moving to seattle in two months (Tacoma: rent, neighborhoods, income)

[courtritual]

Hey all

My wife and I have scoured the forum for info about the city but we were hoping to get some tailor-made suggestions from you wise folk.

We are planning on moving to seattle in about two or three months from florida. I'm 25, she's 23, we don't have jobs and don't plan on getting them in the foreseeable future. We also have a kitty! To get by, we do a variety of freelance work, etsy, web design, etc etc and we'll be moving with a couple thousand in savings.

We wont have a car, so public transportation and location is really important. We want to live in a city and not in an asphalt / strip-mall for miles dead area (like florida) We have heard good things about capitol hill in regards to location / price / etc.

anyways, what do you all think? thanks so much!

[SitoUK]

(Lower) Capitol Hill is definitely a good place to be if you are planning on not having a car. There's a lot going on on the hill itself and you've got all the infrastructure you need but you're also in walking distance or a short bus ride away from downtown and a lot other places. A bicycle and some rain gear can also be very useful as a means of transport (and some leg muscles for the hills I should probably add).

What I'd be a little concerned about is cost of living, especially rent. Even an older, a little dated 1-bed flat will set you back with $900 a month in the most walkable areas. Add a monthly bus pass of about $75 per person to that, plus take into account that the supermarkets in the central, more walkable areas can be quite pricey. You can get a zipcar to go to Walmart and the other cheaper places but that'll cost you as well. So you have to start generating some freelance income pretty much from day one, otherwise you'll run out of funds pretty quickly.

[courtritual]

@sitoUK thanks for the response! for sure we are planning on getting some bikes - probably need to start training on some hills as florida is about as flat as it can get.

We're pretty concerned about rent, too, like every other non-millionaire. Going to try to save about three months worth of rent and get some projects off the ground before hand - but we're fine eating rice and beans if we have to.

thanks again.

[courtritual]

also, do you think living in tacoma and going into seattle on occasion would significantly lower costs without diminishing quality of life?

[godhead]

Hi Courtritual. I considered moving to tacoma for the lower cost of housing. I didn't do it. I found I would spend too much time commuting back & forth.
(SoundTransit - Sounder Tacoma-Seattle (http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Sounder-Tacoma-Seattle.xml - broken link))
Capitol hill is one of the closer to downtown neighborhoods and I found you pay more rent to be that close.
Try looking at neighborhoods farther away but still in the city limits, close enough for a bike ride or a short bus trip to downtown. A lot of these outer neighborhoods have their own little village-like downtown areas with grocery stores, pubs, a post office and library etc.
Check out this map of Seattle neighborhoods, you'll get a better idea what's where.
Seattle Office of Economic Development - Support for Business Districts - Map of Neighborhoods
click on a neighborhood and find out more about that area.
To get a perspective; I live way up north in Lake City and it takes me 20 minutes to get downtown on an express bus.

[noexcuseforignorance]

No job means you will have a hard time finding a place particularly in managed housing.

[courtritual]

@godhead, thanks so much for the map, that's a godsend. am checking out the northern areas now, sounds perfect. am asian and don't really want to live with other asians in the southern area. thanks for the info, +1

[AutumnTraveler]

Originally Posted by courtritual

we're fine eating rice and beans if we have to.

You're girlfriend must really love you. I would hold on to her. Some guys never get to date, much less have a dedicated partner in life.