Should I start a surviving Seattle support group page? (Poulsbo: credit, loans)

[noah]

I am one of those new residents paying an increasing amount of income in rent as a single income family. Grew up in western washington and really wanted to come back, loving the outdoor opportunities but as you pointed out the one stress is the cost of housing currently.

But I'm not convinced yet that it will just go up forever, it never does. 75% in the last 5 years is quite a bump already. Maybe if you just look at the prime city neighborhoods but as a metro go back to 2011ish, housing supply was 5 times what it was today and no one would buy to the point wall street money bought 50k houses at a time and help absorb inventory. Add to that all the years of nearly no building and a recovering economy which fed mass migration to Seattle and here we are, but there are signs it won't last forever. Even SF has seen rents decrease recently. Its quite a boom here right now but amazing how the average person forgets the downturns so fast (granted the downturns are much less in Seattle than elsewhere these days). The rent to income ratio can only go so high before things change and likely we are about there. The local hiring may delay this for some time but at some point a house 20 miles outside the city will come back to earth (especially considering how many Boeing layoffs are happening).

Originally Posted by msvickybee

I'm sorry to hear so many people are being lured into this horrible situation. Seattle right now is all the rave in the media. All the time I'm seeing articles in places like Forbes, "top 10 best cities to live in America." The reason Seattle gets ranked so high is because they're basing it on things like job opportunities, (which is only true if your in the tech industry) Schools? (No bigger myth in the world than Seattle has great schools) The articles always go on to sale people on the nature's beauty pics. They leave out the horrible traffic, high divorce rate, mental illness, astronomic cost of living ect.

I recently found out that a lot of the people making a killing in the tech industry decided to start investing in property. First they invested in San Francisco, the Southern California, and Seattle, Oregon. The result that the cost of living went through the roof (up 500 %). But now that these industries have their hooks into the housing markets on the west coast, they pay big money to Sell these areas to world- Seattle in particular, as this Liberal Utopian city in blogs, news articles ect.

Looking over the comments on this page, It looks like people are just worked over by their experience in Seattle; I know I was.

I'm a former Seattle resident. I lived there only because I had to, (my family is from there) but I got out and never looked back. Visiting from time to time, I see it as probably one of the most evil, depressing and miserable cities in America, it's just intolerable, and it gets worse everyday.

Please sound off if you like the idea of a official Seattle survivor support page. It would give people a place not only to sound off, but also a support network for the people still stuck there who hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

[Thomas Thompson]

I left Seattle, more or less for good, in 1968. But with family and friends there, I do sometimes get back. In my view, it was a magical place to grow up in the north end (Wedgwood). I attended Wedgwood Elementary, Nathan Eckstein Jr. High School, and Roosevelt High. But even in the early 60s, traffic was a nightmare. Partly, this had to do with the fact that protestors were able to substantially delay the building of the Connecticut Street Interchange, which set back the government's construction plans considerably. I have fond memories of dinners at the Golden Lion in the Olympic Hotel; The Golden Horseshoe bar downtown (quite decadent in those days, and no doubt gone by now); The Rajah Apartments on Capital Hill, which I believe is still extant; beautiful summers on Matthews Beach at Lake Washington, taking the ferry to Vashon Island, Bremerton, and other locales; The Bon Marche; Frederick & Nelson's; a fine restaurant downtown called The Copper Kitchen (unfortunately razed to make way for the monorail); driving through the Arboretum at the University of Washington; Lee's Restaurant in the University District; and many other venues.

Thanks for your post, which brought back many good memories of that beautiful city . . .

[thatguy950]

If you take away:

-The horrible weather
-Traffic as bad as LA
-Cost of living working its way up to SF levels
-HORRIBLE native residents (socially-inept, poor hygiene, xenophobic, cheap, dishonest, intolerant, sneaky/conniving)
-Crumbling infrastructure
-Awful state and city governments

It would be tolerable. It's easily the most overrated city in the country right now.

[OneTimeSEALover]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Seattle is a great city if you can afford to live in it. If not, living here will likely involve making significant trade-offs, such as a better school for a longer commute or a worse residence for a shorter commute, for instance. If not earning a minimum amount, you might have to accept a longer commute, a worse residence, and a worse school, just for the privilege of being here. Many people move here after a short summer visit to Downtown, the Center, Pioneer Square, and the Waterfront, without once stepping foot in, or coming anywhere near, any district where they could actually afford to live. That the reality of being here should often fall short of what are unrealistic expectations is hardly surprising.

