Quality of Life (Seattle: for sale, real estate, rent) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

41Willys · 11-28-2007, 11:27 AM

How is the quality of life in the Seattle and surrounding area's? Iv'e pretty much run out of questions but have this one left.

There's a lot of places with a great quality of life, some of them are surprising. But the Seattle area has no, or "very little" snow. Humidless/bugless summers, no income tax, and no real extreme weather patterns. I don't want to read charts on this, I'd like some "hands on" opinions from people who have lived in other area's of the USA.

Personally I've lived in Colorado, NY & NJ. And Texas for a very brief period.
Colorado by far has the best quality of these states IMO. I don't really want to hear about California, Ive been there many times and know what it is about. Anyone care to share?

pwright1 · 11-28-2007, 01:21 PM

My quality of life is fantastic right now. I am truely glad I took that chance and made the move to Seattle from D.C. I too lived in a few places and Seattle is the city for me right now. I have a great network of friends around me, a good job and I live in an area that is so beautiful to look at everyday. Stepping out my front door and seeing a pot of geraniums still flourishing in November is quite nice. I look forward to every season here because there's so much to do year around and there are so many events I look forward to. Seattle Intern. Film Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Seafair, Festival Sundiata, the holiday season around here is awesome with tons of things to see and do. It never stops. And to be able to be in a beautiful city surrounded by water is extra special. As far as traffic and skyrocketing real estate prices I guess living in D.C., New York and Los Angeles during my lifetime, Seattle doesn't seem all that bad. The weather is a plus for me especially in the summertime. I love it here. By far the most enjoyable.

41Willys · 11-28-2007, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwright1

My quality of life is fantastic right now. I am truely glad I took that chance and made the move to Seattle from D.C. I too lived in a few places and Seattle is the city for me right now. I have a great network of friends around me, a good job and I live in an area that is so beautiful to look at everyday. Stepping out my front door and seeing a pot of geraniums still flourishing in November is quite nice. I look forward to every season here because there's so much to do year around and there are so many events I look forward to. Seattle Intern. Film Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Seafair, Festival Sundiata, the holiday season around here is awesome with tons of things to see and do. It never stops. And to be able to be in a beautiful city surrounded by water is extra special. As far as traffic and skyrocketing real estate prices I guess living in D.C., New York and Los Angeles during my lifetime, Seattle doesn't seem all that bad. The weather is a plus for me especially in the summertime. I love it here. By far the most enjoyable.

Thanks! Seems like Minnesota is always #1 when it comes to this topic. It's very affordable, the job market seem's ok but it is so very cold there. It's not uncommon to get -30 and stay that way for 3 weeks? And the mosquito is also called the state bird. There's no way, well, yes I COULD tolerate it if I had too, but who would want too?

_Charles_ · 11-28-2007, 02:14 PM

I know of a condo for sale.

magrack · 11-28-2007, 02:29 PM

The quality of life is what you make of your life...it's something you control.

The greater Puget Sound area is fine and compares favorably with anywhere else I've lived...excluding the foreign countries, in no particular order...AR, WA, GA, KY, CA, CO, NC, and AK.

I think Seattle is expensive and getting a little too crowded, but that's me...over all, there's lots worse places to live.

Assuming you make a reasonable wage compared to the cost of living and can deal with (or want) some gloomy gray periods, it's as good as you want it to be.

41Willys · 11-28-2007, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Charles_

I know of a condo for sale.

Will you rent it?

MissingAll4Seasons · 11-30-2007, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 41Willys

How is the quality of life in the Seattle and surrounding area's? Iv'e pretty much run out of questions but have this one left.

There's a lot of places with a great quality of life, some of them are surprising. But the Seattle area has no, or "very little" snow. Humidless/bugless summers, no income tax, and no real extreme weather patterns. I don't want to read charts on this, I'd like some "hands on" opinions from people who have lived in other area's of the USA.

Personally I've lived in Colorado, NY & NJ. And Texas for a very brief period.
Colorado by far has the best quality of these states IMO. I don't really want to hear about California, Ive been there many times and know what it is about. Anyone care to share?

Hmmmm don't know who told you we had humidless summers... but I guess it's compared to what? Compared to GA or SC... nope, not that humid; but compared to CO or WY, totally humid -- we are a rain forest after all. And yes, there aren't too many flying insects in the summers (unless you live near water), but the spiders can take over your house!

Seattle doesn't get much snow, but only an hour or two away you get lots of snow (in case you felt like skiing). However, it does get pretty cold and since it's wet and rainy, it feels even colder... all the way to the bone (not like the same temp in CO where it's not as wet). But if it does snow, the city is totally ill-equipped to deal with it. Really no bizarre weather patterns because there are only two types of weather... rain/cold or dry/warm (ok maybe an occasional period of drizzly/warm)... but those can cycle every couple of hours in a single day.

Quality of life... hmmm... depends on what you're looking for. We do have a few museums, some theaters, arenas and stadiums. We have a symphony and ballet and a film festival. There are cultural/artistic things to do downtown throughout the year as Pwright mentioned. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do as well, even if you have to drive a little bit to get totally out of the city. Overall, the scenery can be spectacular with mountains, forests and water everywhere... although I do miss the drastic change of season displays you see elsewhere in the country. There are tons of coffee shops, bookstores and brewery pubs. Some pretty good restaurants on both sides of the lake, too. You can go whale watching and deep sea fishing. But, as mentioned in several other threads, being social and making friends isn't so easy and depression is high here. If you're single, or very social, you might want to think about that very hard.

41Willys · 11-30-2007, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

Hmmmm don't know who told you we had humidless summers... but I guess it's compared to what? Compared to GA or SC... nope, not that humid; but compared to CO or WY, totally humid -- we are a rain forest after all. And yes, there aren't too many flying insects in the summers (unless you live near water), but the spiders can take over your house!

Seattle doesn't get much snow, but only an hour or two away you get lots of snow (in case you felt like skiing). However, it does get pretty cold and since it's wet and rainy, it feels even colder... all the way to the bone (not like the same temp in CO where it's not as wet). But if it does snow, the city is totally ill-equipped to deal with it. Really no bizarre weather patterns because there are only two types of weather... rain/cold or dry/warm (ok maybe an occasional period of drizzly/warm)... but those can cycle every couple of hours in a single day.

Quality of life... hmmm... depends on what you're looking for. We do have a few museums, some theaters, arenas and stadiums. We have a symphony and ballet and a film festival. There are cultural/artistic things to do downtown throughout the year as Pwright mentioned. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do as well, even if you have to drive a little bit to get totally out of the city. Overall, the scenery can be spectacular with mountains, forests and water everywhere... although I do miss the drastic change of season displays you see elsewhere in the country. There are tons of coffee shops, bookstores and brewery pubs. Some pretty good restaurants on both sides of the lake, too. You can go whale watching and deep sea fishing. But, as mentioned in several other threads, being social and making friends isn't so easy and depression is high here. If you're single, or very social, you might want to think about that very hard.

I'm single w/ a 12 year old daughter. I just wanna live my life with minimal distractions and plenty of quality moments.

pwright1 · 12-01-2007, 04:14 AM

As long as I lived in Seattle I never heard or read of Seattle having high depression problem. Being single and social I honestly found Seattle to be a very easy city to make friends and have a pretty good social life.

41Willys · 12-01-2007, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwright1

As long as I lived in Seattle I never heard or read of Seattle having high depression problem. Being single and social I honestly found Seattle to be a very easy city to make friends and have a pretty good social life.

I think it's a know fact for a LONG time that it is the suicide capital of the USA.