Oregon and Washington BS thread

Hey y’all, just stopping in to say you’ll be seeing more of me most likely. Just moved to portland area from Tennessee. Got in today and staying with my folks until we find a suitable house. If you see a big dude driving a MGM 3g sport with a tonneau and TN plates it’s me.

 

Sweet baby Jesus!

Lol, welcome to Portland. Hope to see you around at one of our meetups.

 

Lol thanks,I’m actually from Oregon but have lived in TN since middle school. Long enough to where I’ve picked up a southern accent. I’m definitely looking forward to meetups, the PNW seems like it’s represented a lot more than Tn on TW

 

Hey Washington people, had a former coworker call me and asked me to apply for two positions he has posted up in downtown Seattle. Housing Is obviously insane there, but what counties/cities should I be looking in that are affordable to see if it's worth it? Looking at a house with a 2 car garage. I currently have a 1.5hr one way commute where I Iive now, so i say within that range.

How far away is some good wheeling? Truck is on 37s but I'm fine either tooling around some easy trails in the woods up to playing on big rocks.

 

If you're looking for a new house, Kent is the most reasonable, but kinda far and traffic sucks

 

I you don't mind commuting 1.5 hours your options open up a lot more. Do you have kids or no?

 

No kids. 1.5hr commute is nothing I'm not used to that's for sure.

 

How often are these meet ups? And where do you guys usually do them

 

Only difference may be that the 1.5hr commute around here is to go 15-20 miles out of town.

 

Okay, then your options widen up a lot. As @PNWTacoma has mentioned, Kent is further south with better property prices but the school district sucks (for future resale or if you want to have kids later on) and parts of it are pretty ghetto. Lynnwood is up North and about the same commute, maybe a little less but traffic is pretty bad up there. Housing is more expensive up there than Kent/Renton but its' a better area IMO.

I live east of Kent in Maple Valley. It's about 1-1.5 hour commute each way from downtown (My neighbor commutes to South Lake Union every day) but has a nice small-town or rural feel to it with pretty much all the amenities you need. The housing prices are a little more expensive than Kent but you're in the only top school district that's not in a rich suburb (bellevue, kirkland, redmond, mercer island) in Western Washington.

You could go further south to make the most of your money count like federal way, puyallup, but traffic is horrendous. I have a former coworker who does it, but he takes the train everyday to avoid the commute.

So basically

Seattle/Bellevue ~ 950k
Edmonds/Maple Valley/Lynnwood ~ 500-700k
Kent ~ 400-600k
Federal Way/Tacoma/Puyallup ~300-400k

 

I have a crazy co-worker that I have worked with here in Everett for almost 9 years that has driven daily from Spanaway for almost that whole time because he is still upside down on the house he bought at the peak ~10-12 years ago. He is pretty much stuck working 2nd shift unless he decides he wants to actually move up here at some point. And is on his 3rd commuter car after the previous two hit 100k from brand new.

 

I'm in roughly the same boat now. I live 30miles from work and have a 1-3hr one way commute.

 

He must have got a terrible interest rate or something because everyone I know who bought at the peak (sorry bastards) have recovered and are back in the black. Would even make more sense to move up to Arlington or Stanwood than go across the heart of the i5 corridor...

 

He's retired AF so it should have been a VA loan which really doesn't make sense. I think he may just be a glutton for punishment and doesn't want to uproot his family from down there.

 

Makes sense. Shopping at the commissary and being close to the hospital has its benefits.

 

There are two townhomes next to me for sale $699k and one for $799k (Newcastle)

 

Good stuff thanks!

 

As others have mentioned, Maple Valley and Covington would be great places for you. If you want to go a bit more rustic, go further south than Maple Valley to Black Diamond or Enumclaw.

You could also go Issaquah (higher home prices) or a bit further out to Snoqualmie or North Bend. Both of those would put you at the same time to work depending on traffic. There is also really good public transportation from Issy to DT Seattle.

 

Especially once the light rail is up and running. Keep in mind though that light rail is being partially financed by the RTA tax. Meaning if you live inside of a certain area your tabs will cost:

Current year - year of vehicle + 1 = years of service (value decreases each year in service)
Original MSRP x depreciated percentage = Depreciated value (based on years in service)
Depreciated value x 1.1% (current RTA rate) = RTA amount due

 

There is info and a map of the RTA region here:
https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/rta.html