1 hour or less commute to Seatac? (Tacoma, Everett: crime, townhome, buy)

[Gubbinsgal]

Looking for suggestions for places to live that would be an hour or less commute to Seatac. The commute would likely be going out Sunday nights or very early Monday mornings and back in on Thursday or Friday nights.

Ideally we'd like somewhere with a small town feel or even rural if possible, where you can buy a 3/4 bed house for less than $300K. A good school district is also important.

Any ideas of good places to consider?

[jwb123]

Ideally we'd like somewhere with a small town feel or even rural if possible, where you can buy a 3/4 bed house for less than $300K. A good school district is also important.

I can't help you with anything south of SeaTac - not super familiar with the area... but can tell you this will be difficult, if not impossible, going North.

[chris]

anywhere from Auburn and south of there should work for you (most of pierce county). I don't recommend anything directly on the I-5 corridor. One hour during low traffic periods will give you a lot to choose from. A friend who works for an airline at seatac generally gets to work in about 1 hour and he lives in Mason county. Most of the "small town" feel areas under an hour won't be under 300k though unless you're looking for a fixer upper or living in a higher crime area.

[Gubbinsgal]

Jenbar, thanks - we figured we'd be out of luck going north unless we went as far as Everett and beyond, which would be a yucky commute for my hubby. Thanks for the feedback

Chris - how far in from I5 itself should we avoid? I hear people talk about the I5 corridor a lot but am not sure where the cutoff point roughly lies east and west of it. Sorry if this seems like a dumb question - I'm good at those Do you know much about Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Spanaway or Orting? Thanks also for your feedback

[chris]

when it comes to i5, it's most towns that border it, with a few exceptions. There are several threads in the washington forum about it. Searching for Federal Way, Tacoma, Kent, or Renton should give you more opinions on the area.

I lived in Bonney Lake and it's not a bad area. Not what it used to be. If you *don't* hit the road during traffic hours, it's not that bad. If you do, 410 will be a constant source of frustration. Orting has the same problems. Puyallup seems to be a little less worse in terms of traffic, but on the weekends it's gridlock. Some parts of Spanaway aren't bad, but if you have kids, I'd cross it off your list. In all of these areas, I'm not sure if you'll have many choices at $300k, although there are definitely homes in the 250-300k price range.

[mama_sas]

What about North Bend? It is a smaller community East...I don't know about the schools or the prices though.

As for Federal Way, the schools are awful.

Auburn isn't bad but you probably won't find much under 300K except for a townhome.

Covington and Maple Valley are Wonderful, but again I doubt it will be in that price range.

Housing is very expensive up here, and the suburbs are all connected, so even if the population is small it doesn't really feel like a small town. Maybe Enumclaw...that is East of Auburn.....

Hope that helps a little.