9 Answers

• Reputation: 10 Q&A: 0 0 0 10 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0

  10 0 I agree that the sex offender status website is meaningless. Seattle is an extremely safe city (tied for 4th with Boston according to this http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/26/safest-cities-ten-lifestyle-real-estate-metros-msa_slide_8.html). But since you're using the term "trashy" what I assume you don't want is to have to see any homeless people or "thug"-looking youths around. If those are the criteria, then don't live downtown or too far into the South end. Or maybe don't live in the city at all? Go to the suburbs? Otherwise you're going to have to be more specific with what you mean, probably. I think this actually had a lot more snark than I was intending, but seriously what does "safe" or "trashy" mean to you? Elliott Jones answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 18 Q&A: 0 0 0 20 2 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 MJ

  8 0 Trashy & unsafe are pretty subjective terms. I consider bland architecture trashy & areas without public transportation/solid walking infrastructure unsafe and would avoid many areas north of I-90 and/or east of Lake Washington. For less sarcastic (though I was being sincere) answers, some good resources are: Walk Score www.walkscore.com Zillow.com has some info Census and/or Seattle PD have crime stats The person in your profile picture appears to be pregnant. If you're looking for a family-friendly neighborhood and/or ideas about what it's like to have a kid in Seattle, check out Cascadiakids.com I love SE Seattle--Beacon Hill, Columbia City, Seward Park, Hillman City. There isn't a clear minority (they're very diverse) and they designed as self-contained walkable communities. My priorities are to have a grocery store, coffee shop, library and at least a couple of places to eat within walking distance. It's also important that we're close enough to work that we can see our kid at the end of the day--no long commutes. We have to have transit accessible. Look at your priorities. Get a temp place somewhere near work if possible--a year flies by when you have a baby. Best baby resource in Seattle (meet new parents, find stuff): Birth and Beyond in Madison Valley. The First Weeks class is a drop-in group moderated by internationally recognized expert and all around nicest person you'll meet Ann Keppler. Go there and ask where you should live. MJ answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 286 Q&A: 6 0 5 64 3 1 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 IsadoraWing

  4 0 I would not recommend ruling out an area because a website told you it has a lot of sex offenders. I searched my address and found 26 living within a mile, which the site assures me is cause for alarm. All that tells me is that I live in a dense area of the city with tens of thousands of other people nearby. 26 out of 50,000 or so isn't bad at all. I have some doubts about that site in general, since it's telling me there's a tornado risk in my neighborhood (and that's just impossible). What I would recommend: Google Street View. Pretty much all of Seattle is mapped, so you can click around the neighborhoods you're interested in and get a pretty good look. It's not a perfect substitute for walking around yourself, but I used it before I moved and it gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect. A neighborhood's walk score is also worth knowing before you move: http://www.walkscore.com/ There are some other factors involved in choosing a neighborhood, of course. Do you want a house or an apartment? Renting or buying? How important is public transit to you? Are you planning on having children soon, and if so, do you want to live in a good school district? How much are you willing to pay? Does a neighborhood's "character" matter to you, or just its safety? IsadoraWing answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 539 Q&A: 11 0 1 328 29 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 sublevelthree

  4 0 Where are you moving from to use as a barometer? Seattle is a pretty safe city. I've lived here for ten years but have also lived in Houston and Philly. I would walk just about anywhere in Seattle pretty much anytime, the other two no way. Not if you paid me a kajillion bucks. Returning to Seattle after 5 years out east I feel even safer in this city. That's not to say that nothings going to happen but I don't have a constant set of vigilance if I get off my normal path. If you're coming from a bigger city you might be less off put by areas than you would coming from a small town. Another thing that might help is some info. Do you have kids? Do you drive or are you public transit/bike bound? Do you work a normal 9-5 or are your hours unpredictable? Some of that can help not just figure out where to avoid but also what neighborhoods will meet your needs. Wouldn't you try to figure out where you want to live than choose a neighborhood by default because it's not on your list of bad places? I whole heardedly agree to check the offender website but more when you're trying to whittle between a few places you are interested in. sublevelthree answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 156 Q&A: 1 0 5 40 4 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0

  3 0 It's not trashy or unsafe, but you don't want to live in Magnolia. It's just terrible. S answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 1421 Q&A: 44 0 4 469 28 4 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 asteria

