This is all great info. I am putting the cart a bit before the horse, as I haven't even found work.

Work first, then housing... :-) But I do want to do my homework and have some idea of what I'm getting in to.

btw, I can get to downtown Ballard in 10 minutes from I-5, even during rush hour. The secret? Drive as close to the water as possible. Take the nasty roads that service the marinas along lake union/salmon bay. And for god sake......do NOT trust your GPS to get you there quickly. GPS lies. Some of the roads GPS will send you down are parking lots during rush hour.

Your getting into 6 months of rain and pasty women who don't shave their legs. Any other questions? :D

That I knew. I have visited the place... :D

Zayda Buddy's
5405 Leary

I didn't particularly like the place, but I could see what they were trying to do. And the beer list is interesting....Old Style, Leinies, etc. I grew up here but I've met a suprising number of MN and WI transplants in the last few years.

If I were working at Trident, I'd look for something in Ballard, Sunset Hill, Crown Hill, Fremont, N Side of QA and N side of Magnolia (bicycle over the Ballard locks).
Don't let the commute freak you out....but real estate prices...uh, yeah...go ahead and freak out over that and prepare to downsize a bit.

SmileWavy

That's what I think too. I like the neighborhoods that would be convenient for someone working in Ballard, and I like the prospects for real estate prices in those neighborhoods. Even as high as they already are. But again, mostly, I would prefer to live in those neighborhoods as opposed to Shoreline and especially Everett or Lynnwood. Further, it would increase the buffer zone between you and the inlaws. Whether she knows it or not, your wife would probably be better off with the wider buffer also. And finally.....if your commute is a daily thing, but you wind up living in Lynnwood, then you will pay DEARLY for her convenience. She will be minutes away, but you will pay for that with many hours of additional commute time EACH WEEK. Conservatively, I think we're talking about something like eight additional commute hours per week. Or more. Compared to living in one of the lovely communities listed in Mike's post above. That's a nice list.

Well said Supe, thanks for the words of wisdom. And thanks Mike for the list of prospects.

There are a lot of things to get lined up for this to happen. Job first, housing second.

pasty women who don't shave their legs?

- that's nothing.

It's the tatoo covered, heavily metal studded pasty women with multi-colored punkk roached hair who don't shave anything - except their rivals.

And those are the conservative, church-goin' girls.