Moving out West (Seattle, Mercer Island, Clyde Hill: sales, 2014, apartment)

[westcoastdream]

Hey everyone,

I am a first-time poster, so bare with me.

My boyfriend and I plan to move out West somewhere some time around Fall/Winter 2014. We are trying to decide where the best place for us is to move. We are looking at Washington and Oregon mainly, but also would be open to the San Francisco and possibly Denver, Colorado areas.

I have been to Washington (Seattle area and North) many times, as well Oregon. But I only went to Oregon once, and therefore have not spent much time out there. (Mainly spent time in Eugene). I have also been to San Francisco a few times. My boyfriend has never been any of the four places.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight and offer a suggestion as to where to move?

Now some information about us:

We are in our early 20's, we will be college graduates. I am in the Criminal Justice field (potentially looking to further my career in law school). He is in the Culinary field, looking to pursue a career in Hospitality. I know all about the weather in the Northwest, and don't see it being a problem. We are coming from the Connecticut/Rhode Island area.

We are LOOKING for:
-Somewhere close to a medium-big-sized city, but not necessarily living in one since that can get expensive. (Suburbs would be alright, but I do not like rural).
-A place with a job market for both of us in our fields.
-An affordable town or city where we can rent a 1-2 bedroom apartment. (Keeping in mind we will both be college graduates, but only one of us is in loan debt).
-Relatively low crime rate, though I understand that is difficult near a large city.

Thank you for your help!

[Hemlock140]

I think you will find that San Francisco and surrounding areas are very expensive for people new to the job market, as much as $3,000 for a 1 bedroom apartment, with Seattle much less but still at about $1,600. WA has no state income tax, but other taxes are high, Oregon has no sales tax. The greater Portland area would be the most affordable of your west coast choices, and the only city where you can still find 1 bedroom for about $1,000. All 3 have good job opportunities compared to much of the country but probably the least of those is Portland (hence the cheaper rent) and there is still a lot of experienced competition for jobs. For a couple moving to Seattle without jobs, I would recommend having about $30,000 in the bank to live (bare bones) on while looking for work, San Francisco about $70,000. Perhaps less if you have no car and can manage with public transportation and a small studio in a less desirable area. If it takes 6 months or more that can be used up. I can't comment on Denver.

[Blondebaerde]

Law school...(chuckle): that whole racket may be a micrometer from collapsing (vast oversupply, reduced demand). I'd run from that like it's a spitting cobra. Damn shame, I guess, since law school used to be a safe harbor for those wanting a pretty good lever into the job market in their mid to late 20s (typically). Ref: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc. stories past couple years.

CA is expensive, but absolutely beautiful. I lived in the Bay Area seven years and would love to live there again, but the absurd taxation and city mismanagement (Stockton, Vallejo, San Bernardino bankruptcies, e.g.) I cannot tolerate. I was employed every minute I was in the state, start to finish, way back when and wouldn't want to be anywhere near it if-not these days either. Another responder mentioned $3K month for rent: sounds inline with what I saw in Silicon Valley recently, for a non-scummy place in Cupertino specifically.

Seattle metro is great, and also expensive. I wouldn't show up there (here) without a job, either: some make it, others not, if arriving cold. If you're staked, the story may be different depending on your risk tolerance.

There is little "affordable" in LA, San Diego, Bay Area, Seattle, or Portland major-metro areas (in particular). Not saying nothing, but "not a whole lot" anymore, given your other criteria of low crime. I suppose the medium cities are somewhat less expensive, with consummately reduced opportunity. There are a dozen small to medium cities in CA, OR, and WA with good quality of life, if you can make it (Ref.: Money, Fortune, other online resources). At the other end, I'm going to consider Ashland OR as a retirement destination if it's still nice a couple decades from now.

Prudent course: either show up with a large nut to sustain you for 6 months to a year unemployed, or find jobs before arrival. That's the way it has to be these days, unfortunately, "most" of the time. Wish it weren't so. Guess I'm too conservative to move across the United States without a job offer, stake, and backup plan to turn right back around.

Or assume I'm full of it and take your chances. That's what I did, long time ago, with my fresh sheepskin (highly marketable field, at the time. Not so today.)

[westcoastdream]

I don't think we will be moving out there without stable jobs... I have a 40-hr a week job now where I can transfer, but it is not in my field.

Thank you for the advice! Seattle is looking to be our best option for now.

[flyingsaucermom]

My husband had accepted a job in Santa Clara last January. We found housing (2 bedrooms) in the $2100-$2500 range in both Culpertino and Los Gatos. A few complexes had been completely remodeled and others, older but well-kept and family-friendly. All had been in areas with excellent schools (which is often, but not always, highly correlated to safety). Housing is subjective though, what one finds substandard another will find prefectly acceptable, perhaps even "charming". I suggest you take a "digital tour" and compare cities using Zilliow, Redfin, Yelp, etc. Sometimes time consuming, but extremely helpful. Fortunately, my husband got another job offer and we were able to stay put. Seattle is definitely cheaper and I like the weather much, much more.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

My husband had accepted a job in Santa Clara last January. We found housing (2 bedrooms) in the $2100-$2500 range in both Culpertino and Los Gatos. A few complexes had been completely remodeled and others, older but well-kept and family-friendly. All had been in areas with excellent schools (which is often, but not always, highly correlated to safety). Housing is subjective though, what one finds substandard another will find prefectly acceptable, perhaps even "charming". I suggest you take a "digital tour" and compare cities using Zilliow, Redfin, Yelp, etc. Sometimes time consuming, but extremely helpful. Fortunately, my husband got another job offer and we were able to stay put. Seattle is definitely cheaper and I like the weather much, much more.

(Slight thread tangent, that may be interesting to the OP as-well.)

The above is interesting, a road-not-taken for me. I had a verbal job offer in San Jose late 2008, until the (*cough*!@#$) world ended c. October. While I waited in vain, I thoroughly researched condos (rentals) in Cupertino and Los Gatos, specifically (also, briefly, Scott's Valley). At that time, $2K/month was about par for something reasonably nice in either location.

That it may be 10% or more now does not shock me. Things are better now vs. late 2008. I've seen places for $3K that seem newer, in that area, that are nice indeed.

The above may be crazy-talk for the OP, I was once young and living in dive-places and loving it. But I was single, male, and did not hesitate to wade into a bit of grittiness, either. While not terribly attractive, worked for me for a couple years. To your point, "gritty" and "charming" can indeed be interchangeable.

I'd live in that hot, dry, Los Gatos area in a microsecond for the climate alone if I could somehow get employed, stay employed, build equity in a home, and retire there some decades from now without depending on "the State" (that being *any* sense of the world "state"). That is simply not going to happen, in my case. One of many ups to Seattle metro are: solidly-calm suburban type places (eastside, Mercer Island, Clyde Hill e.g.), good work in tech if you have the right resume, and a "reasonable" chance to build equity for the future without some son-of-a-gun with their hand out squeezing ever-escalating tax dollars, in a bankrupt and totally unacceptable/unaccountable system.

Thus, Seattle metro it is. The grass is always greener (or browner, this time of year).