Living in Bellevue rent free is an awesome deal since most residences would be at least $700/month per person. I believe that the job market is pretty competitive with Washington State having a low unemployment rate.

As for public transit, it depends on where in Bellevue you live. Downtown Bellevue has really good transit service with buses going many different places. However outside of Downtown Bellevue, transit service is kind of sporadic especially on the weekends. There are 4-5 regular buses that travel between a few areas in Bellevue and Downtown Seattle, but there are numerous express routes that provide peak service from most Bellevue neighborhoods to Downtown Seattle. There are many park and ride lots that provide good service to Downtown Seattle. The local transit company is King County Metro

I think the food and nightlife is really good in downtown Bellevue. Bellevue Square Mall and Lincoln Square both have a lot of good places to eat and tons of shopping.

However, Bellevue and Seattle are probably more expensive than Arkansas. You can expect to pay $15 for an ok dinner and $10 for a movie theater ticket. You probably would make up the difference in the amount of rent you save. Also, forget about buying a home anytime soon in Bellevue since the median home price in King County is approaching $400,000.

There are many great places to go out for food and drinks, but I don’t know of any clubs in Bellevue. Pioneer Square, Belltown, and Capitol Hill over in Seattle all have really good night life. Those are all about 20 minutes or so away from Bellevue (unless you get stuck in our notoriously horrible traffic).

Overall Bellevue is an ok place to live and free rent seems like a deal maker to me. I think there will be more than enough things to occupy you and your crew in the greater Seattle area.

As being 4th generation bellevueite, I know the area really well. The job market is good if your tech skills are savvy. Boeing, Nintendo, Microsoft, and other large corporations (GAHHH!!) are centered in the area. Bellevue is a great place to live because it’s the port hole to the eastside, but still close enough to Seattle. The only problem is that Seattlites call you “suburban” and stuff, so sometimes you wish that you could move into “The City”. Anyway everyone at my school’s parents either work at Boeing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Some Other Colledge Degree Job, or they work at Crossroads (The Local Mall). Bellevue has a great public transportation system. They’re website is very down the earth, and the bus fare is low. It’s a good deal the live in Bellevue for free, it’s expensive to live here.

The most expensive part of living in Bellevue is housing, so if your uncle is providing the housing for free, you indeed should save money.

Bellevue is a relatively diverse place. There are more people who are foreign-born in Bellevue than in Seattle. I know from doing lots of politicking in the 48th Legislative district that there’s a wide variety of political opinion, too. It used to be rock-ribbed Republican, but this has really changed over the last few years. I have neighbors who range from ready to burn down the Pentagon with Bush and Chaney inside, to God and Country Republicans.

Speaking of God, overall, I think you’d probably find Bellevue less Christian than your suburb of Little Rock. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t church-going folks here; it’s just that they aren’t as prevalent.

What kind of jobs would you be looking for? There is major employers here in Bellevue, and then of course, a lot more in the general area. Commuting by car is pretty tough; if you’re lucky, you can find something close to where you live, or you’re near transit. If you want to ride your bike to work, let me know; I am pretty good with bicycling routes in the city.