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Hi all, I'm currently in the final round of interviews with a major tech company in Seattle. I currently live in Atlanta, and taking this job would entail moving my entire life and possessions to the West Coast. I have never made such a significant move, and my only previous moving experience was college move in/out day (lol) and moving from college town to Atlanta. How should I prepare for moving to a place 3000 miles away? Things I need information on: - U-Haul? Are there any reputable cross-country movers? If so, what are the average prices? Would it be more feasible to just get rid of all of my furniture and repurchase it second hand when I get to Seattle? I'll be receiving a relocation package (no idea what it would theoretically be) if I get hired, so that would help offset the costs. - What's the best way to look for apartments in Seattle? It's not exactly feasible to fly out to look at places, even if we had a totally devoted weekend to apartment hunting there. I can ask a couple of friends to look somewhere, but there's no guarantee they will have the free time or would be willing to drive around town scoping out apartments and wasting a weekend on this. I've previously used Zillow and Trulia to apartment search in Atlanta and had some great success with it. - What's a good neighborhood in Seattle? I want to live somewhere within walking distance (10-15 minutes) of rail and great bus access, walking distance to grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. Rail/bus access a must for events and entertainment (concerts, games, etc). We're also looking for that "community" feel. There's a neighborhood in Atlanta called Little 5 Points, and it definitely has personality. There are tons of local indie shops, no chain stores, and a lot of alternative culture that pervades the entire district. We're looking for something less business, less industrial, less "clinical" and something that has a lot of local bars and shops where we can build up friendships and familiarity with the local people and businesses. - My girlfriend and I are currently paying $1407 + utilities per month for rent in Atlanta and we live in the city center in Midtown. We want to pay less with the same access to amenities and such. What's the average rent in Seattle with regards to my above bullet? Our current apartment is a little over 1050 square feet and we absolutely do not need this much space, so we'd be looking to downgrade to between 800-900 sqft. We only got an apartment this big because the cost of living in Atlanta is incredibly low for a major city and we could afford it. We realize this will not be the case in Seattle (girlfriend is from there originally), necessitating the downsizing. - How should I handle the culture shock of transitioning to such a different place? I'm a lifelong Southerner and moving to the Pacific Northwest will be a bigger change than any other I've made in my life. I'm very liberal and a socialist, so I think I'll fit in well with the political culture of Seattle, but I'm worried that I will be perceived as "backwards" because I'm from the South. There are a lot of stereotypes about Georgia and southerners and I am worried that I won't fit in or assimilate into the local culture, or will be thought poorly of because of where I grew up. I'll post more questions as I think of them. This is a huge move for me (I've spent 22 of the past 24 years in my home state of Georgia) and it's a very daunting experience. I realize that all of this is moot if I don't get this job, but I have a very high expectation of getting it, and I need to be prepared.
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Sep 16, 2014 16:00
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I'm moving from Vancouver, BC to Seattle in a few months so while I can't help with the culture shock stuff I do know a lot about the rental market now.HonorableTB posted:My girlfriend and I are currently paying $1407 + utilities per month for rent in Atlanta and we live in the city center in Midtown. We want to pay less with the same access to amenities and such. Ah hahahahahah. So here's the deal -- Seattle is booming right now, rents are nuts, and good places are snapped up fast. My boyfriend and I started out hoping for a two bedroom on the outskirts of the downtown area for 1900, but quickly realized that we weren't getting away with less than 2200 and honestly if we were willing to go up to 2400 it would be a lot easier to find a place in a great location. If you don't care about being too close to the city you can get good 2br (~800 square feet) apartments about 45 minutes out for closer to 1600. Seattle is expensive. There are some great neighborhoods if you have the money though. It sounds like you'd like Ballard, Fremont, and the central parts of Wallingford. Queen Anne is super cute. I hear Georgetown just south of the city is the new up-and-coming place to live, but it's mid-gentrification so it can be a little sketchy (but cheap!). I'm not sure how it works in Atlanta, but I found that the rental process is a lot more strict in Seattle than in Vancouver. Often you have to pay to apply, you need recommendations from your current or previous landlord, and they'll want to run a credit check or see a bank statement. Good luck! It's a really pretty and fun city.