Common refrain for some cultural centers. Some places just draw people. And if they come from an even more expensive place, THEY are saving money. Come from a cheaper place, and suddenly your cost of living takes a jump.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Exactly. Anything to thin the herd works for me. We also have Bigfoot and maybe a meteor!

And don't forget the Kraken hiding in Puget Sound. Word is, once the last Norwegian leaves Ballard, it will strike...

[cmswazey]

Originally Posted by msvickybee

I'm sorry to hear so many people are being lured into this horrible situation. Seattle right now is all the rave in the media. All the time I'm seeing articles in places like Forbes, "top 10 best cities to live in America." The reason Seattle gets ranked so high is because they're basing it on things like job opportunities, (which is only true if your in the tech industry) Schools? (No bigger myth in the world than Seattle has great schools) The articles always go on to sale people on the nature's beauty pics. They leave out the horrible traffic, high divorce rate, mental illness, astronomic cost of living ect.

I recently found out that a lot of the people making a killing in the tech industry decided to start investing in property. First they invested in San Francisco, the Southern California, and Seattle, Oregon. The result that the cost of living went through the roof (up 500 %). But now that these industries have their hooks into the housing markets on the west coast, they pay big money to Sell these areas to world- Seattle in particular, as this Liberal Utopian city in blogs, news articles ect.

Looking over the comments on this page, It looks like people are just worked over by their experience in Seattle; I know I was.

I'm a former Seattle resident. I lived there only because I had to, (my family is from there) but I got out and never looked back. Visiting from time to time, I see it as probably one of the most evil, depressing and miserable cities in America, it's just intolerable, and it gets worse everyday.

Please sound off if you like the idea of a official Seattle survivor support page. It would give people a place not only to sound off, but also a support network for the people still stuck there who hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

I like it. But I recognize the fact that housing has become too expensive.

You want to see evil, try E St Louis or El Paso.

[cmswazey]

Originally Posted by thatguy950

If you take away:

-The horrible weather
-Traffic as bad as LA
-Cost of living working its way up to SF levels
-HORRIBLE native residents (socially-inept, poor hygiene, xenophobic, cheap, dishonest, intolerant, sneaky/conniving)
-Crumbling infrastructure
-Awful state and city governments

It would be tolerable. It's easily the most overrated city in the country right now.

What horrible weather? Where I'm from- and over half the country- it often gets below zero in the Winter.

What horrible residents? Nobody at my office or in my neighborhood is as you describe.

Infrastructure and muni govt could improve but it's like that all over the US.

Traffic not good here but I've been to LA and seen traffic jams at midnight. Never saw that here.

Cost of living is high cuz ppl keep coming here.

[pnwguy2]

When a city is held high up on a pedestal, as Seattle has, the mocking is certainly to follow. Psych 101.

I have learned to ignore this about my hometown city. However, I don't live there anymore for a reason.

Please keep in mind, that many, (not all), try to downplay Seattle because they don't or can't live there for various reasons. Some are actual Seattle lovers who jump on the anti-Seattle bandwagon for whatever reason, but mostly because they don't want more moving there. This isn't anything new. The "Lesser Seattle" movement goes back to the 1970's with a Seattle newspaper columnist named Emmitt Watson. He's long gone, but some of his ideas still are going strong here in 2017.

So continue with this fray, it really won't make much difference in the longterm success of the city/region. Seattle continues to grow despite naysayers, so it really is a lot of wasted energy.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by thatguy950

If you take away:

-The horrible weather
-Traffic as bad as LA
-Cost of living working its way up to SF levels
-HORRIBLE native residents (socially-inept, poor hygiene, xenophobic, cheap, dishonest, intolerant, sneaky/conniving)
-Crumbling infrastructure
-Awful state and city governments

It would be tolerable. It's easily the most overrated city in the country right now.

I never noticed the horrible traffic when I lived in Seattle, because I always took the bus. Maybe you should try it. Your impression of the city might change.

The weather never bothered me.

I AM from the SF area, so Seattle seemed cheap to me.

Poor hygiene? Xenophobic? Dishonest? Conniving?? I don't know who you're talking about. Reserved and not very sociable--yes. That definitely is a drag.

The only awefulness I noticed about state or local gov'ts was that the state legislature kept undermining the UW (and other state schools, I assume) by cutting funding . Chronic funding cuts. It got so bad that under one President, entire UW departments were eliminated; all the ones that made the UW unique, even some of the best departments with a top national reputation, were targeted. A few managed to fight back, others succumbed. That's crazy.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

When a city is held high up on a pedestal, as Seattle has, the mocking is certainly to follow. Psych 101.

.

Cool theory, bro, but people have been complaining about Seattle since long before it got put on a pedestal.