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Old 02-20-2007, 05:14 PM   #1
jalm111
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Join Date: Jul 2006
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Location: Sammamish, WA
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Default Moving to Seattle. Advice.

First of all I just wanted to say hello all. I just took an offer from Microsoft and will be moving to the area in late June / early July.

I currently drive an '06 WRX Wagon but with the money I'll be getting it'll be pretty easy to afford an STI (I've always wanted one). I'm most likely going to leave the WRX here for my 16 yo bro to take over. Any advice on good dealerships in the area (Redmond, Issaquah)? Also I'm thinking about buying a beater (maybe an older impreza, I always liked those) for a couple of months to wait for the '08 models, not sure if this is a good idea...?

Any other advice / comments would also be appreciated. I know no one there and will have to figure everything out by myself. What's a good area to live and etc.?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Luke
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Old 02-20-2007, 05:22 PM   #2
WebMasterP
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[North Seattle/Shoreline] Carter Subaru will probably give you a bad price, you might try to haggle them down, but they have a "no haggle" policy. On the bright side, I get free oil changes for life (it's pretty sweet) and their shop has good hours.

If you go there, ask for John (tallish skiny white dude), you can tell him I sent you if you want, but I don't really care about the giftcard they give you for friend referrals. At the least avoid the large black man (no, I'm not racist, he's just a total *******).

[Bellevue] there is Chaplin's Subaru, I've only bought parts from them and while their online help wasn't correct, the guy working the parts counter was very helpful. But I've heard pretty good things about them.

[Renton] There's also Renton Subaru, which I've heard bad things about.

A word of advice if you haven't found a place yet, move next to the Microsoft campus you're going to work at. Commuting over the 520 or I90 bridges sucks.
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Old 02-20-2007, 05:25 PM   #3
jalm111
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I don't have a place yet. I'm going to live in Microsoft housing for a month and try to find a place during that time.

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming
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Old 02-20-2007, 05:31 PM   #4
liupj
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Ah, welcome Luke!

Just come out of school to work out here? Welcome!

Anyways, call or email Joe Spitz @ Carter Subaru. I bought my car through him and got a fantastic price (way below invoice without having to haggle). I don't know what WebMasterP is talking about "Bad Price" but they don't like to haggle, but I've never heard of someone who has to .


Check Carter, or Chaplins Subaru (both very good dealerships). Joe is my only reference for Carter, however (after moving up here from CA).


I recommend being VERY specific about traffic and where you're living if you're working at Redmond main campus. Traffic is retarded here.

Sure, Seattle is nice, but 520 is stupid.
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Old 02-20-2007, 05:37 PM   #5
jalm111
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I'm graduating in early June Guess I got kinda lucky with the job/offer. I'm really stoked to move out there, I love snowboarding and the area overall seems really nice. I'll be working out of the Sammamish/Issaquah campus (right at the bottom of that big lake). I'm eventually going to buy land and build a house (my gf's dad is a hardcore house builder and he offered to move there to build one for us) but for now I'm gonna get an apartment till I figure out the area and all that.

I'm still trying to figure out what I wanna buy. I definitelly like the auto xpress shots of the '08 STI but who knows how accurate those are. I've also always wanted a 99 or so RS (nicely modded) so I'm kind of split right now. Where would a good place be to look an older RS out there? Hopefully the April revealing at NYC will help me make the decision.
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Old 02-20-2007, 05:44 PM   #6
WebMasterP
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jalm111 View Post
I'm graduating in early June Guess I got kinda lucky with the job/offer. I'm really stoked to move out there, I love snowboarding and the area overall seems really nice. I'll be working out of the Sammamish/Issaquah campus (right at the bottom of that big lake). I'm eventually going to buy land and build a house (my gf's dad is a hardcore house builder and he offered to move there to build one for us) but for now I'm gonna get an apartment till I figure out the area and all that.
That's where I work, Samm-C building. There's a couple other members who work over here too. Holler at us when you get here.

