Family move to Seattle (Tacoma, Everett: real estate, apartment, rental)

[Seattlebound11]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are considering a move to the Seattle area from DC. He would be working downtown and I would be working remotely. We have two children, a baby and a three year old.

We were wondering if it would be possible to buy a three bedroom home/apartment/condo for $600k or less that’s 1) within an hour commute by train and 2) has good schools? We don’t need a yard or a lot of space— we’ve lived in NYC and DC, and we actually prefer not having the upkeep of a yard. We’ll take some time to rent and get to know various neighborhoods before we buy, but as we plan a Seattle trip to tour various areas, we’d like to walk around a few neighborhoods where we conceivably could end up.

If we have the choice (and we might not), we would also love to live in a friendly area that feels like a community. We love to walk to farmers’ markets and to get to know our neighbors— a walkable Main Street or some central other gathering area would be lovely, even if it’s tiny. A diverse area where our children would be exposed to different cultures would be great as well. However the big question is whether good schools can be found on a rail line within our budget at all. (My husband hates driving, so the less we need a car the better).

Thanks for any help!

[Ruth4Truth]

Look at RE in West Seattle. There are SFH's in the area that are within your price range, though prices are going up. But certainly, you should be able to find a townhome well within your range. Commuting to downtown can be either by bus, or by water taxi (which avoids the traffic backup on the West Seattle bridge, and is scenic as all get-out).

Also look in Lake Forest Park, which is north of Seattle, with good commuter bus service. Also try Edmonds, northwest of Seattle, again with good commuter service, and scenic, on the water, good schools, and a ferry terminal that connects with communities and recreation areas across the Sound.

Those are the top 3 picks off the top of my head. But you should be able to find something within the city limits, if you're ok with condo/townhome. But Edmonds and Lake Forest Park are much more scenic and less crowded than Seattle; less hustle-bustle. West Seattle is less laid-back than it used to be, but has tons of amenities, a beach for strolling with nearby locally-owned coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries, etc., and cedar forest-parks.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by Seattlebound11

Hi everyone,

My husband and I are considering a move to the Seattle area from DC. He would be working downtown and I would be working remotely. We have two children, a baby and a three year old.

We were wondering if it would be possible to buy a three bedroom home/apartment/condo for $600k or less that’s 1) within an hour commute by train and 2) has good schools? We don’t need a yard or a lot of space— we’ve lived in NYC and DC, and we actually prefer not having the upkeep of a yard. We’ll take some time to rent and get to know various neighborhoods before we buy, but as we plan a Seattle trip to tour various areas, we’d like to walk around a few neighborhoods where we conceivably could end up.

If we have the choice (and we might not), we would also love to live in a friendly area that feels like a community. We love to walk to farmers’ markets and to get to know our neighbors— a walkable Main Street or some central other gathering area would be lovely, even if it’s tiny. A diverse area where our children would be exposed to different cultures would be great as well. However the big question is whether good schools can be found on a rail line within our budget at all. (My husband hates driving, so the less we need a car the better).

Thanks for any help!

Hi Seattlebound, Welcome (almost) to Seattle! A townhome in Columbia City or Beacon Hill might do the trick. That would check many of your boxes, it's definitely the diverse part of town, funky, community oriented and cool. The schools aren't the highest rated ones in Seattle (in part because recent immigrants skew the scores) but getting better every day. Columbia City is particularly cool, might have to bump up budget a touch. Both areas have good light rail access, as does Rainier Beach a touch farther south. BTW, my wife grew up in Frederick, Maryland, we have Old Bay in the cupboard .

Ruth is right, West Seattle is nice. It doesn't, however, have the diversity of those other areas I mentioned. It does have very good bus access to Downtown. You could also consider the Northgate area. Light rail will be there in a couple years, buses are good and there is some (although not as much as those other places I mentioned) diversity there.

