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Old 05-18-2011, 12:43 AM
 
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Not uncommon at all in certain places for people to buy older, smaller homes, tear them down, and build much bigger homes. A whole bunch just outside of downtown Bellevue. Not an inexpensive venture, First, you have to buy the place you'll tear down. Downtown Bellevue used to have a bunch of flat roofed or shed roofed 50's houses, 1200 sq ft homes or so on decent sized lots, then they'd get ton down and replaced with houses twice as big. Figure spending 275 on the teardown, then lots of demolition costs, then around 150 dollars per square foot ( or more) to build the new home.
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Old 05-18-2011, 12:46 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Ira500 View Post
Not uncommon at all in certain places for people to buy older, smaller homes, tear them down, and build much bigger homes. A whole bunch just outside of downtown Bellevue. Not an inexpensive venture, First, you have to buy the place you'll tear down. Downtown Bellevue used to have a bunch of flat roofed or shed roofed 50's houses, 1200 sq ft homes or so on decent sized lots, then they'd get ton down and replaced with houses twice as big. Figure spending 275 on the teardown, then lots of demolition costs, then around 150 dollars per square foot ( or more) to build the new home.
Eww. Ok, I guess I better wait for some fat bonuses to come in before I start to seriously consider that plan! Thanks for the info, Ira!
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Old 05-18-2011, 05:49 PM
 
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Originally Posted by mrsincredible View Post
Eww. Ok, I guess I better wait for some fat bonuses to come in before I start to seriously consider that plan! Thanks for the info, Ira!
I don't know the situation there, but are there any vacant lots for sale? For the cost of the teardown price Ira quoted, or less? Last year I had a beautiful 1700 square foot cedar shingle house built in Port Townsend by an excellent custom builder who builds them one at a time and does most of the work himself. It's 3 BR and 2 BA, with hardwood floors on the first level, a fancy kitchen (granite, soft-close drawers and really high quality cabinets), a pine paneled ceiling over the open stairway, solid fir interior doors, beautiful fancy trim details, interesting ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms (alcoves, beams, etc.) and a matching detached garage, etc. for $259K on a lot I already owned. Adding a fourth bedroom isn't that bad in terms of the price - it's just a floor, ceiling, and 4 walls.
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Old 05-18-2011, 06:17 PM
 
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Originally Posted by ukiyo-e View Post
I don't know the situation there, but are there any vacant lots for sale? For the cost of the teardown price Ira quoted, or less? Last year I had a beautiful 1700 square foot cedar shingle house built in Port Townsend by an excellent custom builder who builds them one at a time and does most of the work himself. It's 3 BR and 2 BA, with hardwood floors on the first level, a fancy kitchen (granite, soft-close drawers and really high quality cabinets), a pine paneled ceiling over the open stairway, solid fir interior doors, beautiful fancy trim details, interesting ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms (alcoves, beams, etc.) and a matching detached garage, etc. for $259K on a lot I already owned. Adding a fourth bedroom isn't that bad in terms of the price - it's just a floor, ceiling, and 4 walls.
Not very many from what I can tell. At least not marketed for an affordable SFH buyer who is not looking to build a mcmansion. We have 3 kids so my main concerns are school district (preferably stay where we're at now) and lot condition (size, shape, levelness). I'm not particularly concerned about personalized upscale finishes but will probably have to keep up with what the standard desires are now - solid surface counters, dual vanities, ???, etc. I'm quite enamored with the Ikea kitchens though I haven't done more than drool over them in the store. My design aesthetics tastes run towards 1) function 2) understated 3) contemporary. Some of my day-to-day living annoyances have more to do with functional liveability and lack of useable storage. And I hope to incorporate some green/sustainable features as well like maybe a geothermal heating/cooling system and solar panels.

At any rate, I'm in the ultra early stage of my home owning journey here. These are more my rambling "thinking out loud".
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Old 05-18-2011, 07:39 PM
 
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I used to think Renton might be violent based on its old reputation for being less savory than Seattle. After spending enough time in Renton I discovered that there is nothing scary about it. Renton is composed of ranch houses, grassy walkways, large wooded lots, shopping centers, winding roads and the occasional pasture. There is nothing wrong with Renton except that it is out of the way from Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma.
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Old 05-19-2011, 09:32 PM
 
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There's not a lot in Renton in terms of actual houses. Seattle has neighborhoods where you don't have to constantly deal with traffic and drive everywhere. Renton doesn't.

