Seattle concerns

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Interesting map but I'm not sure I agree with the Colorado to Washington comparison. We grew up in Denver and were just there due to a death in the family. While the increase in housing costs turned out to be a good thing for the surviving parent, the sale of the house there still only bought a very nice condo here.

Yes, I'm not saying the cost of housing is the 'same' as Seattle. Just that the same trend occurred there. The cost of housing in CO has skyrocketed recently from what it used to be even a decade ago due in large part to its popularity. CO 'used to be' the affordable place to buy a home when compared to other west coast states. Many people moved there because of this fact. Now that gap has narrowed significantly - hence the red map color when compared to the rest of the nation. Though it will probably never be as high as Seattle, SF, LA or SD generally speaking. It is more on par with other west coast cities such as Vancouver, Portland, Sacramento. $500K+ has become commonplace for a home there now.

Here's an recent article from the Denver Post on this subject and new high water mark: Average price of a single-family home in metro Denver passes half-million dollar mark.

Note that Denver prices jumped 12% since just last year which is a significant increase.

And then there's this: How much house do you get for your buck in Denver? Only coastal cities do worse!

Derek

[october2007]

Originally Posted by KCROYALS

I would like to get some feedback on the cost of living situation and the quality of life here in the Seattle area. We moved up here about three years ago from Houston. I am not looking to make this a 'bash Seattle' thread, but I must say I am pretty disappointed with the way things are here.


Do any of you believe we are at the high for housing cost? It's just astronomical. I grew up in the NYC area, so I am used to high cost of living, but this is insane. I am making 100k a year and we are struggling. We are paying $2300 per month for rent in Auburn. We have looked at buying, but we are running into two problems. 1) Anything somewhat decent is at minimum 450k if not 550k. 2) The inventory is super low, so even if I find something there is a bidding war or I am simply getting ripped off. I may be in the minority, but I find this entire area is severely overpriced.


Do any of you see the housing issue getting any better or is it going to just continue to climb?


The other surprise is we are literally finding all of south King County laced with riff raff. I mean whether it be Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, Renton, SeaTac etc... Wherever we go we see tweakers or I am sorry to say just trash. I have taken my son to multiple parks and I have found plenty of needles on the grounds.
We used to come up here often around 2011 and 2012 and I don't remember it being this bad..Not to mention that Seattle is becoming absolutely filthy. Has the entire area just gone down hill over the last few years or was it always like this?


It's definitely disappointing because I really like my job, but I have grown to not like it here. I had such high hopes when I moved here, but I feel all the good reasons that made the PNW so desirable are either already gone are rapidly heading in that direction. My wife has been wanting to move back to Texas for over a year. I have been trying to hold off, but time has not proved her wrong.


Again, not trying to bash the Seattle region, just being honest about my concerns and experiences. Any feed back would be appreciated.

IMO Seattle always had some of the elements you mention but it definitely took a turn for the worse around 2023/14 or so. The homeless/drug problem is out of control due to insane city council and bullying by the ACLU which has resulted in hands off policy for the homeless. The extreme liberalism and benefits (and legal pot) seem to draw "urban campers" to the area.

I had to move because it was no longer the city I loved. Housing and rent prices are out of reach for many and that has gotten worse too as more and more people move there. I miss the laid back beautiful city that I knew in the 90s. Even 10 years ago it was still livable.

[87112]

City is a soon to be million dollar average house price ghetto, I ride a scooter during the warm months. I dare not park it at the movies or leave it parked at the mall fearing it will be missing upon my return. Its that bad.

Read the end of this news story and the comments.

Jodi has lived all around the world, and said that even the most poverty-stricken nations do not have such an acceptance of crime as Seattle.

“I’ve lived in third-world countries and [the attitude] is not like that,” Jodi said.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/south-sou...mare/756174434

[AADAD]

If the city gives the keys to the unemployed, mentally ill and criminals it is logical that this is going on.

[uniquetraveler]

The rising house price in Seattle is mostly due to the single family home zoning issue. Seattle has the highest percentage of single family homes within the city border, amongst all the large cities in US.

Almost all the growth of the last decade has been concentrated to few neighborhoods only. If one sees the map provided at the Seattle Times article below, it is quite obvious that almost 60% of the city barely had any population growth.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...on-growth-why/

If those single family homes are rezoned and regulatory requirements for condos brought down, within a few years the housing crisis can be resolved. This is an issue that has nothing to do with Amazon, in fact they did a big service to the city of revamping the South lake union area which was filled with empty parking lots. This will also take care of lot of the homeless problem that has come up due to increased housing price.

[tickyul]

Seattle is very beautiful, desirable and full of money/great paying jobs. So yes, Seattle will most likely have
record/near-record levels of growth for the foreseeable future. Most likely to go along with that growth are
a continued red-hot housing-market.