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Sep 16, 2014 18:19
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Grooglon posted:I'm moving from Vancouver, BC to Seattle in a few months so while I can't help with the culture shock stuff I do know a lot about the rental market now. I don't want to live 45 minutes away from the city. The furthest north we'd consider would be Bothell, not sure about south. My salary is going to be in the area of $80,000 plus whatever salary my girlfriend brings in, and we're currently living a comfortable life in Atlanta on combined $78,000. The rental process is very similar in Atlanta. I had to provide an offer letter + recommendation from my previous landlord, and of course the associated application fees, "administrative" fees (read: we're making you pay just because we can), and they did a credit check.
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Sep 16, 2014 18:41
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HonorableTB posted:I don't want to live 45 minutes away from the city. The furthest north we'd consider would be Bothell, not sure about south. My salary is going to be in the area of $80,000 plus whatever salary my girlfriend brings in, and we're currently living a comfortable life in Atlanta on combined $78,000. Bothell is at least 45 minutes from downtown during rush hour.
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Sep 17, 2014 01:36
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Engineer Lenk posted:Bothell is at least 45 minutes from downtown during rush hour. Is downtown accessible from Bothell via train?
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Sep 17, 2014 02:44
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There is no neighborhood in Seattle currently accessible by light rail or commuter train meets your desired criteria. Long-haul mass transit is a joke unless you are going to downtown Seattle, Microsoft or the airport. The bus system within the Seattle city limits is actually quite good, but we pretty much ran out of money to pay for it and are now concentrating all of our efforts on bike lanes and telling people to move within walking distance of work. Fun neighborhoods that have a variety of services: Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, Ravenna, Greenwood, the U District, Capitol Hill. Queen Anne Hill is for rich people with kids, but Lower Queen Anne ("Uptown") is OK. The Central District ("Central Area", if you're a real estate agent) is where all the hipsters moved when Amazon employees ran them out of Capitol Hill. West Seattle would be a good place to live if you never have to visit the rest of the city. Georgetown has been on the verge of gentrification for at least a decade now but will never truly gentrify so long as you have to listen to planes flying over your house all day long. Ballard and Capitol Hill probably most resemble Little Five Points and Capitol Hill has the best transit options. Downtown Bellevue is probably more like Midtown Atlanta than any place in Seattle proper. In most of these neighborhoods, $1,400/month will get you a small 1 bedroom in a building from the 60s-80s. The baseball and football/soccer stadiums are just south of downtown. The WNBA team plays in an arena just north of downtown. Concerts are usually in Capitol Hill, Belltown or downtown unless the band is particularly big. Stadium acts are likely to play at an arena 20-40 miles away. The wilderness starts about 35 miles east of the city and you'll be within 2-3 hours of three different national parks. Skiing is about 90 minutes from Seattle during the winter. Beware: restaurants in Seattle seem to think that all barbecue styles are interchangeable and that grits are best served in the form of a dry, flavorless paste. There are many transplants here. Nobody will think less of you for it unless you're from California. To fit in quickly, here are some tips: -You love nature and the environment. Recycling is good and composting is even better. All summer weekends should be spent hiking, biking, kayaking, etc. -You love craft beer and would rather drink water than Bud/Miller/Coors. -The legalization of gay marriage is the best thing that ever happened to Seattle. Anyone who opposes gay marriage is worse than Hitler. -Tobacco is a filthy substance that should be banned everywhere. Marijuana is a wonderful thing that should be allowed anywhere. -Dressing up means that all of your clothing is made from natural fibers.
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Sep 17, 2014 04:19
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HonorableTB posted:I'm very liberal and a socialist, so I think I'll fit in well with the political culture of Seattle
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Sep 17, 2014 04:59
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Cicero posted:You're in luck then! Not sure if you're already aware of this, but Seattle recently elected a socialist to its city council. No, not a liberal that conservatives claimed is a socialist, but one from a party that actually has "socialist" in its name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshama_Sawant This makes me very excited! What can I expect in the way of rents in Capitol Hill for a one bedroom apartment around 800 sqft?
