On moving to Seattle, and the details thereof

Kamar

Alright H/A, as of the end of this month I'm hopping on a plane and flying out to Seattle. Only things I plan to take are my computer and some clothes. I have a place I can stay at for a few weeks while I find an apartment, and my job is online so that's a non-issue.

Questions:
How should I get my computer there? It's a huge-ass tower. Is there a way to take it on a plane safely? Or should I drop however much it takes to box it up and ship it? I'd rather not lose the tower, since it's nice and my water cooling system is built-in, so I'd be losing that too. Otherwise I'd pull the good parts and order a tower to be at my friend's when I get there. If that's still your recommendation, though, tell me.

How much should I expect to be dropping on the front end, moving in? My credit is complete shit thanks to defaulted student loans (which I'm going to start paying back now, but not in time to matter). I'll have about $4-5k in my pocket when I fly out there, with another $1.5k-ish on the 7th. If that still won't be enough, I'll just double up on work (love my job) and have another ~3k come in on the 22nd. (my friend will be annoyed by this point so I'd rather be out faster than that).

Any places I really, really don't want to live? I'm not afraid of crime, and I'd like to be able to walk to interesting places/bus lines. I guess tell me the places meant for middle-aged couples and their families, rather than the 'bad' places. And any recommendations for good places would be awesome.

Anything I should expect in a lease, as far as covered amenities go? Does Seattle use gas, or have to pay for trash pickup, or anything I need to know like that?

Any advice beyond answering these questions would be great, too.

Thanks in advance, guys!

Thanatos

I would suggest boxing up and shipping your tower. I did mine when I left college, and it was about $100 to have it professionally done, including shipping; should be worth it.

A bad credit score is going to make finding a place more difficult, but not impossible. A roommate with decent credit would help you out.

Are you planning on living alone, or will you get a roommate? What sorts of things do you like to do? Are you looking for a house or an apartment? How much are you looking to pay?

North Seattle and Capitol Hill are the go-to suggestions for moving to Seattle: North Seattle for people who want to be a little further from the action, but still want to be able to easily catch a bus to get around town. Capitol Hill is the trendy area in the middle of everything.

Kamar

I'll have a roommate but they won't be contributing for a while, so a two bedroom but with only one person paying.

As far as places to go, libraries, coffee houses and other nice places to chill and eat, comic book/gaming shops. I plan to start studying a few martial arts (MMA and either Kendo or Fencing) and start hitting the gym once I'm settled. Hell, might even start attending parkour classes. Probably need to be in the middle of everything for this stuff to be convenient without a car.

I'll be making around 3k a month with the amount I'm currently working, and would like to have at least a little extra, so probably $1.5k or less a month on rent. Probably cuts my options a good bit, but browsing Craigslist and stuff there are apparently at least SOME places I can get for that. Apartment would be preferred, but I'll take a house. And a house would be better if I could find one with a laxer pet policy (really want to own a 'real' dog again).

If I'm going to be limited too much by that, I can always increase my work amount. I'm only working like 2 hours a day as is (time to work on my writing is more important than having tons of money, to me).

Thanatos

If you're looking for a 2-bedroom for less than $1.5k a month, I'd strongly suggest North Seattle; you can find places like that on Cap Hill, but you probably wouldn't want to live in them.

Wallingford, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Green Lake, Fremont, and the U-District are all good areas with pretty easy bus access; U-District you pay a bit more for living by the university, so I'd suggest hitting up one of the other areas, instead. If you really wanted to save some money, you could hit up Aurora, but that's pretty sketchy, and I, as one of the cheapest people on the planet, am willing to pay a little extra to live someplace considerably nicer.

Sushisource

I literally asked exactly the same question about computer transport three years ago on this very forum.

UPS + Styrofoam things that go around the PC worked great for me, albeit pretty damn expensive. There are some things you want to do:
If you have a bigass GPU, remove it and carry it separately in a static bag.
Same goes for really big cooling towers, basically anything that's heavy and could wiggle a lot.

You mentioned Kendo. The UW has a Kendo club one of my friends is in, I hear it's legit if you want to check it out and they accept non-students.


