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doberdevil t1_j266wj0 wrote

Supply and demand and commute times. There are other places to live if the weather makes you miserable. Different strokes for different folks.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26771k wrote

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[deleted] OP t1_j26b3uy wrote

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[deleted] OP t1_j26blk8 wrote

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spanish_spy t1_j27qrcj wrote

hi! i’m a T1 diabetic that packed all i could into my shitty honda civic and drove from nashville, tn to washington state. feel free to DM me with any questions/concerns!

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motoryry t1_j2744ii wrote

If you’re determined to move you can do it. I know these days are getting harder and harder. So make it almost like a full time job applying at different places in different cities. Eventually you can land on something

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[deleted] OP t1_j274x34 wrote

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motoryry t1_j275cqa wrote

I don’t have diabetes. So I’m not gona say I understand what you are going through. What you are going through is extremely difficult but don’t give up. In the meantime stay close to your friends and keep up with hobbies that make you happy. Hugs

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Catsonkatsonkats t1_j26hxvp wrote

I love it here. The weather, while depressing to you, is mild and temperate and the summers are perfection. There’s tons to do all year round outside. There’s tons of high paying tech jobs, many that don’t require a degree if you educate yourself. Seattle costs a lot because lots of people like it. You’re just not one of them.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26i3hc wrote

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kcarlson425 t1_j27qfwe wrote

Electrician. Plumber. Something in the trades where you can work, make s decent wage while being trained, then once you are done, make quite good money (above 6 figures)

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[deleted] OP t1_j27regj wrote

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Lenny2belts t1_j28lb0l wrote

Commercial electrician (EL01) here with local 46

I worked some over time sprinkled in with a few sundays here and there ( double time)

I was on stand by for about a month in January , missed some work because of Covid , Went on a couple vacations. So a rough tally, I probably didn’t work for a little over 2 months this year.

I still cleared just over $130,000 gross.

However I still don’t see how anyone can afford to live in the city . That is just bonkers

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[deleted] OP t1_j29mf9s wrote

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FishNotCow t1_j2aeefv wrote

They said they are Local 46; that's Union. Look up Local 46, find out when they are accepting apprenticeship. In Portland, Local 48 usually has openings in July, maybe also January. It's a four year apprenticeship (maybe five years). Combination of classroom and job training. I think you work on the job four days, classroom one day per week. When you get through the apprenticeship, you are making Journeyman wages, same wage as my partner who has been a journeyman for 30+ years.

Also, the Teamsters have great benefits, too. A lot of companies are hiring trainees, on the job training while getting paid. My dad was a teamster, and drove local. If you get a CDL, there are a lot of jobs. A friend of ours is a garbage truck driver and makes almost as much as my electrician partner.

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[deleted] OP t1_j2ajuak wrote

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FishNotCow t1_j2anc1c wrote

I personally am not union. And, I am not sure if Local 46 is the same as Local 48, but they are probably similar. They all fall under IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers).

Not all electricians are union. But, I don't know how apprenticeship works outside of a union.

I think for electricians, if you need a job, you get your name on the list at the union hall. First person on the list gets placed at a job site, then they continue going down the list.

My partner hasn't been on the list since the 1990s, as there has been steady work for Journeyman Electricians and he has been working at the same company for about 15 years.

Yes, the union helps to place you. And, the benefits are awesome.

There is low-voltage, residential, commercial and lineman. They are all different. My partner, as a journeyman, can do commercial and residential. Commercial just means that he is not working residential. He does electrical maintenance for a large corporation. If Corporate America needs a TV installed, they schedule the job for both low-voltage and commercial electricians. This is probably required by either their organization or the union, because as a journeyman, he can do low voltage.

My nephew recently went to lineman school/training in Idaho. I don't know much about it, but I know that linemen work with high voltage.

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Lenny2belts t1_j2azn03 wrote

Yes there are multiple classifications of electricians, each with their own restrictions of what they can and can’t do ( ie 02 residential “ think houses and apartment buildings under 5 stories”, 06 low voltage “ fire alarm, multimedia systems”) as well as a few others. Those classifications can for the most part only stick to that certain specialty. An 01 typically does any commercial space or industrial ( think high rise buildings, schools, factories) but they are unrestricted, so can legally do the other classifications of work as well.

The best way to become an electrician is to go down to the union hall and apply for the apprenticeship, however there is also an avenue to go the non union route which can be less wait time , but you won’t get as good of benefits or things like a triple retirement.

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cap1112 t1_j28drce wrote

I don’t know what your skills are, but if you go to a technical college to learn how to be a plumber or electrician, or something like, you can make really good money. Those are careers that can’t be outsourced and is good most anywhere in the country.