The traffic around Renton is also HORRIBLE. It's a common spot for people to buy starter houses though as the prices are a little lower.
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Old 05-19-2011, 10:14 PM
 
9,618 posts, read 27,287,468 times
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Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance View Post
There's not a lot in Renton in terms of actual houses. Seattle has neighborhoods where you don't have to constantly deal with traffic and drive everywhere. Renton doesn't.

The traffic around Renton is also HORRIBLE. It's a common spot for people to buy starter houses though as the prices are a little lower.
But there are currently over 150 homes for sale in Renton that are 1750+ sq feet and under 300,000 dollars. They're not condos or townhomes, so I guess that makes them " actual homes?" Some of them are very nice.
Renton is pretty diverse. There are million dollar homes, there are brand new 3000+ sq foot homes, and there are beat up hovels. There are also some old Victorian and Craftsmen homes, selling for half of what they'd sell for in Wallingford
Traffic around Renton is horrible, but you don't have to participate. You can get to Seattle easily without taking I-5, and you can get to Bellevue without taking 405. And buses are frequent to Bellevue or Seattle from Renton, less than a half hour ride.
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Old 05-21-2011, 01:12 PM
 
Location: Downtown Seattle
299 posts, read 665,549 times
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Originally Posted by Ira500 View Post
You should not stay away from Renton. You might want to stay away from those parts of Renton that have bad schools and from some small areas that are kind of slummy. Most of Renton is safe, but the school district in general is meh. There are some decent elementary schools in the district, such as Hazelwood and Kennydale and Maplewood Heights.
And then there are parts of Renton that are not in the Renton school district. Some of the eastern Renton Highlands is in the Issaquah school district, and some of southern part of Renton is in the Kent school district ( those schools are considered very good) and a tiny slice of Renton is in the Tahoma ( Maple Valley) district, which is a great school district.
as far as which parts of Renton to stay way from? Some streets in the residential part of Renton called North Renton are a bit scuzzy ( while a block or two away are really nice), part of the western part of the Renton Highlands, and some parts of Renton very close to Martin Luther King Way.
Renton is diverse, culturally and economically. There are million dollar houses, and there are run down hovels, and a lot of in between.
I live in Renton, and have for almost 13 years. I've never been a victim of crime here, which doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I think the reason Renton's crime rate is considered high is that there is crime at the Renton Transit center in the evening( and the neighboring block or two), in the western Renton Highlands, and the MLK area, and that it's mostly concentrated in those areas.
Renton has a lot of very good things going for it, apart from lower housing costs. Nice parks, good places to eat, the Cedar River trail, Coulon Park on Lake Washington, and the diversity which means there are Russian groceries, Mexican grocers, Indian groceries, Vietnamese groceries, Japanese groceries, and Safeway.
Very good points. I honestly don't know why Renton has the bad reputation of being a low-class area- maybe because it is cheaper to live, I don't know. I reside in Renton in a very nice apartment complex. It's nothing fancy but it is in a semi-rural area - I feel like I'm living out in the country. A rental like this in other parts of the Seattle area would be twice as expensive. Renton encompasses a huge area of land, and I have seen parts of town that aren't so nice but there are no slums or ghettos from what I can tell.
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Old 05-21-2011, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Downtown Seattle
299 posts, read 665,549 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance View Post
There's not a lot in Renton in terms of actual houses. Seattle has neighborhoods where you don't have to constantly deal with traffic and drive everywhere. Renton doesn't.

The traffic around Renton is also HORRIBLE. It's a common spot for people to buy starter houses though as the prices are a little lower.
That's my biggest complaint about living in Renton. The commute traffic into Seattle and other areas is pretty congested. In terms of drive time it seems I spend a lot of time in my car. Of course I have driven in worse areas. Los Angeles area traffic can be 3 times as bad as Seattle's, and Phoenix is no piece of cake either sometimes.
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Old 05-21-2011, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Downtown Seattle
299 posts, read 665,549 times
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Originally Posted by vandygirl View Post
I used to think Renton might be violent based on its old reputation for being less savory than Seattle. After spending enough time in Renton I discovered that there is nothing scary about it. Renton is composed of ranch houses, grassy walkways, large wooded lots, shopping centers, winding roads and the occasional pasture. There is nothing wrong with Renton except that it is out of the way from Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma.
Amen! Other than the traffic and the endless sprawl most of Renton is pretty nice. A good part of it is still very rural-suburban, and the greenery is such a refreshing change of scenery compared to where I'm from.
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