sidewaysil80

soooo in about a year i'm relocating and have narrowed down my two top choices to live in either seattle or phoenix. i am curious about the neighborhoods/suburbs of seatlle. i'm having trouble tracking information or UNbiased opinions from random websites. I'm after the following in city/section/neighborhood...

-relatively young families
-decent school system
-safe/clean/nice city or area
-relatively newer homes
-30-45min away from seattle

i've checked out bothell and wedgewood but obviously would like some actualy residents/washington members to make some suggestions. thanks in advance -tim

XiaoAZN

I live in Seattle by the u district and I love it.

sidewaysil80

well i'm trying to stick to the suburbs because i have 3 children...any other suggestions? i'm going to search for the "u district" now though.

XiaoAZN

Hmm kids... I'd recommend the Kirkland / Redmond / Bellevue suburbs then. It's a little bit more kid friendly.

sidewaysil80

thanks soooo much dude.

Sneaky Sims

Kirkland and Redmond are a little more expensive like stated above, but school districts etc. are really good academically and with sports.

That being said, the 520 bridge is introducing a toll to cross the bridge only until 2014, when the new bridge is supposed to be built or started, can't really remember. Woodinville is also a pretty decent area as well.

I'd recommend Bellevue, pretty close to everything: freeways, shopping centers, etc. BUT price range is a little higher. If that's out of your range, look up Bothell/Mill Creek, and depending what kind of job you're getting and where, you might want to go further than that but the longer your commute (obviously).

PM me and I can tell you more.

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Weedm

i have lived in seattle and have been to phoenix plenty of times. forget phoenix unless you find a nice inexpensive house. the first suggestion i thought of is the highlands in renton, as most parts of renton are ghetto. second would be kent washington, as there are newer homes there too, but highlands would probably have newer and quiter neighborhoods.

edit:school wise, both of these places have nothing going on... all the decent schools are up north.

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sidewaysil80

well we would be living in scottsdale and not going to put my shit out there, but their are RIDICULOUS homes in north scottsdale for that price we can afford so it's a little more appealing. seattle is DEF where my wife and i would prefer...but we are thinking for a nice neighborhood we would need to up our budget a little bit.

sidenote...found some really nice homes in renton as well as bothell...are their certain zip codes i should stay away from in those areas?

LimeLite Racing

Seattle is bad ass, but have you checked out Portland? Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard are all suburbs. You'd be surprised how low the cost of living is. And very safe.

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daftphunk

I think the farther north from Seattle the better. When you go south it kinda sucks.

Renton is on the come up though. I'd try to shoot for the Renton highlands as mentioned. Newcastle is a very nice area but it's a bit more expensive. I wouldn't really go farther south than that. I've lived in and around Seattle.

The east side is nice too, Bellevue and kirkland, etc but the 520 bridge is a bitch during rush hour and they are going to toll it soon. I90 isn't that bad but I imagine with the toll it'll get crazy. The school districts there are nice.

U district area is pretty nice, but maybe not the best for kids unless you go to the Wallingford and green lake area. Seattle schools are decent if you pick them out right.

sidewaysil80

portland seemed really nice but i honestly didn't put too much effort into. i'll def give it a more detailed look and see when/if their police department is hiring.

pretty much my wife and i have narrowed it down to bothell and renton. BUT it's kinda pointless to start house hunting now. it would exactly a year before we moved out there. in the mean time we will just be flying back and forth to check out house/job interviews. i'll keep you guys posted and would like to get up with some of you guys so you could show us around (i'll buy lunch/dinner lol)!

dazed

LOL thanks BRO.

Renton/Kent area has is composed of some kinda ghetto places and some nice places. It's all about where your thinking of specifically.

And NWN is great... although the server just shit itself but it's online now.

Weedm

If you're like me and enjoy going out and having a variety of options to choose from, I would choose Seattle over Portland any day. Everything in Portland seems to close early and there isnt as nearly as much things to do as Seattle.

I'm currently in Vancouver WA and wish i was in Seattle again.. Although the benefit of living in the Vancouver WA is border hopping and not paying for tax.

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LimeLite Racing

Well you can't really do much when you're 19.

