Wife and I are loosely considering making a move out of Minneapolis. Windchill this morning was -24. Most years will see several days of close to -40. Last year we saw -55 wind chills.
One area we are looking at is Seattle due to the temperate climate, the liberal atmosphere, and the large Japanese community (or at least larger than the nearly non-existent one here; my wife is from Japan, we came to the US in 2011).
What could we expect in terms of cost of living and could we buy a fairly decent house in the $250k range in the Seattle suburbs? We could afford more house but we also like to have a couple nice cars, so not interested in being house poor and don't need a big house, just something nice and well-maintained.
What suburbs would be desirable for home ownership? Doesn't have to be the ritziest suburb, but a nice one that isn't more than 20 miles out. I know if I was advising someone about where to live here in the Twin Cities, I'd tell them look at the west/south suburbs, skip the east/north suburbs. What would be the equivalent "good" place to be in Seattle?
Those there, what do you think of Seattle in terms of forward thinking, food/culture/arts/nightlife, diversity, etc.? How does the employment landscape look?
Just trying to get a general idea of if it's even potentially affordable enough to bother looking into it more or not. Current income here is about $100k, though I'm currently underpaid by at least $10k compared to what I could make elsewhere, but my job is pretty sound overall besides that.
One area we are looking at is Seattle due to the temperate climate, the liberal atmosphere, and the large Japanese community (or at least larger than the nearly non-existent one here; my wife is from Japan, we came to the US in 2011).
What could we expect in terms of cost of living and could we buy a fairly decent house in the $250k range in the Seattle suburbs? We could afford more house but we also like to have a couple nice cars, so not interested in being house poor and don't need a big house, just something nice and well-maintained.
What suburbs would be desirable for home ownership? Doesn't have to be the ritziest suburb, but a nice one that isn't more than 20 miles out. I know if I was advising someone about where to live here in the Twin Cities, I'd tell them look at the west/south suburbs, skip the east/north suburbs. What would be the equivalent "good" place to be in Seattle?
Those there, what do you think of Seattle in terms of forward thinking, food/culture/arts/nightlife, diversity, etc.? How does the employment landscape look?
Just trying to get a general idea of if it's even potentially affordable enough to bother looking into it more or not. Current income here is about $100k, though I'm currently underpaid by at least $10k compared to what I could make elsewhere, but my job is pretty sound overall besides that.
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