Newer home in outlying area or older home closer in? (Seattle: countertops, how much) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

dveit · 07-23-2008, 11:58 PM

Would greatly appreciate folks' insight into pros and cons of older homes in Redmond/Bellevue (anywhere from 1950-1980) versus newer construction (2000+) in areas like Duvall, Redmond Ridge, and Snoqualmie Ridge. We've seen some nicely updated homes in Bellevue and Redmond (mostly Education Hill) but aren't sure about any gotchas we might experience with an older home (that and it's tough to find updated homes in areas that the rest of the neighborhood has kept pace). We've also seen some new'ish homes in Kalhanie in Issaquah that are nice.

Living in California and Colorado we always moved into new homes in the 'burbs so we didn't have to worry about older plumbing, roofs, electrical etc... With house prices out here we're limited with what we can afford (around $500k) and almost all new construction is outside of our price range. Any insight as to folks that have owned older homes would be greatly appreciated, as well as any comparison between Snoqualmie Ridge and Redmond Ridge. I'm working at the MS north campus and my wife will start work in Sammamish at the start of the school year.

Freebird2007 · 07-24-2008, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dveit

Would greatly appreciate folks' insight into pros and cons of older homes in Redmond/Bellevue (anywhere from 1950-1980) versus newer construction (2000+) in areas like Duvall, Redmond Ridge, and Snoqualmie Ridge. We've seen some nicely updated homes in Bellevue and Redmond (mostly Education Hill) but aren't sure about any gotchas we might experience with an older home (that and it's tough to find updated homes in areas that the rest of the neighborhood has kept pace). We've also seen some new'ish homes in Kalhanie in Issaquah that are nice.

Living in California and Colorado we always moved into new homes in the 'burbs so we didn't have to worry about older plumbing, roofs, electrical etc... With house prices out here we're limited with what we can afford (around $500k) and almost all new construction is outside of our price range. Any insight as to folks that have owned older homes would be greatly appreciated, as well as any comparison between Snoqualmie Ridge and Redmond Ridge. I'm working at the MS north campus and my wife will start work in Sammamish at the start of the school year.

newer is always better

AzDreamer · 07-24-2008, 10:14 AM

We decided back in 1986 to buy close to work to avoid wasting time and money commuting. That is probably one of our best decisions considering how bad traffic has become and how much well located housing has appreciated.

My home was built in 1959 but that hasn't been a big problem. There are issues to consider like electrical and plumbing but so far we haven't had any major expenses other than a roof that had to be replaced about 15 years after we moved in. Our insulation isn't as good as today's housing but the flip side is the inside air quality is probably better and we don't have any mold issues.

Another issue I have with outlying areas near the Cascade foothills is the winter is colder and wetter. The King/Snohomish county line seems to get a lot more rain due to the convergence zone. For me that would be reason enough to avoid those areas.

bigtrees · 07-24-2008, 10:28 AM

Something I've noticed (that is completely different than Phoenix, AZ) is there are a lot of older homes and not as many newer homes. I'm finding that a lot of Seattle people like older homes. It's really weird coming (most recently) from Phoenix.

jenlion · 07-24-2008, 11:01 AM

I did not like the newer development around here (sorry Veronika!). They just seemed... cheap. They have big bathrooms, which is nice, but in the 500k price range the backyards we saw were teensy-weensy strips of sod. Redmond Ridge was rows of squares -- I thought when they said they were Quadrant homes that it was because the houses were, well, quadrants, cubes. (Though one did have a nice mountain view from an upstairs window). Certainly livable, and near a trail, but not for everyone. Issaquah Heights -- at least what we saw -- had alleys that were tought to maneveur in. Our old house had alleys and that was bad enough (you really don't meet your neighbors as well as you do when you have driveways in front) when they were wide and flat. These alleys were another story. The houses might have had granite (tile) countertops, but they had no.. no... no warmth, or something. I didn't like the feel of them at all. Not for me.

So, I don't agree that newer is always better. Our 30-year-old house needs new toilets and a new furnace, but it's a small price for mature trees and a big backyard.

When we commented in one newer area of Bellevue that all the houses were variations of the same shade, she said it was Bellevue Beige. And she meant it in a nice way -- she liked it. I thought it was kind of scary.

And a short commute to work can't be beat!! (My commute is best of all -- bed to couch!! I have a great job! Now I should get back to work).

sean98125 · 07-24-2008, 11:27 AM

I gladly trade a shorter commute for a more modest, older home. Being able to hug my daughter twelve minutes after I walk out the door to my office is worth a lot more to me than having an electrical outlet every six feet and more bathrooms than bedrooms.

fy10fyr · 07-24-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigtrees

Something I've noticed (that is completely different than Phoenix, AZ) is there are a lot of older homes and not as many newer homes. I'm finding that a lot of Seattle people like older homes. It's really weird coming (most recently) from Phoenix.

Probably because Seattle was settled and grew in the late 1800's andearly 1900's, and Phoenix didn't grow until the 70's or so.

bigtrees · 07-24-2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fy10fyr

Probably because Seattle was settled and grew in the late 1800's andearly 1900's, and Phoenix didn't grow until the 70's or so.

That does have a lot to do with it, and there are other factors there. Houses down there are built like [something I can't post here] but everyone wants a nice house, so they think that they need to constantly move into new houses in order to get a "quality" one. Houses in Seattle are built much better than down there.

Funny thing is a house from 2000 or 2001 is starting to get old, and anything older than about 1995 is ancient and no one wants to buy it. You'll see ones that were built in the 80's and early 90's and those houses are for "other" people (usually south of the border) because regular people wouldn't dare live in a house that old.

It was a really strange transition moving here, to say the least.

dogonabone · 07-24-2008, 04:42 PM

We bought an older home in Bellevue (Somerset area) because we didn't want to deal with traffic from the plateau. We have a shorter drive, but the house is constantly needing something; roof, windows, drainage, plumbing, electrical, leaks, siding, .... it's endless. It's only 30 years old! Jeeze, 30 y/o in human years is still young, so I've starting to think of my house aging in "dog years"! I sometimes regret not buying a newer home. No matter how well built an older home is, it's going to have needs. If you can accept the chores of a weekend DYI'er or paying a contractor for the big ticket items when you can't, living closer to work always helps. Then again, having the weekends free to have fun are good too!

mayfair · 07-24-2008, 05:34 PM

We have an older house close in, and after 15 years I think everything has been replaced and fixed that needs it (crossing fingers). Older homes have so many surprise expenses unless you get one that's had regular, diligent maintenance.

For example, a spring broke on the garage door. A spring. Well, that type of garage door is no longer made, so we needed a whole new garage door. Hundreds of dollars.

It's something to factor into the cost of owning an older home.