Land, glorious land (Seattle, Renton, Redmond: real estate, houses, live in)

[Chenebe]

We're warming to the idea of being farmers on the Eastside. So, for my interest in gardens, chickens and cob houses, I have been recommended the following areas as having enough land for my eclectic and pastoral tastes: Woodinville (specifically Reintree), Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, Preston, North Bend, Issaquah, Snomish, Snohomish, Bear Creek.

I would love to hear your experiences if you have lived there!

Specifically, interested in:
- what you liked best
- what you liked least
- wierd quirks of the area (can be cute or cranky, could be architectural style, a community with certain philosophies, etc.)
- what sort of houses/styles you get there (farmland, forest, trails, mountains)
- commute to MS campus in Redmond (esp interested in cycling experiences, are there cycle lanes there or is it pretty hairy?) Would be interested in actual routes and how bad the traffic is on them. Also interested in creative ways around commute - combinations with Park and Ride perhaps, arranging for flexi hours to miss trafic, etc.
- educational facilities
- family-friendly?
- community - I am just a little concerned about being in a remote area without friends and a support group and would like to know how easy it is to meet others

[SeattleExpert]

Hi Chenebe! I have a friend who commutes from Seattle to the Microsoft campus who could offer a lot of insight of cycling routes. Send me a direct message if you are interested - I'm not sure he wants me to pass out his info.

Also, if you go to Meetup: World's largest community of local Meetups, clubs and groups! - Meetup.com you can look up seattle community groups. There are tons of cycling clubs up here that can keep you busy.

[Ira500]

I don't live in Issaquah, but I'm there a lot. Issaquah is great. Nice downtown and lots of outlying shopping, including the Puget Consumers Co-op...there is a branch of Microsoft in Issaquah and Microsoft has their own shuttle vans which transport employees for free, as well as public transit Metro buses which go directly to the main Microsoft campus in Redmond. Issaquah is an old town, and has a little more personality than many of it's eastside neighbors...and best of all, you can find homes with land in the greater Issaquah area...Between Issaquah and it's neighbor Newcastle there are also mountains (small ones) with great hiking, and on Issaquah-Renton Road are a couple of places that sell chickens, live ones! , as well as things like straw and alfalfa pellets.
I think some areas might be hard to meet people, not so much for their rural qualities but for their sterile suburbanness (Stepford Wives), and Issaquah has a little of that, but mostly it's a nice friendly place.

[allforcats]

There's no "Snomish". Someone meant Snohomish.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Chenebe

-- Woodinville (specifically Reintree), Duvall, Carnation, Fall City, Preston, North Bend, Issaquah, , Snohomish, Bear Creek.
- what sort of houses/styles you get there (farmland, forest, trails, mountains)

You might want to add Snoqualmie.

To see samplings of what homes look like, although of course not all of them:
Seattle Real Estate, Top Seattle Real Estate Search, TheMLSonline.com

Scroll halfway down the page, and the map is clickable.
Or on the left side, you can click on "Add More Criteria", which will open the next page to many, many criteria. Most important is Fireplace, which you'll need (we all do) when the windstorms in November and December send the electric power out.