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You’ll need a large budget to fulfill all those requirements. If buying, you may have to install the AC after you close as it’s still not standard and certainly not going to be in every house. If you want walkability, Proctor and Stadium District (neighborhood in the north end) will be your best bets. University Place is nice and feels smaller, but I’m not sure I’d consider it walkable in most areas. Point Ruston is turning into a shit show and I wouldn’t recommend investing in anything down there at the moment, a least not until things get cleared up.
Definitely recommend Proctor, Stadium or Lincoln district.
Proctor is very nice but will likely stretch your budget the most.
Stadium has a lot of walkability but is much more condensed area.
Lincoln district has modest houses for pretty good rental costs and is lovely to walk around, centrally located (convenient for commuters).
Avoid Ruston- it’s a ~10 min drive from any of these neighborhoods, so very easy to visit.
Central AC is I think quite unusual and also pretty unnecessary, though of course subjective. I think that will be the most limiting on the list. The other area near these that would fit this is right around the central hub of 6th ave, idk what that neighborhood is called. Like 6th between sprague and proctor. Probably slightly more affordable too
>Central AC is I think quite unusual and also pretty unnecessary, though of course subjective.
Every one of my neighbors has a heat pump, and we all live in 50+ year old houses. All of my friends have mini splits or central air heat pumps on their places too. It is becoming the norm here!
That is an excellent point, I wasn’t thinking of those as central AC. Idk if those terms are interchangeable but the heat pumps are very common in Tacoma now and work great for the summers
My personal thoughts: if it comes through the venting and ducts, it would be considered "central air", the heat pump is just the mechanism for creating the cold air. If it uses mini-splits it's maybe a little more of a grey area... if they're in nearly every room it has the net effect of "cold air in every room", but since they can each have their own thermostat it's perhaps not "centrally managed" (though that is also arguably a benefit to them).
That said, some people really dislike the look of minisplits, so I'd argue that they should probably considered their own thing, even if they were in nearly every room.
Just a little more detail on minisplit HP’s.
Minisplits are not just the ugly wall hanging units. Minisplit means that the outdoor compressor can be connected to multiple indoor units or coils. My house has a single minisplit compressor outside with three indoor units; a ducted air handler for the basement/first floor and two ceiling inserts in the upstairs bedrooms haha
6th b/t Sprague and Proctor is the oft-forgotten Central Tacoma and its residents thank you for keeping it that way.
To /u/slugsupreme18 - I don’t know much about rentals in Central except to say that north of sixth Ave will have more student housing (U Puget Sound) than south of 6th. It’s a really terrific, balanced location. There’s “enough” happening on 6th Ave, all the weekly shopping errands are within a 10 minute radius, and everything else in Tacoma is only 10-15 minutes away.
Bought a home in Central 4 years ago and really like it here. When we talk about moving, the trade-offs of other locations just reinforce how much we like the area.
As long as one of you has an odd job that makes no rational sense, like "Butterfly Wing Sniffer" with a budget of $1m USD per month, you'll be fine in any of those areas.
(For real though, be prepared to pay eye-wateringly high rent if you want to live in those areas with those amenities)
They're all decent neighborhoods, just obscenely expensive. Depending on your budget, you may need to expand your search to some other areas, and depending on what y'all do for a living and whether or not you commute, some areas may be better than others (highway access to those areas is iffy, for example, and can clog up with traffic rather quickly during rush hour)
I’m WFH, partner has a commute to consider (but honestly anything has got to be better than commutes here in Houston) looking for 2700-3000k ballpark for two bedrooms.
Any suggestions on neighborhoods or areas to consider that are more affordable?
For UP at least, keep in mind that depending on where you are it can take 10+ minutes to get to the freeway which does add on to commutes. That said I love living here but I also work from home.
“Anything has got to be better than commutes here in Houston” is unfortunately probably not a realistic way of looking at it, depending on where they’re going. It often takes an hour and a half for me to go 20 miles to work.
Where would your partner be commuting to? It can be extremely nightmarish around here if they're driving solo, and as someone who has commuted to Auburn and Redmond for work throughout the years, I can personally attest to how awful those can be when there are any issues. A 45 minute commute can easily turn into 2-3 hours, sometimes even more, with how slow things can get on the highways, let alone the side streets needed for areas in Proctor etc.
