So, as some of you may know from previous threads, my husband is a software architect with a technology company based in Germany. He works from home in Ottawa though. Recently, there’s been talk of another company buying the company he currently works for. He’s unsure in which direction this second company will take his current project. Will they be very supportive? Or let it languish? Or outright shut it down? So he may have to take another job. Hopefully he won’t have to. He knows of a few companies who are hiring, but we’d probably have to move to the Seattle region.
So, what’s it like to live there? I hear the weather is warmer at least. Right now we have government subsidized health care, but what’s it like in Washington State? What about schools, housing, etc?
Wet. And coming from L.A., it’s not particularly warm. (Of course, that’s what I like about it.)
I live 100+ miles north of Seattle, but I work in Belltown. I couldn’t tell you about actually living there. Health care, as you know, is a contentious issue right now. Personally, I’d rather have your plan. Friends in Seattle recently bought a condo. I gather that housing in Seattle is pretty expensive. My house (3 bedrooms, 1/4 acre, next to the shore) was recently appraised at $160,000. If it were in Seattle I’d expect it to cost at least twice as much. Probably more. There’s no state income tax in Washington, but sales taxes are high – and vary by county. I’m guessing they’re lower than in Canada though.
As I said, it’s wet here. NYC gets more rain, but theirs all comes down at once. Here it comes down more slowly so it can be fairly gloomy much of the year. On the other hand, there are a lot of sunny days that are pleasantly warm and are absolutely glorious.
I love visiting Seattle, but the two times I tried to live there, it didn’t work out so well. I was never able to hold down a job there, and it’s a culture oddly hostile to outsiders, esp. East Coasters (like me) and Californians.
I remember living there in 1991, right when Nirvana and Pearl Jam broke and that movie Singles came out. Every one of these slacker kids in that film, fresh out of UW, seemed to have unlimited cash. That sure didn’t square with my experiences there.
Still, the place is like a really big, awesome college town in a lot of respects. I sure miss the Pike Place Market, the U District and the I District. If you’re ever lost downtown, just remember the mnemotic phrase “Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure.”
I live in Portland, which is much like the Seattle area, only less so on all counts. It usually is warmer here, but we’re still in Winter Mode which is rain, followed by showers and cloudiness. It averages 40 - 60 degrees all year except that one week a year in the summer when it gets above 80. Be prepared to pay out the ass for real estate anywhere near Seattle proper and the close-in suburbs. Traffic is shitty and public transportation is adequate but still needs lots of work.
Krokodil, we’re so insular to Californians because they all move up here and try to turn it into California, and we’re not all about that, man.
I lived in Seattle for about 10 years from late 80’s to late 90’s, right at the height of the grunge explosion. It was a great time to be there. Now I live in a small city in the scrotum of the Willamette Valley. I absolutely loved Seattle when I lived there. There is always something to do, something going on. If you can afford it. But there are tons of free things to do too. I never got tired of seeing the Space Needle and Mt. Rainier. Yes, the weather is cold/cool/gloomy/rainy for about half the year. If you are the sort of person who needs a lot of bright sunlight to feel fine, it will take some adjusting.
When I visit now, it seems clogged with traffic - it is geographically pinned between the lakes and the sound, so you’ve got huge bottlenecks going east/west. I couldn’t afford to live in town now like I could before.
Last time I was there I was with my son, who started life in a house on 103rd street near Northgate Mall. We drove to our corner, and they were just putting the finishing touches on a new house on the lot where our old one had stood.
I lived there for a year and a half. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that the sun set around 4:30pm in the winter. The cooler weather suited me, though, and I found the public transportation to be adequate.
I don’t think I would live there again, but I’d visit.
I moved from Toronto to Washington State but I lived on Whidbey Island for about a year or 2 a few years ago. But I did visit Seattle often. The health care you’ll get will probably be through your company and be okay but honestly I prefer Ontario health system more. It rained a lot and the summers were colder than Toronto. Seattle had a good music scene and fantastic seafood. But it might beat Ottawa winters.
My husband’s company (let’s call it Company X*) has been officially sold. And while he hasn’t been laid off, he doesn’t like the direction the new owners want to take Company X. So he’s updated his resume and reached out to some former colleagues/bosses for recommendations. He actually knows some people from a company (who I’ll call Company A) that specializes in his area of expertise, cloud computing, (he even has patents in cloud computing!) and expects to get an offer or maybe two. He’ll probably have some offers from another company that has a well known search engine (who I’ll call Company G) because his old boss, Mr. F, knows a couple hiring managers there. (Mr. F is heading up a new start up that isn’t really in his field, or I’m sure he’d hire him in a New York minute.)
So it looks like we are actually moving. We’re thinking of moving to Bainbridge Island, where Mr. Jackal would simply take the ferry in to downtown Seattle. It looks beautiful! I’d love a house close to one of the parks or nature reserves. (Water isn’t really my thing, too afraid of the baby drowning.) I love the woods and hiking and nature, and I think Jackal Jr. would too. I also read there are really good schools there.
So, we’ll see what kind of offers he gets, and decide from there. Everything’s kinda up in the air right now, and it’s a little stressful, to be honest.
*Sorry about the code thing, I just don’t want to mention these companies or people by name. I don’t want them showing up on a search engine.
If so, rent before you buy. That commute can become onerous. The island is also almost completely white professional (with only .28% blacks). The schools being good is a function of the demographic of the population. It is a lovely place, however.