You can buy a Condo in the Issaquah highlands starting somewhere around $255k-300k.
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Old 02-20-2007, 06:04 PM   #7
a04subaruwrxSTi
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I love issaquah I just moved from renton .>>>>
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Old 02-20-2007, 06:12 PM   #8
shikataganai
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don't blow all your money on a car. buy a condo instead. it'll make a lot more sense...
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Old 02-20-2007, 06:19 PM   #9
wa-ForesterXT
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Another member who lives in Issaquah and works at Microsoft (in Redmond). Make sure you live in the MS housing for as long as you can and spend that time getting a good feel for the area and where you might want to live. If you want to build, it will be in Sammamish, south of Issaquah, or east (Fall City, North Bend, etc).

Beaters can sometimes be hard to find. People like to hold on to their Subarus.
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Old 02-20-2007, 06:30 PM   #10
kirkeemonster
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-1 for Carter, <--they don't know ****, +1 for Chaplin, and +1 for internet sales Peninsula Subaru.
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Old 02-20-2007, 06:38 PM   #11
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I got mine at Carter.

I got mine when the car just came out and every dealer in town is asking for 500~1000 above either invoice or sticker price.

But Carter sold it to me for under invoice, not by much, but it's a bit of saving.

BuT! before you sign your paper, make sure they didn't charge you for doc fee (or one of those charge, I can't remember exact name for it), you don't have to pay that in State of washington. that finance guy at Carter slipped that in and i dind't see it until later. it's only 35 dollars, but hey, it's still money.
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Old 02-20-2007, 07:23 PM   #12
pinter
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As another Microsoft employee, I'd suggest getting a daily driver that you won't mind getting beat up in the parking garage. I"m not sure what the deal is, but my car has been abused by other people here. When I got my car it was very clean, only a couple small dents. Now every body panel has dents plus some good sized scrapes and it's been keyed a couple times since I started working at Microsoft. I'm not sure if all MS garages are like that, but thats been my experience. I have friends who've had the same experiences working at MS.

Congrats on getting the job, it's a great place to work. Just be aware that parking really sucks, most of the buildings are over crowded. Sammamish might be better, but I doubt it.
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Old 02-20-2007, 07:47 PM   #13
fuzzycuffs
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Carter Subaru has a deal with Microsoft. You need to call Joe Spitz.

Don't live in Redmond/Issaquah. It's boring as hell. If you're young, live in the city. The commute is just as bad as anywhere else.

Actually, I take the bus a lot of the time, and the commute is easier than driving. And you get a bus pass for free, so it's even better. Don't have to deal with god awful parking on campus.

But if you're in Samm, I think 550 or 554 goes there. Not so sure, since I'm on main campus and take 545.
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Old 02-20-2007, 08:22 PM   #14
AllWheelsDriven
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yeah as a seattle native i second that....single guys that have moved to issaquah/the plateau find themselves amongst all these married with children couples. I would live west of MS something like Kirkland, Kenmore etc.
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Old 02-20-2007, 08:39 PM   #15
jalm111
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Well, my girlfriend might be coming with me... still up in the air though. I'm gonna live in Microsoft housing for the full month that I'm alloted (for free) and than move to wherever else. My long term goal is to buy some land not so close to the city and build a nice big log house Hopefully I'll be able to realize that some day not too far away...

I'm basically torn between the older RS and an STI. Thanks for all the dealership comments, I'll make sure to read over them before I get ready to make the purchase. What do you guys think about holding out for the '08? Guess it's kinda hard to tell without having all the details and etc.

This is such a crazy move, as far away as I can possibly get from Delaware in the continentla US.

How much does it rain over there? I've heard mixed things...
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Old 02-20-2007, 08:45 PM   #16
lancelucas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jalm111 View Post
How much does it rain over there? I've heard mixed things...
~300 days/year.
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Old 02-20-2007, 08:51 PM   #17
liupj
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jalm111
Well, my girlfriend might be coming with me... still up in the air though. I'm gonna live in Microsoft housing for the full month that I'm alloted (for free)


Its actually NOT free. Wait until you get your tax statements. You get some funding for tax coverage though. Since you're in Samm campus, I recommend living in Seattle near I-90 . 90 bridge = good. 520 bridge = the suck.

DO NOT ever, EVER live in Redmond until you get married and have 2 kids and a minivan. I moved out of there and am in Kirkland very happy now (I can't do the Seattle commute, and I hate having to wait for the bus and working around bus schedules).

I would recommend looking around www.rs25.com for a used 2.5RS. Your car WILL get dings from retarded Washington folks that aren't aware of their surroundings (seriously, people are stupid here). A new car will make you hate door dings only so much more. I literally park at the very bottom of my garage in my building for this very reason (I got lucky with a pretty empty garage in my building).

-phil
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Old 02-20-2007, 08:54 PM   #18
WebMasterP
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jalm111 View Post
How much does it rain over there? I've heard mixed things...
If you like the rain (like I do) you don't notice that much. It rains *often*, but it doens't rain *heavy*. We get less rain in terms of quantity than all of these cities:

Atlanta, Vancouver B.C., Houston, New York, Boston, Washington D.C.
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Old 02-20-2007, 11:42 PM   #19
Doctor Subie
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not to sound pessimistic, but good luck finding a good piece of property to 'build your dream house on'. The seattle housing market has been one of the hottest in the nation, and only recently has plateaued a bit. Your best bet at finding some land to build on would be in far outlying areas, maybe 30 to 40 minutes from suburbia. In the meantime, until that happens, my advice would be to look at some affordable condos near your workplace, as condos are plentiful here. I wouldn't recommend living downtown, even though a lot of microsofters do it, I would think the 45+min. of each-way commuting would get to you. Just simply live near work, then go out to town to play (plus, housing/condos in downtown are also quite expensive).
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Old 02-21-2007, 10:29 AM   #20
jalm111
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So I don't really want to live downtown. I lived in NYC (Brooklyn) for long enough to make me tired of that kinda life. I'd much prefer the burbs outside of Seattle. When I was there for an interview the Issaquah area seemed really nice while Redmond seemed somewhat more condensed (I was only there for 4 days so maybe I just didn't see enough). Issaquah was also much closer to Snoqualmie but further from Baker .

My 'dream house' probably won't be a reality for a while, I realize that but I don't think it's impossible. You can get all the materials for 200-300k and the land shouldn't be much more than 100k (maybe I'm wrong...). Either way, I'll be able to figure that out after living there for a couple years.

How much can I expect to pay for an apartment around there?
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Old 02-21-2007, 10:49 AM   #21
AllWheelsDriven
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i have a 2bdr 2.5 bath condo about 1100sqft with a garage in kenmore/juanita and i get 1300 a month for it. Plug: if you get a condo with an attached garage you dont have to deal with the ongoing nightmare of more than a few apt dwellers whose cars are broken into/molested in open common parking areas

building in the seattle area is currently at 150/sqft or more. Bare land I am not sure of but you can check on craigslist or a site like www.windermere.com

basically north and south are losing propositions due to the commute. I5 is the only n/s freeway here aside from a short stretch of 405 and 167 and its 3-4 lanes of bad traffic at most times.
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Old 02-21-2007, 11:20 AM   #22
EnterTheDragon
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100k for land in the seattle burbs? not going to get much! Congrats on the job, that's pretty impressive.

The 08 impreza design is so close to being revealed, I think it would be smart to hold out and see what it's going to offer.
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Old 02-21-2007, 11:23 AM   #23
AllWheelsDriven
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yeah and usually with a new design theres a crowd of people that "have to have it" and sell off their old cars quickly = deals
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Old 02-21-2007, 11:25 AM   #24
BraveUlysses
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Quote:
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So I don't really want to live downtown. I lived in NYC (Brooklyn) for long enough to make me tired of that kinda life. I'd much prefer the burbs outside of Seattle. When I was there for an interview the Issaquah area seemed really nice while Redmond seemed somewhat more condensed (I was only there for 4 days so maybe I just didn't see enough). Issaquah was also much closer to Snoqualmie but further from Baker .
Baker is still going to be quite far from either city, nothing worth sweating over.

Most prefer stevens pass over snoqualmie, at least when you have to fight with the weekend warriors for a spot on a lift.
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Old 02-21-2007, 11:28 AM   #25
jalm111
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Quote:
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100k for land in the seattle burbs? not going to get much!
Yea just realized that after looking at the windermere site. More like 200k. I still figure 200k for land plus 300k for materials (labor is pretty much free). So 500k equals about $3000 a month for mortgage/loans (with 0% down payment). If I move with my girlfriend I should be able to afford that even more so a couple years down the road. Anyways, enough house talk I'm starting to feel old haha.

Thanks for the good link 'AllWheelsDriven'.
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