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Can you please advice what area of Seattle would be nice for family with young children (5 and 3.5)? We would like to live in a suburb with excellent schools and low crime rate, preferably area with new houses which cost around 350-400,000$ and well maintained public places. Ideally, it should be 30-45 minutes commute to downtown. Is there such suburb?
The short answer is No. Either your price point is too low or your commute time is too low. (Even if you're o.k. with a zero lot line new home, "excellent schools" aren't going to be there as the other posters mentioned.
First, are you commuting during typical hours? i.e., M-F 8-5 or do you get to do off hours, work for home, etc. If you're only doing the commute 2-3 times a week or your in the medical field (for example) and are doing a reverse commute it'll make a difference on your commute tolerance vs. M-F 8-5 day in and day out over the bridges or up and down I-5.
Victoria - Carnation to downtown - seriously?? - you're looking at 45 min on Sunday morning at 10am. I'd say you're looking at 90+ min unless you leave at 6am and don't plan on coming home until after 7:00pm. Not a nice quality of life for having 2 little ones at home (I've been on the receiving end of that one).
Living in a safe neighborhood that is reasonably priced especially in King County is hard to find.
Try Carnation, Duvall, Fall City - basically anywhere in the Snoqualmie Valley. Its close to Redmond, Issaquah, Bellevue and only 30mins from Seattle.
In the Snoqualmie Valley its cheap, safe, quiet, never any traffic and a wonderful, scenic place to raise a family. Also, the schools are small and yet very up-to-date acedemicaly. I guarentee if you look around the this area you'll be satisfied.
★Victoria★
Quote:
Originally Posted by carroll4628
Victoria - Carnation to downtown - seriously?? - you're looking at 45 min on Sunday morning at 10am. I'd say you're looking at 90+ min unless you leave at 6am and don't plan on coming home until after 7:00pm. Not a nice quality of life for having 2 little ones at home (I've been on the receiving end of that one).
Yea... there's no way Carnation would *ever* be "only 30 mins from Seattle". Just won't happen. (There's only one road into Carnation and its not even directly linked to a highway that'll take you straight to DT Seattle.)
Saying Snoqualmie Valley never experiences any traffic is also bogus... while not on the scale of 405, i5, 167, et. c--- those country roads to fill up, especially when people are getting to work/home. Oftentimes, you don't even have a convenient alternative way home.
I really wonder about this approach that says "Anywhere IN Seattle is no good". Surely many people live in neighborhoods that are equal to neighborhoods anywhere. Are the schools in Seattle the pits or something? Are there not even any private schools that do a god job? I'm never going to live in Seattle because if I made THAT big a move, I'd choose a town further north and not even sweat the commute. But Seattle is a highly-valued place among cities its size. At least that's always been my strong impression. Where does it place in "best places to live"?
There are a handful of good Seattle schools (and I'm talking about Seattle School District, not the suburbs), and they're in the pricier neighborhoods of the city. There aren't a ton of rental houses or even properties for sale often times in those most desirable neighborhoods, let alone in the price range of most people. The rest of the Seattle School District is a mess from what I know/read/have been told. Sure, there are excellent private schools in Seattle, but why send your kid to a private school for $20K/year if you can move to a suburb with excellent schools? The average school in Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Northshore, Lake Washington, Bainbridge, Shoreline, Mukilteo school districts are superior to the average school in the Seattle School District because there are so many poor performing schools in the SSD.
Something else should be said: In the end, the quality of the school can only take a kid so far...eventually the kid (and the parents) have to take responsibility for how well he/she does academically. When you get to the schools in the suburban districts named above, there probably isn't too much difference between them in terms of how a child might do in one district vs. another. Some children will be high achievers (or not) no matter which school they go to, it's just that certain districts are more supportive than others. A high achiever at Nathan Hale would probably do well at Bellevue or Skyline, too.
There are a handful of good Seattle schools (and I'm talking about Seattle School District, not the suburbs), and they're in the pricier neighborhoods of the city. There aren't a ton of rental houses or even properties for sale often times in those most desirable neighborhoods, let alone in the price range of most people. The rest of the Seattle School District is a mess from what I know/read/have been told. Sure, there are excellent private schools in Seattle, but why send your kid to a private school for $20K/year if you can move to a suburb with excellent schools? The average school in Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Northshore, Lake Washington, Bainbridge, Shoreline, Mukilteo school districts are superior to the average school in the Seattle School District because there are so many poor performing schools in the SSD.
