Best place to retire: Belltown
Pros: A walkable neighborhood with everything you need.
Cons: About 20 minutes to hospitals and not many elevator condos.
Real estate: The average median price of a condo rose to $360,000 by 2005. Nice one-bedroom apartments can rent for up to $1,500.
If you picture vendors tossing fish back and forth at Pike Place Market when you think of Seattle, you're also picturing Belltown.This waterfront neighborhood just above the central business district also houses another historic institution, the century-old Moore Theater, a concert hall featuring eclectic dance, pop, and classical programming - think John Zorn, Mark Morris, and The Kingston Trio.
Over the last few decades, many trendy restaurants and boutiques moved in, and new residents followed.
For a downtown waterfront neighborhood, Belltown is surprisingly affordable, but prices are even more reasonable inland. For a gorgeous "small town in the big city," look northwest of downtown to Magnolia, which sits on a peninsula in the Puget Sound. You could spend a ton for water views, but most apartments are in the low $200,000s.
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