Safe, Affordable Neighborhoods? (Seattle: apartments, rentals, buying a house)

[Ala]

I keep looking for something about apartment rentals here in good neighborhoods. But, all I see are houses discussed.

I may be moving to Seattle but I will definitely be renting an apartment, not buying a house. And it needs to be within reasonable public transportation.

What are some of the more affordable neighborhoods? Also, are their neighborhoods, that based on crime, I may want to avoid?

[Redline]

Are you looking just at the Seattle area? Is that where you will be working?
I checked out www.apartmentratings.com and www.rent.com before I first moved into the area.

[Ala]

Yes. More than likely. I will be dependent on public transportation. The metro or whatever. So, I can't venture too far out.

What about which areas are safest, but still not too pricey?

[scirocco22]

Are you planning on commuting downtown, Ala?

Whether or not you are, bus service is considered good in the city and even some of the suburbs coming into town.

Do you prefer to be right in the city?

--'rocco

[Ala]

Well, we don't want to be too far out of the city, but if we are maybe no more than 10 miles or so out, that would be good. We may want to come into the city sometimes, when the bus isn't running. And we want to able to afford a cab, in that case.

But, we wouldn't mind being in the city, as long as it is affordable and safe. I'm just afraid that places within the city may too pricey.

Money in rent and safe neighborhoods is a must.

[scirocco22]

If you go to apartmentratings .com as Redline suggested, you'll see where there are a multitude of highly rated apartments within a 5-10 mile radius of the CBD in just about all directions. Take a look at the various ratings and the corresponding reviews of the ones that have 100% scores. I guess you'll have to personally determine what is too "pricey."

Areas such as Eastlake, Queen Anne, lower QA, Cap. Hill, First Hill, Beacon Hill, Magnolia, Interbay, lower Ballard, Phinney Ridge, Madrona, Madison Pk., parts of W. Seattle, Alki, etc, etc. can be extremely convenient and where some of those apartments listed are located. Bus service in these areas is very good and run almost 24/7. All-day and evening bus trips will serve all of the service areas mentioned above as well as the "night-owls" (2:15, 3:30 am) running through the major neighborhoods near the core of the city and all run 7-days a week.

Sounds exciting. I always used to enjoy apartment hunting. Good luck!

--'rocco

[Evlevo]

This website is from the county transit site. It will tell you how long and how far it is to take the bus anywere in the county. I cut and paste apt addresses in the starting point window and . It takes a little practice to use properly (addresses don't need cities, etc) and MAKE SURE YOU PUT IN THE CORRECT DATE/TIME!!! It will default to realtime, and evening routes are much different than commute times.

http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/cgi-bin/itin_page.pl?resptype=U (broken link)

Also, craigslist seattle is a great place to start looking for private apartments/duplexes/houses. They usually post 5-15 new ones each day, and are much cheaper than going with an apt complex (but you usually lose the pool, etc). If you are not familiar with the area, you should visit the places before renting (some look great in pictures but are in a real hole), or at least post a question about an area you are looking into. Otherwise in two years you will hear the Elvis song "in the ghetto" on the radio and get homesick