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Sep 17, 2014 12:40
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HonorableTB posted:This makes me very excited! What can I expect in the way of rents in Capitol Hill for a one bedroom apartment around 800 sqft? http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=capitol+hill&sale_date=- Capitol Hill sounds like a perfect fit for you, but the rents are ungodly expensive. You're gonna have to decide what your priorities are. You could go with the tiniest studio apartment you could find and get the neighborhood you want, or pay out the rear end and get the square footage and the neighborhood you want, or pick a less interesting and farther out neighborhood and get a decent price. By the way, where are you going to be commuting to for work (or wherever else)? Commuting is horrible in Seattle due to there only being the one highway, I-5, which everyone in the entire city and state are driving through to move north and south.
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Sep 17, 2014 21:38
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HonorableTB posted:I don't want to live 45 minutes away from the city. The furthest north we'd consider would be Bothell, not sure about south. My salary is going to be in the area of $80,000 plus whatever salary my girlfriend brings in, and we're currently living a comfortable life in Atlanta on combined $78,000. 30% gross is hardly unusual for renting and if you want to live in a non-shithole in any decent city you should get used to it (unless you make a shitload). Even with just your salary 2k a month is perfectly affordable, trying to lower your rent costs moving from Atlanta is just  , even if you plan on downsizing (which is dumb).
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Sep 17, 2014 21:47
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Orange Sunshine posted:http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=capitol+hill&sale_date=- Let's take Capitol Hill for an example. I'd be going west to the Amazon HQ on Ferry and from the transit maps I've seen, bus routes are plentiful. I'd prefer to live within 1-1.5 miles of my job so I can just walk, but I don't know how feasible that is. That would depend on the hard salary number I get (if I get anything). tsa posted:30% gross is hardly unusual for renting and if you want to live in a non-shithole in any decent city you should get used to it (unless you make a shitload). Even with just your salary 2k a month is perfectly affordable, trying to lower your rent costs moving from Atlanta is just Atlanta is basically the cheapest major city to live in from what I've seen. It's a pretty decent place to live (bias alert!!!). I don't mind downsizing because we really do have too much space and not enough things to fill it with. Two people + two cats do not need 1020+ sqft. I believe we could get by with an 750-850 sqft 1 bedroom as long as we keep that floorplan in mind when arranging things. Right now, for example, we have the massive living room cut diagonally in half by a couch just so the room doesn't feel so empty. The girlfriend has one half of the room, I have the other half, and there's still absolute buttloads of free space. If we were to arrange it "optimally", we'd fill about half the total space. Some breathing room is fine, but I don't feel like we need 1024 square feet. HonorableTB fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Sep 17, 2014 |
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Sep 17, 2014 21:52
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HonorableTB posted:Atlanta is basically the cheapest major city to live in from what I've seen. It's a pretty decent place to live (bias alert!!!). I don't mind downsizing because we really do have too much space and not enough things to fill it with. Two people + two cats do not need 1020+ sqft. I believe we could get by with an 750-850 sqft 1 bedroom as long as we keep that floorplan in mind when arranging things. Right now, for example, we have the massive living room cut diagonally in half by a couch just so the room doesn't feel so empty. The girlfriend has one half of the room, I have the other half, and there's still absolute buttloads of free space. If we were to arrange it "optimally", we'd fill about half the total space. Some breathing room is fine, but I don't feel like we need 1024 square feet. Hes saying you will be downsizing and paying more. Thats Seattle.
