NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

Damn, $700 just in property taxes? I hope they pay up their reflects the jump in costs. Housing costs don't seem all that much higher though, around here a decent size 2 bedroom apartment runs anywhere from $650 for the very low end up to $1000-$1200 for the higher end. Property taxes surely aren't $700 though, holy ****. I will be renting at first, which makes the most sense to me, just until I get settled in and gives me a chance to finish up a little more school, then find and buy a house. Living close enough for public transportation would be cool, but I'd also like to be far enough out of the city to have prices go down, and hopefully have fine a piece of property with a little bit of a yard. I'll just have to see. I know there will be issues with a move, going almost as far as possible without going to Alaska, but I will take them as they come and deal with them then. Thanks for all of the input guys. I can say that I'm even more excited about the move after hearing so many good things from people.

gooflophaze

Cost of living - I was paying $400 a month for my room with utilities, but as stated, 6 other roomates in a decent size house.

9% sales tax in king county iirc, probably higher now. Oregon doesn't have a state sales tax, but does have property tax. Washington has sales tax, but not property tax - or some weird arrangement like that. I just know my ex and I would save buying big purchases ( > $200, poor college students) then buy them in Portland while visiting friends.

Cost of living - I survived being a broke college student working 40 hours a week @ $12 an hour; granted there was very little fun money but there was so much free fun to be had - I got a $200 125cc 2stroke scooter off of ebay, got my MLS, and would just drive around exploring on my weekends getting 100mpg. Good times... </reminisce>

If you're in the IT field, or have any interested in just getting some work, Manpower is the contractor for Microsoft. I will say in 2003 I managed to go nearly 9 months without a job (no degree, no corporate stamp on the resume, no idea how to sell myself, living off my parents) in a tough market, plus there were always dot-com failures with trumped up resumes and offshored callcenter gigs and.. ohyea, sorry, that's when I became a bittertech.

The jobs are there, but it is a competitive market.

So.. uhm.. cost of living.. yes, more expensive than the south. But instead of walmart, you get fred meyer which is arguably nicer, unionized, more expensive and owned by Kroger. You get QFC instead of Kroger, which is owned by Kroger.... If you do get an offer for a job, remove 20% of the pay and assume thats the rough equivalent you'd make in the south.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costo...tofliving.html

Rennkafer

iTrader: (3)

It's income tax you're thinking of, not property tax. Oregon has state income tax and no sales tax, Washington has sales tax but no income tax.

I lived up there (Bremerton/Shelton/Olympia) for 30+ years and I'd move back there (from the SF Bay area) in a heartbeat. Much lower cost of living, friendlier people, cheaper track days...

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

Wait... no income tax? Really? That kicks ***. That nearly makes up for the cost of living right there. I barely worked last year, and made low wages and still owed a little under a grand for state tax. Like 10% of my pay. That makes me even happier.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Yes no income tax, but you don't notice that as much. If you're in Oregon and you get a check every two weeks for $1000, and you get $1000. If you're in Washington and want to buy a $5 burger, you pay $5.35. As an Oregonian I hate it since I'm already paying the income tax.

I don't think you can get much of a better review than Hustler's. Don't in any way discount the beer and wine selection here. I don't want to live anywhere else. As for tracks though, there's Pacific raceway which is okay but a little boring, that's just south of Seattle. Or the south side of Seattle, I'm not sure. Then there's PIR which is roughly 2-2.5 hours south of Seattle, and ORP which is ~5 hours from Seattle, and well worth the trip. Supposedly there's a track in Bremerton, but it's really just a "paved" oval with a chicane in one of the straights.

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

Oh I know, just sounds nice. "No state income tax", like music to my ears.

ScottFW

iTrader: (4)

I lived in Seattle from Jan 2004 until July 2007. Probably the nicest place I've ever lived. You get used to the clouds and light rain because it's better than living in some gulf coast sweltering armpit (lived in Houston before moving to Seattle) or someplace that regularly gets a ton of snow. And the summers are so glorious that it's worth the wait during the rest of the year. High 70s to low 80s, not a cloud in the sky, you're near the water but there's no real humidity, no mosquitoes in the city. Your legs will get in shape because they have these things called "hills" with which most southerners are unfamiliar.

I lived in the Eastlake neighborhood which is real close to downtown. Rent there was about double what I paid in Houston, but it's a little cheaper than here in the DC area and a LOT cheaper than places like NYC, Boston, San Fran. Our 1200 sq ft 2bd/2ba apartment was $1400/mo, but that price included a view.



Other end of the lake. That barge is where they launch fireworks on July 4.


All the boaters gather to watch.


Anyway, if you want to do much wrenching I'd recommend finding a place with a garage. When I lived there I was a poor grad student and couldn't afford that, so if it was raining I'd work on my truck in the parking garage under my lab building. They had electric outlets in there and decent lighting, not too shabby.

I moved away for career reasons but I could see myself winding up in the PNW again some day. There's good beer and tons of outdoor stuff to do. I never got around to climbing Mt Rainier but it's something I'd probably shoot for if I ever get back. If you're flying up there for a scouting trip, get a window seat so you'll have a good look at it.

Rennkafer

iTrader: (3)

Bremerton is actually a runway/taxiway with joining pieces between them... there's more to it than just a chicane however it is pretty flat. Portland is fast, and has some interesting turns but it's also pretty flat. Pacific Raceways, IMHO, is much better than either Bremerton or Portland as it has lots of elevation change and more difficult turns. I haven't been to ORP yet, though it looks interesting from video I've seen, just a little bit narrow and not developed much yet.

NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

I hope I'll be mostly built by the time I get there so I can try some of them out. Hope some of you guys can show me around the tracks. The only good thing about where I live now is that I am less than a mile from Barber Motorsports Park, a very nice track. Still haven't been there though I'm all for traveling to a track on the west coast, it's too damn hot down here for me to be comfortable traveling much.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Yeah, PIR broke my track cherry so I'm not going to say anything bad about it. If you like drag racing and want to get into track racing, it is an interesting blend of the two, hope you have your brakes sorted out.

All the ORP videos I've seen are from when it was much less developed than it was when I was there last July, and they do most of their work during the off season, so it should be even better. Doesn't help that all the videos are also the shittiest quality I've ever seen. If you can find a HD video from this month or next since the weather is getting better, you'll be surprised how much they've done.

Rennkafer

iTrader: (3)

Ya I wouldn't be suprised to see ORP has done more work. This is kind of the way Reno-Fernley started out, very basic and not many amenities then they redid a bunch of it much nicer. Of course now they seem to have folded, hopefully ORP won't follow that part of the script.