Should I consider a roommate? (Seattle, Tacoma: apartment, rental, townhome)

[bghouse]

Hi All,

So, I've been looking at rental apartment prices and getting a tad bit discouraged. I am really trying to keep my costs under $1k a month for 1 one bedroom. I would prefer to have a washer / dryer in my unit - but that's becoming difficult also.

I've been looking down around Tacoma as well as north up to Edmonds. I'm finding places, but then I wonder if I'm pushing myself out of the "core" of Seattle and all the things to do and experience.

I've seen posts about people getting roommates - but I'm turning 47 in December and haven't had a roomate since 1990. So I'm not sure that's the route to go either...

If I go higher in rent, I have to stress more about getting additional freelance income, and considering I was trying to retire from the working stress - this isn't that appealing either truth be told.

I do my freelancing programming from home, generally in the mornings until about 2pm. Then, I'm trying to finally get a life after 15 years of 60+ work weeks. Would be a shame to either a.) have to work so much I have no free time again or b.) have free time but no spare cash to do anything.

One thing that's really hard to envision is how far away things are. I mean, I look at Tacoma and google says it's 39 minutes to Seattle? Is it really? Google also says Edmonds to Seattle is 26 minutes, but is it really?

Wow, I had no idea this was going to be such a tough decision for me. I plan to come up in early September after we launch the next version of the software I'm working on - can't get away before then. But I was really hoping that I didn't have to literally visit every place between Olympia and Bellingham to make this decision - lol.

Would finding a roommate make this ultimately easier on myself - or am i just opening myself up to ungodly amounts of stress going that route?

So very, very tough....

[Seacove]

Edmonds is closer to Seattle than Tacoma and very nice. I did a search and found a site, forrent.com with one bedroom, max 1000 with washer/dryer and found some in Edmonds, 1 in Bothell, 1 in Lynnwood, and so on.

Search Results - ForRent.com[]=56

It's easy to say take a roommate but I wouldn't want one myself and would be more inclined to rent a room in a house. But you might check some of these out and just keep looking. Under 1000 is not easy, especially with a washer/dryer, but I don't think you need to go to Tacoma to find it unless you're working in Tacoma.

[bghouse]

Thanks Seacove. When I look on padmapper - it doesn't seem like Edmonds is that much closer than Tacoma - so it's kind of confusing that way.

[Hemlock140]

Look at Lynnwood, it's an easier commute than most of Edmonds, just hop onto I5. I know someone that just scored a newer 2 BR apartment with inside laundry and a garage, more like a townhome with a small yard for $900 there. Sorry I don't know the name or location, or whether there are others available, he's not moving in until September 1st.

[tobester]

Originally Posted by bghouse

One thing that's really hard to envision is how far away things are. I mean, I look at Tacoma and google says it's 39 minutes to Seattle? Is it really? Google also says Edmonds to Seattle is 26 minutes, but is it really?

Yes, both of these times seem about right if you're driving on a Sunday morning around 4 am ... any other time, good luck! It can often take 45 minutes to an hour just to drive from Northgate to downtown Seattle heading south on I5 and the drive between Seattle and Tacoma can take up to two hours on a Friday afternoon.