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Sep 17, 2014 23:16
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As far as moving across the country amazon (based on what you said that is the employer) should be paying to move all of your stuff. It is all negotiable though. I worked out $10k for my move from Michigan to Denver. It allowed me to fly back to Michigan, pay a moving company to pick up all my stuff and deliver it, Drive out my cars, stay in a hotel for a week before my last started, etc. I got a check for $6500 after taxes, probably spent $4500 on the move. My friend who was hired the same time I was negotiated $1000 dollars and put everything in a u haul pod. It took a month for it to show up. Good luck with the final interview. E: it was ~$3k to move our stuff with united van lines, 1 bedroom 850sqft apartment. That was the best price out of 4 quotes
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Sep 18, 2014 01:14
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HonorableTB posted:Let's take Capitol Hill for an example. I'd be going west to the Amazon HQ on Ferry and from the transit maps I've seen, bus routes are plentiful. I'd prefer to live within 1-1.5 miles of my job so I can just walk, but I don't know how feasible that is. That would depend on the hard salary number I get (if I get anything). Any trip via the ferry from Capitol Hill to Amazon would involve going in giant circles and take two hours. I suggest you don't live in Capitol Hill if you want to take the ferry to Amazon. If you want to take the ferry to Amazon, why not live in Bainbridge Island instead?
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Sep 18, 2014 01:41
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Move to Freemont they have a statue of Lennin. Also it is "quirky" my aunt and uncle live in Ballard a little further away and its always fun to visit Fremont. It is like a little condensed version of Portland.
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Sep 18, 2014 01:46
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ntan1 posted:Any trip via the ferry from Capitol Hill to Amazon would involve going in giant circles and take two hours. I suggest you don't live in Capitol Hill if you want to take the ferry to Amazon.
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Sep 18, 2014 01:56
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twodot posted:I'm pretty sure they meant Terry, which is the street Amazon is on. Whoops, you're totally right. My mistake  My girlfriend's family lives on Bainbridge Island, and I definitely like ferries but not enough to deal with it twice per day.
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Sep 18, 2014 02:11
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If your salary is in the range of $80K at Amazon, you're getting screwed if it's an engineering role.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:52
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Chasiubao posted:If your salary is in the range of $80K at Amazon, you're getting screwed if it's an engineering role. It's not engineering, it's quality assurance testing. The title is just QA Engineer.
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Sep 18, 2014 04:04
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I'm guessing the 80k you're referring to is probably just the base, so I would factor in another 20k-25k for your signing bonus.
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Sep 18, 2014 04:14
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Hello future Seattle goon! If you're coming into Amazon, they'll provide you a relocation package so you should take your furniture if possible. Do they offer corporate housing for a period of time while you're trying to find a place? Places like Google and Microsoft do offer this. That's a good option if you don't want to jump into a move w/o checking out the neighborhood. I have a friend who's moving into Seattle and asked similar questions. This is what I shared with them Capitol Hill -- think the Williamsburg of Seattle. It's got the highest ratio of tattooed, indie types, plus creative types plus gay-friendly. Lotsa dining, coffee shops, music venues, bars, parks, etc. Lots of stuff for Sarah to do nearby. Major bus routes, you could walk/bike to a ton of neighborhoods from here. Tradeoffs: Space is a premium. For $1800 in a modern apartment building, you're looking at a studio/efficiency. Think more like 500sq feet. It's closest to Five Points in feel. Central District -- Up-and-coming gentrifying neighborhood of Seattle. Think Bushwick! More diverse than other parts. Also more affordable. It's adjacent to Cap Hill so you can walk to nightlife, etc. and easy to get downtown or Chinatown to. Highest concentration of hospitals. Ballard is also great. Hip like Capitol Hill, more beards, more Scandinavians. Bill Nye used to live here. More isolated from the highway so it it can be a bitch to get to I-5. Otherwise, SLU (South Lake Union) is the neighborhood that Amazon HQ is in. It's OK. If you're gonna be working crazy hours at AMZ, this will do. Here's some additional reading: http://www.seattlemag.com/article/15-best-neighborhoods-seattle http://seattle.curbed.com/archives/2014/07/what-1441month-can-rent-you-in-seattle.php
