an acre of land with it and is a modular home. You certainly would not want it for your family with children. We live in a very simple 3-BR 2-BA 1450 sq ft home on 4.4 acres that we built in 2001; it currently appraises for $370,000, which is almost $200,000 more than we paid for it.
Cost of living: Quite a difference. For the money spent shopping for 2 weeks worth of groceries in the Pacific NW, I could shop for a month in the South. Everything is more expensive up here, and I mean everything.
Our school districts are quite good (I am thinking of the Central Kitsap School District, which is where you would be if you lived where I do). They would probably be able to help you meet your son's needs.
I hope I have been of some small help to you.
One thing to mention: Seabeck is on what is referred to as Hood Canal, which is a very rural area, and about a 2 hours drive from Seattle. It very much has a NW style rain forest feel to it and 9 months of clouds and/or rain does not sound out of the question. However, it is located in a unique climate zone and gets significantly more overcast days and precipitation than Seattle and it's burbs. Go to weather.com and check the historical graphs. I am not trying to downplay the weather in Seattle, just trying to advise you that CopperKettles lives in a pretty extreme are in terms of gloominess.
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Thanks for the feedback