I am an northeast coaster, transplanted to Seattle after 16 years in N. California. Overall, I prefer it in Seattle.
After 20 years here, I still sometimes the mediterranean climate in CA, but the weather here is like the northeast with the extremes sliced off. Seldom hot and humid and infrequent snow (but a driving disaster when it does occur).
The extreme seasonal swing in daylight hours took some getting used to, as do the many gray, drizzly days. My wife has lived here half as long and has not adjusted to the gray.
I have several friends who live on Vashon and Bainbridge Islands - as noted, island life takes a serious commitment to long commutes - both in time and money. Worse still if you have to then commute to Redmond.
The idea we had was that Mr. Jackal would take either the bus or bicycle to the ferry, take the ferry across, and then subway or bicycle to his office downtown. He would not work at Redmond. Maybe we should rent first. Although, he’s very excited about buying. Hmm I dunno, something to think about I guess.
I’ve live in or around Seattle most of my life. I leave, I come back. It’s beautiful here. Housing costs are coming down, but are still high. We live in the city, about 5 minutes from downtown. We bought our house for $170K, 13 years ago, the last tax appraisal was $384K. Two years ago the tax appraisal was close to $500K. Real estate values are 10%-20% higher.
Public transportation, while improving, still sucks for the most part. No subway, the best we do is light rail, which goes nowhere near the ferry dock. Bicycling is getting easier here, but the hills are killers. Unless he works on the waterfront, a bus would be more practical. A lot of the downtown streets have a 10% grade or even more for short distances. There’s one flat street on the water, everything else is up the hill. That’s the price we pay for an urban deep water port. Besides, it rains and snows and get dark early in the winter.
Food costs are similar to California. There are lots of farmers’ market all over in the summer. The growing season is short, but we grow fruit, tomatoes and a few other things. What does grow here is really yummy.
We are very “Green” (I hate that term, but it gets the point across) we have city sponsored recycling for both hard recycables (plastics glass etc.) and yard and food wastes. Just drop it in the right can and they take it away.
You don’t have to buy bottled water, city water is delicious.
We have a good deal of art and music. Lots of kid stuff too. Most summers are great. This one isn’t starting out so good, but given time it will be fine. In the summer the sun comes up around 4:30 and it stays light until about 10PM. We don’t need air conditioning or window screens (very few bugs except in swampy places.) There are so many places within a half days drive that will blow you away.
(BTW Johnny L.A.'s house would go for about 4 times what he was appraised, if it was in a similar setting. Water view is worth $$$)
I’m keeping an eye on this - I have a phone interview Tuesday with a tiny little organization in Seattle that I’m really excited about, and would be an amazing opportunity.
Ditto, and coming from Anchorage, Alaska, it’s not particularly warm. Seriously, I’ve felt colder here for the summer months than I ever did in Anchorage, (which is a dry cold ).
I love the public transportation, and like Johnny L.A. said, when it shines it’s REALLY pretty. It’s super green, tons of trees, shrubbery, and my favorite, lots of flowery type trees and plants.
I’ve only been here 8 months though, so I can’t tell you a whole lot. I work downtown and live on the light rail system, so I am still a complete newbie when it comes to knowing how to get around (I highly recommend a GPS). There always seems to be a ton of community events and when there’s a game downtown it seems to be a huge deal (traffic comes to almost a complete halt).
One thing that really shocked me was how much more car insurance is here as opposed to Alaska ($40 bucks a month increase despite me having old person, longevity, and good driver discounts). According to my insurance agent there are a lot of uninsured drivers and bad drivers and the state doesn’t enforce car insurance so those that are insured end up footing the bill.
Oh yeah, and when it snows one flake’s worth, the city comes to a screeching halt. I’d heard that before I moved here but I thought it was just over-exaggerated. It’s not.
between the mountain views (Rainier, Olympic range, Cascade range) and all the monster trees it is absolutely gorgeous. I grew up there in 1960s-1990s and left for good in '99. I occasionally will visit and, since I still know my way around, I prefer to drive. It still confuses me a little when I arrive on I-90 from the east because Issaquah & a lot of Bellevue appear to be embedded in jungle and I’m never really sure where I am unless I’m looking for street signs. I live in Denver now, and am quite used to being able to see for 10-20 miles or even more without trying super hard to find a good vantage point. It’s hard to do that around Seattle and it’s comforting and shocking for me at the same time. It often feels like you’re in a forest that doesn’t really let up until you cross the lake and get into Seattle proper. Even then, it can get pretty woodsy. I do love it, but my memory is that unless you arrive with a good-paying job, the cost of living is going to be a struggle.
Also, I have gotten quite used to sunshine. I still remember having to bring a towel to the playground park so the kids wouldn’t get too soaked.
Another thing about Seattle is that guys can wear socks and sandals (even in the rain) all year round without people looking at you funny, so bring your Birkenstocks
Oh, and as for the cost of living type stuff: we’ve investigated it, and it looks like Ottawa is actually more expensive than Seattle. I think all the taxes and the high cost of food really don’t help. So if he kept the same salary or even made more, we’d be fine.
Right now we have government subsidized health care, but what’s it like in Washington State? What about schools, housing, etc?
Seriously, I’ve felt colder here for the summer months than I ever did in Anchorage, (which is a dry cold ).