So what is wrong with Bothell? (Seattle, Tacoma: new house, safe area, buy)

[just*us]

My DH has been talking to coworkers about possible places we may buy a home, and if he ever brings up Bothell, immediately people tell him to choose Woodinville instead. Does Bothell have a bad reputation? Is Woodinville so much nicer? We would only consider Bothell if the home was in the Northshore school district, and it seems that more new homes are going in there. Are we missing something?

[Jennibc]

In the many years I've lived here I have never heard anything remotely negative about Bothell. Of course, I've never lived there so cannot offer first hand experience.

[Ira500]

There's nothing wrong with Bothell, but it's clearly not as wealthy or prestigious as Woodinville...Woodinville has the wineries and many newer, very expensive homes on large lots.
And they're both in the Northshore School District...Test scores are higher at Woodinville High School than at Bothell High, but they are both significantly higher than the state average. Bothell is more of a mix of people than Woodinville, and more people in Woodinville have horses....
It's all a matter of taste. Bothell is not dangerous, and it's in a good school district, but it doesn't have the status of Woodinville. There's a really pretty and very nice area near St. Edwards state park with both Bothell and Kenmore addresses, all in the Northshore district.

[just*us]

Thanks to you both. When we visited it seemed nice, but since we are new we never know if there is something we are missing about an area, good or bad...

[tudorjason]

I don't think there is anything wrong with Bothell, except for maybe traffic - but that's true for everywhere. But Woodinville is definitely nicer than Bothell, which is probably the reason why it is suggested over Bothell.

[70Ford]

When I first moved to Seattle I worked with a lady (I'll use that term...but it ain't the term I'm really thinking) who yapped about how, since I live in Issaquah, my kids will grow up to be snobs and every time someone mentioned Tacoma, it was, "AH!! THE Tacoma AROMA."

I've been to Tacoma. Many, many times. I didn't smell anything. Because they reduced the sulfur emissions from the paper plant....about 9 years ago.

P.S. There's nothing wrong with Bothell.

[mommyamy]

The only difference between bothell and woodinville. is there are more trees in woodinville and bigger houses more horses bigger safeway! thats about it there both very safe areas!

[just*us]

Thanks everyone. The parts of Bothell we saw were nice areas with nice new houses and it had a "smaller town" feel to me than Redmond and Bellevue which we liked. On my next trip I will also check out Woodinville, but it's good to know Bothell isn't on an old Superfund site or something!

[jenlion]

I've been to homes in Bothel in they've been fine, the neighborhoods seem totally normal.

Every time I hear something bad about Bothel, it's the traffic. It's inconvenient to commute from there to pretty much anywhere. Tough drive to MS, tough drive to Seattle, etc.

If you don't have to commute someplace else at rush hour, by all means, keep that option open. :-)

[mayfair]

Bothell is totally normal. I agree that traffic is bad, but that's typical of most suburbs.