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Last week I had another guest post at Get Rich Slowly on the subject of why you should rent first when you move to a new city.
I’m not going to repeat everything I said over there, but I did want to share the map at right. What you’re looking at is a map I made based on a recent forum thread on LinkedIn started by a simple question about buying a home in Seattle:
I have some friends who are relocating to the Seattle area. They will be working in downtown Seattle, have kids and about a $650K housing budget. Looking for thoughts on best cities to live in the Seattle area for education, school districts, quality of life, etc. Any ideas would be appreciated!
I placed a pin on the map for each answer to this question that was offered by one of the commenters on LinkedIn. The 61 different answers ranged south to Northeast Tacoma, north to Mukilteo, West to Bainbridge Island, and East to Duvall.
Good luck making any sort of rational decision based on that advice. What a mess. If you’re just moving to the Seattle area, do yourself a favor and rent for a while so you can get to know the neighborhoods first hand.