East Side neighborhoods (Redmond, Clyde Hill: apartments, rental homes, house)

[jwb123]

I will admit, I am really picky about the neighborhoods on the eastside. Well, not just the eastside - I am picky about neighborhoods in the Seattle area... period... but that's because they are SO much money, and if I am going to pay well over $400k for a home, I don't want to be butting up next to a shady area - except that's nearly impossible to find in most places in which you probably could find a gem. I want my kids to safely play in their yard, even if it's the small 10x10 patch of grass you find in the homes there...

Ugh.

I like Redmond, Issaquah, Woodinville, Snoqualimie and Sammamish.... everything else, it's lower priced for a reason, you get what you pay for ... and all that. We couldn't afford what we wanted anymore, so we left.... in my opinion, it's not worth the lower cost of the home when the surrounding community, neighborhood, city, amenities, etc are not top notch, or the commute is worse and it cuts into family time, etc... we are all about quality of life, and quantity of family time... we greatly compromised those two things living in Seattle.

[scirocco22]

I really don't consider any area of the Eastside (or the areas we're talking about) necessarily "shady."

Again, there might be a beautiful house with a view of Lake Washington and Mt. Rainier in the Juanita neighborhood with nice houses all around it (as I said previously, Hermosa Vista or south Finn Hill) and in the Lake Washington School district (or Northshore, depending on the exact location), but since your realty agent (and people on this forum) say not to even consider Juanita because it's a shady area, then all I'm saying is that you may miss a gem.

I mean, you never know. But if you make a blanket refusal to look in Juanita at all because of what your agent or folks on this forum tell you, then yes, you might just miss a gorgeous home with a beautiful view and in a great school district.

[jwb123]

I don't know if I would consider it necessarily "shady" - but not somewhere that I would want my children to grow up, for several reasons... it may very well be a place that I would live very happily if I were single, or with just my husband - but when you consider children, you have to think about so many other factors... it's not "shady" as in unsafe for an adult - but "shady" in that there are better, family-friendly, environments.

That was how Bothell/Mill Creek was to me... nice enough, but not where I would want to plant my family long term... especially into young adult, or preteen years.... negative influences, questionable areas that fed into the nicer areas, weird schools, run down looking neighborhoods and shopping areas...

[seattlerain]

Jenbar, can you go into a little bit more detail as to why you thing those areas are questionable?

[woodinvilleguy]

Sounds like you need to work with a new realtor, they shouldn't limit you so much. I can recommend a couple good ones as I'm sure others here can as well if you are interested.

[Pittgal]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

We used to live in Klahanie and we loved it!!! This was, however, in 2000... and some people have mentioned on this board that it's less of a community now, and more of a rental place??? I don't know if that's true or not - and it's sad if it is, because it was GREAT and SAFE for young families when we were there...

I am the one who posted this and that is what we were told by people who live up there and real estate agents. I am not saying it is bad, its just a highly rented area and I've been told the homes and yards are not being kept up with because of that.


We live in Bellevue and love it here. We are in an area called "Lakemont" and the schools district is Issaquah. I am sure there are not so nice parts of Bellevue, but the neighborhood we live in is very family oriented, has 3 playgrounds, and everyone is always out walking and chatting to each other. We think its a great area to raise children in. You should check it out!

[jenlion]

Pittgal, thanks.

Can you tell me the approximate street boundaries of that part of Bellevue - Lakemont? Seems Bellevue is a mixed bag. Sir was able to explain exactly where lake hills is - can you tell me about Lakemont?

[allforcats]

Hi, Jenlion. Bellevue might be "a mixed bag" to someone who lives in a five-million-dollar house, or to someone who wants to get the selling commission on a very expensive house. To those of us who live in the general "Seattle" area, however, Bellevue is pretty fine. Actually, there are many locations in Bellevue where there ARE multi-million-dollar houses!

A couple of thoughts you might have overlooked:

Originally Posted by scirocco22

... Lake Hills -- Its boundaries aren't well defined as it's within the city limits of Bellevue. Like all sprawling suburbs, neighborhoods tend to run into each other without distinct boundaries.

As Scirocco was clear about, there is no such thing as "exact" "boundaries" or "street boundaries" to neighborhoods here.

You might also have overlooked the huge resource you have in your MS relocation person. She or he would be a fabulous help.

Originally Posted by allforcats

YOUR MICROSOFT RELOCATION ADVISOR or HIRING PERSON:
That person is PAID to know everything, find everything, be on your side, and provide you with PRACTICAL HELP. USE that person! Get on your phone at the crack of dawn tomorrow at 8:01 Pacific Time and make that person feel important, needed and wonderful that he/she is earning their salary by helping your family transition happily to Microsoft! That's their job.

Here's some Lakemont info --
Lakemont is a small community located on the western side of Cougar Mountain with views of Lake Sammamish. It lies on the border of Bellevue and Issaquah, but the majority is within Bellevue. Lakemont is at exit 13 along I-90. Some neighborhoods within the entire Lakemont community include Wyngate, Woodcroft, Greystone, as well as Chandler Park. Other neighborhoods include Silverleaf, Vuemont, and upcoming William Buchan development Albion and Camwest's Hillside (2007). Located off of the main street,Lakemont BLVD lies the Lakemount Community Shopping Center which has stores from Blockbuters to Matthew's Thriftway, Aloha Dry Cleaning to Starbucks coffee just to name a few. Nearby parks in this community include Lakemont Park off of the road Village Park Dr. and the new Lewis Creek Park. The main school district in the area is the Issaquah school district where Lakemont students will either attend Cougar Ridge or Sunset Elementary, then Issaquah Middle School, then the Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, and finally Issaquah High School. A private school opportunity is available nearby called the "Open Window School (of Issaquah)".

[Pittgal]

Originally Posted by jenlion

Pittgal, thanks.

Can you tell me the approximate street boundaries of that part of Bellevue - Lakemont? Seems Bellevue is a mixed bag. Sir was able to explain exactly where lake hills is - can you tell me about Lakemont?

Allforcats posted that for you above here. We are on Cougar Mtn between Issaquah and Factoria. I don't want to say which neighborhood I live in but it is really nice and our backyard is HUGE for Seattle standards! DM if you need any more help!

[LivinginSeattle]

I would fire her and looking form another realtor. There are communities in Redmond are very nice. looking at Union hill road, there are many houses for sale. My husband work at MS main compus, takes us about 20 to 25 minutes to get to his work in normal day (I work at Bellevue, so we ride together). If traffic is good, only 15 minutes to MS (156th Ave.) If you look for older house, you will get what you want and close to the MS too. We also looked for houses at Klahanie 3 years ago when we first come here, but it was not for us. There are too much population and no yard. Did I mention we have about 1 arce. We are very happy what we get.
Looking at Union hill area, you will find what you want.

By the way, We had an exclusive buyer's agent . Search for exclusive buyer's agent in Seattle area, you will find one who only works for buyers

Our neighbor is over 500K, but you amy be able to find some house nearby below 500K.

You may change your thought once you get here. Houses are expensive, and living is expensive too. I never thought we would buy a house over a half mil whenwe moved here 3 year's ago.

Good luck on your house hunting