Moving to Seattle in June. Where to start?

[stretchad]

catbus I wish Beveridge allowed kids. I don't get to go there anymore :-(

[theoriginalbean]

ilovebed - we're coming out next month to look at houses, I'd love your realtor rec!

sorry to resurrect the ghost post

Yay Seahawks! I've never adopted the Bengals as my own (I'm a closet Jet fan), but I've always loved Seattle. More importantly, I HATE the packers, and I think Seattle has a good chance to take down Brady the Lady!

[WOT?*]

I live in the Bothell area, near Mill Creek. It's quite possible to find a home in the area within your price range. We're new-ish construction in our development and homes in our area go for high 300K-400K with nicer new construction going for over $500K; the trick is to look a few years old that has been well maintained and is in the 2000-2500 s.f. range rather than stepping up to the McMansions over that, or look for slightly older construction. We're in the Everett School District but feed into one of the best elementary schools in the area (in my humble opinion) then Gateway and Jackson. Just a few blocks from us feeds into the Northshore School District and less than a mile in another direction feeds into Snohomish School District (with View Ridge and Glacier Peak HS, both of which are fairly new.)

TBH, Everett School District is having some growing pains. There is a bit of furor over bond issues that haven't passed in the past two elections so the schools are feeling some of the pain. However, at this time the schools around us are of excellent caliber, with HCap programs and Best of Washington designations. With that in mind, if they don't get their heads out of their nether regions, I'd look a few blocks from me and feed into either Snohomish or Northshore/Bothell. The housing prices are a smidge higher if you cross the border, however, because they don't have the "issues" of Everett.

The main "issue" of Everett is that it is "big city" and there are poor areas and Title 1 schools, rather than a suburban region. BUT, the financial issues are primarily downtown and north of the city. The schools in my area are suburban and feed off the SAHM middle class, with strong PTAs, strong teachers, good financing, structure and assistance.

Downtown Bothell is going to be adorable when it is finished. They're working on a modern small-town feel with great walkability.

Feel free to page or tag me if you have questions about any of the areas around north Bothell or Mill Creek.  I'm pretty active in our PTA and know or can ask any number of people who are extremely active at local, council and state levels.

[theoriginalbean]

Thank you, WOT?* !
Bothell is one of the places on our list. We have a few houses to check out in Bothell, Woodinville, and Seattle, but most of the ones in our price range are under high tension power lines, so I haven't really found much.


What's the drive like from Everett to Seattle, proper? We're also looking at Tacoma, to satisfy my husband's curiosity.

ETA: We're definitely not McMansion people. That's a hard no for us.

[WOT?*]

I wouldn't go Tacoma or south if you have to commute north. It's a beast on I-5 during rush hours. I lived in Federal Way in my first (second?) life in Seattle when my kids were little, so 20 or so years ago and it was awful then. It's only gotten more populated and the road hasn't been updated enough to accommodate the population growth, imo.  And honestly, there are very few areas in Tacoma that I would choose to live if given the option.

What are some of the places you're looking at? I can get an idea of likes, dislikes and areas you'd like to live and maybe help look around a bit in this area. We've got power lines that run along the main street near our house but the new developments themselves have the power buried. My development is about ten years old and sources are all underground. Anything in that age range or newer will have underground utilities.

We're south of Everett so that cuts down the commute a bit. Depending on the route and time of day, it can take 30 minutes to 1+ hours. It took DH about an hour forty minutes one day last week but the rest of the time he's generally at a half hour to forty-five minutes.

I didn't even realize this was a ghost thread. lol.

[theoriginalbean]

Jan 19, 2015 8:52:03 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

I wouldn't go Tacoma or south if you have to commute north. It's a beast on I-5 during rush hours. I lived in Federal Way in my first (second?) life in Seattle when my kids were little, so 20 or so years ago and it was awful then. It's only gotten more populated and the road hasn't been updated enough to accommodate the population growth, imo.  And honestly, there are very few areas in Tacoma that I would choose to live if given the option.

What are some of the places you're looking at? I can get an idea of likes, dislikes and areas you'd like to live and maybe help look around a bit in this area. We've got power lines that run along the main street near our house but the new developments themselves have the power buried. My development is about ten years old and sources are all underground. Anything in that age range or newer will have underground utilities.

We're south of Everett so that cuts down the commute a bit. Depending on the route and time of day, it can take 30 minutes to 1+ hours. It took DH about an hour forty minutes one day last week but the rest of the time he's generally at a half hour to forty-five minutes.

I didn't even realize this was a ghost thread. lol.

I don't care about the ghostness, I still need data

We don't have to commute anywhere, we both work from home. That's why Tacoma is on our radar. We're only looking at very specific parts of Tacoma.

Right now the communities we're looking at are West Seattle, Bothell, Woodinville, Ballard, and Bainbridge.

