Why do people keep sayinng Seattle is as expensive as SoCal? (Maple Valley: condo, house)

[iskray917]

Originally Posted by Ira500

The median price for a home in Seattle is now slightly above the median price for a home in San Diego, but that doesn't really mean anything. The median is the number where there are an equal number of homes above and below that number. It doesn't really compare equivalent homes. My guess is that for a comparable home, San Diego is still more expensive, but that to have a lower median, they must have a fair amount of crummy, slummy, low cost housing not anywhere near the water. Help me out here, former San Diegans. Is that right? You never hear about the slums of San Diego, but they do exist, don't they?

There's some bad neighborhoods but I wouldn't consider them "slums".

[VeronikaW]

I agree, there's nothing really in San Diego proper I would consider a "slum". Now if you go to some of the outlying cities, especially the closer to the border you get, there are some really bad areas.

[Gentoo]

True San Diego really has no slums. We do have bad areas that are gang filled but true slums really don't exist here.

Places by the water within the city limits of San Diego are at a premium. A good deal of the bayfront is either military or a waterfront tourist type area. The two exceptions are La Jolla and Point Loma and even those areas won't get you something that's right at the water the same way some areas of Seattle are. However those areas have million dollar and higher priced homes and the views are awesome!

Mission Bay is mostly expensive resort type hotels. There are a few homes here and there around MB and these are closer to the water. Also unlike Seattle, SD doesn't really have lakefront property. The two large lakes in the city limits are local reservoirs so there are no houses immediately at the water. They are surrounded by parks, or parks on 3/4 of them as the areas near the water treatment plants are off limits. I think there are more choices in Seattle in this regard; Lake Washington which is huge and is the entire east side of Seattle, Lake Union and Green Lake. Then of course there's the sound itself with places like West Seattle, Queen Anne and Magnolia. Lots more waterfront property in Seattle than San Diego and this could be why median home prices are higher.

[salty37]

Correct me if I am wrong, but WA has no personal income tax. Big Savings! and if you are really frugal go to Portland to buy your big ticket items where there is no Sales Tax. I figure you could save close to 13% a year just in taxes. But I am a Cali girl so I might be wrong let me know.

[HuskyDawg]

Correct me if I am wrong, but WA has no personal income tax. Big Savings! and if you are really frugal go to Portland to buy your big ticket items where there is no Sales Tax. I figure you could save close to 13% a year just in taxes. But I am a Cali girl so I might be wrong let me know.

Pretty much wrong. The sales tax is very high to make up for the lack of an income tax for the most part. If you go to buy a car in Oregon you'll pay tax b/c it's where the car is registered as to how it's taxed. It's 170 or so miles from Seattle to the Oregon border. Our gas here is very expensive so what you would pay in gas cost would probably be as much if not more than tax on most items. If you live down in Vancouver WA it would be beneficial to go over to Oregon, but not from Seattle.

[IHateYourFace]

Originally Posted by HuskyDawg

Pretty much wrong. The sales tax is very high to make up for the lack of an income tax for the most part. If you go to buy a car in Oregon you'll pay tax b/c it's where the car is registered as to how it's taxed. It's 170 or so miles from Seattle to the Oregon border. Our gas here is very expensive so what you would pay in gas cost would probably be as much if not more than tax on most items. If you live down in Vancouver WA it would be beneficial to go over to Oregon, but not from Seattle.

No, YOU'RE pretty much wrong. While sales tax is higher in Washington than most states, it's still less than California.

Seattle: 9.5%
LA: 9.75-10.25%, depending on location.

So yea, gimme Seattle any day of the week. I'm not losing 15% of my paycheck to the state.

[HuskyDawg]

No, YOU'RE pretty much wrong. While sales tax is higher in Washington than most states, it's still less than California.

Seattle: 9.5%
LA: 9.75-10.25%, depending on location.

So yea, gimme Seattle any day of the week. I'm not losing 15% of my paycheck to the state.