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Sep 18, 2014 06:00
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I'm just gonna save you some time: move to South Lake Union. Amazon will help hook you up with some nice housing there, it's centrally located (Capitol Hill and Belltown are the nightlife districts, and it's equidistant between the two, within walking distance of both), your commute will be a walk, and while your rent will be high, you'll be living in a new building which is unlikely to have a lot of the issues the older buildings in the area have. Additionally, most of the people you see there will also be Amazon employees, and most of the people you work with will likely live there, which will make grabbing drinks at Re:Public after work that much easier. Plus, I can't imagine a landlord there would ever dream of screwing an Amazon employee, since if word got out, they'd basically have to burn the building down for insurance money. Sign a one year lease, and by the time ten months is up, you'll know where you actually want to live. This is what just about every transplant does. Bothell isn't even in Seattle; this isn't Atlanta or Phoenix, if you're outside the city limits and not crossing the lake, you're at least a 45-minute commute from downtown (better plan for an hour). That being said, if you choose to ignore my advice, listen to everyone else. Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, or the Central District. You can look to South Seattle, but having to commute through downtown suuuuuuuuuucks. Much further North and your commute starts to suck, much further South and the prices start to climb precipitously. If you're going to live in Cap Hill, you should really just live in SLU; your place will be nicer, very probably cheaper, parking will be easier (it'll probably take you several months to ditch the car, if you ever do), and your walk to work will be much shorter (there are areas in Cap Hill you wouldn't even want to walk from). Also, even though you're not Californian, you are from the South, so I feel compelled to give you the heads-up that if you speak with a Southern accent, everyone is going to immediately drop their estimate of your IQ by thirty points. Most of the Southerners I know made a point of losing the accent ASAP, but there's always the "gently caress the haters" option of just going deeper.
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Sep 18, 2014 07:46
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deviltry posted:Hello future Seattle goon! Thanks a ton! Thanatosian posted:I'm just gonna save you some time: move to South Lake Union. This is some great advice. We've opened up our apartment hunting to SLU, though I don't know about the Amazon hooking me up with housing thing. Cheaper is better, and parking is definitely a plus. Some of the neighborhoods in Atlanta are so densely packed that there aren't any parking spaces for sometimes up to 10+ blocks, and I'm not really into that. I'd sell my car but I still owe money on it and I'd like to have it for when I inevitably want to drive around the area, or out to the mountains, or up to Canada, and I legally can't rent a car yet. About the accent, I have trained myself out of it when dealing professionally with people but it always comes back out when I'm talking to family and friends. General question: how ubiquitous is air conditioning in apartments? I know Seattle is cooler and a lot less humid than the South but I just can't conceptualize living somewhere and not having it.
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Sep 18, 2014 14:12
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HonorableTB posted:I'd sell my car but I still owe money on it and I'd like to have it for when I inevitably want to drive around the area, or out to the mountains, or up to Canada, and I legally can't rent a car yet. quote:General question: how ubiquitous is air conditioning in apartments? I know Seattle is cooler and a lot less humid than the South but I just can't conceptualize living somewhere and not having it.
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Sep 18, 2014 17:00
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HonorableTB posted:
I never had air conditioning in any place that I lived in Seattle, but I tended to live in cheaper apartments. Perhaps the more expensive ones have it. The thing is, you don't really need it. The temperature only reaches 80 degrees or above maybe two weeks out of the summer, and there may be 2 days of the year where it hits 90. Also, it is NEVER hot and humid in Seattle. If it's warm, it doesn't rain for weeks. If it's rainy, it's cool (60's or below). If you really wanted to, you could get some sort of portable air conditioner, for the week or two out of the year where you might want it. It also depends on the place you're living. Top floor apartment with windows facing the sun, you might really want AC for a couple weeks a year. Lower floor unit with heavy shade from trees, you might never need it. My last Seattle apartment, the temperature inside never got above 78 degrees even the few days when it hit 90 outside.