[leastprime]

We live in Redmond, 2+2 condo, 50 minutes to Pike. via 545 express bus. But finding a 3+2 condo would be very tough.
We have a rental acquired in a 531 exchange that we rent for $3500 (3+2), Central District. 20 minutes to Pike by #27 bus.
Get a realtor and plant your nose in Zillow/Redfin. In our experience, fairly priced and well located homes will go in 4 days or less, Spring 2018. Take your time to explore; It took wife, 4 years and that is with the help of DS who breaths RE and lives in the Seattle area. We also used an REagent, who we had used 2 previous times. Wife did a lot of virtual tours. Google maps-walk view, will give you some idea of the surroundings. Wife also did some next day "Quick, you gotta see this" Amtrak trips to Seattle from Oregon (5 hours). [I think DS really wanted his mother to deep clean his townhouse.]

GL.

[noah]

Ruth - FYI, its quite a stretch at this point to say prices are going up. I am seeing tons of price reductions in West Seattle. Overall the Seattle times has reported that the medium price in Seattle is down $70k since the peak this spring. It appears to be more than seasonal as well as the rise in inventory started in June when the market is usually the hottest and has continued to rise fast.

[CrazyDonkey]

Some rental possibilities:

Burien:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...98_rect/10_zm/
$2100 3bd/2.5ba apt - walk to downtown Burien, RapidRide F-Line to Tukwila Light Rail Station to Downtown Seattle

Westwood Village (W. Seattle):

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...98_rect/10_zm/
$1995 3bd/2ba apt - one block from shopping center, RapidRide C-Line to Downtown/SLU

Othello (Seattle):

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...98_rect/10_zm/
$2350 3bd/2.5ba townhouse - facing Othello Park/Playground, one block to light rail station, short walk to groceries, stores, restaurants.

Downtown Bothell:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...04_rect/10_zm/
$1795 3bd/2ba apt - close to shopping, restaurants, commuting routes, #522 Express to Downtown Seattle

Crown Hill/Greenwood (Seattle):

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...04_rect/10_zm/
$2195 3bd/1.5ba townhouse - close to groceries, shops, restaurants, RapidRide D-Line to Ballard, Uptown/Seattle Center, Downtown Seattle

[tkz4]

The rail network is a long way from being built out. So for public transit you should be looking for good access to an express bus to downtown. That opens up a good number of options in you 1 hr commute range. You could even look as far afield as Tacoma or Everett, which both have 1 hour Sounder trains. But if you prefer to be walking distance to an existing or 2021 Link stop (light rail), then you might not find what you want in your price range.

As a very broad generalization, as you go south of downtown you will be in more diverse neighborhoods but that also means gentrification. North of downtown is more homogeneous but often walkable. While Eastside is more traditionally suburban and car-centric. Again, these are generalizations, and many neighborhoods are changing rapidly. For example, many north side neighborhoods have morphed from working class affordable to sought after and pricey in only a few years, sort of bypassing any in-between transitional stage. This is exacerbated wherever a Link line is planned.

You likely will be competing in the "entry home" market, which can be frustrating with competing bids and homes going for well over list. But fortunately, that has cooled down quite a bit over the last 2 months. This spring it was common to see homes listed for 600K selling for $750K.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by noah

Ruth - FYI, its quite a stretch at this point to say prices are going up. I am seeing tons of price reductions in West Seattle. Overall the Seattle times has reported that the medium price in Seattle is down $70k since the peak this spring. It appears to be more than seasonal as well as the rise in inventory started in June when the market is usually the hottest and has continued to rise fast.

West Seattle RE is still going up, generally speaking. People still buy real estate in September.

[noah]

It's not so much the month, of course people still buy in September, but the change in the market. To say Real Estate is going up in West Seattle is a stretch at best. But if you mean are we up for the calendar year, yes, but most of the gains have been wiped out the past few months.


https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...own-continues/

Looking just at the city of Seattle, the change is even more pronounced: The median house last month sold for $760,000, a drop of $45,000 in just one month and $70,000 in three months.

the trend is even more dramatic in the city of Seattle, where inventory for single-family houses shot up 86 percent from a year prior. During that same period the inventory of Seattle condos skyrocketed 161 percent

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

West Seattle RE is still going up, generally speaking. People still buy real estate in September.

[Seattlebound11]

Thank you everyone! This is very helpful information and gives us a lot of places to look at.