Affording a house in Seattle... (Bellevue, Edmonds: real estate, appraise, condos)

[msp1ggy]

we are a family of 4 with the opportunity to move to Seattle this summer. We have been researching the area, and since we have young kids, we have been looking at real estate in Bellevue, Issaquah and possibly Lake Forest area since we have heard the schools there are good. DH will be working at U of W. Housing cost seems to be really high in the area. How do people there afford to own houses? I mean..it's not like the average income in Seattle is much, much higher....so what does one do to own a home? Can a family with roughly $150k income survive and own a home there?

Thanks!
jeannete

[CityGirl72]

We make $130K a year. And have one kid and one on the way. (both of us work)

We live IN Seattle, but Seattle schools suck so why try and buy here? - and definately NOT by UW....bad bad bad, especially for school age kids. The schools are so bad on the Seattle side most people put their kids into private schools (another $10K a year!)

We bought our house 3 years ago for $310, it's appraised over $500K now, and we could never have afforded that.

Allot of people buy Condos here - Condos are a big seller here.

But the areas you are looking at are called "The East side" over the water of Lake Washington - and your husband will have one hell of a commute. There are affordable areas (Have you loooked North of Seattle? Like Mill Creek or up by Edmonds) that will still be the same crazy commute, but it's more affordable and the schools rock.

[msp1ggy]

How long of a crazy commute are you talking about from those area? When I went to mapquest and put in some addresses from homes in those areas, they are all under 20 miles...so I am curious as to how long of a commute it would be from there to U of W in Seattle?

Thanks!

[CityGirl72]

Mapquest is giving it to you without traffic - which it's bad here.

It is because 1) you have to cross water - so there will be only one route to take and 2) about 80% of commutors are there with you

I've seen it take an hour and half (each way), unless you leave super early(like 5:30) in the morning and get flex time at work to leave work super early (like before 3:30pm)

I used to have to make that cummute it sucks

[CityGirl72]

Oh yeah and that's just getting from Bellevue to Seattle - go farther out like Issaquah and Lake Forest and you are looking at tacking on more time

[msp1ggy]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

Oh yeah and that's just getting from Bellevue to Seattle - go farther out like Issaquah and Lake Forest and you are looking at tacking on more time

Thank you so much for those information. Definitely good to know that. How about from Mill Creek and Edmonds...are the commute just as bad or a little better? What are public transportation like from Edmonds/Mill Creek? Housing definitely looks a little more affordable in those two areas.

Thanks again!

[CityGirl72]

Public transportation is good everywhere. The commute from North is bad but not as bad as crossing the water.

Plus you can drive down into Seattle a bit - park at one of the bunches of "Park & Rides" and just bus directly into Seattle or Downtown. Doing this will cut your expenses and your commute time!! This is what many businesss people do during the rush hours (my family included) so the buses aren't set up with crazy people - just average daily workers reading newspapers. And it's affordable too.

Glad you like it up in Mill Creek/ Edmonds area - it a good affordable area to raise kids.

[scirocco22]

Don't want to butt in to the nice volley you have going here. Just wanted to back up what CityGirl was saying about the bus service.

As I mentioned in another thread a few days ago which I've lost track of now, if DH is commuting into the UW, then the bus makes the most sense.

He'll have a bus pass that will entitle him to ride any of the buses coming into the U ...Metro, Sound Transit and Community Transit coming in from Snohomish County.

He'll find right away that commuting into the U by car will be miserable.

The bus commute from the eastside isn't that bad because of the HOV lane on 520. The only place that will bog the bus down is on the bridge itself.

There is a Sound Transit Route to and from Issaquah and Bellevue that will take him right into the U via SR-520 (rt. 555/556). In addition, there are a multitude of bus routes going into and out of the UW from all the major Park and Rides in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties.

When you speak of "Lake Forest" are you referring to Lake Forrest Park? If so, again, good direct bus service into and out of the UW.

--'rocco

[msp1ggy]

That's great to know that public transportation is really good there! Do they run off hours...since my husband's work hours won't be 8 to 5. He may have to stay a little later some days or go to work a little earlier on others.

[CityGirl72]

There are "express buses" that are added to the regular schedules for the rush hour

Other then that - all routes run each hour (sometimes more)

He'll be fine commuting on the bus system (Metro is for King County, and Community Trainsit is for the Mill Creek/Edmonds area)