Moving to Seattle, Washington is something many folks consider as part of a job relocation, to be closer to family, or because they like the idea of a hip West-Coast town with mild weather and year-round outdoor sports.
If you’re thinking of moving to Seattle, Washington for jobs – we’ve got a million of ’em. From high-tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook; to jobs at hospitals, law firms and in the aeronautics industry, Seattle has a wide and deep employment base offering it excellent stability despite occasional dips and valleys in various employment market sectors.
If you’re considering moving to Seattle to be closer to family – you’re about to have about 7 million new potential friends along, too. Although Seattle culture is known for being somewhat aloof, people here are very tolerant and lassez-fair – they mostly leave you alone, but are friendly enough as long as you want to talk about dogs and not politics.
For many people moving to Seattle, Washington, the mild climate is a big draw. With high temps rarely passing 85 degrees in the summer; many people go without air conditioning. In winter, we DO use heat, but electricity is very inexpensive here due to Washington State’s many hydro-electric dams on our large rivers, and the winters are mild enough that it rarely snows more than a few inches once or twice a year. The big bug-a-boo you’ve probably heard about is our gray and rainy weather. Yes, it’s a downer, but with mild temps, people find themselves out biking, jogging and walking the dog in relative comfort throughout the year. If you miss the sun, get a full-spectrum lamp or a sauna to help your skin soak up a little extra faux-summer during the gray months.
I guess I left the “biggie” for the end… many people moving to Seattle, Washington are worried about the high cost of living here. Yes – real estate is expensive to buy, although renting is relatively affordable. With our high demand due to many downtown jobs; and our squeezed real estate location possibilities due to many lakes, mountains and the ocean, we have a lot of people fitting into a tight area along the I-5 freeway corridor.
Affordable housing is available in the Seattle area if you’re willing to go a little ways out of town. If you find yourself heading into the office in Bellevue, Everett or Tacoma, rather than downtown Seattle, you may be pleased that more affordable housing options are more easily available to you.
Moving to Seattle for Appreciation and The Investment – The nice thing, though, is that these high housing prices reflect Seattle’s strong growth in real estate property values over the last several decades and many residents here find that once they get into their first property, or “starter” home, that moving to Seattle and living in their own house has become a very profitable and lucrative venture. If you were lucky enough to invest in local real estate “back in the day, ” you may find yourself sitting on quite a sizable piece of equity at this point.
Although no one can promise what the future will hold for the Puget Sound region in terms of real estate prices or anything else, if the past is any indication, Seattle home values will be holding strong for many years to come!
