Potential Hou->Redmond move

[redmondjp]

I, too, grew up and lived for the first 30 years of my life (minus two years spent in MI/IN during college) in sunny eastern Washington (Richland, in the Tri-Cities). I moved to Redmond for work at Kenworth in January of 1995, and like you, rented rooms in people's houses for $300-400/month for three years until I bought my house in Redmond in 1998. And yes, my final roommate got married, so our other roommate and I had to vacate the premises (the house before that got sold and we had to move, and so on, so BTDT).

It was a real adjustment for me to even consider buying here, coming from Richland where homes were 50-70% less expensive than in Redmond at that time. I was lucky and bought a POS fixer that I could afford (and is costing me less than rent would today, so I'm stuck here ). If I had to buy today, well, unless I cashed out some 401K $, there's just no way I could do it (I put down over 20% down when I bought to avoid PMI, and would do so again, and wouldn't consider doing two loans). I would continue to rent if you're going to stay here (yes, a pain, but the least expensive option right now by far).

And forget about moving out to the boonies thinking you're going to get a better deal. My wife works in Carnation and I work in Monroe, so we know the outer Eastside areas pretty well. There are new housing developments outside Monroe (5-15 minute drive just to get into Monroe) where the houses START at $500K!!! You can go farther east, say to Sultan, before prices get somewhat reasonable, BUT then you have the two-lane county road commute from hell every day (I see the poor suckers sitting there 2x/day as I am reverse-commuting from Redmond, and my wife sees the same on her commute).

Even if I did have the means to do so, I don't think I would buy right now--I'd search long and hard for a good landlord (somebody not in financial dire straits who values a long-term tenant that will take good care of their property) and hunker down while prices correct.

[perfectfire]

I was born in raised in Santa Clara, CA, did an internship in Houston and then had to choose between a job at ExxonMobil in Houston and Microsoft in Redmond. The EM job would've paid slightly less and the benefits weren't as good, but adjusted for cost of living I would've made a lot more.

When I first was going to Houston I got excited about the heat and humidity (I get cold easily and I have really really dry skin and a bad cough in the winter that's exacerbated by dry air). After living in Houston during the summer I found that the humidity was fine, but there is such a thing as too hot. Nobody ever goes outside there during the summer which is just sad. It seems that all they do there is go out to eat and shop.

Conversely when Microsoft flew my wife and I out to Seattle for the weekend, it was unusually cold (an apartment complex we visited had paint peeling off the doors because it had gotten so cold at night) and yet as we drove by the Kirkland waterfront there were lots of people out and about. The Seattle area seems so much more alive than the Houston area. Plus we decided we would rather have crappy winters and nice summers instead of crappy summers and nice winters.

The Bay Area has really really really nice weather. Really nice. It's also really well located. Close to the coast and mountains and big cities. But that's about it. Housing is expensive, food is expensive, state income tax is high.

My in-laws live in Denver and it's really nothing special. Many people claim they get 300 days of sunshine a year, but that's the same amount that San Jose gets and I'm certain the weather isn't as good in Denver. It's super dry there too. Actually the first time I went to Denver I expected it to look like here in the Pacific Northwest, but instead it just looks (and feels) like Utah. Except the mountains are on the other side.

I think prices will fall about 50% here, but it'll still be way more expensive than Houston. IMO you get what you pay for though.

[crucifiction]

I should add that I think part of your problem is that you are renting rooms. That is fine if you are in college, but it grows old really fast (as you have found). A decent 1bd apartment can be found easily for a tech nerds salary, there is no reason to pay 3x as much for a 1bd condo. You will be much happier having your own space while saving cash, stop renting rooms because the $500 a month you save is not worth it unless its absolutely necessary.

[rmiller3]

Well, I just accepted an offer at Microsoft. It was a little lower than I requested, but it's still a large raise that almost covers cost of living. I've accepted the fact that I'll never be a homeowner in Seattle, it is just too financially beneficial to rent and invest the difference.

What really sold me was the Microsoft gym, as it alleviated concerns about meeting people and finding athletics in the winter, since something tells me that ultimate frisbee and soccer in a constant rain would be less than fun.

I was in town Thursday night through Tuesday early afternoon. I loved it. It smelled so fresh, I got to see snow for the first time since I went home for Christmas on top of Mt. Si. We had a clear day that we could see Ranier from there as well. I got to go skiing for the first time in years, and I gave myself a quick tour of Seattle and visited some old friends.

Barring the bubble, I can't see how anyone would want to leave there. It's even prettier than Denver. It's nice having tree-covered mountains instead of just rocky ones. I was really looking forward to the move, except we had two consecutive nice nights in Houston so I'm slightly second-guessing mysefl, but that's just me being nervous about telling my boss!

[Markor]

Congrats, rmiller3, and thanks for the update. It's nice to get some affirmation that this is a nice place to live. You'll have fun hiking here. One of my favorite things to do is, when it hits a rare 90+ degrees in June or July, right after work I do a trail at Snoqualmie Pass. If there's still a lot of snow it'll be in the 70s there.

Now I want to see the Boulder, CO area and compare. C'mon, they gotta have lots of trees there!

[Alan]

Microsoft is the best job I've ever had. Period. Welcome aboard.

The winters here are pretty rough.

[perfectfire]

[Notabull]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Markor]

[rmiller3]

[Alan]

JPL was the 2nd best job I've ever had.

[rmiller3]

[Alan]

I didn't write anything online about JPL vs Microsoft. I can't think of a single person I knew at JPL who Microsoft wouldn't be lucky to hire.