West Seattle for family/ small children? (Federal Way, Kent: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[wamamma]

We are moving to West Seattle. The Admiral district looks great, although real estate prices have me scared. We will be looking to purchase a home and I want a great, safe area for small children and families. I want a top school and family-friendly neighborhood. Any suggestions on specific areas in West Seattle to look or any specifics on where I should stay away from?

[scirocco22]

Specifically talking about West Seattle, yes, Admiral district is good. Try to stay north or west of the "Junction." The further south you go, the worse it gets, in my opinion.

[lnygrl]

What is considered the "Junction"? We are considering a temporary relocation to Seattle. DH will work in the Westwood Village area. What would be a good community to rent either a home or apartment? With good elementary school system (6 and 4 year olds). What about preschools (for the 4 year old). We were told to look in the Federal Way area? Is that a good idea?

[scirocco22]

West Seattlites call the intersection of California Avenue and Alaska Street, "the junction," Inygrl. It's essentially the "old" business district of West Seattle or the heart of WS.

Westwood Village area is getting awfully close to White Center or actually could be considered as part of White Center. I'd be very careful where you rent. Same with Federal Way. I think you can still find places in both locations that could be better than their reputations lead -on but I'll have to defer to others who live in the area to comment because it's been several years since I've looked around in the south end of West Seattle. Federal Way, I would have to believe, will still have pockets of "good" places to rent but the schools out there have a pretty bad reputation.

[wamamma]

Originally Posted by lnygrl

What is considered the "Junction"? We are considering a temporary relocation to Seattle. DH will work in the Westwood Village area. What would be a good community to rent either a home or apartment? With good elementary school system (6 and 4 year olds). What about preschools (for the 4 year old). We were told to look in the Federal Way area? Is that a good idea?

Inygrl,
I've been doing a lot of research. A great website is greatschools.com. It ranks all the schools. It seems Lafayette Elementary and Schmitz Park Elementary are getting top ratings. Alki Elementary is not too bad either. But, Cooper Elementary and Highpoint Elementary don't look good. I would stay away from those areas. Check out the website, and look on Seattle school district's website and it will show you mapping areas of the schools so you can find areas to live in.

If you're just planning to rent, Craigslist is a great resource. We've narrowed our search to the Admiral district. My brother lives south of the Alaska Junction, at the Morgan Junction and he said that's as far south as you would want to go.

In terms of preschools, I've been looking online for that too. There is a Montesorri school with outrageous tutition prices. I was looking at West Seattle Christian Preschool. The tuition is not too bad and it has some good parent reviews.....

[lnygrl]

I think the Admiral District is too expensive for the company to house us in that area. Do you know of any good elementary schools in Federal Way or Kent? I remember going to a website that allowed you to find the apartments that were in a specific school district, but can no longer find that website. Anyone know of a website that has this feature?

I have a cousin that lives in Kent and she thinks that Kent has some of the best public schools in Seattle.

[wamamma]

Inygrl,

Is the commute from Kent to West Seattle worth it? I don't know anything about that area....

[CityGirl72]

Just my opinion - but Kent DOES NOT have the best schools in Seattle - my jaw nearly dropped when I saw that!

[lnygrl]

We are just clueless on areas, towns, schools, just about everything in Seattle. We've never been to Washingtion. I've tried asking many people, but most of them are not familiar with West Seattle.

We would like to live in a good community with good schools. My husband will be working in Westwood Village. The handful of Seattle born people that I've talked to mentioned Admiral, Alki, Westwood, queen anne, belltown, Arbor Heights. The company he will be working for told us to look in Federal Way, but I have not heard many good things. I would like to narrow down the areas to ones that are not too far from Westwood Village but not too expensive.

I am feeling a bit lost and almost frantic as the school year gets closer. We won't be in Seattle until late Aug. right before school starts. The company that my husband will be working for will be housing us and the neighborhood is somewhat negotiable. Since they mentioned Federal Way I would assume that the rents would need to be comparable. Any suggestions for this lost soul?

[wamamma]

Have you checked Craigslist for rentals? There are some that are not horrible in the Admiral/ Alki area. My brother lives in West Seattle. He said you're fine if you stay West of 35th avenue. The other website to check is www. greatschools.com. They show the schools nationwide with testing scores and parent reviews. There is even a rating system on a scale of 1-10. In West Seattle area, Lafayette Elementary and Schmitz Park Elementary get a rank of 9. Alki Elementary gets a 6. Any of the Elementary schools towards the east side of West Seattle and even further south into White Center and Burien are not so good. They have low test scores and a high percentage of subsidized lunches (which is a factor in a lot of social-economic issues).

I'm finding pretty good rentals for $1800-2200 a month in the admiral area with 2-3 bedrooms. I'm not sure what your budget is????? There are cheaper ones, but I would stay west of 35th avenue and stick with West Seattle. Your husbands commute will be much easier and that leads to more time with family and less stress overall!