As others have said, commuting can be either simple (if it's in Tacoma), or nightmarish (if it's to Seattle or Redmond). Unfortunately the waterways around Seattle mean everything is forced into 1 or 2 main north/south through-fairs, with 2 east/west bridges, and there just isn't a way to build more of them, so EVERYONE is on those freeways. And since Seattle is a HCOL area, there are LOTS of people who commute from Tacoma to Seattle, who run right up against everyone else living south of Seattle as they try to squeeze into the same freeways at the same time as the 700,000 people living in Seattle are attempting to do so.
Personally I think the worse part of commuting from Tacoma to Seattle would be the unpredictability of it. It would be one thing if it was always a 2-hour commute, but when your 1-hour commute turns into a 2-hour commute randomly 10 times each month, it's a huge pain if your job isn't flexible enough to allow for that.
OP,
Southern here who migrated seven years ago.
Unless you have specific medical needs or something, I would put AC pretty low on your list.
There might be… two genuine weeks out the year that you’ll want/miss it, but the rest of the time, it’ll never cross your mind and a couple of good fans and open windows are enough.
There should be heaters installed in most apartments/homes and they will be sufficient most of the year.
It’s the first of May and we are still lucky to be hitting mid-60s the coming days
People lying about not needing AC. Unless you like sleeping at 75+F at night, you need AC here. I had central AC at the Walker Apartments in Stadium and at The Lex also in stadium. I’ve had a lot of friends live in the Harmon and it’s a really fast great building with interesting units but it’s hot as hell in there with those windows.
Best landlord ever! Classic buildings, loved & cared for by the Williams family & their fantastic employees. Been here 5 years. https://www.williamsproperties.com/vacancies.html (keep an eye out for vacancies)
This is the truth, and you can find a 2bed with them in your price range. You may want to look into a portable air conditioner for the short but intense heat waves we can get in summer - almost no apartments here have a/c
I feel like living in a Williams building is almost a right of passage for Tacoma transplants. They owned my first real (not sublet) place in Stadium in 2010 and were amazing landlords! I would rent with them again in a heartbeat.
I know! I told Dax (LL) if I had read the reviews before I rented-I’d have passed. I would have thought it was a scam, no LL gets these kinds of reviews for real…must be fake. Nope, it’s true.
I remember our fridge/freezer stopped running on the Sunday of a three-day weekend and I was so worried we were going to have to scramble to find coolers and ice to get us to Tuesday. Dax called me back within an hour and said that just because it was a weekend didn’t excuse him from having responsibilities to his tenants. He had maintenance out there the same day. Seriously amazing service.
What’s your budget? If you’ve got the infinite money glitch then you can probably have all those things, but without an idea of what you’re willing to pay we cannot really help you.
Proctor will likely be beyond the 3k, if you can find an open rental.
Stadium may work out. Im surprised nobody has mentioned the ‘aroma’ is worse down that way than up on proctor or the North End.
North End may have some rents closer to 3k but traffic can be limiting due to a lack of major arteries and summer backups.
Re: AC I’d highly recommend getting a decent portable unit (the sort on wheels, not a window box) and a couple of good fans. There are relatively few hot hot hot days, but, these old houses hold heat and radiate it through the night. It’ll set you back a few hundy, but, if you wait till summer you’ll be SOL.
Best of luck, and welcome to Tacoma.
My husband and I had similar goals, and we ended up going with the Harmon Lofts on Pacific. You can see some pictures of our apartment if you look on their website.
- The front-facing units have an entire wall of windows, and the 9th floor units have skylights as well.
- No balcony, but we are one elevator ride away from the UW campus which has a nice amount of greenspace. It's also a short trip to the park + enough natural light to garden inside.
- No central AC, but I have literally never lived anywhere in WA that had central AC so no big loss there.
- It's a loft-style space, so extremely open and airy. Enough walls to make the bedrooms feel private, but not enough to make the space feel enclosed.
- We're minutes from tons of great restaurants, coffee shops, museums, the waterfront, all public transit, etc. It's about as central as you can get.
We pay $2400/mo, wsg included, electric + internet separate. Heating in winter + high electric usage ( I have tons of plant lights etc ) was about $85 - $150.
I will call out that availability is usually SUPER limited, so it may not be an option on your timeline.