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Catsonkatsonkats t1_j26nfnu wrote

Coding!

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[deleted] OP t1_j26ois8 wrote

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human_1914 t1_j270u6p wrote

I want to point out its nowhere near as easy as everyone thinks it is. Even with a degree in this economy you're gonna be sending out alot of apps and not hearing anything back. And the boot camps can run you up to like 30k and be very intense for people unfamiliar with the concepts. But yes it's technically possible to do.

On the topic of the weather etc. there are people that would kill (myself included) to experience the weather WA has to offer. I live in the midwest and the winters can be well into the negatives and summer is easily in the 100s alot of the time.

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Catsonkatsonkats t1_j2a27iq wrote

The bootcamps aren’t quite that expensive here. It’s possible to do but it is not easy. You have to truly dedicate yourself, invest on your own time, etc.

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Catsonkatsonkats t1_j26xylu wrote

I have lots of colleagues that have done this, yes. But you can make a lot more than that with a bit of experience and continued investment.

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reasonandmadness t1_j26ajik wrote

Millions of people want to live there.

Thousands of homes are available.

Basically it.

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newsreadhjw t1_j26eq0c wrote

Have you seen the rest of America? This place is pretty nice. You couldn’t pay me to live n most of the US but here is pretty good. Good food, good jobs, good airport, mild weather, good connectivity, good schools and universities, uniquely beautiful scenery, I could go on. Seriously go take a trip to Tennessee or somewhere cheaper. You’ll understand why it’s cheaper.

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stimpalimpadingdong t1_j2afpkq wrote

Tennessee might not be the best example, it used to be one of the best cheap states in the country. Secret got out, now it’s overpopulated and poor infrastructure to support the rapid growth.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26ffc1 wrote

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cakeo48 t1_j26xv8y wrote

You'd probably prefer a city like Ellensburg better then, not gloomy in the winter, no rain, sunny arid landscape, but weather still more temperate than the actual Washington desert.

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SereneDreams03 t1_j26c89w wrote

I've traveled quite a bit and lived in multiple different parts of the world. Yet, I enjoy the weather in Western Washington more than anywhere else I've been. It's fairly mild, rarely gets too hot, or too cold. We have plenty of rain to keep things green, but our summers are absolutely beautiful. We get enough snow to make things interesting every once in a while, but not so much that we have to deal with it all winter. The black months can be a challenge, but I find that I am much less likely to take nice weather for granted living in a place like Seattle, as opposed to Hawaii or LA. I just appreciate the sun so much more here, and I really enjoy the balance of the seasons we have.

Oh, and to answer your question, supply and demand. Our region has grown rapidly over the past 20 years, with rapid job growth in a lot of high paying sectors. New home construction has not been able to keep pace.

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ChickenBootty t1_j268kun wrote

Eh, we don’t have to deal with spiders, snakes or roaches…not usually anyway. I’ll take the rain and 2 months of warm weather.

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giant2179 t1_j26ex1e wrote

No spiders? Tell that to the hundreds of spiders in and around my house every summer and fall. At least they aren't poisonous.

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RedRedBettie t1_j29dzxn wrote

Um, you're wrong about the spiders. I dealt with a lot of spiders in Washington, huge honking big ones

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arChrisan3 t1_j26iezd wrote

I love the gloom and darkness. I would pay for that.

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Obvious_copout t1_j26an50 wrote

Snowboarding makes the winters better. Take advantage of the season!

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[deleted] OP t1_j26bprb wrote

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Bseeed t1_j28dl2e wrote

You complain too much bud. Move to where you will be happy.

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Obvious_copout t1_j2932nz wrote

So maybe get really into sledding. Or just watch Netflix like the rest of us.

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giant2179 t1_j26f3hr wrote

Buying used equipment can be cheaper than a single rental. but yeah lift tickets are insanely expensive

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VGSchadenfreude t1_j26b924 wrote

Mix of things: supply and demand play a part, but so do the ways in which corporations deliberately interfere with that.

Companies have been buying up every bit of spare housing they can, with the explicit (in their own words) intent of renting them out at exhorbitant rates. Most of those rentals aren’t even residential; they’re being marketed as AirBnBs and Vrbos.

There’s also been issues with the recent admission that rental companies have been relying on an algorithm to determine what rents to charge, regardless of other factors. End result is that placed that are clearly not worth that sort of money are still charging twice as much as they’re worth and because everyone is charging the same rates, people have no choice but to find a way to pay them. Which, in turn, skews the supply and demand numbers even further.