All the bars and clubs out here in Portland close at the usual time (2-3amish every day), and there are tons and tons and tons of them. Not to mention the public transportation to and from these bars are incredible, hence, no DUI's!

As well as all the entertainment you need. Don't really even have to look that hard.

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Agamemnon

I work In Renton, Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville, and Mill Creek. If I were to compare these cities together, Renton would be at the bottom of the list. As stated before. The renton Highlands area is nice, but very expensive. As is Bellevue and Redmond. But those two cities have the best ammenities(shopping, schools, etc...). At the top of my list would be Mill Creek/Bothell and Woodinville. Woodinville very quite, classy and can be very expensive depending where you choose to live. Mill Creek and Bothell is the best of both worlds. Pretty quite and close to everything. Lots of new developments and high end businesses popping up, so there are nice ammenities around.

Shoot me a pm if you have any other questions. I would be happy to help you further.

sidewaysil80

update, seattle pd just wants me to wait 2 years AFTER i get out of the military to apply. not going to happen, no way i can wait that long before i start my "career". i'm talking to the recruiter for portldand pd now. the housing seems to be nicer/cheaper OVERALL. and i've heard pretty good things, my partner (not gay, like work partner lol) has family out there and raves about the place. are there alot of tracks/events out that way?

KansaiDrifter

I live in the Marysville area it's nice up here, I'm about 30 min. away from Seattle. There are definitely some great buys on houses with acreage of trees and land not just sand and desert. We're also a huge melting pot of different cultures, but we happen to get along with each other, gangs are pretty much unheard of up here. Everett is also a nice area, and about 20 min from Seattle. Nice part is that there's a ton of things to do and we have 4 seasons of weather.

Portland I'm not a big fan of, it's ok but I think further north can be nicer. All track events happen in either Kent (Pacific Grand Prix), Monroe (Evergreen Speedway) or Bremerton (Bremerton Motorsports park). Portland used to hold events but that died down a few years back. Of course this is speaking of drifting, PIR still holds grip and drag but I'm figuring that on zilvia most are about dori time.

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sidewaysil80

yeah believe me, seattle was our first choice and since thats out of the question, portland seems closest to it in terms of location/atmosphere/etc. as far as events. i used to slide alot, but now the new car is mainly for autocross/grip/hpde. i should hear back from portland pd by the end of the day so hopefully that goes well. thats the only other place on the west coast i would want to move to

on a sidenote i REALLY REALLY appreciate everyone who is/has posted up information. as you can imagine its stressful orchastrating a move cross country to a place you have no idea about. thank you!

Weedm

that's a bummer.

would living in a different state interfere with your job? Vancouver is just right across the bridge

the worst case scenario is driving 3 hours to seattle for events, which isnt bad at all. I used to commute up there weekly just to hang out.

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nissmo240

brier is a realy nice area, its right next to lynnwood. there are several schools that are right next to it to.

Seraphim38

Seattle PD is a monstrosity. There are a variety of good departments you can apply for outside of Seattle. Mountlake Terrace, Bothell, Issaquah, King County, Lynnwood, Monroe would be my first suggestions. Testing, interviews and such usually takes about a year to go all the way through, (speaking from experience). Most suggest testing in all the agencies and getting in wherever you can, serve a couple of years then go to where you want

Renton is a good choice if you want to learn what it's like to use your weapon in the line of duty, in your first few years of service, but once you've done a tour there you can lateral to anywhere.

sidewaysil80

thats a very good point. the reason i was drawn to seattle was it wouldn't have been a paycut. but i'll start looking into other areas and their police departments. i figured a year is about the average time so thats i wanted to start now (i have a bout a 1year 5 months) untill i'm eligble to leave my current job. lol @ the renton comment, i thought it was nice from the real estate i've seen...then again i'm originally from new jersey lol. i really appreciate your advice, after i get some car time in today i'm going to sit down and start looking at different police departments. the one thing that has been killing me is i messed around with drugs in highschool 03/04...but i graduated and have been in the usmc infantry ever since, most places don't care though so it's hit or miss finding a department that will take me.

well i don't have a job lined up yet. i'm leaving my current gig in a a little over a year and would really really like to move to seattle area. i'm open to all areas, it just depends on whether or not their police department will take me/has openings.

