Maple Valley Real Estate Question (Seattle, Bellevue: employment, schools, shop) - Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

daydreamin71 · 07-11-2011, 02:04 PM

Good afternoon! Regarding real estate, it appears you can get a lot more 'bang for your buck' in Maple Valley (as compared to Eastern burbs). Is this due to the more rural feeling of the community and distance of the commute to many locations? Or are there some issues with Maple Valley that I'm not seeing? Any insight you can give is appreciated!

Inkpoe · 07-11-2011, 02:41 PM

... No, there isn't really issues with MV that isn't anywhere else. MV has been growing a lot the last decade. My best friend's mother is starting to complain about the growth; she purposely moved to MV many years ago because she was looking for the rural area-- which MV was and still is for most part. It's not going to remain like that much longer. But it's got great nature access, the schools are great, you have shopping close by (Covington) and it's a great community.

The only real suckitude in RE: MV are the roads out of MV. I have no idea how they're going to expand 169 which it really needs... there isn't really other big scale roads out of/by MV, other than hwy 18 which doesn't go anywhere near Seattle (Snoqualmie on one end, Auburn on the other). You could use Kent-Kangly Rd, Petrovitsky or 240th st to get out, but then you're dealing with and stop and go traffic and 167 which isn't any better.

Ira500 · 07-11-2011, 03:48 PM

Maple Valley is a great place. Just not a quick commute to the area's big employment centers. It's fine if you work in Kent or Renton or even Issaquah, but Seattle or Bellevue? People do it, and commute even further, but it's going to take a while to get home.

daydreamin71 · 07-11-2011, 03:59 PM

Inkpoe, Ira, thank you both for the good info! MV is definitely staying on my list.

texastrigirl · 07-11-2011, 09:04 PM

It's definitely more of a small town feel but that's okay in my book! As Ira mentioned...long commutes to Seattle/Bellevue and beyond.

Boxkicker · 07-12-2011, 04:26 PM

I moved to Maple Valley this year, and I love it! It still has the small town feel, yet is close enough to the Big Box stores of Covington, Auburn, Issaquah & Renton.

As far as commute, I work in Downtown Seattle, and the Sound Transit system works well. You could drive down Hwy 18 to Auburn and ride the Sounder or drive to Tukwila and catch the Sounder or the Central Link.

Commute of 60-75 minutes isn't bad especially when you can sleep or read while someone else is driving!

Hemlock140 · 07-12-2011, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxkicker

As far as commute, I work in Downtown Seattle, and the Sound Transit system works well. You could drive down Hwy 18 to Auburn and ride the Sounder or drive to Tukwila and catch the Sounder or the Central Link.

One of my people is in MV and does this, the train always is on time to Seattle (I often have to wait for it to cross Alaskan Way to my office from the parking garage). The ORCA card gets you on it and any bus, and many employers will subsidize all or part of the cost.

daydreamin71 · 07-13-2011, 01:36 PM

Small town feel, but close to Seattle, sounds great to me. And so does the option to take mass transportation, rather than driving the whole way! Thank you all!

Jalhop · 07-15-2011, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daydreamin71

Small town feel, but close to Seattle, sounds great to me. And so does the option to take mass transportation, rather than driving the whole way! Thank you all!

"Small town feel" in the case of MV means less people density and less developed, not a quaint walkable small town. If working in DT Seattle the Sounder option sounds nice. If working on the east side of Lake Washington, I'd choose the Lake McDonald area (near Maple Hills elementary, in Renton) over nearby MV. I suggest doing Google street view to check it out.

daydreamin71 · 07-16-2011, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jalhop

"Small town feel" in the case of MV means less people density and less developed, not a quaint walkable small town. If working in DT Seattle the Sounder option sounds nice. If working on the east side of Lake Washington, I'd choose the Lake McDonald area (near Maple Hills elementary, in Renton) over nearby MV. I suggest doing Google street view to check it out.

I will check out the Lake McDonald area. Thank you for the suggestion!