What areas to look? (Seattle, Summit: hardwood floors, apartments, leasing agent)

[hijakk]

Sorry, not sure of the etiquette, I looked for a more general moving megathread but didn't find one, and I was hesitant to jump in and derail someone else's thread. I'm pursuing a job in Seattle, the office is at the south end of the Pioneer Square area, by the international district.

I'm 26, engaged, no kids and no short-medium term plans for them, dog at about 70lbs. The two things I'm primarily looking for are food and a historically/architecturally interesting place to live. The various conversion lofts scattered around Pioneer Square look great, but looking I see that there at least was some general concerns about the area, noisy partying, fights, plenty of homeless folks and something about open air drug markets? I've also heard that there has been a pretty strong crackdown recently and the area is improving dramatically, is that the case?

By food, I mean I like to cook, and coming from Arizona, the variety and quality of fresh product in Seattle is drool-worthy. I also really like creative restaurants, as well as those wonderful places that look like dives but produce amazing food.

Belltown, Downtown, First Hill, that general area, do any of them have a reputation of being substantially better neighborhoods than Pioneer Square? I'm particularly interested in this area as I'd like to walk as much as possible.

When I get out to the area I'm definitely going to try to hang out various places in the downtown and surrounding areas at various times of day to try to get a feel for it.

If the whole area comes off as too shady, I'm definitely willing to look elsewhere. Further away from the area, density of restaurants, enough that I'd need to commute, and be willing to ditch the whole "interesting house/apartment" thing. What areas of town are generally quieter/safer at night? North? South? Mercer Are there still going to be good grocery options in those quieter areas?

My limit right now, before knowing salary is $1600. A single family home would be great, but I know that most likely isn't realistic based on my research. Having an office would be very good, so a 1br with a den or a 2br. I'd really really like to find a place that has a high quality kitchen, gas stove, good oven, etc. I've done my time in places with crappy kitchens and would like to keep that from happening again.

[tobester]

Originally Posted by hijakk

My limit right now, before knowing salary is $1600. A single family home would be great, but I know that most likely isn't realistic based on my research. Having an office would be very good, so a 1br with a den or a 2br. I'd really really like to find a place that has a high quality kitchen, gas stove, good oven, etc. I've done my time in places with crappy kitchens and would like to keep that from happening again.

I think we'd all like a place for $1600 with an office and a high quality kitchen. Can't imagine there are a lot of rentals that have such amenities - unless you want to move to Eastern Washington.

[hijakk]

Fair enough. Regardless of cost limits, what areas of town are "good"? Are there any that are appreciably better than others?

I know in Tucson, the extreme north edge of town is pretty good, but everything else is really mixed, you can have great, quiet street or two, then a terrible street next to them. In Tucson, look of the neighborhood doesn't really tell you much about its actual quality - my fiancee lived in a part of town that looked fine, then discovered that everyone in the area had their cars broken into fairly regularly, general burglaries, etc. I lived half a mile away and never had a single issue. The place I live now, never had an issue, but a couple blocks away there's gunfire once a month or so.

[Kayela]

Well - I can certainly recommend checking out Capitol Hill. Interesting historic architecture - check. Ecclectic, nice restaurants - check (Olivar, Poppy, Spinasse, Crush, Anchovies & Olive Sitka & Spruce, Restaurat Zoe, etc). Cheap, ethnic restaurants - also check (there's just a ton of places to eat here in any price range). Good food shopping - there is Trader Joe's, Madison Market, Melrose Market, couple good QFC's, Safeway and a Sunday Farmer's market + walking distance to Pike Place Market. IMO - First Hill and Belltown are lacking when it comes to grocery shopping and what I call day-to-day shopping.

Cap Hill is also uber walkable, has great transit and tons of unique little shops, galleries, bookstores, coffee shops, etc. The south and west parts are mainly apartments (lots of old brick buildings with hardwood floors, high ceilings, and not state-of-the-art kitchens), and north and east are apartments mixed with residential. The trick is going to find someplace that'll take a dog that big. I'd say stick around 15th and stay north of Pike/Pine by a few blocks. That's where much of Cap HIll's nightlife is and it can get a bit disruptive when the evening is in full swing. Parking is dear in this area (actually any of the areas you've mentioned) so you'll want to verify that it's included if you have a car and want to keep it.

Further away from your work, but also a pretty good fit for your criteria are Lower Queen Anne and Ballard. It'd still be pretty easy for you to take public transit from them though.. You may find more newer construction in Ballard - it's gone through a lot of re-development in the past 10 yrs or so..

[hijakk]

Awesome, thank you.
I was messing around online the other day and started talking to a leasing agent in Seattle over chat who was very helpful - not just trying to sell me on her complex or others managed by her group. I think between the two of you I'll primarily be looking at Belltown, Downtown and Capital Hill.

Before leasing anywhere I'll definitely go and hang out in different parts of each of those at different times of day to see if I can get a feel for the microcosm. Definitely seems worth getting a hotel for a up to a week to be able to make an informed decision and lower the risk of ending up in a crappy situation as much as possible.

We're going to go down to one vehicle I think, and quite possibly sell it after a few months if we don't use it much and Zip seems like a viable alternative.

I've seen a lot of places refusing dogs at all, some saying dogs under 25-35 pounds, one or two saying under 60 (which I might be able to BS my way through unless they stick him on a scale), and the rest with no size restriction - just breed restrictions.

[Ira500]

And keep in mind that there are some fairly distinct neighborhoods on Capitol Hill...The Pike Pine corridor( closest to downtown, most urban), the stuff closest to Broadway( busy, urban, but a little less so that the Pike/Pine corridor), and the stuff nearest to 15th Ave E..the stuff near 15th still has plenty of things to walk to, but is a bit less dense....I've lived at several locations on Capitol Hill,( SW Capitol Hill near Denny and Summit, 12th and Mercer, and 17th and John, and I think the 17th Ave location was my favorite. 15th ave E is a pleasant, walkable street with lots of places to eat and drink.

[hijakk]

I've always lived in single family homes managed by relatively small property management groups.

Are there any good generalizations I can make about large formal apartments owned by big property groups vs single owner for a building vs more boutique type small group vs a more classical property management group where they do individual units, single family homes, business spaces, etc? Or is it really a tossup on if the management will be a pain or not?

I'm finding sort of shockingly good reviews in multiple places for the 2900 on First ave apartments in Seattle, anybody know if they are legitimately that good?

[Kayela]

Yeah, when they're too positive and gush about the staff it sets off my BS meter. It is human nature to complain and I get suspicious when that's absent.