LimeLite Racing

Every police department has restrictions on drugs. As long as you haven't smoked weed more than 1 or 2 times in your life you're good. Don't mention anything otherwise. I was a Phoenix PD applicant back in the day when I wanted to be a cop. After making it through everything and on my way to the academy I was held back due to my stretched earlobes. I got plastic surgery on them, but was pretty burnt out on going into the PD at that point anyways. Long story short, I watched lots of ex military guys get the boot out the front door for their drug history. This can be as minor as smoking weed more than twice, taking any hard narcotics ever, etc.

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sidewaysil80

well i did more then that and tried cocaine a few times in high school, the problem is the polygraph, they cross reference everything you put down and thats how they get you. luckily i found about 10 departments in WA near seattle that have less strict policies regarding past drug use and according to their websites i meet the requirements and my drug use isn't a straight disqualifier...seraphim38 was the only reason i found them...thanks big time dude!

anyway, with that being said, i am emailing all the departments just to double check and give them my background and as long as all is well...this spring i will be flying out to take my physical/written test. here are some of the cities that i'm eligible for...if you guys have any experience good/bad/whatever let me know, this way i can start crossing off the un desirable ones. here are some of the ones that are standing out to us:

duvall
sumner
snoqualmie
snohomish
mukilteo
mill creek
tukwila

trigjones

For starters, you can cheat polygraphs. I'm not proud of it, but I had some trouble as a kid, got busted for shoplifting in middle school, on probation, showed up at high school stoned and had to take a polygraph about my drug use/criminal activities. I was still causing trouble, but managed to beat the test on 3 separate occasions.

Secondly, Portland is a really fun fun city. There is the 'Seattle Freeze' around here, very cliquey, hard as hell to make friends out on the town. All my experiences with Portland has been that its like a big house party, everyone wants to engage strangers and meet new people.

If you're focusing on the above list. Mukilteo is a nice area, richer and upscale, near the puget sound, about 45 minutes from Seattle, but well hidden from any criminal elements. Awesome school from what I hear. Close to Lynnwood (worth looking at their PD too).

Snoqualmie is a nice sleepy small town, close to a couple decent snowboarding mountains and easy access to Bellevue and kirkland. If the small towns like Summer or Duvall can pay you well enough, it wouldn't be a bad area, just more on the dumb hick side of things. No offense to anyone from that area, but I'm from a farming community, we all know what its like.

Seraphim38

From a police point of view, Renton and surrounding areas are tough to manage. Lots of crime to keep you busy. Renton and Tacoma are the highest action PD areas around. Seattle downtown is heavily staffed. In the Renton/Tacoma/Lakewood area there seems to be a nice 240sx stolen nearly once every 2 days. It's unbelievable.

The real estate near downtown Seattle is rediculous. I live about 20 minutes NE and it's far better, plus it's quiet. Cost of living here is not cheap, (downtown and nearby areas)

The drugs part may pose a small challenge but it isn't outside of the norm for applicants. I inhaled in college but never sought it out, and never really cared about it either. I don't think it posed as a significant obstacle for me.

Sneaky Sims

I live pretty close to Duvall. Let me say this, any time it snows or rains pretty bad, getting in and out of Duvall is a pain in the ass.

There was one way in/out for the passed week due to the Valley Flooding. Maltby, Mill Creek, Clearview, Snohomish, Monroe, Maltby, Bothell... Might be areas? Depending on what PD you get in or want.

The one way in and out (even if you're not going to Duvall) is a pain in the ass for traffic. Sat there for hour and a half a while back, and it would normally take me 10 minutes in that part.

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icedsole

mill creek/woodinville/snohomish/lynwood area is probably the best.

there are a lot of cool car people around here and one of the better shops in washington (garage autohero) is just over in woodinville.

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sidewaysil80

cool, thats good to hear! i'm pretty excited to come out there and check it out. all the police departments on that list i posted were very receptive and welcoming...so hopefully i'll do well on the test and be a resident of WA lol.

icedsole

fasho, will you be bringing your car aswell?

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