Moving to Seattle area. Help me decide the best city! (Bellevue: for rent, houses)

[GreenGaze]

Greeting everyone!

My family and I are done with living in an extremely hot climate and we want a change. We are currently in Palm Springs, CA. I've always dreamed of living in a beautiful house with a porch on a bit of land with green and trees everywhere. (Doesn't everyone?) My research has led me to Issaquah/Sammamish/Redmond area. I am open to any other cities nearby that would be suitable for my needs. My husband is a firefighter/paramedic looking for a job and I am a Registered Nurse. I have 4 children ages 11, 9, 4 and 2. So obviously the school district is very important. Recreation activities are a must as we love to be outside especially in the summers. What is my best choice as far as cities go? To my knowledge homes with some land or acreage are usually located on the outskirts. I just want room to send my kids outside to play and explore. My husband is willing to commute up to 1-1.5 hours and I would like to work nearby at a hospital. I've heard that Issaquah has insane traffic and that is NOT something I'm looking forward to for everyday driving to the store and school pick up/drop off. We will be renting to start and if we like the area, we will eventually buy. Budget for rent is up to $3000 a month for a 4 bedroom home. What are your ideas? Thanks in advance for all your kind replies.

[mysteriousjane]

Newcastle is a nice area. You can also look in the renton highlands area, which is along the 900 (renton-issaquah road) and has some really nice places with some land.

[mysteriousjane]

You will want to make sure the house you get is in the issaquah school district though!

[Hemlock140]

You will find great schools in all of the Issaquah, Bellevue and Lake Washington school districts. Lake Washington includes the cities of Redmond, Sammamish, and Kirkland. For the home you are looking for all of those will be $2,800-3,500 rent though there are not many homes for rent that size. Traffic is a big factor for commuting but for shopping it's not that big of a problem. We are in the middle of Sammamish with very little shopping in the city (though Trader Joe's is opening this month) but it's only 6 miles to either Redmond or Issaquah shops. For hospitals, there is a big new Swedish in Issaquah Highlands on the south end of the Sammamish Plateau, Group Health and Overlake hospitals in Bellevue, and Evergreen in Kirkland. There are several others in Seattle. For your husband all cities have fire departments though some contract with Eastside Fire and Rescue, based in issaquah. There is also the Port of Seattle fire department at the airport.

[GreenGaze]

Hemlock140, mysteriousjane... thank you so much! Incredibly helpful! I'll check all of those out. My husband just applied to Eastside Fire and Rescue and we will be making a trip to scout in a month.

[Kalex]

we live in Issaquah but over on the Renton Highlands side, on Squak Mtn. Everyone is very spread out, the schools are great and the traffic is nonexistent. Nasty Issaquah traffic comes with living in the Highlands or having anything to do with Front St. (I avoid it like the plague). If you go the other way you pretty much skip all of it.
Redmond is going to have wretched traffic if you're anywhere near Microsoft. I've only been there around rush hour a handful of times and vowed never to return. In general, I haven't heard great things about the schools there. It's ok but not a spot I would pick.

[Jalhop]

I concur with those recommending the Renton Highlands. Google for Maple Hills Elementary. Around there or west of there is good. It's a beautiful, peaceful area with good value for housing in exchange for being somewhat remote. You'd likely get a normal-sized lot there, like 8,000 sq. ft. The houses may need some updating but are solidly built.

[mateo45]

Originally Posted by Kalex

we live in Issaquah but over on the Renton Highlands side, on Squak Mtn. Everyone is very spread out, the schools are great and the traffic is nonexistent. Nasty Issaquah traffic comes with living in the Highlands or having anything to do with Front St. (I avoid it like the plague). If you go the other way you pretty much skip all of it.
Redmond is going to have wretched traffic if you're anywhere near Microsoft. I've only been there around rush hour a handful of times and vowed never to return. In general, I haven't heard great things about the schools there. It's ok but not a spot I would pick.

Issaquah is fine, but remember that the more you go east to the mountains, the wetter it gets (not to mention getting closer to some of the rednecks and tweaker types holed up in North Bend and parts of Snoqualmie, which get over 60 inches of rain)!