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Sep 18, 2014 19:40
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HonorableTB posted:Thanks a ton! To be clear: I was saying parking is easier in SLU, not Cap Hill. Parking is a nightmare on Cap Hill, and a ton of the places there don't have parking spots. The places in SLU mostly do have parking spots. Newer buildings are more likely to have AC. You don't really need it, but you're more likely to find it in SLU than most other places. One of the few people I know with it lives there. Amazon won't, like, give you housing, but they can probably easily put you in touch with the landlords in the area, and most of the landlords there are going to be big on renting to Amazonians. It'll take you awhile to figure out whether or not you need your car, but I totally understand bringing it here with you, and wanting parking for it while you are here.
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Sep 19, 2014 04:46
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Had to do a double take to see if I was the OP. I'm actually relocating from Atlanta to Seattle next month for a job at probably the same company. I've started the relocation process with them, will hit you up over IM later (out of country right now) and we can swap notes. Hit up the Seattle thread over in LAN for advice and watch everyone rage as people are imported from bad places to ruin their cultural utopia.
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Sep 19, 2014 08:02
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I may do just that, if I actually get this job. I'm incredibly nervous because I'm looking at 8 hours worth of very technical interviews and I'm getting a healthy dose of Imposter Syndrome. I'm downright amazed that I made it to the final step in the process in the first place.
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Sep 19, 2014 14:30
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Thanatosian posted:To be clear: I was saying parking is easier in SLU, not Cap Hill. Parking is a nightmare on Cap Hill, and a ton of the places there don't have parking spots. The places in SLU mostly do have parking spots. Amazon also has 24 hour company parking lots for a decent monthly rate. If you're ok with taking public transit to work, you could just leave your car there until you need it.
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Sep 20, 2014 02:39
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HonorableTB posted:I don't want to live 45 minutes away from the city. The furthest north we'd consider would be Bothell, not sure about south. My salary is going to be in the area of $80,000 plus whatever salary my girlfriend brings in, and we're currently living a comfortable life in Atlanta on combined $78,000. Yeah that's definitely a problem given the high rent info posted itt. After taxes, and assuming you limit yourself to the recommended 28% of your monthly income going to rent after taxes... you're looking at about 1250 a month as the expected rental rate you can afford. Assuming your girlfriend doesn't find some work as well, that is. So if you can't find anything for that 1250 a month, then your girlfriend will probably have to find a job to make up whatever difference you get stuck with. Otherwise, you'll be spending at least half of your monthly income after taxes on rent alone... which is a huge no-no. In order to afford 2k rent while keeping it at an affordable percentage of your monthly income (28, again, is what I've always seen as the most reasonable number), you would have to take home 130k before taxes annually... so yeah, rent is way too loving high. Edit: Right now based on your numbers from earlier, you're already paying just under half of your monthly income on rent together as it is... and if you go to Seattle and are the only breadwinner then itll be even worse because you'll be paying an even larger portion of your monthly income on rent. On the other hand, though, you'll be making more money overall... but you gotta remember that you're still going to spend even an even larger portion of your money in rent than you are right now there in Atlanta. So, in my opinion, your financial situation, in terms of portion of monthly income going to rent, would stay the same as right now in Atlanta for you if your girlfriend could find a job that pays at least 42k annually before taxes, assuming a rent of 2.2k a month total. That way, you'll at least be paying the same portion of your collective income on rent as you are now... although the numbers will be higher. If you want to make your rent at the 28% that I keep saying over and over here, then your girlfriend would need to find a job that pays at least 62k annually before taxes (assuming 2.2k rent again). (Fyi i was assuming taxes of 33% when doing my calculator stuff) Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 18:42
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Love Stole the Day posted:Yeah that's definitely a problem given the high rent info posted itt. After taxes, and assuming you limit yourself to the recommended 28%O of your monthly income going to rent after taxes... you're looking at about 1250 a month as the expected rental rate you can afford. Assuming your girlfriend doesn't find some work as well, that is.
