Job in Kent, Good Commute Area Info (Federal Way, Renton: apartment, rentals)

[DallasYankee]

Hello everybody!
My husband secured a space job in Kent and we are moving mid- May.
We are flying up next week to secure a rental house.
So far , there seem to be a lot of rentals in Puyallup and all of them seem to be HOAs.
Are there other towns we should be looking at that would be a manageable (45 minutes or less) commute to Kent, or should we consider Kent itself?
We can afford up to around $3,500, and we have cats.
Thank you in advance for ideas, suggestions, website advice, etc.
We are thrilled to be exiting Colorado at last after such a long detour into misery!

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by DallasYankee

Hello everybody!
My husband secured a space job in Kent and we are moving mid- May.
We are flying up next week to secure a rental house.
So far , there seem to be a lot of rentals in Puyallup and all of them seem to be HOAs.
Are there other towns we should be looking at that would be a manageable (45 minutes or less) commute to Kent, or should we consider Kent itself?
We can afford up to around $3,500, and we have cats.
Thank you in advance for ideas, suggestions, website advice, etc.
We are thrilled to be exiting Colorado at last after such a long detour into misery!

Congrats and welcome to the area. There is some good properties in Kent but also look to Renton, Federal Way, Auburn, Burien, Des Moines.

[CrazyDonkey]

Kent:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...48896511_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...49057742_zpid/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9...12896545_zpid/

[DallasYankee]

Ok ,thanks to you both!
I'm sure we'll find something when we fly in on Wednesday and if we don't, we can always use the employer-generated 30 day temporary housing benefit and look locally until we find a fit.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by DallasYankee

Hello everybody!
My husband secured a space job in Kent and we are moving mid- May.
We are flying up next week to secure a rental house.
So far , there seem to be a lot of rentals in Puyallup and all of them seem to be HOAs.
Are there other towns we should be looking at that would be a manageable (45 minutes or less) commute to Kent, or should we consider Kent itself?
We can afford up to around $3,500, and we have cats.
Thank you in advance for ideas, suggestions, website advice, etc.
We are thrilled to be exiting Colorado at last after such a long detour into misery!

I take it you mean the Boeing Kent space center....I worked at this Space center for about a year and lived on East Hill which was an easy commute down the hill to the center. Stay away from any commute that involves a trip by the Valley freeway as it almost always jammed with traffic no matter the time of day.
East Hill or West Hill would be ideal with plenty of apartment buildings on both hills. If you want a rental house a longer commute would be required but should be available on both hills.

[ForestImp]

I would check it out before commiting to anything in Kent. Our oldest son relocated to WA for a job at Micfosoft. Redmond (where Microsoft is) was too pricey for him to start at and he was pressed for time to "find something", settled for Kent. Turned out he could have afforded more closer to Redmond but had already signed a one year lease in Kent. He said it was the longest year of his life living there. Not in a good way.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by ForestImp

I would check it out before commiting to anything in Kent. Our oldest son relocated to WA for a job at Micfosoft. Redmond (where Microsoft is) was too pricey for him to start at and he was pressed for time to "find something", settled for Kent. Turned out he could have afforded more closer to Redmond but had already signed a one year lease in Kent. He said it was the longest year of his life living there. Not in a good way.

What was your son's problem with the Kent area? I lived there (East Hill) for 34+ years and found it most attractive and easy to get around.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by ForestImp

I would check it out before commiting to anything in Kent. Our oldest son relocated to WA for a job at Micfosoft. Redmond (where Microsoft is) was too pricey for him to start at and he was pressed for time to "find something", settled for Kent. Turned out he could have afforded more closer to Redmond but had already signed a one year lease in Kent. He said it was the longest year of his life living there. Not in a good way.

Was that because of the commute or Kent in general? Kent has good and bad like many places, it's not the Urban core that larger cities have but plenty livable.

[Arcos]

I’m not familiar with the area and don’t have helpful tips except to give my opinion on commuting, which is that it should be avoided as much as reasonable. I consider it valuable time lost and also costly. Much better to compromise on the size of the home and enjoy the free time to actually, you know… live?

In terms of expenses, of course, there’s car costs, public transport costs, less time spent cooking because you are tired, added stress… minimize, minimize!

That’s my rant, best of luck and I hope you will enjoy the PacNW. It’s beautiful here.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by Arcos

I’m not familiar with the area and don’t have helpful tips except to give my opinion on commuting, which is that it should be avoided as much as reasonable. I consider it valuable time lost and also costly. Much better to compromise on the size of the home and enjoy the free time to actually, you know… live?

In terms of expenses, of course, there’s car costs, public transport costs, less time spent cooking because you are tired, added stress… minimize, minimize!

That’s my rant, best of luck and I hope you will enjoy the PacNW. It’s beautiful here.

I agree, my commute is under 2 miles and I love it.
If OP's husband works in Kent then a good Kent neighborhood is likely nearby and they'll be affording better property then if they settled further North.