I'm looking for some help from all of you members in WA state. I have been contacted concerning a contract position at Boeing in Auburn and need some assistance. Who can give me some idea as to the cost of long term lodging, where to consider looking for lodging, normal daily traffic concerns in th earea and any thing else I should be be aware of?

Thanks in advance guys!

I am in the north sound so, maybe some of our south sound members can chime in with costs and "hood" information. If not, let me know and I will do some research for you. It would be great to have another teener owner up here. You should see if you are going to be out for WCC.
Chris

I worked for Boeing in Auburn for four years, commuted from Olympia (45 minutes each way). I would recommend looking for housing South of Auburn say - Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Tacoma - all about a 20 minute commute to the Boeing plant. North of Auburn and you get into some very high rent areas and sticky commutes.

Hopefully Kevin (rhodyguy) can chime in on the high and low rent districts.

Whats your budget?
Lots of reasonable places to live by Auburn. Nice is Kent, FederalWay, Covington, cheaper are Pullayup, Sumner,etc.

The Whole damn valley sucks to commute as far as I am concerned. ie Grid lock.

In general South sound WILL cost you less then N. of Seattle
but your still gonna have sticker shock of how expensive it is here.
But Geoffs right there IS no break from traffic around here.
The upside is ...its not St Louis

Yeah, what they said. Traffic definitely bites if you have to commute at rush hours. A ten mile radius from the Auburn plant is some of the most reasonably priced RE in the Puget Sound area. Depends on what you're looking for though. Do you have kids, wife, etc. or are you just looking for a big garage/shop for 914s? You can still get a decent house in the $300-400K range. Good luck, let us know if we can help.

Hey guys, I appreciate the in put.

This is a contract position that will last at least one year, chance of being extended.
I spent two years on the East Coast doing the same type of work, so I have some idea of how expensive this could get. I was paying $550 a week in one of the extended stay hotels in CT. I actually had the manager's apartment, biggest room in the place. I was also able to make it to the first Rennsport Porsche Reunion held at Lime Rock in 2001 since I was working about an hour away.

I did contract work for 7 years, 2 years on the East Coast, coming home in 2001 just a short time after 9/11. Loved every minute of it; the money is great, opportunity to travel (spent two weeks in Puerto Rico on business) and you don't get involved in the daily political bullshit if you were a direct employee.

I've been looking for the opportunity to get back into this type of work again and just need to make sure I can cover my expenses while away from home. I will be on my own out in WA, wife will stay in St. Louis with the family pets, visiting me on a monthly basis.

Another concern is whether or not I have my car shipped out to WA. Just another expense I may not want to deal with.

Apts are cheaper in Kent, Auburn etc than Seattle but you really have to watch the area you rent in unless you don't like to sleep. Some spots are pretty rough or rather clientel is rough.

There was a glut of rental housing but thats changing as of right now. Rates are climbing and good places rent fast. I rented our little house in 1 hr but its in seattle.

sounds as tho the assignment is *short term* at this point. actually, puyallup/sumner/fife or tacoma area will be less exspensive than further north. way less than seattle. my guess is you'll need a 2 bedroom apt/duplex/condo. the traffic is bad but a commuter train starts in tacoma and stops all the way up the valley (hwy167 corridor) with connecting bus service. lots of new apts have been built and you have quite a few options. there is one extended stay i know of near puyallup you could base out of til you find something. the Seattle Times/Post and the Tacoma Tribune both have online classifieds. for the Tacoma paper try southsoundclassifieds.com. auburn to puyallup is about 15 miles. there are secondary roads that will get you work avoiding the main fwys. if you like hot, hummid summers you are going to be very dissapointed in wa. are you bringing the 914?

k

Gary here is a resource (and a plug for my co. ) We manage multi-fams's
Pinnacle and just so happens we manage the project out in your neck o'woods Scott
Let me know if I can help.

the pinnacle site has lots of listings to look at. Kent, Auburn, Pacific are super close to where you will be working. the canyon place and deer creek complexes are about 2 miles from me.

k

There are several extended stay hotel/ apartments in this area and if your looking for short term that may be the easiest choice

Actually, being from Wisconsin originally, I hate the summers down here. Had I known a typical summer would be 100 degrees+ with tons of humidity, I would have thought more about moving here.

Not sure yet if the 914 will be coming along. The car is curently at Shelby's shop with completion scheduled near the end of April. I'll have to wait and see how this all plays out. I really regretted not having my 74 with me when I was in MA and CT, there were some fantastic roads out there.

your gonna have to bite the bullet and just drive the teener out here.

you could turn it in to a meet the teeners trip on the way out. i'm sure people will host dinners and a place to sleep on the way out. leave on a friday and arrive monday.

have your stuff greyhounded or ups'd out to you on arrival.

we have some great road trips that we do up here and just for you we will do the mount rainier run.

if you show up with out your teener we will hunt you dowm and cover you in por15.

My wife and I discussed this during lunch today. If this does come about, we plan on replacing my current daily driver, a 91 Integra wth 203K miles, to something newer for her to drive here and I'd drive the 2004 Sante Fe to WA. Maybe I should leave her the SUV and just buy a reliable teener out there.

that would be the rust free car you buy and drive up from socal.

k

I live in the Kent/Covington area and work in the Tacoma/Fife area. This takes me through Auburn on Hwy. 18. My commute takes 1/2 hour to go about 20 miles during the main commuting time. 95% of the time I hit no traffic.

In the morning most cars are heading north and in the evening most are going south. At least right in the I-5, hwy 18, hwy 167 area near Auburn.

Hell ya! Camp914 is 2.5hrs south plus there are some good cars here.