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Sep 21, 2014 22:02
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Thanatosian posted:Generally speaking, this is not reasonable in a city. That's why I wrote this part: quote:So, in my opinion, your financial situation, in terms of portion of monthly income going to rent, would stay the same as right now in Atlanta for you if your girlfriend could find a job that pays at least 42k annually before taxes, assuming a rent of 2.2k a month total. That way, you'll at least be paying the same portion of your collective income on rent as you are now... although the numbers will be higher. Because since he already lives in a big city (Atlanta), that 43% of income he and his girlfriend collectively spend on rent currently will remain the same only if his girlfriend can also find a job that pays at least 42k in Seattle. Otherwise, he'll be paying an even larger portion of his income than he is now in Atlanta. It'd be more than 60% of his income... which is just crazy for rent, even in a big city! ... and then I mentioned at the end that if he wants to make his rent be 28% of income, his girlfriend would need a job that pays at least 62k before taxes. --- edit --- also, here's a 600ft place downtown for 1.6k a month: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/4679220163.html You said you wanted to downsize, so maybe that might be appropriate? I don't know anything about Seattle in general - I just craiglist searched a little bit and saw that. It could be a bad part of town or something, idk. Just thought the price and location relative to the city were good. I don't know anything about the neighborhoods. Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 01:32
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Love Stole the Day posted:edit --- also, here's a 600ft place downtown for 1.6k a month: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/4679220163.html
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Sep 22, 2014 02:56
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Here was what I was thinking: it's well known that hires at Amazon get a signing bonus, and a pretty sizable one at that. I was going to drop a good chunk of that bonus (again, if hired) on paying rent ahead of time by a few months to give us some breathing room. If she hasn't found a job by the time that we would move, that would allow me to continue building my savings and pay other expenses without the fear of eviction. And if she does find something when we get there, or before we move, then that's just more money that she can save for herself, or that I can save for myself, since effectively a bonus is just extra money not counted towards base salary. When I lived off campus when attending university, I would take my excess loan check and pay the entire year's rent with it to avoid fear of eviction and that allowed me to save up more money than I would've been able to otherwise. Edit: Using a salary calculator, my monthly net pay would be $4,582.58. 30% of that pay would be $1374.77, and assuming my girlfriend finds work, that amount would be cut in half because she'd be paying for 50% of the rent. That means that individually, I can afford a higher rent at the expense of her proportion of income, but I really don't want to do that. Right now we each pay roughly $704 per month (it changes slightly based on water usage). I think we could safely afford up to $850 per person based on just the income raise she would get by moving to a higher cost of living area. Am I mistaken in this? HonorableTB fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 03:03
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HonorableTB posted:Edit: Using a salary calculator, my monthly net pay would be $4,582.58. 30% of that pay would be $1374.77, and assuming my girlfriend finds work, that amount would be cut in half because she'd be paying for 50% of the rent. That means that individually, I can afford a higher rent at the expense of her proportion of income, but I really don't want to do that. Right now we each pay roughly $704 per month (it changes slightly based on water usage). I think we could safely afford up to $850 per person based on just the income raise she would get by moving to a higher cost of living area. Am I mistaken in this? Plan for the worst case - don't rent anything that you alone can't cover completely for an extended amount of time. I saw something a while back on 'Your money or your life' that was a more flexible percentage system for city dwellers - combining rent and transportation. If you ditch the car, you can afford more in rent. If she's making considerably less than consider splitting the rent proportionally. If you adhere to 50/50 you'll always be living on the lowest common denominator, where you will have way more discretionary income left-over while she's scraping by.