Too bad you actually didn't read my post so YOU ARE WRONG. I was responding to the post about Portland Oregon vs Washington, not California.

[tudorjason]

Hmm, I've never heard someone say that Seattle is as expensive as SoCal. But I've lived here all my life. So perhaps that's the reason. Everyone here in the Seattle area knows it isn't as expensive, but from those who come from California, I know that the Seattle area is only a few shades cheaper.

[CarlB328]

Maybe they are saying Seattle is in the same league as compared to places like Mississippi or Kentucky.

Also, Seattle has become more like California compared to what it used to be, so that could be a reason for the comparison as well.

[VeronikaW]

Originally Posted by VeronikaW

I moved here from San Diego. Our cost of living is almost exactly the same. The only difference is we have a slightly bigger place that we rent than we could get in CA. Our car insurance went up when we moved here, our grocery bills went up when we moved here, our water bill went up when we moved here. Electric/gas stayed the same, gas for the car stayed about the same. The housing market in CA is more hard hit than in WA so right now, in certain areas, homes are cheaper there than in the Seattle area.

We moved here thinking we'd be so much better off financially, and really, it's just not true. Not for my family of 4 at least.

V. =)

I have to quote myself, because I am an idiot. We just moved back to CA and so much of what I quoted is just wrong.

I just wanted to share my observations.

When we moved to Seattle from San Diego, it was just my husband and I. We moved from a 2 bedroom traditional apartment to a beautiful 3 bedroom town home in a fabulous area (Issaquah Highlands). Our rent did go up by about $400/month. I was pregnant with my son when we moved, and I've since also had a daughter, so now we're a family of 4.

My car insurance did go up when we moved to WA (not significantly, maybe $100/year). It also just went back down when we moved back to CA 2 weeks ago. The reason, though, is because in WA they require an extra coverage that isn't required in CA. So, if I wanted exactly the same car insurance, it would be the same cost in each place.

Gas prices do seem to be the same.

We have yet to get water or electric bills since we just moved back 2 weeks ago, so I can't comment on that.

We had to move back to a traditional style apartment that is not nearly as nice as our beautiful Highlands town home, and while the area we live in is considered very nice, it's not nearly as nice or safe as Issaquah, and to add insult to injury we get to pay $300+/month more for rent (for 300 less square feet and no attached garage).

When we moved to WA my husband and I ate out all the time. After we had kids I started cooking at home all of the time. I also started buying all organic and natural foods, because I don't want my kids eating crap (and because they were so easily and readily available in WA). I felt like grocery shopping in WA was expensive (but I had never shopped for a family of four in CA), but it was definitely worth it. Also, Fred Meyer in Issaquah was awesome. They had such a huge section of organic/natural stuff, and their prices are great.

Back here in CA, I can't even find a grocery store that carries all of the groceries I'm used to buying, and the stuff that I can find, is much more expensive (for example the organic cheese I usually buy was $3.99 at Fred Meyer, and at the only store I can find it here it's $5.99, and that's typical of most of the products I'm used to buying).

Over the weekend (I kid you not) I went to 5 different grocery stores just to try to buy the same groceries for the week that I would get at Fred Meyer, and I still wasn't able to find everything I wanted, and it cost me about $75 more than it would have in WA.

Also, coming back to CA was like taking a pay cut thanks to the state income tax. Sales tax around our new apartment is 8.75%, so not that much different from WA.

Anyway, as someone who is from CA, moved to WA, and is now back in CA, I can say I was a total idiot.

WA is so much better than CA in so many ways, and we're really going through some turmoil about whether moving back to CA was the right move (my whole family is here and we have two small children that we wanted them to be close to, and my husband had an opportunity to transfer with his company here, so it seemed like a good idea).

So, anyway, I take it back. WA is definitely cheaper than CA, and it's less crowded, and prettier, and has better healthcare and services, cheaper real estate, etc.

V. =)