Seattle Living

[sportin_life]

Moving to Seattle soon. Anyone have recommendations on where to look for apartments for a young professional?

What neighborhoods are trendy but relatively quiet?

Also, any ideas on where to get furniture once I get there?

Thanks!

 

[RedLantern]

Where are you working?
How would you like to commute?
Will you have a car?
How old are you?
What do you like to do for fun?
What is your budget?

Trendy (places with things to do?) that still are fairly quiet (in certain places):

Ballard
Phinney Ridge
A few blocks of Capitol Hill
Maybe a few areas of Fremont
Depending on where you work maybe parts of west seattle


Places that will be too loud/crazy:

Belltown/downtown
Almost all of Capitol Hill

If I were in your situation I would be most drawn to Phinney Ridge and maybe the Admiral District of West Seattle.

 

[RedLantern]

Lots of great consignment shops around for furniture. Craigslist of course. Bainbridge Island has the rotary auction in June which is where I got most the furniture for my first place.

 

[sportin_life]

Where are you working?
How would you like to commute?
Will you have a car?
How old are you?
What do you like to do for fun?
What is your budget?

Thanks for the help! Will be at UW. Prefer not to commute far if possible after having lived in LA traffic for years. Yes, will have a car. Early 30's, young professional, like the outdoors (hiking, biking, surfing, beach) but the rain kind of scares me so we'll see how that goes. Budget shouldn't be a huge issue, open to spending up to 4k/mo for an apt early on, plan to buy a place within next 1-2 years.

Trendy (places with things to do?) that still are fairly quiet (in certain places):

Ballard
Phinney Ridge
A few blocks of Capitol Hill
Maybe a few areas of Fremont
Depending on where you work maybe parts of west seattle

Places that will be too loud/crazy:

Belltown/downtown
Almost all of Capitol Hill

If I were in your situation I would be most drawn to Phinney Ridge and maybe the Admiral District of West Seattle.

What about Queen Anne? I have heard mixed things about Belltown, some friends recommended it but reading about it online, it sounds kind of crazy. Looking for more of a low key, modern, cleancut, young professional area. Also heard the U District is a bad idea? What do you think of Bellevue, will crossing the bridges be a pain?

 

[zippyh]

Lots of people do the commute Bellevue->Seattle but it's a royal PITA crossing the bridge every day.
Plus 520 is a toll bridge now and construction of the new bridge means extra traffic hell for a few years.

If you let the rain deter you, you're not going to be doing anything outside.
I'm sure after living here 10-20 years, you won't even notice it.

 

[RedLantern]



Where are you working?
How would you like to commute?
Will you have a car?
How old are you?
What do you like to do for fun?
What is your budget?

Thanks for the help! Will be at UW. Prefer not to commute far if possible after having lived in LA traffic for years. Yes, will have a car. Early 30's, young professional, like the outdoors (hiking, biking, surfing, beach) but the rain kind of scares me so we'll see how that goes. Budget shouldn't be a huge issue, open to spending up to 4k/mo for an apt early on, plan to buy a place within next 1-2 years.

Trendy (places with things to do?) that still are fairly quiet (in certain places):

Ballard
Phinney Ridge
A few blocks of Capitol Hill
Maybe a few areas of Fremont
Depending on where you work maybe parts of west seattle

Places that will be too loud/crazy:

Belltown/downtown
Almost all of Capitol Hill

If I were in your situation I would be most drawn to Phinney Ridge and maybe the Admiral District of West Seattle.

What about Queen Anne? I have heard mixed things about Belltown, some friends recommended it but reading about it online, it sounds kind of crazy. Looking for more of a low key, modern, cleancut, young professional area. Also heard the U District is a bad idea? What do you think of Bellevue, will crossing the bridges be a pain?

The fact that you will be working at the UW changes things a little - it can be a nightmare to commute to/from there for obvious reasons. Do you know what hours you will be working? Bellevue may be an option. I live very close to downtown Seattle and commute to Bellevue, but I work off hours so it's not bad at all. I wouldn't worry about the toll rate if you're budget for rent is up to 4k. Bellevue to UW is pretty direct as far as commuting goes, but you may or may not enjoy Bellevue's culture. It is very, very different from Seattle.

West Seattle is probably out if you're working at UW, as the commute will probably bother you. Do not consider Belltown. Phinney Ridge, Ballard, Fremont will also probably be a killer commute at peak hours.

An area that I had no considered is Ravenna/Greenlake. Greenlake is a "nicer" area than Ravenna, and probably a little quieter, but Ravenna is a closer to UW.

What might be the best area for you is north Capitol hill/ 15th ave/ montlake area. There are some really nice looking apartments over there and there are cool shops, but parking is a *****. Given your budget though, you can probably scare up something with a parking spot. I'll snoop around a bit and see if I can't find an example from 15th ave. area.