Secondary interests include Edmonds, Kirkland, maybe Kenmore. Nothing in our budget that meets our needs in Sammamish or Issaquah. We really need that 4th bedroom to function as office space. Poulsbo is also a possibility, but I'm not in love with the area.

[ilovebed]

So, as you know I live on Bainbridge. And I do love it. I will say though that if you don't need to commute, give Poulsbo a second look. I love Poulsbo. It's where I work. I'm on the board for the chamber of commerce and I just feel so much love for this community. It's definitely more country though. If you like having easy access to a metropolitan area, Bainbridge will give you that. Poulsbo has it's own charm though.

I think there are like only 60 houses total for sale on Bainbridge. THe inventory is so low. On the other hand, I think there are about a billion options in Poulsbo. We often think about what we could have afforded in Poulsbo if we both there. We could have gotten a water front house for about as much as we paid for our house on Bainbridge.

[theoriginalbean]

ilovebed - if I'm being completely honest, a big negative to Poulsbo is that my MIL lives there, and we really don't get along. Ideally, I'd have water between us. BIL and his family (who we're close to, and have similar aged kids) live in Redmond, so my preference is that side of things.

[fiddles]

With not having to commute and working from home I think your possibilities are endless.

I like Woodinville. Snohomish is another beautiful little down. It's still close enough to downtown Seattle to visit. Snoqualmie is really blowing up as well.

[theoriginalbean]

Jan 19, 2015 13:12:42 GMT -5 fiddles said:

With not having to commute and working from home I think your possibilities are endless.

I like Woodinville. Snohomish is another beautiful little down. It's still close enough to downtown Seattle to visit. Snoqualmie is really blowing up as well.

It's a really good problem to have, but man is it stressing me out!

[WOT?*]

I think Woodinville is a great option considering your pricing, quality of schools, walkability and lots of alcohol (wineries rather than beer though, alcohol snobs.) It has a nice small town feel as well. I really like Woodinville.  It's also super-convenient to Redmond, without the Microsoft real estate prices.

Snohomish is an adorable town and very walkable. It's reaaaaallly spread out as far as schools go. There's a lot of country to cover. BUT, it's an adorable town, great schools and a LOT of community events and happenings go on there.

[larzhope]

WOT?* - based on your description, we are likely neighbors - I imagine you probably live within only a few blocks of me.

[theoriginalbean]

One of the other things that concerns me is the possibility of buying at the top of the bubble. A house I had on my list just sold for $85k above list price. Holy crap.

[WOT?*]

Jan 21, 2015 17:09:01 GMT -5 theoriginalbean said:

One of the other things that concerns me is the possibility of buying at the top of the bubble. A house I had on my list just sold for $85k above list price. Holy crap.

I don't think we're at a bubble right now. I think prices are stable but climbing and nearing a temporary peak; there won't be a burst although there might be a slight slide at some point (which is much more normal than a bubble - I've been through a few of them now between here and California.)  New construction is priced notably higher than the stuff that's been around 2 or more years so if you're looking at price points, steer to the houses people are selling in order to buy their new home. My house sold at $427 back in '05-06 and is priced near $400K finally, after dropping as low as $270K at one point, because of all the new construction going up (and selling!) immediately around me.  Even the new construction has incentives to sell - as much as $45K in some of  the bigger homes.  And there is quite a bit of availability in this area, if that steers you in this direction more so than another, which means better buyers market than sellers right now.  So unless the house is spectacular or unique or for some other reason appealing to multiple buyers, it's likely you'll find something that won't be part of a bidding war.

[karebear219]

I agree with WOT?*. No bubble here, just climbing to hopefully level out and climb at a slower pace.

[theoriginalbean]

This is the house that sold well above asking. Any thoughts?

www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/3747-SW-Rose-St-98126/home/469436

[PandaPear]

Jan 22, 2015 9:44:05 GMT -5 theoriginalbean said:

This is the house that sold well above asking. Any thoughts?

www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/3747-SW-Rose-St-98126/home/469436

This is sort of my 'hood and actually seems reasonably-priced.

We bought our house about 9 months ago and sold our TH.  There was very little inventory, so saw most SFH in Seattle itself that were relatively low-priced got bid up quickly with multiple offers.  

We actually found better luck at the top end of our price range - less buyers so we ended up being able to negotiate down.

[theoriginalbean]

I don't doubt that it sold for a fair price, I'm just feeling the need to readjust my expectations in terms of list price. It's a beautiful house, and I think we'd love the area.

I don't want to end up in a bidding war, considering we're not under the gun to move. If we stay here, we pay off our mortgage by the end of the year. We just really hate it here

[joenali]

Two houses we put offers on in West Seattle were sold way over asking price. One was priced at $325,000 and sold for $345,000. One was listed at $270,000 (we didn't put an offer on this, just pre-inspection and it had a host of major problems), sold for $310,,000.

