The Seahawks Commute Test
The Seahawks season opener is on a Wednesday night. For anyone living in the greater Seattle area, that creates a very specific question:
How quickly can you actually get where you're trying to go?
Maybe you're heading home from work to catch kickoff. Maybe you're meeting friends to watch the game. Maybe you're trying to get into Seattle after work. Whatever your Wednesday night plans look like, one thing is guaranteed:
The number of miles doesn't necessarily tell you how long it's going to take.
And that is something I was reminded of recently while helping one of my relocation clients find a home in the Seattle area.
The Non-Negotiable: A 20-Minute Commute
My client was relocating to Seattle and had a very clear priority. They wanted their commute to work to never exceed 20 minutes. That requirement became just as important as the number of bedrooms, the yard, or the style of the home. Every time we considered a new property, we started in the same place: My Maps app. Before getting excited about a home, I was checking what the commute looked like at different times throughout the day. Not just, How many miles away is it? But: What does this drive actually look like at 8:00 a.m.? What about after work? What direction is traffic flowing? What happens during rush hour? Because in and around Seattle, the closest house on a map isn't always the quickest way to work.
Think About Getting to a Seahawks Game
A Seahawks game is actually one of the easiest ways to understand this. Two people can live the same number of miles from Lumen Field and have completely different experiences getting there. One route may mean a relatively easy trip. Another might mean sitting in traffic, navigating congestion, and spending significantly more time getting there than you expected. Same city. Similar distance. Completely different experience. And that's exactly how commuting to work can feel. A home may look “close” to your office, but if you're traveling against the heaviest traffic flow every morning and every afternoon, those few miles can take far longer than a home that's technically farther away.
Why Local Knowledge Matters When You're Relocating
When you're moving to a new city, Google Maps can tell you directions, but understanding how people actually move through an area is different. It’s important to know which direction traffic typically flows in the morning, to understand which routes back up, and to recognize when a location is convenient on a Saturday afternoon but completely different on a Tuesday morning. That's where local knowledge becomes valuable.
For my relocation client, checking every potential home's commute at different times of day helped us eliminate properties that looked great on paper but didn't support the lifestyle they wanted. Their goal wasn't to live the closest; their goal was to get their time back. And ultimately, that's one of the biggest things the right location can give you.
Your Home Should Make Room for the Life You Want
Maybe for you, that means being home in time for Seahawks kickoff on a Wednesday night. Maybe it means making it to your kids' practice without feeling rushed. Maybe it's having time to meet friends after work. Or maybe it's simply spending less of your life sitting in your car. When you're buying a home, square footage is easy to compare. Commute time is more complicated. The difference between the two can have a bigger impact on your everyday life than an extra bedroom ever will.
So as Seahawks season kicks off, here's my local real estate question for you:
If you left work right now, how long would it actually take you to get home before kickoff? Because when it comes to buying the right home, it's not always about how far away you live. Sometimes, it's about how much of your life you get back when you live in the right place.
