Moving to Seattle Family of 6 (Othello, Rainier: buy, school district, living in)

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by maddieinoz

Sorry! One more silly question Since we are a family of six with the potential of needing an au pair, I have only been searching for 4 bedroom homes. We've been living in a 2br house for a long time, and I'm ready to be a little less squeezed. Where I live in Melbourne, there aren't "extra" rooms. You get your bedroom, open plan kitchen/living and a bathroom.
Should I open up the search for 3br homes as well? Since floor plans aren't provided most of the time, I'm struggling seeing if a 3br would have the potential to be converted to a 4br or a different floor plan if needed. Apologies if this question is too general or silly. Thank you.

Look for older homes with a daylight basement, or partial daylight basement. You can have an extra bedroom there.

For that matter, there are older Craftsman houses ('teens through 1920's, nice built-in woodwork & other old world touches), that were built as 2-br. homes, but that have either a large attic that may be converted into 2 Br's, or a large daylight basement with a bedroom, laundry area, and potential master bedroom, or huge br shared between 2 kids, or recreation room. I've seen them with a 3/4 bathroom added. If homes are advertised as a certain number of bedrooms and "bonus room", or whatever, take a look at it, because it might work out well for you. You never know.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Here's a rare 4bd gem in Seattle's east Capitol Hill (Miller Park-Stevens neighborhood) for under a mil:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...84_rect/12_zm/

Super walkable to Trader Joe's, Capitol Hill Co-op, Madison Valley shops/cafes, the Arboretum, 15th Ave E business district, Interlaken Park, Volunteer Park, Pike-Pine Corridor, etc. Madison St RapidRide (BRT) coming. Looks like the basement has room to expand.

I have a hard time believing that areas like that have gentrified, personally. I wouldn't want to live there. And it's a tiny yard for 4 kids, plus look at the neighboring houses. The listed house looks like a house the sellers are trying to gentrify, but it's clearly a "work in progress".

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I have a hard time believing that areas like that have gentrified, personally. I wouldn't want to live there. And it's a tiny yard for 4 kids, plus look at the neighboring houses. The listed house looks like a house the sellers are trying to gentrify, but it's clearly a "work in progress".

That color-line was broken a long time ago. There's a Trader Joe's about seven blocks away - how gentrified does it need to be?

She said they're living in a two-bedroom now. That house has four, with room for a fifth in the unfinished basement. She also said that they are "quite open to doing renovations".

For Capitol Hill, that is actually a fairly big yard. That it is bare dirt should lower the price, while giving them a blank canvas to work with. Find another four-bedroom, even without room for a fifth, on Capitol Hill for under a mil.

[maddieinoz]

Thanks everyone for the tips especially looking at daylight basements. We are open to renovating and are pretty good at figuring out if a space has possibilities, so it's good to know that I can tweak my searches to allow for more (and potentially cheaper) options. I'll let you all know once we finalise our choice!

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by maddieinoz

Thanks everyone for the tips especially looking at daylight basements. We are open to renovating and are pretty good at figuring out if a space has possibilities, so it's good to know that I can tweak my searches to allow for more (and potentially cheaper) options. I'll let you all know once we finalise our choice!

Best wishes Maddie and let us know if we can answer any more questions!

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

I know, it is a good spot, we live not far from there. I just think, for the OP's needs, they could do better with location/commute. West Seattle first then Columbia City.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Just think that east Capitol Hill/Central District might be a "doable" commute to Highline, by going south to skirt Downtown. A two-ride transit option might work as well, with Madison BRT getting her Downtown "lickity-split". Working "educator" hours (7 to 4?) would give her a headstart. (I wouldn't want to be much further north than that, however.) Going to UW once a week would be fairly easy. Would be more practical than Ballard, Queen Anne, or Magnolia, in my opinion (with the Viaduct gone).

Really depends on how they choose to weight the factors: Walkability/bikeability, cultural diversity, schools, commute, housing values, etc. The area in question ranks very high in the first two, lower in the others. That particular property does look to have good appreciation prospects, if it could be bumped up to 5-bedrooms (with a landscaped backyard), assuming it doesn't have any major structural/systems issues.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

I'm not disagreeing with you. Just think that east Capitol Hill/Central District might be a "doable" commute to Highline, by going south to skirt Downtown. A two-ride transit option might work as well, with Madison BRT getting her Downtown "lickity-split". Working "educator" hours (7 to 4?) would give her a headstart. (I wouldn't want to be much further north than that, however.) Going to UW once a week would be fairly easy. Would be more practical than Ballard, Queen Anne, or Magnolia, in my opinion (with the Viaduct gone).

Really depends on how they choose to weight the factors: Walkability/bikeability, cultural diversity, schools, commute, housing values, etc. The area in question ranks very high in the first two, lower in the others. That particular property does look to have good appreciation prospects, if it could be bumped up to 5-bedrooms (with a landscaped backyard), assuming it doesn't have any major structural/systems issues.

Good points, I agree. As a frequent traveler on clogged surface roads in this part of town, I just don't know if this location would be much of a commute improvement over the Wallingford/Phinney close to Hwy 99 idea.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Good points, I agree. As a frequent traveler on clogged surface roads in this part of town, I just don't know if this location would be much of a commute improvement over the Wallingford/Phinney close to Hwy 99 idea.

Agree. Commutes need to be dryrun. A question is how much the closing of the Viaduct will affect the "east" north-south arterials (MLK, 12th, etc.). 23rd being road-dieted makes that a less viable option going south. Wallingford/Phinney would require paying a toll, going and coming.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Agree. Commutes need to be dryrun. A question is how much the closing of the Viaduct will affect the "east" north-south arterials (MLK, 12th, etc.). 23rd being road-dieted makes that a less viable option going south. Wallingford/Phinney would require paying a toll, going and coming.

True. I have a feeling they might really like the vibrancy, diversity, grooviness, light rail access and commute potential of Columbia City.

[CrazyDonkey]

The critical question for Columbia City would be Kimball ES, which is only rated as a "4" at GreatSchools. White and Asian students are doing very well, but Black students are failing. Beacon Hill ES ("6") and Maple ES ("6") on Beacon Hill might be better choices. Kimball ES does have an "A-" grade at Niche, so digging deeper could be called for.

Compare Kimball ES to Rainier View ES ("8"):

https://www.greatschools.org/washing...entary-School/

https://www.greatschools.org/washing...-Rainier-View/