I want to sell my Las Vegas House and buy in the Seattle/Tacoma area (Federal Way: real estate)

[hjmontijo]

Hello everyone. I want to first start off by saying thank you for taking the time to stop in and read my post. I am a 30 year old male who currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have been in Las Vegas for over 8 years, although twice, I did take a break in between. The first time was in 2010 where I lived in Federal Way for about 7 months and of course I loved it. The second time in 2012 and lived in the Renton area for about 9 months (been back in Vegas a little over a year). The reason I had to move back the first time was due to my renters not paying their rent here in Vegas and I unfortunately had no property manager taking care of the home for me. The second time we came back was due to financial reasons (I make more money in Las Vegas, where the cost of living is cheaper) and also due to a family illness.

The thing is that my fiancé and I are really really wanting to move back to the Seattle/Tacoma area, (hey, third times a charm right?) and this time it's for good. No more coming back to Vegas unless it's to visit. We of course do not plan on moving anytime really soon but hopefully within the year. We just moved back into our rental home a little over a month ago (it was left completely trashed) and we plan on renovating and fixing up the home little by little so that we may put it on the market and have it sold by 2015. The home has increased in value and so ideally I would love to sell the home and use it for a down payment on a house in Washington.

We just really love everything about the Pacific Northwest. Yes the cost of living is higher and yes the city traffic is horrible, but Seattle is really where our hearts are at.

I just want to know if there is anyone one else out there who made this kind of a move where they sold there house to move out of state. I just need some advice. I need to know the right steps to take. Both my fiancé and I currently work in property management, we are both leasing consultants but don't have anything lined up for the future move. Any advice on where to look for work? I have heard many bad things, like "Stay away from Tacoma" but really what is so bad about it. I'm sure they have their nicer areas as well. I just want to be able to stretch my dollar further and I hear Tacoma is the place for that.

What areas would you say are the best place to look for a single family home under $190,000 I want a minimum of 3 bedrooms and something in a safe neighborhood. I don't mind a fixer upper at all as long as I can live in the home while doing the work.

I guess what I am looking for is a push in the right direction and I'm just looking for new people to network with. All comments and advice are greatly appreciated. Please don't be rude.

[Hemlock140]

I'm in commercial/industrial real estate & property management in Seattle. We recently had an opening for a property manager (1) and had 130 applicants. Residential may be a little better but there were a lot of people in commercial who were laid off that went to residential.

You should be familiar enough with the area to know the areas near 99 in Federal Way, and near downtown in Renton. Those are the places where you might find a small, old fixer for 190k, but even that will be hard to find. You may also find a few farther out in Puyallup, or into the rural areas like Monroe and Enumclaw. Any of the cities where there are jobs or the commute is reasonable will cost considerably more. Are you familiar with MLK Way in the south end of Seattle? Small houses there with bars on the windows, down near Lucille and Brandon are still running $250,000-$375,000.

[revelated]

Originally Posted by hjmontijo

I just want to know if there is anyone one else out there who made this kind of a move where they sold there house to move out of state. I just need some advice. I need to know the right steps to take.

I didn't sell, but I did have to pick up and move in 2 weeks with very little. Fortunately I got my vacation cash out, 401k cashout (which in hindsight was unnecessary) and an ESOP dividend payout. I could have done the move with half of the money I spent had I planned it properly. As such I will leave you with this advice.

• You might be tempted to save money by trying to drive your own stuff out. DON'T. Pay the money to get a proper mover, whether you use an interstate truck service, UBox, or whatever. Services like UBox are cool because they can store it for you until you're ready to retrieve it, and have it delivered right to your front door.
• Do plenty of research beforehand, use Trulia, RedFin, Windermere, etc. to try and find what you're looking for. Do that BEFORE you talk to a REALTOR, that way the REALTOR isn't wasting time finding homes that don't meet your requirements. Determine what you want and where, and they can then focus the search in that area for you.
• Sounds like you already have this covered, but assume your commute will be worse, not better. Nevada has so many less people out there and such a better built freeway system - well, more or less - that it's a shock to people, even though you've been here before, it'll still make you shake your head. Make sure you're ready for that.

Originally Posted by hjmontijo

Both my fiancé and I currently work in property management, we are both leasing consultants but don't have anything lined up for the future move. Any advice on where to look for work? I have heard many bad things, like "Stay away from Tacoma" but really what is so bad about it. I'm sure they have their nicer areas as well. I just want to be able to stretch my dollar further and I hear Tacoma is the place for that.

What areas would you say are the best place to look for a single family home under $190,000 I want a minimum of 3 bedrooms and something in a safe neighborhood. I don't mind a fixer upper at all as long as I can live in the home while doing the work.

Depends on what you want in that house. In my experience and home hunting, the criteria you list is not easily available near Seattle. You're looking in like

• Sammamish, Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Auburn, Fife, Orting, etc. areas on the South/East side
• Granite Falls, Marysville, Kingston, etc. on the North side
• Port Orchard, Brinnon, etc. on the West side

I wouldn't do Tacoma only because at that price range the safety factor goes way down. if you're willing to come up in price to say, $250k, then you might be good.

Reality is that current real estate is going between $200k and $300k for "reasonable" homes. The ones lower priced are in unsafe areas OR they're like 30-50 miles away from Seattle. If the distance to Seattle doesn't bother you then there's tons for that price, especially in Puyallup and Orting.