Relocating to Eastside, help me pick a neighborhood! (Seattle, Bellevue: real estate, apartment complex)

[jsd115]

Hi,

I've accepted a position at Microsoft's Redmond campus and will be relocating to the area in July. I will be in town next week to look at potential places to live and I'd appreciate some help in terms of finding a neighborhood that would be a good match for me.

I'll be moving out here with my girlfriend and we're looking to rent either a townhouse or a house (approx 1400-2000 sq. feet). It'll just be the two of us, so schools aren't that important though low commute time, a nice place, good neighbors, and a convenient location would be nice. We're looking to rent and spend less than $1800/month. Are there any specific neighborhoods we should avoid and if so why? I've found a few places that seemed nice that I was considering visiting from Craigslist, I'd appreciate any feedback on those areas as well (see map at http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=105328814563320416438.00046ad 9dae0777847153 ). I'd greatly appreciate any help you'd be willing to provide.

Thanks!!

[LongDawson]

Congratulations on the job. It's great news. If I were in your position I'd look for a nice little condo rental setup on West Lake Sammamish Parkway. You can find them with views, waterfront, and that is just minutes from the Microsoft campus. You can use that winding lakefront road for commute, and the area is really nice. The worst thing you could do is to move to Seattle and try to commute. And don't settle for someone offering to rent you a condo with "Lake Sammamish Views" that means 1/2 mile up from the Parkway. Stick with waterfront my friend, right there on the lake. There are probably some really nice deals right now. As a point of reference, I know there are condos right near this park:

Idylwood Park
3650 W. Lake Sammamish Pkwy., Redmond

Heading south of there all the way down, check everything out. If you go all the way down to this park, there are more condos nearby too. Commute is not bad even that far down. Great places to live. Somehow I wish I was young with a girlfriend and moving to Redmond just like you. If you ever want to do a swap thing, you know you can borrow my wife and house, and I'll have your, well, you know...

Lake Sammamish State Park - Issaquah, WA

[allforcats]

If you want a "low" commute, stay on the east side of Lake Washington, known as "the east side". You don't mention what "low" means to you, or whether you want to drive that commute or take public and/or Microsoft transportation, so I can't guess how much distance or time you mean by "low commute".

The east side reasonably near the MS Redmond campus includes Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Woodinville, northern Renton, Carnation, Duvall. The closest and most densely populated areas (therefore potentially highest number of rentals) would be Redmond and Bellevue.

Real estate here is pretty expensive. 2000 SF for $1800, with a "low commute", is quite likely a dream.

"Convenient location" -- convenient to what exactly?
"Good" -- meaning what exactly?
"Nice" -- meaning what exactly?
If you can provide descriptions, perhaps we could give you more specific information.

This is an excellent resource:
Seattle apartments, houses, and condos for rent | NWhomes

[obsidian97]

What group are you going to work for? If you're going to be working for E&D there are some nice places over near 148th AVE NE right next to the campus near the new Commons area.

[BellevueGuy]

You might wanna consider taking the relocation package or get a short-term rental, and look for a place yourself when you get here.

Eastside offers a lot of variety:
- Nice city: Bellevue downtown
- Close to MS: Redmond, Bellevue
- Quaint lake-side neighborhood: Kirkland
- In the quiet woods: Sammamish, Issaquah
- Value: Renton, Bothel

I would think all the Eastside cities should be pretty safe, you should be able to get a comfortable place for $1800.

[jsd115]

Thanks for all the responses so far. Sorry for being overly vague in my original post, in response to allforcats (and others looking for clarification), I mean:

Convenient location: Not too far from shopping areas, I'm not looking for a completely rural area and would like to be within a 10 minute drive to the vast majority of stores that I'd need to go to on a regular basis.

Nice place: Relatively new or updated with higher quality appliances. I've seen photos of a number of places on Craigslist that are either new or updated with granite counter tops, new carpeting, etc that look appealing, but I really have no clue to what most of the areas they are in are like.

Low commute time: Preferably under 20 minutes, 30 minutes max. I plan to drive, though having a public transportation route would be a plus but not necessary. I don't have any set hours for my job, so if the commute time is 45 minutes in rush hour but only 15 minutes if I leave at 7:30am or 8am, that would be fine with me. Definitely Seattle is out of the question, I definitely don't want to deal with bridge traffic.

Good neighbors: Preferably similarly aged (20's though 30's is fine too) with similar background (college-educated, etc).

Also, what is Eastgate like? I've seen lots of listings in that area and I'd appreciate some info on neighborhood as well as how bad the commute would be (both during rush hour and if I left a couple hours earlier). Thanks for all the help so far and thanks allforcats for pointing me to the nwhomes website which looks like it will be very helpful!

[seattlenextyear]

I concur with taking advantage of the temp housing. Your square footage/price point combo puts you out of the range of most management owned apartment complexes which are generally easy to rent from on a weekend trip. Finding a good house/townhouse to rent on Craigslist can save money, but it won't save you time: you might have to look at a lot of them to find one with the amenities/location/price/sq footage that you want. That is unless you're a very lucky person and find the perfect place right away.

But like I said before, you'll find fellow Microsofties in almost every neighborhood and apartment complex on the Eastside. Redmond and Bellevue will give you the shortest commute. Bellevue guy pretty much summed up the Eastside communities pretty well.

[obsidian97]

One thing you may wish to keep in mind (if you take the relocation package) is plan your taxes for the year VERY carefully. The relo package will up your taxable income for the year and MSFT only trues up the taxes based on your projected income and withholding. They do not take into account any other taxpayers if you are filing jointly for the year (hey, you never know) or any income from your previous employer.

[lilwhite18]

I will put my 2 cents in on Eastgate. Eastgate is right off of I90 and I405, and its a wonderful community. As far as being close to the campus, it is probably on the farther away side, but it doesnt take long to get where you need to go. It is within 20 minutes driving distance to the Redmond Microsoft campus (avoid taking the highways, back roads are faster) or less depending on traffic. My husband drives the back roads and it takes him about 13 minutes to get to his office right next to the campus.

There are all kinds of ameneties you would want in Eastgate. There are a few neighborhoods within the termed "Eastgate" such as Factoria or Newport. I live in factoria. There is a Target, QFC food stores, Safeways food stores, restaurants, and a few strip malls with some quaint stores in them. Basically anything I need is right there. If I need something more, I am literally within a 5 minute drive to downtown Bellevue to the Bellevue Square mall. Going the other direction, I am another 5 minutes from Issaquah where there is a Bed Bath and Beyond, Target and any other big fancy stores you may want.

It is a great community for young people too. My husband and I are in our late twenties and I would say the majority of people here are in their 20s to 40s. Not too many places you can go walking outside here in the greater Seattle area and feel safe, but I walk every night and I feel very comfortable. Safety is very good out here. I would say look into the Eastgate area, it is very charming, yet has all the "big city" things you would ever need. It does get pretty foggy though, since we are right off of the Lake. Great commuting city, right next to any interstate you would ever want. 15 minutes to Seattle with no traffic. I have tons of pics of the area right around where I live in Eastgate, I would be happy to share them with you.