Seattle WA Info
 

Current job is going nowhere so it's time to start looking around. Might be a job opportunity for me in the Bellevue, WA area. Seems WA is doing much better than CO.

My question is, where would you live if you worked in Bellevue, WA area. Good neighborhood and excellent schools are the most important to me. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and schools rank the highest on my list. Where would one live if they worked in Bellevue. My house is worth about $350K in Denver so I don't know what that would equate to in the area but 4 bedroom, 2 car garage, built in 1979.

I use realtor.com just to look and compare housing prices but I don't know what areas to look in. Yes, this is preliminary but I like to plan ahead.

Michael

work in Bellevue . ..

With the growing-pains of surrounding areas, I'll suggest you find something in the Bellevue/Redmond area.

Bellevue is on the east side of Lake Washington, with Seattle on the other side. Bellevue has some nice areas, so does Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, bothell among others on the east side. You will be hard pressed to find a 4 bedroom in a desireable area for $350K in bellevue. You will do better in the outlined areas, such as Bothell or Woodinville. It is too difficult to give you exact details on where to look. You should probably find a good realtor in the area. I live in Issaquah (less than 10 miles from Bellevue on the 90 freeway) and I know the schools are very good in my area. Good luck.

Well, Washington voters (with a little help from Mr. Eyman) have decided that the best way to handle the traffic congestion crisis here is to allow the roads to deteriorate to the point where jobs and businesses disappear. Eventually, the traffic congestion will ease up but you'll need to put a rally suspension on your car.

"East-side" (Bellevue, Kirkland, etc) is among the nicest of our communities. And if you live close to work, then your commute could very possibly be under one hour. Hope you enjoy Washington. I certainly do. I just don't agree with the apparent traffic solution. But hey, all those people stuck in traffic.......are saving dozens of dollars per year in taxes.

Try this for finding a home:
http://seattlemls.com/

We loved living in Bellevue, but it got too expensive. We moved to the Vancouver-WA / Portland-OR area, and now to our temporary home in Singapore.

We miss the great NW :(

Somebody mentioned Tacoma but that seems like quite a drive. I'm not interest in driving an hour each way on bad highways. If the job prospect continues, I'll talk to realators, I'm sure the company will supply one, but I always want to do my homework beforehand. I'll take a look at the Bothell or Woodinville areas.

Anyone know where to find school rankings for the area?

Here ya go:

http://www.psk12.com/rating/USindexphp/STATE_WA.html

Your most likely going to have to go a little further out to find that kind of house for that kind of money. Schools should not be to big a concern as the eastside has some of the best. Neighborhoods are hit and miss...depends on what your looking for.

Our first place was in Kirkland (about 10 minutes from Bellevue without traffic). Three bedroom with a great room upstairs. We were starting our family and unfortunately, there were no other younger couples with kids in the neighborhood. Sold for 300K in 2001. We wanted more house and a better demographic so we moved north to the Mill Creek area (about 35 minutes to Bellevue, without traffic) and bought a four bedroom
home with a den and a three car garage in a great neighborhood for roughly 400K (in 2001 values).

As Superman as eluded...you can count on doubling travel times during the rush hour(s).

May I suggest Medina? ;)

Really though, for better (more reasonable values) you might try checking out parts of Kirkland, or Issaquah. Bellevue proper it a bit expensive these days.

Or Madison Park ;)

rjp

It rains a lot there...;)

Yup, i agree, bothell, woodinville, snohomish, north bend would all be good areas to look for houses. 350k would start to get you into something nice in those areas.

Oh, i graduated from snohomish high, the snohomish county school district was pretty good.

Kirkland-Juanita is pretty nice as is Redmond with easy access to Bellevue. I don't like Woodinville, never have. Forget driving from Tacoma or anywhere south of Newcastle (another cool little area south of Bellevue with homes in your price range)
They just are putting the finishing touches to a major upgrade on I405 which runs down the middle of Bellevue. All of the Eastside if suburban living with malls and more strip malls.
Seattle has the old houses and quaint neighbor hoods like SanFran. I90 commute to Bellevue is ok maybe 30 minutes. Lots of decent houses on both sides of the pond.

Geoff (lived in these parts for 50 years)

Not all of Bellevue is created equally. Stay out of the Crossroads area (NE 8th St and 150th Ave). While the houses are priced cheaper there, it's a pocket of danger. A disproportionate number of our ER traumas come from gang-related activities in that area. Crazy when you consider that the richest man in the solar system lives about 8 minutes away.

You sure don't want to live in Tacoma. Sure, Tacoma is a nice place but traffic between there and Bellevue could not be worse. On a good day, that commute would be between 1 and 1.5 hours. On a sunny Friday afternoon, that commute could be 2.5 hours. It's only about 45 miles. That's the kind of traffic situation we've got here.

Thank you very much, Mr. Eyman, and all you lemmings who vote with other peoples' brains.

Thank you very much, Mr. Eyman, and all you lemmings who vote with other peoples' brains. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yes, thanks to Mr Eyman we have $35 tabs and no money for roads. That was the stupidest law ever passed by the people.

Geoff

Thank you all for the information. That has helped a lot on areas to look into and school rankings. From what I have gathered, it appears that I will have to pay a bit more for a house than in Denver.

It's to bad Tacomah is such a hike. Saw some beautifuly houses there but don't think I would enjoy a 1.5 hour minimum commute.

Can you provide some more information on Mr. Eyman? I didn't understadn Geoff's comment about $35 tabs and no money for the roads?

There is a guy here who has taken advantage of voters' blind, ignorant hatred of gubmint. Admittedly, he started just trying to lower his personal taxes. He's a guy who got wealthy selling trinkets to fraternities, and he's got a stable of expensive vehicles. Washington State had a vehicle licensing system that some would call "progressive" where high-value vehicles paid more for licensing. If you can afford a million-dollar motor coach, you paid several hundred dollars in licensing fees. Eyman managed to get an initiative passed that shot this system down in flames.

FWIW, a friend went to a restaurant recently and noticed Mr. Eyman there. According to my friend, everyone noticed as well, and no one had very happy expressions on their faces. Mr. Eyman, among other things, got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He had diverted some public money for his personal use. Got caught. Apologized, but the damage was done. Mercifully, his career in making trouble for public servants trying to improve our infrastructure and society.....seems over. But the damage is done.

Several hundred? California license renewal on my 993 C2S was $1500 or so when it was one year old. That fee got cut by about 2/3 a few years back, but I think CA is still an awfully pricey place to operate a car. Everything costs more here: gas, insurance, tickets... and still we're running a huge budget deficit.

This may help with locations of things:
Hellevue in the middle/right,
Kirkland, Bothell, Woodinville, Mill Creek to the north (Juanita is not shown but is north between Kirkland and Bothell)
Redmond is also not shown but Highway 520 terminates in Redmond.
Mercer Island and Seattle are west
Renton, Tukwilla, Newcastle are south (Tacoma is south of Federal Way)
Issaquah and North Bend (not shown) are east.

and yes, Tim Eyman is a muffin head of the grandest order

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