Not sure ghetto is the right word. Kent can be sketchy in some areas, and it definitely wouldn't be my first choice, especially since the further south you go, the worse the commute gets.

There's really nowhere on the Link line that's nice. Renton is OK but you're better off the further north and east you go, meaning a longer drive to the Tukwila In'tl Blvd P&R / Link rail station. Byrn Mawr/Skyway (the area west / north of Renton) is one of the worse neighborhoods in Seattle. You could look at Burien (west of the airport and close to the airport terminus of the Link rail) but parking will be problematic. I'd suggest West Seattle (my 'hood) but the West Seattle Bridge can be an absolute nightmare in the morning if you're not in a bus.

One area in the city to look at would be Magnolia. It's a bit detached from the city and the commute won't be great but it also won't be horrible.

Otherwise, I think your 2 realistic options are Edmonds/Shoreline area (and deal with a highly variable and sometimes bad commute) or Bainbridge Island (and deal with the costs and time of commuting via ferry).

Wouldn't worry about the exhaust.

 

Auburn does have rail service (Sounder).

Not a really flexible schedule; then again neither is the ferry.

http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedule...kewood-Seattle

 

So it really sounds like south just sucks plain and simple. Fair enough. I think we'll aim for the north. I mean, how bad can the commute be from Shoreline??? If it's <1 hour, I'll live. I'm sure I can always work with them to get there early / leave early.

Thanks for the opinions. I'll aim for Shoreline down to Magnolia.

 

^ Thats your best bet. IMO

 

There are nice areas south of Seattle; you would need to have a lot of time and familiarity with neighborhoods to find them though. Going north is a safer bet, it's also more expensive (marginally).

Edmonds to work will be best case ~35 minutes, bad days 90 minutes, typical 45-50, depending on how far you were from 104 or 164th. Shoreline will be a bit less.

 

Not exactly sure what the problem is with the east side. It's less stuck up than Ballard/Freemont/Freelard and cheaper to live there.

I live in Bellevue and as for being "forced" to use a bridge, well if you are planning on using light rail then you're "forced" to use one train line. If you live north of Seattle then you're "forced" to use I-5 or Highway 99. South of Seattle and you're "forced" to use I-5.... Unless you enjoy stop light to stop light slogging?

Rental houses are quite cheap.

If you were to live on the east side (as I do), then my recommendation would be to live in south Bellevue, Factoria, Issaquah or Lake Hills.

The "typical" commute for me is leaving the house at 8:00-8:10 and hitting my desk in Queen Anne (longer commute than you would have) by 8:30-8:40. The trip home is approximately 30-40 minutes.

It should be noted that Queen Anne is NOT an easy part of town to get in/out of during rush hour. So I have excluded the ~30-40 minutes it takes to get from I-5 the whopping 1.6 miles to Queen Anne.

I-90 is a federal highway and therefore exempt from state tolling eligibility. Highway 520 on the other hand, IS a state highway and is tolled. That highway is in North Bellevue across the water to Seattle.

Bellevue is mostly old money, residential, and VERY low crime.

Having grown up in Beaverton/PDX and coming up here i'll liken the difference as this: You know how those lovely hipsters in PDX want to tell you how to live and how to change you so that you can be more awesome like them? Well that doesnt happen in Bellevue. People have enough money that they look down on you (just like the hipster mentioned prior), except they dont want to talk to you.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER???? Peace and quiet. Plus the cars on the east side are much nicer to look at.

Last 5 days spottings:
*Ferrari Italia 458 spyder
*Jaguar E-type (brittish racing green, a real beauty!)
*Lambo aventador
*hundreds of M3/M5/M6
*Toyota corolla

 

I don't disagree with what you wrote with regards to commute. And if you're in Factoria or thereabouts, you can really look at several routes in (405N-I90, 405S-I5, 405S-599-99) if something is really backed up.


With regards to Bellevue, primarily Bellevue proper (e.g the city), it has almost always rubbed me the wrong way - a lot of pretentiousness and a lot of people who act like they have money and are better than you. The more suburban areas (east of 405 basically), less so. Just my view... Kirkland tends to be the same way, too.

 

it isn't an act...they are better than us... I agree with you guys, Bellevue proper can be bad like that, but more South like Ryan mentioned isn't nearly as bad.

*edit - btw, sounds like a cruise North is in order migs. You need locals to show you around to get a feel for the areas to help make the decision.

 

This.

If you can make it up, I'd be glad to cruise around for a while showing you some 'hoods and what not.

 

Haha, I went down to the Subaru Thursday night meets with a friend this evening. There's 3-4 "clicks" of people there. Makes me glad all the evo people mingle together at meets at least. Like one big family. At least the people we did hang out with were chill

They had 2 "security" dudes stationed on the floor below the top which was nice to quell the stupid shenanigans people would have pulled otherwise

 

Is that the meet in Redmond or Renton Alex? Some of our bigger meets have ended up being rather 'clique-y' in the past but only because people will always tend to gravitate toward those they know. E.g. - the Southies and the Confederates have tended to stick together. Of course the good thing is that our cliques have always been loosely based on familiarity and aren't inclusive; our group has always been open and friendly with new and old faces alike.

I wish I knew more Subi owners that weren't either too far away, or douche-waffles that'd I'd rather not associate with.

I went out and saw R.I.P.D. last night. It was...interesting. Jeff Bridges was almost worth the price of admission by himself, though I kept feeling a bit cheated as they basically pulled his Rooster Cogburn character from True Grit and tossed him into this movie. Still, I could probably watch improv/outtakes for a half hour of him in that character.

 

So wait, what's going down ? Some kind of meet somewhere?

 

I live 2.1 miles south of Downtown Bellevue proper. In a nice residential district. Every neighbor within shouting distance is over the age of 65, polite, quiet, drive very "normal" cars (for old people) and like the vibe of an older neighborhood.

As they die off the properties are being bought by developers and turned into large two story houses with young couples who can afford a $1.2M house.

But for now, and for the next 10 years or so, it will be bliss.

Old people cars I see:
*Mercury
*Buick
*corolla
*evo IX (mine.... not that well loved in the neighborhood)

 

Well Ryan, you definitely perked my ears for the east side. Doesn't sound as bad as everyone has made it out to be. Seems everything is pretty damned expensive there though. I'm trying to save for a house, so trying to keep rent somewhat reasonable. Seems most houses I'm looking at there are $2500+

Mistaken, I'll probably take you up on your offer to drive around and see some good neighborhoods. I'll be up there Monday, does that work?

We're looking at trying to snag this one: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/3924093839.html

 

The biggest issue with the east side is the crossing the bridges every day, really. Everything else is just a matter of finding the right property/area to live in (similar to Ryan).