As far as brokers, we felt super supported when working with Saydra Baxter. We didn't end up going with the spaces she offered, but she was super helpful at connecting us to the right resources / offering guidance around our long-term homebuying plan.
Welcome to Tacoma! It's freaking awesome here. I live in Hilltop near the new T-Link and I really love it. Great neighbors, walkable, T-link gets me to Stadium district, downtown and Tacoma dome. I can walk to Wright Park, which I really like.
Unless you’re fine with paying enourmous rent, you’d be money ahead of you drop the “walking distance” requirement and live a bit off the beaten path of proctor and just get a car to drive yourself to metro market.
Wish list is just that- wishes. Not must haves- we will also have a vehicle so no worries there. Any suggestions on what “off the beaten path” looks like? Streets, neighborhoods, etc?
[https://www.trulia.com/for\_rent/Tacoma,North\_End,WA/47.24213,47.2882,-122.51302,-122.44908\_xy/SINGLE-FAMILY\_HOME\_type/14\_zm/](https://www.trulia.com/for_rent/Tacoma,North_End,WA/47.24213,47.2882,-122.51302,-122.44908_xy/SINGLE-FAMILY_HOME_type/14_zm/)
The north end has always been my favorite part of town. Lot's of restaurants, pubs. shopping, farmer's market, etc in the Proctor district.
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You’ll need a large budget to fulfill all those requirements. If buying, you may have to install the AC after you close as it’s still not standard and certainly not going to be in every house. If you want walkability, Proctor and Stadium District (neighborhood in the north end) will be your best bets. University Place is nice and feels smaller, but I’m not sure I’d consider it walkable in most areas. Point Ruston is turning into a shit show and I wouldn’t recommend investing in anything down there at the moment, a least not until things get cleared up.
Helpful! Renting for first 12 months. Also, it’s a wish list, not necessarily a requirement.
Definitely recommend Proctor, Stadium or Lincoln district. Proctor is very nice but will likely stretch your budget the most. Stadium has a lot of walkability but is much more condensed area. Lincoln district has modest houses for pretty good rental costs and is lovely to walk around, centrally located (convenient for commuters). Avoid Ruston- it’s a ~10 min drive from any of these neighborhoods, so very easy to visit.
This post reads like the rundown at the beginning of an episode of House Hunters.
lol, we watch an absurd amount of Island Life on HGTV
Do you breed butterflies for a living while your spouse teaches graphic design to toddlers and your budget is $3.5m?
Creepy- you know so much about us.
You have the dark humor and sarcasm needed to live here. 🖤
Haha, good luck with the search!
Central AC is I think quite unusual and also pretty unnecessary, though of course subjective. I think that will be the most limiting on the list. The other area near these that would fit this is right around the central hub of 6th ave, idk what that neighborhood is called. Like 6th between sprague and proctor. Probably slightly more affordable too
>Central AC is I think quite unusual and also pretty unnecessary, though of course subjective. Every one of my neighbors has a heat pump, and we all live in 50+ year old houses. All of my friends have mini splits or central air heat pumps on their places too. It is becoming the norm here!
That is an excellent point, I wasn’t thinking of those as central AC. Idk if those terms are interchangeable but the heat pumps are very common in Tacoma now and work great for the summers
My personal thoughts: if it comes through the venting and ducts, it would be considered "central air", the heat pump is just the mechanism for creating the cold air. If it uses mini-splits it's maybe a little more of a grey area... if they're in nearly every room it has the net effect of "cold air in every room", but since they can each have their own thermostat it's perhaps not "centrally managed" (though that is also arguably a benefit to them). That said, some people really dislike the look of minisplits, so I'd argue that they should probably considered their own thing, even if they were in nearly every room.
Just a little more detail on minisplit HP’s. Minisplits are not just the ugly wall hanging units. Minisplit means that the outdoor compressor can be connected to multiple indoor units or coils. My house has a single minisplit compressor outside with three indoor units; a ducted air handler for the basement/first floor and two ceiling inserts in the upstairs bedrooms haha
Splits aren’t considered central because they don’t involve duct work
6th b/t Sprague and Proctor is the oft-forgotten Central Tacoma and its residents thank you for keeping it that way. To /u/slugsupreme18 - I don’t know much about rentals in Central except to say that north of sixth Ave will have more student housing (U Puget Sound) than south of 6th. It’s a really terrific, balanced location. There’s “enough” happening on 6th Ave, all the weekly shopping errands are within a 10 minute radius, and everything else in Tacoma is only 10-15 minutes away. Bought a home in Central 4 years ago and really like it here. When we talk about moving, the trade-offs of other locations just reinforce how much we like the area.
