NY to Tacoma??? Tacoma General Hospital.... (Seattle, Yakima: apartment, rental homes, lofts)

[fb1907]

Hi everyone

I need everyones help...
I was called in for an interview at Tacoma General Hospital. Since I always loved the idea of living in WA(seattle) I was thrilled... But much to my suprise, I have been hearing nothing but negative things about Tacoma. I know it is not Seattle but really? And a move from New York to WA is a pretty big one (distance). So is it worth it since I also have a job offer from Philadelphia. I have few questions. I should get a better idea if I could get some responses.

1) I would rather rent at first. Where to look. My wife is a paralegal so she needs to be close to city for big law firms. Maybe Seattle even. What are my options with and without commuting?

2) I dont mind living in the city as long as it is a nice area. I would rather pay little more than commute for a long time. Our price range is about $1200 for at least a one bedroom. Is this reasonable?

Any other inputs are appreciated

[FoxyKnox]

Yes. This is reasonable. $1200 can get you a decent place. craigslist.org can give you a basic idea of what's available in your price range. North Tacoma/Procter District is nice. If you like the urban feel, downtown tacoma has some neat lofts/condos on the Thea Foss waterway...I think their called Thea's Landing. If you back search some of the Tacoma threads, you'll get an idea of the nicer areas of Tacoma.

There are some big law firms in Tacoma, so that would be a great commute for your wife if you live in Tacoma. If she worked in Seattle, one of you will have a not-so-pretty commute. If you lived in Seattle and commuted to Tacoma (day shift), your commute would be better than commuting to Seattle from Tacoma.

Tacoma gets a bad rap because some parts of it used to be fairly sketchy, but a lot of the area is cleaning up very nicely. Some areas are still in need of TLC, but every city has that.

By the way, TG is a great place. I'm looking into a job there myself. They have good benefits.

Good luck to you!

[mthomson]

The area immediately surrounding TG isn't the greatest, but I don't know of too many hospitals nation-wide that I'd want to live next to. Otherwise, Tacoma is actually a great place to live.
I've been working with several potential TG employees over the past 2 months showing them around our area. Browns Point (also known as NE Tacoma) is a popular spot as it's close to both TG and to Seattle.
Gig Harbor is another very popular spot for TG employees, but it can be more of a commute and definately not the city feel you seem to like.
Your rental budget is very reasonable. Foxy's suggestions are right on. Anything with a North address (N 32nd St, N Harmon, etc) are great bets. The area considered the Stadium district has some nice rental homes as well.
For the $1200, you can skip apartment living and get a nice house or the condos that Foxy was referring to. In addition to Thea's Landing, there are about 5 new condo complexes on Yakima St (very close to TG, great city views, beautiful condos).
My wife and I just had our first child at TG, where she was in the NICU for 15 days, and I couldn't say enough positive things about them.

[FoxyKnox]

Congrats on the new baby, MThomson! I hope your daughter is doing well now. Glad to hear good things about the NICU--I'm hoping to work there in the next year or so!

[fb1907]

what are commuting times between
seattle to tacoma general hospital?
gig harbor to tacoma general hospital?

and can you commute by public transportation?
we would rather commute by public trans. , at least one of us..

[FoxyKnox]

Seattle to TG with no traffic: about 35-45 minutes
Seattle to TG with traffic: at least 60 minutes
Gig Harbor to TG with no traffic: about 20 minutes
Gig Harbor to TG with traffic: about 35 minutes

These are my estimate, I do not do these commutes. The Gig Harbor route may be faster now that the second bridge has been opened. FYI--there is a toll to cross from Gig Harbor to Tacoma (or is it the opposite way, or both?)

You could commute from TG to Seattle via bus or you could drive (in Tacoma) to the Sounder train station and take the commuter train to Seattle. This probably won't cut your commute time though, the busses get caught in the traffic too. I don't know about the Gig Harbor bus system, so I'm no help there.

[mthomson]

From our place in Gig Harbor to TG was 18-22min (I was doing it 4-5 times per day in October). The toll is $1.75 round trip. Not much public transit on that route.
Tacoma to Seattle has both train and bus. If you're on a bus, you'll be in the car pool lane the whole way, so Seattle to TG would be 30-45min tops I'd think. You'd be going against the majority of traffic, so I don't think you'd ever hit the 60 min mark.
Public transit here isn't anything like big cities. It seems fairly limited compared to NYC and San Francisco. The Seattle to TG route it'd be easy to bus or train, but I've never done it so I don't know the frequency.
Gig Harbor to TG won't have much. There is a bus, but not super frequent. Here are some websites that will give you a better idea: Pierce Transit and Sound Transit. Pierce will give you Gig Harbor to Tacoma, Sound will give you Tacoma to Seattle.

[azkidmom]

Good things about Tacoma:

The North End
Point Defience
Gig Harbour - nice place to visit now that there's 2 bridges
Nice place to drive around on a Sunday afternoon
March - November (growing season)
you appreciate the sun (when it comes out)
the bus system (every 20 minutes)
bike riding everywhere

[Vagus]

Originally Posted by mthomson

For the $1200, you can skip apartment living and get a nice house or the condos

You mean renting or buying? No way you can get a decent house in a decent Tacoma neighborhood for a $1200/month mortgage payment . . .

Originally Posted by azkidmom

Good things about Tacoma:

bike riding everywhere

Whew. Good luck on those hills . . .


BTW, don't believe all the bashers. Tacoma is a decent place with a lot of good and the usual bad that you find everywhere else.

[fb1907]

you guys have been great. i feel more positive about Tacoma now. Right now, I would probably like to rent in gig harbor. But if anyone has other inputs, I would appreciate it.
thanks again