Fort Lewis

[Bornforcutting]

Hey Guys, I will be at Madigan next year. I want to live in Seattle or close to the city if possible. I have heard traffic will be crazy but I will leave for work around 5-530ish. I am also thinking about buying a house. Please give me ideas or suggestions. I am married and no kids yet. we are both in our 30's. Thanks

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[ProwlerturnGas]

Hi, live near Seattle and travel as part of my practice. If you are working in Tacoma(Madigan), living in Seattle could be doable. Housing is just absolutely crazy here, definitely a seller's market, as inventory is in short supply and plenty of buyers. Most houses in Seattle area sell for over asking price, with several offers. Just a head's up!
Traffic from seattle to Madigan is not bad. You will be fine going south at 0500. You will be going AGAINST rush hour coming back to Seattle (once you get past the crush of Fort Lewis traffic), so this usually works in your favor, although it can be bad (accidents, construction).

Consider Gig Harbor. Homes are somewhat less, and traffic is more bearable. Close to the water with great Olympic mountain views. You can get to Seattle whenever you want. The negative is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which you have to cross in order to get to Madigan. The bridge itself is fine to cross, but it is a toll bridge one way, off the peninsula at now $5.00 (Wa state just raised the price). There are also nice parts of Tacoma too.

PTG

 

[HighPriest]

I had a chief resident who lived in Fife and still found it difficult to get to work and back. I had a junior resident who lived around Kent, and he was ultimately placed on probation in part due to his chronic tardiness. You CAN live anywhere you'd like, but I think you're going to regret the additional time you're going to need to commute.
I didn't know any residents living in Seattle proper. It's just too far, especially if you're in any specialty in which you need to get to the hospital rapidly, but take home call (unless you're going to stay in the hospital any time you're on call).
I-5 is usually a nightmare. You'd probably have workable traffic at 0500. But what would still put you at the hospital at 0600 or later. The gates are all much busier coming from the North, and you'll be fighting the traffic surge from enlisted guys coming on post.
Gig Harbor is a very popular place for the Madigan staff, who very frequently get caught on the bridge and end up late for work.
Many specialties do away rotations in Seattle, and you can go hang out in Seattle whenever you'd like, but I would strongly recommend not living there. You're going to be very close to a lot of things for which you simply don't have time or energy because of your additional commute and stress. You should definitely ask your future co-residents about the possibility however. I am speaking from my own experiences.
Housing in Tacoma is very, very do-able. I know, it's not Seattle, but Seattle isn't New York City, it's just closer to work.

 

[HighPriest]

I assume based upon your username that you're going into a surgical field. I think if you live in Seattle you're going to have a bad time.

 

[ProwlerturnGas]

Sounds like High Priest has the gouge! I was being a little more optimistic for you, but take what he said to heart. Depends on how motivated you are, but I foresee life sucking for you to live in Seattle.

 

[Homunculus]

a daily commute to/from seattle would be miserable. it would be like commuting to DC from baltimore. sure it can be done i guess but you'd be the n of 1 and you'd get some really strange looks. gig harbor is nice (and we looked there), but you'll have the pleasure of paying $5 a day or so crossing the narrows bridge to go to work. that alone was almost for me to look elsewhere, lol. tacoma has some nice areas- along ruston way from downtown to point defiance, proctor district, any of the northern portions with a view of the sound. steilacoom has a good number of people as well, but no real "city" things around-- more of a residential community that's literally minutes from JBLM. there are some parts of tacoma that are decrepit, and areas of decrepit next to nice, but that's why you don't buy stuff unseen. it's a blue collar city.

the us open was in university place, which has (from what i've heard) the best schools in the area.

there are a fair number of people south as well-- lacey and even olympia. i didn't want to live south of the base since seatac is just that much more of a drive if you live down there. if you want more space though, it seems the place to go.

I-5 jams up for no reason at all random times, and why 16 (the tacoma narrows bridge road) does as well. i live in tacoma and my commute door to door is around 30 minutes.

overall, there are a lot of different flavors and areas-- one is bound to fit you somehow. we moved here from DC and to be honest prefer DC but the area has some nice qualities. and as a married couple in your 30's without kids, the outdoor activities are legit. it's why REI was born here-- that store is basically pacific northwest. hiking, biking, skiing (though last winter's snowfall sucked and there was basically no season), kayaking, fishing, etc etc. and ranier is visible from almost everywhere. the rain sets in in the fall and doesn't let up til spring-- not downpours just constant clouds and drizzle. but the temps are mild-- to the point most people here don't even have air conditioning.

at any rate, you'll find something, but i'd really really think about it before thinking of seattle. ask your PD, off hand, and see what their response is. i doubt it will be different.

