wife's new job will be in Lakewood, WA - place to live? (Seattle: sales, real estate)

[Bones_Jones]

hi guys,

we are relocating to Washington. wife got a new job offer in Lakewood, wa. we are mid 30's no kids. we want to settle for good. we will be buying our first home as well. got pre-approved for 600k.

so where should we live? we are going on a housing hunting trip in 3 weeks.
out of these places where would be the most ideal place to live?

gig harbor
puyallup
lakewood (although i didn't think it was that good)
university place
tacoma (i've only been to downtown)
federal way
auburn
parkland
(any other suggestions?)

she doesn't want to commute more than 30 minutes.

we like to rock the burbs with lots of goodies nearby. but we also like the idea of gig harbor and have water nearby.

any kind of input is appreciated!!!

[pnwguy2]

I am quite familiar with this area.

Lakewood, and University Place are two areas that have split personalities. Both suffer from some growing urban ills, crime, homelessness, and certain decaying sections, but I say that as relative to other much worse places around the country.. However, the way these cities are laid out, the further west you go toward the Sound, the nicer they become, with middle to upper middle to luxury homes with views. I would say that U Place is probably generally nicer than Lakewood, but again, you can find nice areas in both.

Gig Harbor has always been known as expensive, but not so much anymore, as you get away from the actual harbor you can find affordable homes in good neighborhoods. The commute though to Tacoma includes tolls over the Narrows.

Tacoma is getting better, it had a bad rep in the 80's and 90's, but is definitely gentrifying.

Puyallup is a suburb of Tacoma, not a bad choice.

Federal Way could be a commute and a half, same with Auburn.

[cobolt]

University Place (the farther west, the better, with the exception of Fircrest)
Tacoma has lots of nice areas. North Tacoma is nice.
Gig Harbor would be my first choice, but you have to contend with the bridge/toll for the commute
Puyallup has gotten too crowded, in my opinion.
No to Federal Way
No to Lakewood
Certain areas of Parkland would be okay

[deezramblin]

Lord have mercy on you with Lakewood. :|

so where should we live? we are going on a housing hunting trip in 3 weeks.
out of these places where would be the most ideal place to live?

gig harbor
puyallup
lakewood (although i didn't think it was that good)
university place
tacoma (i've only been to downtown)
federal way
auburn
parkland
(any other suggestions?)

she doesn't want to commute more than 30 minutes.

I don't know all the nooks and crannies in all of these areas, but my vote would go to Auburn. You ARE going to hit commutes over 30 minutes a lot of the time though. That's the price you pay for living along the I-5 corridor.

Next vote would be Puyallup.

[CrazyDonkey]

If you live in UP, you'll have more like a 15-20 minute commute, that won't rely on I-5. Don't underestimate how bad the traffic is here.

Another possibility, not mentioned so far, is Steilacoom, which is west of Lakewood.

A plus for the Puyallup, Sumner, and Auburn areas is that they have Sounder (commuter rail) stations, with free all-day parking, making working/shopping in Seattle much easier.

[Bones_Jones]

thank you guys for everything!

we are going on a housing hunting trip in couple of weeks. i didn't even know houses sell so fast!
anyway, we just don't know what we want yet. that's the biggest problem.

my wife wants to live in waterfront property, but most of houses we liked are out of our budget. argh...

anybody know about Graham? too isolated? there are many houses with 3-5 acre land in graham within our budget... wish we knew exactly what we want, but we are such a noob... we've been living in apartment way too long... we don't know anything. lol

[poopskooper]

As I like to suggest to folks in your situation, rent something close to work until you're familiar enough with the area to know which locations are to your liking. Talk to co-workers and new friends you'll meet. Yes, real estate is moving fast in the Puget Sound area but I've learned that if you make rushed decisions when buying property, you inevitably are more prone to making mistakes ...sometimes BIG mistakes. Take your time, it's a big decision to buy property.

Again, you'll have a better understanding once you are in the area for awhile whether you can afford waterfront property (that's going to be very, very expensive anywhere in the Puget Sound area) or a home with acreage ...again, it may be more expensive than you think. Once you have time to explore the area and talk with others once arriving, you'll have a much better perspective.

The other thing that you probably already know is that there is HUGE traffic congestion on I-5 in the Lakewood and JBLM corridor (all of I-5 going through Tacoma/Pierce county, actually) and on SR-512 coming from and going into Lakewood (the route you may have to take if living in Graham). Places that might be an easy commute at 3:00 AM will be horrible during the day and especially during the commuting hours. As an example, I'd hate to commute from Auburn or Federal Way to Lakewood everyday. A better commute may be from some of the Thurston county locations ...Lacey/Olympia, for example, as opposed to south King county both for commuting purposes and affordability. But again, you'll have a better idea of the traffic patterns once you are there for awhile.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Bones_Jones

my wife wants to live in waterfront property, but most of houses we liked are out of our budget. argh...

anybody know about Graham? too isolated? there are many houses with 3-5 acre land in graham within our budget... wish we knew exactly what we want, but we are such a noob... we've been living in apartment way too long... we don't know anything. lol

Lakefront property, in Graham:

32506 Benbow Dr E, Graham, WA 98338 | MLS #917215 | Zillow

Could expand later, if deciding to start a family.

Google says 28 to 50 minutes to Lakewood, arriving 8:00 am (Monday).

[Sandy Nelson]

I'd recommend Steilacoom. It's close to Lakewood, yet it has an entirely different vibe. You'll have to include it when you come out for your scouting trip.

[Sandy Nelson]

There are 24 homes on the market in Steilacoom. Median sales price is $488K. Average sales price is $466K.