Moving to Seattle in a month (Redmond, Kirkland: apartments, rent, home)

[LaBecs]

Hello, everyone...
I have been reading about Seattle and I am getting very scared. I'm a single 50 year very young woman and I will be moving up there from Los Angeles with my dog, my cats and my fish. I will keep the work I do from home, so I don't need to find a job right away. I'm going on an adventure, since I have never been there, in search of nature, cool and clean air, and mainly, a new life. And yes, I know about the rain and the gray, and I really don't mind.
But everything I have read about Seattle is how unfriendly people are, how they hate Californians, how everybody smokes pot, how expensive it is (not compared to LA!), how people my age should not go there, etc.... Am I making a big mistake moving there? All I want is to live in a nice area, with a nice view so I can work from home, be able to walk, go to parks with my dog. Also, what area would be good for someone like me to live in?
Can someone my age put my mind at ease, please?????

[Seacove]

Curious. Why did you choose Seattle if you've never been here, don't have to work here and everything you've heard frightens you? Why Seattle when you could go anywhere?

[Hemlock140]

A lot of posters here just want to keep more people from coming and making the roads more clogged up, and driving home prices up more. We have been here 20 years from the SF Bay Area and have never experienced unfriendliness, nor any ill-feelings from people when they found out where we were from. That was common back in the 1980s when people flooded the area from CA with huge piles of equity and had to spend more than asking prices to avoid capital gains tax. Even when we came we bought a home twice as big and half as old on a lot 3 times bigger for the exact amount we got for our CA house. We ran down and changed our car license plates immediately but soon found out that most of our neighbors were from CA too.

I do recommend coming up for a visit first, though. Not everyone smokes pot, but with the recent law passed and the big Hempfest we have in the summer, it does give that impression. I do now see people lit up around Belltown/downtown Seattle right on the streets, since the police are no longer enforcing, but you don't see that in the suburbs.

Tell more about the kind of place you want to be living, city, suburbs or rural? Close to
shops, restaurants and clubs or not? Budget is a big issue too, it's not LA but we do still have high rent and home prices. The area is very dog-friendly even with off-leash parks, but landlords always charge extra to have pets.

[LaBecs]

I chose Seattle because moving to the PNW has been my dream forever! I want to travel to BC, Alaska, I had heard wonderful things but then I made the mistake of reading posts. But it does make sense that they are trying to discourage more people from coming. Like I said, I want to live near nature, but not in a rural area. I was thinking Redmont, Bothell, Sammamish, Kirkland... a suburb. Anywhere else you recommend? I can pay a rent of up to 1500 and from what I have seen there is a lot available for that.
Any other positives?

[Kayela]

In your shoes I'd consider looking around DT Issaquah too. Especially the part just to the south of it. It's very close to some great trails, very dog friendly, and the DT part is cute. There are some hillsides that have places with amazing views of the Cascades. Super easy to hop on I-90 and be up in the higher elevations in ~30 minutes. Plus you have Tiger, Squak and Cougar right at your backdoor. When you want the city amenities, just take 90 the other way and it's a 20-25 minute commute (not at peak hours of course).

While it's true that people have more of a tendancy to keep to themselves here, there are plenty of friendly people. Since you seem to really be into the nature aspect, you might look for some meetup groups for hiking, skiing, dog-lovers, etc... I always find it easier to meet and bond with people over active things. Plus, our mountains are truly impressive, and joining a group is a great way to learn about good places to go. You could also look into joining a volunteer work party for the WTA (WA Trails Assoc). They are a great organization and they depend a lot on volunteers to maintain parts of our trail system. They'll take just about anyone willing to work, and you'll be side-by-side with like-minded people. Their website has all the details and a schedule of upcoming work parties. At the very least their page is great for finding a good hike. I have found the trip reports to be very valuable at certain times of the year when conditions might be dicey.

Washington Trails Association

You have an enviable flexibility, so in your shoes I'd do the exact same thing! If it doesn't work out - so be it. At least you'll have tried it and learned something.

[Inkpoe]

We can't really speak as to whether if its a huge mistake for you. You'll have to make the most of the experience, of course. The most you can do when it comes to the negative posts is read it and take it with a grain of salt. When you move here, the odds are you're going to understand why there are such posts (well, at least some of them). But you'd have to be here to see if it would work out for you. No one else can tell you.

Look into Edmonds and West Seattle. If you're daring, maybe Vashon Island.

[LaBecs]

Thank you, Kayela, that is awesome information and makes me wanna go even more. I will certainly look into Issaqua
Why would I have to be daring for Vashon Island, Inkpoe?

[Hemlock140]

There are great trails near the Redmond Ridge area, and apartments in your range, for two bedrooms. The best trails are through temperate rainforests, with dense canopies, ferns, Trilliums, skunk cabbage and nurse logs/stumps.

We use these trails often when we feel like a longer walk than the great trails we have here in Sammamish:

Watershed Preserve - City of Redmond

Where we go most often:

Soaring Eagle

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by LaBecs

Why would I have to be daring for Vashon Island, Inkpoe?

Because it's a lifestyle, a different way of life. You're living on a really cool island, mainly accessible only by ferry.