@HighPriest is exactly right. plus, if all your colleagues live around here and you live in seattle getting together for resident activities will be basically impossible. just something else to consider.

good luck-- a year out you have plenty of time.

--your friendly neighborhood NFL at 10am?!? caveman

 

[haujun]

I would highly recommend renting a house or live in apartment. Purchasing house while in the military is not good idea for obvious reason except for very few cases. You just cannot live in one place long enough to build equity.

 

[backrow]

I would highly recommend renting a house or live in apartment. Purchasing house while in the military is not good idea for obvious reason except for very few cases. You just cannot live in one place long enough to build equity.

This is highly dependent on a person's individual situation. Some people never buy, others become real estate gurus. Totally up to the individual situation.

 

[Homunculus]

This is highly dependent on a person's individual situation. Some people never buy, others become real estate gurus. Totally up to the individual situation.

not to derail the thread, but since it is semi related i agree. it's real estate, being military doesn't automatically mean it's bad. in fact, with VA financing you can actually do pretty well. even if you spend over the VA cap they can finance the extra into the loan. and you can refinance to a lower rate quickly and easily with VA IRRRL.

i've spoken to O-6's whose only regret is not buying a house at each duty station that they could be renting and at some point selling.

we own a place in DC, make a little above the mortgage in rent, while i claim multiple deductions and it appreciates. we own our current place in the tacoma area that has already appreciated to a degree and should easily be able to cover the mortgage with rent when we eventually PCS.

also-- the IRS considers a property exempt from capital gains if you live there 2 of the previous 5 years. so you can rent a place 3 years before selling before worrying about losing that 20% to uncle sam. there is even a possibility of exempting this for longer (10 years) if i read the IRS regulation correctly (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html#en_US_2014_publink100025053)- i recently emailed my CPA about this and am waiting a response.

if you are smart about it, real estate is not a bad deal if you know what you are getting into and have a plan.

--your friendly neighborhood landlord caveman

 

[Chonal Atresia]

Hey Guys, I will be at Madigan next year. I want to live in Seattle or close to the city if possible. I have heard traffic will be crazy but I will leave for work around 5-530ish. I am also thinking about buying a house. Please give me ideas or suggestions. I am married and no kids yet. we are both in our 30's. Thanks

One very important thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you need to be within a 30 minute response time for most hospitals when called to the ER. There is no way you can live in Seattle and make it to Madigan in < 30 minutes.

 

[j4pac]

I would plan to like as close as possible to your hospital PGY1-2. Then reassess whether it is a good idea to make the trip. I'm sure by that time you will agree that the idea is far-fetched and potentially detrimental to your success.

 

[Bornforcutting]

Thank you so much guys. Now I am looking at Federal Way, Kent and possibly Renton. This is a great start for me. Thanks again.

 

[HighPriest]

You can probably pull off federal way, but you will be isolated from your peers. Kent and Renton may as well be Seattle for most purposes. As I said, I know someone who did Kent, and it was a constant problem for him.

 

[vamedrnr]

When I was in an infantry unit on Ft Lewis, my good friend somehow pulled off Seattle -he grew up there and had an amazing house on Lake Washington. That said, the commute was so terrible that he often slept in his office or stayed with one of us in N Tacoma(that and we were infantry and often were there until very late with a 0430 start to the next day). My wife and I had no kids and lived in N Tacoma and had a blast. We had a 1200 sq ft apartment on the sound with great views of the water and Rainer for about 1/5 of what a similar apartment cost in Seattle. Ironically my friend often came to Tacoma on the weekends far more often than we visited him because everyone in our unit lived in Tacoma or towards base. There are some great finds in the Stadium, Old Town, Ruston, and Procter districts that allow you to really enjoy life without living in traffic and paying your entire salary in rent for the same quality/views in Seattle. For us it was just too easy to take a 30 min drive Fri night or Sun morning to Seattle, hang out, and return home without the headaches and money. I think the real killer with the commute is that if you are returning home anytime before 7:30, the traffic getting off of the interstate and into a neighborhood can be horrendous. As far as Federal Way et al, our issue was no actual town -its mostly a collection of strip malls, condominiums, and subdivisions without anything local. Given that Seattle is often a 1 hr trip one-way with traffic on a weeknight, its not like those extra 10-15 miles north are getting you much of anything. I would strongly recommend the apartments across from the museum of glass or the new apartments at point Ruston.

 

[HighPriest]

Additionally, your commitments to bleeding patients in the ER will make long commutes harder for you than most infantrymen.