I live in the U District bordering Ravenna since I still go to school, and it's actually a pretty nice area. I wouldn't suggest living any closer to the UW than that unless you like the occasional roving group of loud ass frat boys coming back from the bars. Ravenna and Wallingford are nicer, but basically everywhere around downtown except South Seattle (just a bunch of boring warehouses) is pretty damn nice. You'll like it here.

big l

Use Padmapper. It is "da bomb". Using the filters you can get an idea of what there is that you are looking for. WRT price, I think you should be aiming around the $1100-1300 range. I've seen fantastic 2 bedrooms for under $1300. It depends a lot on location - Cap Hill is expensive, Fremont is expensive, Green Lake and Ballard aren't cheap, the U District is cheap and dense but the neighborhood might be a little young for you, depending on your age. Generally, the closer to I-5 you are, the easier it is to get around. There are roughly 2 million "moving to Seattle" threads in H/A and they all say pretty much the same things so maybe do a search back and then come back once you've got some more specific questions, like you have a specific neighborhood in mind.

Kamar

My sister (the roommate I mentioned) will be attending UW, so being somewhere around there might be a good idea.

And I'm 21, so I'd be very surprised if any neighborhood could be 'young' for me.

And man...I completely forgot I could search now. That should be useful. Thanks for advice so far, guys. And double thanks for the Padmapper link, that's pretty great.

Thanatos

Kamar wrote:

My sister (the roommate I mentioned) will be attending UW, so being somewhere around there might be a good idea.

And I'm 21, so I'd be very surprised if any neighborhood could be 'young' for me.

And man...I completely forgot I could search now. That should be useful. Thanks for advice so far, guys. And double thanks for the Padmapper link, that's pretty great.

Near the University, you've got Ravenna, Roosevelt, and Green Lake (Eastern part of it, anyhow; super-easy to get to UW from there). A bit further you've got Wallingford and Fremont. Queen Anne to the south, which is actually quite nice, close to the University, and somewhere I always forget to mention.

Jasconius

Just make sure stuff is secure inside your tower. A double corrugated box with 6 inches of packing peanuts is roughly the minimum spec for what UPS will insure.

No matter what happens, the tower is going to be exposed to a lot of indirect inertial force, so make stuff is screwed in, locked in, etc.

Otherwise you'll have an aluminum box with a bunch of shit torn up inside from a drive that fell out of the bay.

Make sure you insure it.

Usagi

What Than said. The local bus system is pretty good, depending on the route, and especially if you'll be in one of the closer-to-downtown neighborhoods there's generally a lot of stuff within walking distance.

I will say though, be prepared to put down a substantial deposit on the apartment, it's not unusual in areas with a large demand (which is most Seattle neighborhoods right now as there are a ton of people renting v. buying) for the landlord to ask for first+last, which can get expensive quickly. Also be prepared for the basic necessities of life to cost more here, sales tax is 9.5%.

big l

Usagi wrote:

What Than said. The local bus system is pretty good, depending on the route, and especially if you'll be in one of the closer-to-downtown neighborhoods there's generally a lot of stuff within walking distance.

I will say though, be prepared to put down a substantial deposit on the apartment, it's not unusual in areas with a large demand (which is most Seattle neighborhoods right now as there are a ton of people renting v. buying) for the landlord to ask for first+last, which can get expensive quickly. Also be prepared for the basic necessities of life to cost more here, sales tax is 9.5%.

I always get asked for first and last month's rent plus a deposit of $250-$750. That's probably $3k right off the bat there for your price range. If I were you I would be looking at the Roosevelt neighborhood. 5 minute bus ride for the sister to school, nice bars, small stores, and restaurants, 5 minute bus ride to more partyish bars, grocery stores in walking distance, close to I-5, great neighborhood. It is a bit more expensive than the U district itself. You could probably get a nice two bedroom or a really small house in the U District for pretty cheap. U District-wise I like the blocks around 52nd and Brooklyn but whatever.

You will also have to buy a lot of stuff when moving in. I have moved quite a few times now and I try to save and reuse stuff every time but try as I might I can't help dropping at least $200 at Target each time. More for you since it sounds like you won't be bringing a lot of stuff. Plates, microwaves, desks, bedding, etc ain't free. You will have to be smart with craigslist and ikea.

Kamar

Sounds like I should have more than enough money to get settled and everything by the middle of the month at the latest, then. Since I'll be heading down with 4-5k and have 6+ by the middle of the month.

RiemannLives

Than covered most of what I would suggest already but I would add that you should be careful never to rent from an apartment company called COHO. They handle a fair few cheapish apartments in the U-District and are scumbags.