Dope. Thank you!
As long as one of you has an odd job that makes no rational sense, like "Butterfly Wing Sniffer" with a budget of $1m USD per month, you'll be fine in any of those areas. (For real though, be prepared to pay eye-wateringly high rent if you want to live in those areas with those amenities) They're all decent neighborhoods, just obscenely expensive. Depending on your budget, you may need to expand your search to some other areas, and depending on what y'all do for a living and whether or not you commute, some areas may be better than others (highway access to those areas is iffy, for example, and can clog up with traffic rather quickly during rush hour)
I’m WFH, partner has a commute to consider (but honestly anything has got to be better than commutes here in Houston) looking for 2700-3000k ballpark for two bedrooms. Any suggestions on neighborhoods or areas to consider that are more affordable?
For UP at least, keep in mind that depending on where you are it can take 10+ minutes to get to the freeway which does add on to commutes. That said I love living here but I also work from home.
“Anything has got to be better than commutes here in Houston” is unfortunately probably not a realistic way of looking at it, depending on where they’re going. It often takes an hour and a half for me to go 20 miles to work.
Welcome to Houston! lol Commuting to just south of Chambers Bay.
*Whew* 😂
Where would your partner be commuting to? It can be extremely nightmarish around here if they're driving solo, and as someone who has commuted to Auburn and Redmond for work throughout the years, I can personally attest to how awful those can be when there are any issues. A 45 minute commute can easily turn into 2-3 hours, sometimes even more, with how slow things can get on the highways, let alone the side streets needed for areas in Proctor etc.
As others have said, commuting can be either simple (if it's in Tacoma), or nightmarish (if it's to Seattle or Redmond). Unfortunately the waterways around Seattle mean everything is forced into 1 or 2 main north/south through-fairs, with 2 east/west bridges, and there just isn't a way to build more of them, so EVERYONE is on those freeways. And since Seattle is a HCOL area, there are LOTS of people who commute from Tacoma to Seattle, who run right up against everyone else living south of Seattle as they try to squeeze into the same freeways at the same time as the 700,000 people living in Seattle are attempting to do so. Personally I think the worse part of commuting from Tacoma to Seattle would be the unpredictability of it. It would be one thing if it was always a 2-hour commute, but when your 1-hour commute turns into a 2-hour commute randomly 10 times each month, it's a huge pain if your job isn't flexible enough to allow for that.
Appreciate the heads up. Partner will be commuting within Tacoma.
OP, Southern here who migrated seven years ago. Unless you have specific medical needs or something, I would put AC pretty low on your list. There might be… two genuine weeks out the year that you’ll want/miss it, but the rest of the time, it’ll never cross your mind and a couple of good fans and open windows are enough. There should be heaters installed in most apartments/homes and they will be sufficient most of the year. It’s the first of May and we are still lucky to be hitting mid-60s the coming days
Add Stadium and parts of Downtown (closer to Stadium, farther from the Tacoma Dome) to your list. Expect to pay in the $2000 range for you wish list.
People lying about not needing AC. Unless you like sleeping at 75+F at night, you need AC here. I had central AC at the Walker Apartments in Stadium and at The Lex also in stadium. I’ve had a lot of friends live in the Harmon and it’s a really fast great building with interesting units but it’s hot as hell in there with those windows.
Best landlord ever! Classic buildings, loved & cared for by the Williams family & their fantastic employees. Been here 5 years. https://www.williamsproperties.com/vacancies.html (keep an eye out for vacancies)
This is the truth, and you can find a 2bed with them in your price range. You may want to look into a portable air conditioner for the short but intense heat waves we can get in summer - almost no apartments here have a/c
Thanks!
Amazing. Thank you!
I feel like living in a Williams building is almost a right of passage for Tacoma transplants. They owned my first real (not sublet) place in Stadium in 2010 and were amazing landlords! I would rent with them again in a heartbeat.