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Sep 22, 2014 06:56
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Engineer Lenk posted:If she's making considerably less than consider splitting the rent proportionally. If you adhere to 50/50 you'll always be living on the lowest common denominator, where you will have way more discretionary income left-over while she's scraping by. Exactly this -- I actually was trying to imply it in my earlier post itt She will already be making less money than her male counterparts as it is... so to ask her to contribute almost double the portion of her income to the rent compared to the portion of your rent that you contribute... that's just not fair imo. The numbers I gave earlier already factor this in - she'd be contributing the same portion of her income as you are. Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 14:13
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I don't really have a problem with paying more than 50% of the rent. I really just wish her career interests were in a field that actually makes money  She got a master's degree in industrial design from Georgia Tech but wants to get into education or non-profit work and is more than content to basically live in a shack with no utilities as long as she likes going to work every day. It's very frustrating for me because I believe there is a career out there that she will both enjoy and also pay enough that we're not reduced to eating poverty noodles every night while I'm pouring out money left and right to pay rent and utilities. Her current job is something she absolutely loathes and ALSO pays like poo poo ($33,000 with a contractual raise to $40,000 after an 8 month training period) while I make $45,000. I'd be going up to in the area of $80,000 plus benefits and she....would still be around $40,000 if she's lucky.Edit: The more reviews I read on Glassdoor, the more I don't want this job at all. However, it's my only ticket to getting a salary that high and to get out of Atlanta without having to bankrupt myself in moving costs. I wish my current job would let me work remote (which they would, even from Seattle because half of my team is in Colorado, Washington DC, Maryland, and Florida) but would also give me that kind of pay as well. I couldn't live in Seattle on $45,000 a year. This loving blows. HonorableTB fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 14:21
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Don't freak out, dude. Personally the teams I was on had fine work-life balance for devs and QA, but in any case Amazon has enough of a burnout reputation that leaving after a year won't get you any weird looks, and the Seattle area has lots of tech jobs.Thanatosian posted:Generally speaking, this is not reasonable in a city. At least when I was there (left in January so not that long ago) Amazon gave employees an unlimited orca pass, so taking public transportation in the area is free. Well, it wouldn't be free for your girlfriend I guess, but still, that's pretty nice. Engineer Lenk posted:Plan for the worst case - don't rent anything that you alone can't cover completely for an extended amount of time. I saw something a while back on 'Your money or your life' that was a more flexible percentage system for city dwellers - combining rent and transportation. If you ditch the car, you can afford more in rent. edit: if she has a degree in industrial design, seems like that'd be a good fit for going into UX? Cicero fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 22:25
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HonorableTB posted:
Don't get too disheartened, you just need to go cheap. Since you are moving and young you are going to be starting fresh anyhow so get a 600sqft place, spend a year getting raped at Amazon(cause that is their game) while building your resume and deciding if you like this city then start searching for other jobs and accommodations in the neighborhood you fit into. So now that I've said something nice, here's some more bad things to know. Everything in the Capital Hill-SLU-Downtown area is expensive, not just housing. There is no cheap food, a really good lunch may cost $12 but a really lovely one still costs you $9. The only grocery store really close to Amazon is a Whole Foods, the nearest normal grocery store is the Safeway at the bottom of Queen Anne. Parking is absurd, same 10-block thing you are talking about in Atlanta(somewhat better after working hours but Cap-Hill is always bad. Garage spaces average $250 per month. Even if you do find a spot they are always painted to maximize the space and often won't fit a full size vehicle. You mentioned owning a car; if it's a full size pick-up or SUV forget about living downtown with it. The roads are terrible and were considered narrow before everyone converted their garages to bedrooms and started parking all 3 of their cars on the street, then we decided to add suicide lanes and bike lanes too. Some other options to consider are: Live in Freemont and bike to work. Look at Amazon on a map. The Lake to the north is lake union, part of the ship canal, anything near that water will have flat well maintained bike paths that make a 5 plus mile ride quick and easy. Live in the south end and take mass transit. Beacon Hill, Columbia City and Rainier are all way cheaper, easy for parking and right on the Light Rail. Although the Light Rail only goes to the South end of downtown until 2016. These are all areas that are getting gentrified, Columbia city is mostly young families, Beacon is filling up with hipsters displaced from capital hill, Rainier is mostly first generation African immigrants and Georgetown is artsy 30-somethings People all over town live here on $33k per year, I did for years. But you might end up living in a commune.
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Sep 23, 2014 07:18
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 23:15 |
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There are not very many black people here. I came from South Carolina, and it was eerie at first how white everything was.
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Sep 24, 2014 05:23
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