We ended up looking and buying in Burien. Bigger,nicer houses for less than what you'd find in West Seattle.

[theoriginalbean]

Jan 23, 2015 9:58:08 GMT -5 joenali said:

Two houses we put offers on in West Seattle were sold way over asking price. One was priced at $325,000 and sold for $345,000. One was listed at $270,000 (we didn't put an offer on this, just pre-inspection and it had a host of major problems), sold for $310,,000.

We ended up looking and buying in Burien. Bigger,nicer houses for less than what you'd find in West Seattle.

I looked into Burien, but I'm not sure how I feel about the schools. It seems like they're struggling, though the elementaries do seem to have some nice programs going.

[toratoratori]

Jan 23, 2015 11:32:53 GMT -5 theoriginalbean said:

Jan 23, 2015 9:58:08 GMT -5 joenali said:

Two houses we put offers on in West Seattle were sold way over asking price. One was priced at $325,000 and sold for $345,000. One was listed at $270,000 (we didn't put an offer on this, just pre-inspection and it had a host of major problems), sold for $310,,000.

We ended up looking and buying in Burien. Bigger,nicer houses for less than what you'd find in West Seattle.

I looked into Burien, but I'm not sure how I feel about the schools. It seems like they're struggling, though the elementaries do seem to have some nice programs going.

mrslefty works for Highline School District and can probably give you some recommendations!

[theoriginalbean]

mrslefty - that would be awesome!

I'm not one to put a ton of stock into testing scores (my son is in a montessori right now, mostly to avoid that stuff), but I do look and consider it. I've been looking at the sites for the individual schools and there's a lot of neat things going on (lego club, girls on the run, some of them appear to have AP options).

The crappiest thing about the timing of our house hunt is that it's a holiday weekend, and I won't be able to actually get in to see the schools.

[joenali]

Jan 23, 2015 11:32:53 GMT -5 theoriginalbean said:

Jan 23, 2015 9:58:08 GMT -5 joenali said:

Two houses we put offers on in West Seattle were sold way over asking price. One was priced at $325,000 and sold for $345,000. One was listed at $270,000 (we didn't put an offer on this, just pre-inspection and it had a host of major problems), sold for $310,,000.

We ended up looking and buying in Burien. Bigger,nicer houses for less than what you'd find in West Seattle.

I looked into Burien, but I'm not sure how I feel about the schools. It seems like they're struggling, though the elementaries do seem to have some nice programs going.

i don't think you can glean a good picture of the school from a "good schools" rating.

[theoriginalbean]

Jan 23, 2015 13:26:14 GMT -5 joenali said:

Jan 23, 2015 11:32:53 GMT -5 theoriginalbean said:

I looked into Burien, but I'm not sure how I feel about the schools. It seems like they're struggling, though the elementaries do seem to have some nice programs going.

i don't think you can glean a good picture of the school from a "good schools" rating.

Totally agree, that's not what I'm basing my thoughts on. I don't even bother looking at those.

[theoriginalbean]

My main concern about that particular district is the crowding and the possible cuts if the levy doesn't pass. I usually lurk on PTA/PTO pages and any facebook pages (official and unofficial) to get a feel for the community. Our home district has made a lot of cuts in terms of electives and arts and things like that, and I don't want to jump into a similar situation. Right now we're in private school, because of the testing issues and the environment, but ideally when we move we'll trade private school costs (which are super reasonable where we are) for a higher mortgage payment.

[mrslefty]

theoriginalbean I'll pm you after school today. I really like our district and I think we've taken on some big goals that are a lot of work (good work though!) But I'll send you some bond details too.

[theoriginalbean]

Jan 23, 2015 17:05:32 GMT -5 mrslefty said:

theoriginalbean I'll pm you after school today. I really like our district and I think we've taken on some big goals that are a lot of work (good work though!) But I'll send you some bond details too.

Thank you so much!

[PandaPear]

Jan 23, 2015 17:05:32 GMT -5 mrslefty said:

theoriginalbean I'll pm you after school today. I really like our district and I think we've taken on some big goals that are a lot of work (good work though!) But I'll send you some bond details too.

I work in education and everyone I know (including myself) has been really impressed with Highline School District!

[mrslefty]

Jan 23, 2015 22:25:17 GMT -5 PandaPear said:

Jan 23, 2015 17:05:32 GMT -5 mrslefty said:

theoriginalbean I'll pm you after school today. I really like our district and I think we've taken on some big goals that are a lot of work (good work though!) But I'll send you some bond details too.

I work in education and everyone I know (including myself) has been really impressed with Highline School District!

You have no idea how nice it is to hear this, or how much I needed to hear it right now.

[tuck]

We rent in Shoreline, and I love it for renting. Super close to everything and fast access to I-5.

If we were buying, we would look at West Seattle, or, more likely, Bothell/Mill Creek.