Something else should be said: In the end, the quality of the school can only take a kid so far...eventually the kid (and the parents) have to take responsibility for how well he/she does academically. When you get to the schools in the suburban districts named above, there probably isn't too much difference between them in terms of how a child might do in one district vs. another. Some children will be high achievers (or not) no matter which school they go to, it's just that certain districts are more supportive than others. A high achiever at Nathan Hale would probably do well at Bellevue or Skyline, too.
The name says it all. I wouldnt expect someone who has located in Bellevue and making the sacrifices involved to see an in-city choice as equivalent. But this is how you get to the clogged freeways in cities like Seattle. Somehow, I don't quite understand how, to LIVE in costlier places, people have to get jobs IN the city, and so you have all that driving from every angle into the city, presumably MOSTLY for employment (surely suburbs can meet needs for socializing). And maybe its a fact that the majority of people will be forced into the daily commute, but I sure wouldn't look there first. I live in the Twin Cities, and I know there are people living outside the borders who are convinced there's no good choices here. But as a 40 year resident, I know otherwise. And with friends whose kids finished school and then went to Harvard and University of Chicago, WITHOUT private school tuition, I know our schools do a more than adequate job.
Trick is to get some Seattle residents to speak up for the good things in their city, not to let suburbanites have the only word on the subject. I dunno. Maybe the city residents don't have time for these debates.
The name says it all. I wouldnt expect someone who has located in Bellevue and making the sacrifices involved to see an in-city choice as equivalent. But this is how you get to the clogged freeways in cities like Seattle. Somehow, I don't quite understand how, to LIVE in costlier places, people have to get jobs IN the city, and so you have all that driving from every angle into the city, presumably MOSTLY for employment (surely suburbs can meet needs for socializing). And maybe its a fact that the majority of people will be forced into the daily commute, but I sure wouldn't look there first. I live in the Twin Cities, and I know there are people living outside the borders who are convinced there's no good choices here. But as a 40 year resident, I know otherwise. And with friends whose kids finished school and then went to Harvard and University of Chicago, WITHOUT private school tuition, I know our schools do a more than adequate job.
Trick is to get some Seattle residents to speak up for the good things in their city, not to let suburbanites have the only word on the subject. I dunno. Maybe the city residents don't have time for these debates.
BellevueNative hasn't said anything wrong. The poster is right: Seattle Public Schools as a district simply doesn't compare to Bellevue SD, Issaquah SD, Mercer Island SD, et. c. However, within Seattle Public Schools, there definitely are good schools, and good school programs. The better schools are generally located in the Northern neighborhoods; while the bad ones are generally in the Southern neighborhoods. All this is supported by fact and oft repeated on this forum.
All the work isn't located in Seattle DT, there's a lot also based in Bellevue/Redmond (Microsoft is a biggie). But you also have other suburbs that are also function as work centers (Boeing plants in Everett, Renton, Auburn for example)-- and you have people who live in DT Seattle that commute to those as well.
And lastly... please read the OP... the reason why this thread is so focused on the Seattle suburbs was simply because... the OP was asking about Seattle suburbs. We do not know why the poster is asking about the suburbs-- if that's s/he's looking for, then by all means, let them ask away. Last thing anyone wants is a lecture about why city-living is so much better... it's not a panacea and it doesn't answer the OP's questions.
We have a lot of pro-Seattle (Proper) posters here... and there definitely is a lot of dislikes of Seattle suburbs (Bellevue, and the suburbs south of Seattle are generally targets of vitriol). Believe me... they do say their bit.
OP - Personally, I like to stay on the west side of the lake because if there are accidents, there are alternative routes to take (for example, if I5 is a mess, you can take Aurora Ave). If you're coming in on 520 from Redmond to DT and there's an accident on 520, I personally don't think 405 to 90 is an option - I'd turn around and go home before sitting in that mess. My preference is towards the north and I'd suggest looking in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and perhaps Lynnwood. These aren't the "shiny new thing" but your commute would be reasonable given your housing budget.
Another option (if you're set on real suburbia) would be to live out toward Redmond or Issaquah and rent for a year. See what the commute is like and research other communities - do the 'practice commute' (drive around and wonder at the traffic when you're "out in the middle of nowhere"). I've know far too many people who sign up for a 45 min commute for it to only become 70+ min and after 2 years they're either trying to find another job or a new home (both of which are stressful and can be costly). I also know people who live on Lake Tapps near Tacoma and commute into Seattle every day and it doesn't bother them a bit.
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