Relocating family for Amazon job - live??? (Seattle, Bellevue: low crime, new home)

[Sleepymouse]

I was thinking my husband was going to work at Microsoft in Redmond so we focused our housing search on the Eastside. We were looking at several new home developments around Pine Lake and Beaver Lake as well as resales in the Trossachs.

Now, he is going to be working at Amazon instead in SLU. We are still interested in Sammamish but are also considering NE Seattle because he does not want too long of a commute. We are currently in the Bay Area and have dealt with some ugly commutes over the years. I checked some bus options and found that there is an express bus from the Highlands P&R that is about a 30 minute ride to downtown Seattle. My husband would probably head in around 7:00/7:30 in the morning. Is this a good option for commuting? Does it get old fast? Does anyone do a similar commute?

If anyone has suggestions for where else we should be searching for housing that would be much appreciated. Our budget is $600-700 thousand, and schools are incredibly important. We have a 6-year-old and a toddler. A commute with a drive time under 45 minutes is also ideal.

[seattlenextyear]

I'm not sure what "highlands" you are talking about, but my husband does that commute from Issaquah, except he gets on after the Highlands stop. Takes him, on average, an hour door to door. You still have to take into consideration getting to the bus stop plus the walking time after (we're the best case scenario: we live 4 minutes from the Park and Ride and his building is one of the closer ones to the bus stop).

[Kayela]

You might consider Upper Queen Anne or Magnolia. Very good commute and nice neighborhoods with cute retail areas. You won't find a palace for that, but you should be able to find something nice.

[Xanathos]

If schools are important to you, you definitely want to stay out of Seattle period.

700k might get you something on Mercer Island, which has excellent schools. More likely, you'd be able to find something in Bellevue in the crossroads area.

[MaikeerinWA]

Consider something close to the Eastgate P&R. You can get to the International District and one of Amazon's shuttles in less than 25 minutes on the bus from there.

[tatania199]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

Consider something close to the Eastgate P&R. You can get to the International District and one of Amazon's shuttles in less than 25 minutes on the bus from there.

That's what my husband has done.

Now he's doing vanpool and they meet at Eastgate P&R.

Just for scale, his friend buses from Greenlake to SLU. My husband goes from the Eastgate P&R to SLU (so Eastside instead of in Seattle) and their commute times are about 5 minutes difference.

We have a little one at Somerset Elementary, which is a fantastic school that feeds into Newport High, which is a really fantastic school. We love the area, love the size of house and yard that we got compared to the areas we looked at in Seattle (Queen Anne, Magnolia, Greenlake, etc.) and found that, ultimately, the difference in commute wasn't enough to make up for the needs of our family.

Now, if it were just the two of us, no giant dog or kids, the criteria would be totally different!

But we're super close to everything, all shopping and basic conveniences, but with a huge lot, tons of families, a quiet, safe neighborhood, a killer school, access to mountains for skiing easily, TONS of green space everywhere and so on, along with easy, quick access to Seattle.

[BellevueNative]

Originally Posted by tatania199

That's what my husband has done.

Now he's doing vanpool and they meet at Eastgate P&R.

Just for scale, his friend buses from Greenlake to SLU. My husband goes from the Eastgate P&R to SLU (so Eastside instead of in Seattle) and their commute times are about 5 minutes difference.

We have a little one at Somerset Elementary, which is a fantastic school that feeds into Newport High, which is a really fantastic school. We love the area, love the size of house and yard that we got compared to the areas we looked at in Seattle (Queen Anne, Magnolia, Greenlake, etc.) and found that, ultimately, the difference in commute wasn't enough to make up for the needs of our family.

Now, if it were just the two of us, no giant dog or kids, the criteria would be totally different!

But we're super close to everything, all shopping and basic conveniences, but with a huge lot, tons of families, a quiet, safe neighborhood, a killer school, access to mountains for skiing easily, TONS of green space everywhere and so on, along with easy, quick access to Seattle.

Yes, Somerset is a nice neighborhood in Bellevue. Also check out Woodridge, another Bellevue neighborhood that feeds into Newport High. Several neighborhoods in Eastgate were just annexed by Bellevue the other day, so you may find some good deals there.

Many of the houses on these three hills have beautiful views.

[texastrigirl]

To answer your original question, there are a lot of people that commute from Sammamish/Issaquah to Amazon at SLU. The earlier you leave, the shorter the commute, my husband's door to door from the Issaquah Transit Center was usually around 55 minutes in peak rush hour, though some days it could be longer with the transit to SLU getting messed up. We live near Pine Lake. Issaquah Highlands is a little more direct and easy to do though 30 minutes will really be more like 45-50 once you count the door to door transit because you don't get dropped directly at SLU and have to link with walking, trolley or bus. Vanpool is another much shorter good option as well.

Speaking to living in the Pine Lake area, we love it and would not trade it, even for the commute. Fantastic schools, natural beauty, low low crime, and the best hiking in the area is just minutes away. Certainly you'd enjoy Bellevue and I'd 2nd the Woodridge area. We have several friends that live there and we've always enjoyed it and the schools are wonderful as well. Really nice and well located though not really walkable to much. We looked there but felt our $ went much further in Sammamish with the tranquility we were looking for. In Pine Lake you can walk to the gym, store, ice cream, Starbucks, other misc shops and the blueberry farm, etc. We walk down the block and pop our canoe or kayaks in for a paddle or go for a swim in Pine Lake or drive 2 minutes down the hill and hit Lake Sammamish. It's really heavenly. Longer commute? Yes. But my husband reads and does email so he's learned to live with it. The one thing I will say is there is very little on the market in Pine Lake right now and what is goes really fast - so prepare to fight for it if you want it.

Another note, Trossachs is really nice but is well further out from Pine Lake/Beaver Lake as far as a commute goes though I know many Amazonians live in Trossachs. It's a wonderful neighborhood with great views and community. Again, not walkable to anything as far as shopping goes.

[Sleepymouse]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We came out a few weeks ago and spent so much time hunting in Sammamish and Issaquah that I am completely unfamiliar with Bellevue. It seems as if Sommerset, Woodridge and Eastgate are good options for us in Bellevue. Are there any other neighborhoods in Bellevue we should have at the top of our list? We will be back out in 3 weeks on a house hunting trip and then moving up in July.

Also, does anyone out there have kids in any of the public elementary schools in NE Seattle or know how they stack up against Bellevue/Issaquah schools? I know they are considered not as good as on the Eastside, but I am coming from California schools with 31 kids in a classroom and absolutely no state funding.

[Ira500]

Actually, some of the schools in NE Seattle compare very favorably to schools on the eastside. Bryant Elementary, View Ridge Elementary, and Laurelhurst Elementary are each amongst the best in Seattle, and feed into Eckstein Middle School and Roosevelt High, which are both good schools.
These are not less expensive areas, house price wise, than Bellevue or Sammamish, etc. One big difference is the vintage of the houses. Sammamish has houses that range from mid eighties to new construction, where NE Seattle homes tend to be from the 1920's to the 1970's. Some of them are in great shape, and have lake views, but some people prefer newer construction. Which is extremely hard to find in NE Seattle.