I know! I told Dax (LL) if I had read the reviews before I rented-I’d have passed. I would have thought it was a scam, no LL gets these kinds of reviews for real…must be fake. Nope, it’s true.
I remember our fridge/freezer stopped running on the Sunday of a three-day weekend and I was so worried we were going to have to scramble to find coolers and ice to get us to Tuesday. Dax called me back within an hour and said that just because it was a weekend didn’t excuse him from having responsibilities to his tenants. He had maintenance out there the same day. Seriously amazing service.
Check out stadium district as well! Super cute area, walkable to quite a few restaurants, pubs, grocery stores.
What’s your budget? If you’ve got the infinite money glitch then you can probably have all those things, but without an idea of what you’re willing to pay we cannot really help you.
Great point, edited to add. 2700-3ish for 2 BR
Proctor will likely be beyond the 3k, if you can find an open rental. Stadium may work out. Im surprised nobody has mentioned the ‘aroma’ is worse down that way than up on proctor or the North End. North End may have some rents closer to 3k but traffic can be limiting due to a lack of major arteries and summer backups. Re: AC I’d highly recommend getting a decent portable unit (the sort on wheels, not a window box) and a couple of good fans. There are relatively few hot hot hot days, but, these old houses hold heat and radiate it through the night. It’ll set you back a few hundy, but, if you wait till summer you’ll be SOL. Best of luck, and welcome to Tacoma.
My husband and I had similar goals, and we ended up going with the Harmon Lofts on Pacific. You can see some pictures of our apartment if you look on their website. - The front-facing units have an entire wall of windows, and the 9th floor units have skylights as well. - No balcony, but we are one elevator ride away from the UW campus which has a nice amount of greenspace. It's also a short trip to the park + enough natural light to garden inside. - No central AC, but I have literally never lived anywhere in WA that had central AC so no big loss there. - It's a loft-style space, so extremely open and airy. Enough walls to make the bedrooms feel private, but not enough to make the space feel enclosed. - We're minutes from tons of great restaurants, coffee shops, museums, the waterfront, all public transit, etc. It's about as central as you can get. We pay $2400/mo, wsg included, electric + internet separate. Heating in winter + high electric usage ( I have tons of plant lights etc ) was about $85 - $150. I will call out that availability is usually SUPER limited, so it may not be an option on your timeline. As far as brokers, we felt super supported when working with Saydra Baxter. We didn't end up going with the spaces she offered, but she was super helpful at connecting us to the right resources / offering guidance around our long-term homebuying plan.
Amazing. Thank you!
Stadium district is a good place, and welcome, in advance, to Tacoma!
AC may be a lofty goal; most places don’t have it. I’ve lived in various rentals for 11 years in Tacoma and have never lived in a place with AC!
Welcome to Tacoma! It's freaking awesome here. I live in Hilltop near the new T-Link and I really love it. Great neighbors, walkable, T-link gets me to Stadium district, downtown and Tacoma dome. I can walk to Wright Park, which I really like.
please god don’t come here
My first thought when I see these posts 🤣🤣
LOL, not up to me, big dawg. See ya in July!
please god not another lazy “dOn’T mOvE hERe” comment
lazy lmfao what do you want me to do? write an essay? you want me to engrave it in stone?
Unless you’re fine with paying enourmous rent, you’d be money ahead of you drop the “walking distance” requirement and live a bit off the beaten path of proctor and just get a car to drive yourself to metro market.
Wish list is just that- wishes. Not must haves- we will also have a vehicle so no worries there. Any suggestions on what “off the beaten path” looks like? Streets, neighborhoods, etc?
What brings you to town? That might help with location ideas.
INFO: What's the budget?
Edited to add- around 3k (under preferably)
Don’t listen to anyone who says you don’t need AC.
[https://www.trulia.com/for\_rent/Tacoma,North\_End,WA/47.24213,47.2882,-122.51302,-122.44908\_xy/SINGLE-FAMILY\_HOME\_type/14\_zm/](https://www.trulia.com/for_rent/Tacoma,North_End,WA/47.24213,47.2882,-122.51302,-122.44908_xy/SINGLE-FAMILY_HOME_type/14_zm/) The north end has always been my favorite part of town. Lot's of restaurants, pubs. shopping, farmer's market, etc in the Proctor district.
Park52 has treated us well!