It’s a complex issue.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26buoi wrote

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cakeo48 t1_j26wj15 wrote

Ehh some cities have tried putting restrictions on airbnb and found it didn't have as much as an impact as they thought. Mostly it's more of a euro city problem, seattle isn't popular enough of a tourist city to have much of an effect.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26xjpl wrote

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cakeo48 t1_j26yxzx wrote

Your main issue seemed to be prices tho? The number of units taken is 100% relevant to pricing for larger metro areas like Seattle. If the number is low enough and sprea out enough then the change in prices if they weren't airbnb wouldn't be distinguishable from natural market fluctuations....Hawaii is much closer to euro cities in how fragile the housing market is and higher demand form tourists than Seattle....

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SamadhiOly t1_j27o782 wrote

We’re north of Maine. Most people don’t realize that until they get here. We’re Alaska South. Those of us who grew up here don’t even notice it. And for housing? We didn’t want to be Southern California so we adopted the Growth Management Act. Yes housing prices suck, but urban sprawl ain’t as bad. It’s pick your poison.

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pala4833 t1_j268v8a wrote

Supply and demand.

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Daddy_Thick t1_j271908 wrote

Well you can always move to Egypt if you don’t like it… I hear they got 12 months of sunshine waiting right for you! Washington weather is personally my favorite… constant beating sun is miserable and depressing.

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[deleted] OP t1_j271x4s wrote

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Fox-and-Sons t1_j27ed1i wrote

How much time have you spent in other places? Seattle is certainly more grey than other places, but we also rarely get extreme weather -- go east and it'll get more sunny but it'll regularly go north of 100 degrees in summer and can go below 0 in winter. Obviously further south along the coast the weather is often pretty idyllic, but it's even more expensive down there and often has worse options career wise. Then you've gotta factor in how much of the country is just small towns where there's nothing to do and driving anywhere interesting is going to take you two or three hours, compared to the Seattle/Bellevue area which has a lot of state parks within half an hour if you get lucky with traffic.

I know people who've become way more happy after moving away from here, for sure, but I've also known a lot of people who moved here for a reason.

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[deleted] OP t1_j27f4mb wrote

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Fox-and-Sons t1_j27g2ql wrote

>The heat doesn't really bother me so much. With AC these days you either just stay inside or you stay in your car while you're driving somewhere

This feels weird to me, because I'd so much rather have a grey day where I can go out and live my life than be stuck inside because of the temperature. I'm not trying to convince you you're wrong, just explaining why I wouldn't want to live elsewhere.

And I also won't try to convince you that it's not too expensive to comfortably live here as a regular person -- it is! When I was waiting tables most people I knew had multiple jobs. That said, I've also lived the small town lifestyle in eastern washington and it's incredibly isolating. Way cheaper, but there's nothing worthwhile to spend your money on either. Also, cool places are expensive. There are places I'd consider living other than Seattle, but they're almost universally more expensive, or have a job market that's bad enough that they're functionally more expensive.

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_lavoisier_ t1_j27qqcf wrote

We most like the mild weather, scenery, schools and population is diverse! This is not like a republican city which are full of dumb mfckers

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ZimofZord t1_j26bjoq wrote

Rich CA ppl looking for new states to ruin

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Active-Youth-631 t1_j27msgt wrote

It where all people go for work driving up price in all other area's as they move out.

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Active-Youth-631 t1_j27n241 wrote

Soon a nether city Washington or not will rise and Seattle new residence will move their.

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RedRedBettie t1_j29e9ob wrote

I sometimes wonder this too but people are different. I'm originally from Seattle and spent about 38 years there. We left for a lot of reasons but mostly the sky high real estate and the lack of sun. The weather is so heinous and gray most of the year that I became suicidal

I prefer higher heat in general. But, Washington has a lot going for it in terms of nature, educated population, fewer republicans, that sort of thing. I'll never move back but I enjoy visiting my family. I'm always ready to leave though

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trailrun1980 t1_j29srkg wrote

Homes were a lot cheaper in Central Illinois, but, no one wants to live there (technically the college drives the rental market)

Unfortunately here they can't build houses fast enough to fill demand, not even mentioning the damn rental conglomerates that are buying everything cash and immediately flipping it to a rental. (we were trying to rent and given codes to look at new construction homes, it was insane)

The weather and the environment draw people, as well as any huge industries

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Paid_Corporate_Shill t1_j2b1x3n wrote

Because it’s a great place to live but there aren’t enough houses. Weather is up to personal preferences. I like the weather here overall.

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[deleted] OP t1_j26obb7 wrote

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[deleted] OP t1_j26om1f wrote

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Sadspacekitty t1_j26zlt6 wrote

It's somewhat like stock fundamentals, washington had very high quality of life and economic strength as a state but public perception undervalued it. Then when people realized how great it was for cost of living everyone started flocking here until prices and crowds ballooned...

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