  3 0 It's hard to answer this question without making a lot of assumptions or being judgmental, but I'm assuming what you are looking for are solidly middle-class neighborhoods. I think Ardell, as a real estate professional, has good advice for you in her answer. Generally speaking people who worry about trashy & unsafe neighborhoods in Seattle live on the Eastside - Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Sammamish, Issaquah. Not Redmond - even though Microsoft is located there the employees generally live in other neighborhoods from what I understand. If either your husband or you will be working on the Eastside, you might want to look there because it will be an easier commute. The fewer bridges you have to cross the easier the commute is. In Seattle itself Magnolia, Upper Queen Anne (not lower) and Madison Park are fairly middle-class communities very close to the city center. Also the northeast part of Capitol Hill. Stay away from Belltown, downtown, Capitol Hill by Broadway, Pioneer Square and International District. These are the places in Seattle where you'll find a lot of addicts asking for spare change, which a lot of people find intimidating. Generally speaking north of Seattle is more solidly middle class because of the legacy of segregation (both class and race-based) than south of city center. The main exceptions are anyplace close to Aurora/99 and the University District should be avoided (see note about drug addicts). There are certainly middle-class neighborhoods south of Seattle, like West Seattle (98116 specifically). West Seattle is kind of like a small town and the main issues are property crime & stolen cars, but the traffic can be really bad sometimes during rush hour because the city is doing a lot of work on the main thoroughfares. I live in this part of West Seattle now with my boyfriend, and it's definitely safe and not trashy. I haven't lived in other places in south Seattle, but I don't think they are good choices for people who want to feel safe. I don't think these neighborhoods are all that unsafe myself but a lot of middle-class people I know think they are unsafe. A lot of safety in Seattle is really more about perception than statistics, because as others have pointed out Seattle is really safe compared to other large cities. Also what I've told you is totally counter to the PC / liberal Seattle attitude so I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate, but I'm trying to answer your question as best as I can. asteria answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 2 Q&A: 0 0 0 2 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0

  2 0 I agree that it depends on where you're moving from. Having spent some time in some "real" cities back east (Baltimore, DC, and NY), there isn't any place that really freaks me out. I might not feel the same way if I had only ever lived in rural Idaho. And I'm not sure what you mean by "trashy." A little more info about what you're hoping to avoid would be helpful. Gidge answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 51 Q&A: 0 0 2 14 3 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0

  0 0 I've only lived in Seattle for two years and have always been in north Seattle. I currently live in sandpoint/magnuson area and absolutely love it. Ive always felt safe even walking at night. Close to childrens hospital, magnuson park, dog park, u-village; but far enough away from the u-district. Short driving/biking/walking distance to grocery stores. Yet trying to get on the freeway (passing uw) is pretty much aweful from 900-1030 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. But if you plan ahead you'll be good to go and find sitting in traffic to be relaxing (glass half full!). Anyways I hope this helped. Good luck on your research and I hope I helped! hilaryjh answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend:

• Reputation: 108 Q&A: 3 0 0 62 14 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Real Estate Follow Following 0

  3 9 A site that I have found useful to convey that type of information in a comparative way is www.homefacts.com It tells you the # of sex offenders within a mile of a given address. Also gives you the pictures and addresses of same. Has pretty good info on crime stats and breaks that down in the dropdown menu into violent vs property crime. It's all relative as I don't think there are many in City neighborhoods that rank as high as some of the Eastside neighborhoods. But if you compare apples to apples...Seattle to Seattle, it can be extremely helpful. It's easier to get people to talk about the best neighborhoods...then you can test the ones they don't mention using homefacts against the ones they say are good. But you have to use an address...it can be somewhat random from most any property listed for sale. Hope that's helpful. ARDELL answered in Real Estate 8 months ago | Report 2 comments by KittenKoder and ARDELL… 1 0 Hate to inform you, but many people on the list are not dangerous, and those who are dangerous elude registration or the law too well making such a list unreliable at best. A "sex offender" by the law includes anyone doing anything sexual when arrested, and because of the subjective nature of sexual activity that adds a lot of people arrested for unrelated crimes being added to the list. KittenKoder commented 8 months ago | Report 2 0 I understand the controversy of Megan's Law. However that does not change the fact that Megan's Law is a real estate disclosure issue. Perhaps it is about as useful as knowing there is 4% asbestos content in your popcorn ceiling, or lead based paint in your awesome Seattle home built in 1917. Does that mean you should not buy a beautiful Seattle home with lead based paint or a nice house near work with great schools with asbestos in the ceilings? For some yes...for others no. I wish the Seattle Area would include testing for lead based paint and asbestos as the norm...but they don't. Has someone decided for the world that such things are not important? Is it not PC to tell people about asbestos or factually yes or no as to lead based paint and where it exists in your home? You may see sex offender sites as quite different from asbestos or lead based paint. To me they are all real estate related issues, as Megan's Law made it so. Does the law do more harm than good? Maybe...but why? The law is not bad in and of itself. That there isn't a law telling you where lead and asbestos is in your home, to me, is a greater grievance. ARDELL commented 8 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

  Share this answer with a friend: