My bosses have finally closed escrow on an office building and I'll be moving with the company to Seattle. The office will be on 1st and Jackson. I'm pretty excited about being able to buy pretty much everything I want, it's going to be a big improvement over what I can get in CA.

Now I'm curious to know about a few things from guns to living situation in the area. What are some nice neighborhoods to live? I want to be close to the light rail because that's what I will be taking to work. I'm looking at Burien, Tukwila, Rainier Beach, Rainier Valley and maybe Renton. What are some areas I should be looking at? What are the nice gun shops and ranges in the area?

First off, welcome.

Looking to Rent or Buy?

Avoid Rainier Beach, Rainer Valley, White Center and spots of Tukwila if you can.

Will you be coming up here to do some house hunting? If so maybe get together with a few of us for lunch?

Welcome. There are plenty of options for housing. As Chuck said, if you come up here house hunting we could grab lunch.

Seattle is hyper-inflated. Most realtors I've spoken to expect a significant correction within the next year or two, I'd advise against buying anything, rent if you can till the market pops.

I agree with L_O_G, avoid those areas.

As far as guns, Seattle is about as unfriendly as you can get outside of CA or New England area. There's a gun/ammo tax in the city that is being litigated because it violates state preemption but is active during the court fight. State preemption is nice, it prevents idiot enclaves like Seatthell from turning into islands where your rights disappear.

Concealed carry is legal with a permit and the permit is SHALL ISSUE which is quite different from CA. They must give it to you within a certain time frame, usually 30 days but not sure for you if you're moving here, could be slightly longer. Open carry is legal without any permit as long as you're not a prohibited person. You do need a CPL to open carry on bus or light rail, I think.

You can't carry into secured areas of courthouses, K-12 schools, the over-21 sections of pubs, bars, mental wards, outdoor music festivals, etc. You will want to check the specific RCW that governs this, it's easy to google.

WA is OK for gun laws overall, though we have a silly UBC law that technically makes it a crime to hand a gun to someone else in most situations, and requires inheritance generational registration. We also have a horrible law that allows former roommates who don't like your politics to anonymously file a motion to have your propoerty siezed and rights denied without due process, similar to the CA law. We'll see if the federal courts leave it intact.

If I recall, we have no weapon bans except for SBS, full-auto. No silly magazine or semi-auto restrictions.

Welcome to WA. I am near Seattle like you, I live only a couple miles away but not on light rail until 2023 (Mercer Island). If you want to get together let me know.

Thanks!

I think I will rent first with the goal of buying as soon as I find a good place / price to buy. My condo in CA has gone up quite a big in value so I have equity.

Right now my budget is about $350,000 but can stretch it to $400,000 if the place is worth it. What kind of property can I realistically expect for the money?

Maybe a condo, maybe. These values are crazy, and the inventory isn't that great, a lot of it is older crap from the 30s-60s just hyper-inflated from the tech boom.

Redfin.com is a great realestate site for the puget sound area. Houses will start at $650-800 minimum for a non-tear down.

Rainier arms is in auburn, it's a pretty awesome store. Federal way discount guns is obviously in fed way, they have a well stocked shop with good prices and a really nice pistol range.

If you don't mind a longer commute on the train you will get a lot more house down south. I want to say with stops from puyallup to centurylink stadium it was 50 minutes, but I was also going up for a seahawks game. Houses closer to seattle are insane for what you get

Start doing your homework on Zillow to get an ide of what you'll be getting into. We bought a small house, 2 bdr and 1 bath, two years ago for about $275k. But that's in Tacoma.

Good luck!

And Skyway

I was in your position about four years ago. If you're planning to take public transit from the southend of the literail, I would suggest also looking at Tacoma and take the heavy rail known as The Sounder. My commute time taking a bus in Seattle to the lite rail, still in Seattle, and still walking to the office from the International District is nearly the same amount of time it would take if I drove from my home in Tacoma to the The Sounder station and rode it to the Weller St. station (King station), and walked to the office.

Parking and traffic downtown sucks. I'd definitely find a place near a direct transit route.

Welcome! I'm sure you'll find the gun laws here in WA are much more palatable than in CA.

I'll second the info provided above about which areas to avoid, and to wait to buy until house prices become more sane. And if you can avoid a commute in a car, by all means, do it.

I'm not sure if you're into knives, but in case you are, I suggest getting to know those laws as well. There is a handy reference in this forum: http://waguns.org/viewforum.php?f=46

I suggest getting your CPL right away - it has many advantages. I applied for mine using an out-of-state license and had it in 2 weeks, but you may decide that you'd rather secure a WA driver's license first before applying. It doesn't make any difference in terms of validity, though. More info on that here: http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/firearms/faconcealreq.html

If you're interested in hunting, but were born after January 1, 1972, you'll need to take a Hunter Education course. We have a lot of good hunting in this state, so it's worth it to take the course. More info here: http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/courses.html

Once you're here and settled in, join one of the Group Shoots to get to know some of the members. You'll have a blast and get to know some good people.

The further south you go the better bang you get for your buck. $350-$400k in the Seattle area will get you a tiny condo, or a severe fixer upper.

Four months ago we bought a house in Tacoma. 2000+ sqft on almost a .25 acres for $249,500. We have detached buildings and a two car garage. The house we were renting in Seattle that is in a less than desirable location if you know the area, is renting for $2000. The Seattle house is significantly smaller, and no garage or outbuildings. My landlords said to me, "The couple moving in are from San Bernardino so they don't think the rent is high."

If you're looking for a plot of land, there's some farms for sale east of Tacoma in or near Waller.
If you're a single man and looking to maximize your money, I'd suggest looking at buying a travel trailer and a place to park it for a year while you look for property to buy.
I have coworkers paying about $2000 a month for less than 900sqft for a condo in Capitol Hill which is an area in near downtown Seattle. I don't know what kind of lifestyle you lead or activities you like but, if you really like guns, Capitol Hill won't like you very much.
If you want to be really close to work, there's some Condos being built right next to Century Link field and there's a nice gym at 1st and King that I highly recommend.