From Houston to Seattle (Bellevue, Kent: for sale, real estate, insurance)

[citizen_jane]

I currently live just outside of Houston Texas with my husband and 2 daughters (ages 15 and 12). My husband has been talking to an executive recruiter about a job that we thought was in Austin. During their last conversation, the recruiter says the job might be in Seattle, would we consider moving there. Of course, he said he would consider it. The job would be VP of engineering at a "well funded" start-up. I have absolutely no idea of salary or location.

I don't even know where to start to look at homes and schools. We lived in San Jose CA for 2 years (2001-2003) and we're under the impression that housing costs are similar. Are there any local real estate web sites that are really good? What about high schools and school districts? Any schools or areas to avoid? Where are the worst commutes?

Thank you in advance for any advice, comments, comparisons, etc.

[GSherman]

My hubby/I moved to WA from Houston too. So different. We live in Olympia-an hour south of Seattle. I miss the hot sunny days. What part of Seattle will the job be in? There is alot of areas. Alot to see and do. Have been here 10 yrs and still not used to the weather. What city are you in Texas??

[texastrigirl]

We moved here from Austin TX two years ago out of the blue for a "dream job" and we love it. It is not as expensive as CA communities by any means. My husband is from SJO and my inlaws live in Menlo Park and by our estimates when we looked at moving there in the SJO corridor, we would have paid double what we paid here for same proximity and level of public schools. You can get a nice house in a great school district starting in the mid-500's now in Issaquah/Sammamish. Bellevue will be a bit more than that, Kirkland higher yet and then Mercer Island more than that. If you are going to be working downtown I would encourage you to look for a commute off of I-90 as opposed to 520. We live about 17 miles from downtown and it takes anywhere from 45-55 minutes in rush hour door to door. Shorter if you use HOV lanes with a carpool buddy, longer if you take the bus, which is a really good option. Outside of rush hours, I can zip downtown in 20-25 minutes. We live in the Pine Lake area of Sammamish and love it. Very, very beautiful out here and really in Seattle in general. You won't live in a more beautiful place! And it's also 70 and sunny today so you won't be missing your 105 in Houston!! I still have clients and family in TX so I have been hearing non-stop about the heat.

School districts generally regarded as the best in order are Mercer Island, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Issaquah (which encompasses Issaquah and the south end of Sammamish), and Lake Washington (which encompasses north end of Sammamish, Redmond and maybe parts of Kirkland). Parts of Renton are also in the Bellevue and Issaquah school districts I believe. Those are not your only choices...just the ones I am familiar with. I like Search Washington Homes For Sale, Search Oregon Homes For Sale for house hunting because you can look by area. I had a great agent recommended by other friends of ours from Austin that live out here so let me know if you need a recommendation. You may hear people are unfriendly in Seattle and we have not found that to be the case. They are more reserved than Texans for sure, but really, who isn't? We loved our 12 years in TX and both my boys are natives (ages 6 and 9) but I will say that they love living here and getting to do all the outdoors things like skiing, hiking, sailing, kayaking. There is also a great international feel here that is different than the feel you get in Houston because it is more influenced by the Asian countries. DM me if you need more info. I am very happy to have a phone call with you to help out! Also, you don't have state income tax in Washington and property taxes for us here are way less than they were in Austin (which is really expensive). The things that are more expensive are cost of housing, eating out and gas. Other than that, many things cost less (insurance, water, energy - because we aren't running the AC all the time) and for us, groceries have been about the same because we now shop mostly at Trader Joes. Hope this helps.

[Ira500]

Housing costs are higher in San Jose than in Seattle... A good real estate website is redfin. I don't worjk for them, but their maps are very user friendly.
School districts to avoid might include Highline and Tukwila, and a lot of the Seattle school district isn't very good either, and some parts of the Renton district are worth avoiding too.
Some good districts include Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Bainbridge Island, Northshore( Kenmore, Bothell, parts of Redmond), Tahoma( Maple Valley), Shoreline...Parts of Renton are in the Issaquah district, and parts of Renton are in the Kent district, and parts of Renton are in the Renton district...
Some of the consideration might be based on where the job is? Commuting can be hell.

[citizen_jane]

Thank you, that was exactly the type of info I was looking for. The job doesn't actually exist yet because the company is still being formed. It may not even be in Seattle but it's a possibility.

The weather continues to be the biggest concern for us. We're native Floridians who have spent most of our adult lives in Texas. Sun, heat, humidity are all we've ever known so the Seattle climate will be a big change. Of course, this extreme heat we're having now and the mosquitoes are horrible and I wouldn't miss those. My husband has visited Seattle and he loved it.

We'll just take this one step at a time and see where the path leads us, with any luck there'll be a Trader Joe's along the way.

[texastrigirl]

Weather is definitely the biggest difference you will notice. We lived in TX for 12 years and prior to that CO. I grew up in IA. If I had moved here from IA or CO, I wouldn't have cared that much about the change in weather but TX was drastic. My husband disliked the heat in TX very much and loves it here. I was fine with the heat in TX for the most part though I am thrilled to have been outside in 75 and sun today and not inside with 105. One way to think about the weather is that your children will be able to play outdoors all day every day sun up to sun down during the summer months they are out of school. Because we are so far north, the sun comes up really really early and goes down really late. It's 9:30pm right now and we just came inside...there's still light in the sky. The flip side in the winter is that the days are really short...but the weather's not the best anyway so it's okay to be inside then. And you also have to remember that days when it is partly cloudy in Seattle (which is a lot in the winter) you can still get the sun out for a bit. Sun breaks they call them up here

[obsidian97]

Originally Posted by citizen_jane

My husband has visited Seattle and he loved it.

We'll just take this one step at a time and see where the path leads us, with any luck there'll be a Trader Joe's along the way.

When did he visit? People come up here in the summer and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread only to be here in the winter and get a rude shock.

BTW- There are Trader Joe's up here.

I lived in Houston for 8 years, and Texas for 26. Don't worry too much about the rain. It's not going to be a big deal for you (unless you have white carpet like the idiots in our house put in long ago and a dog).

You'll still get some pretty big storms, but they'll be mostly wind storms in fall/early winter and only a few of them.

The real kicker for you is likely to be cost of living, lack of sunshine, and a little harder time getting to know people on average.

If you can time your move so you wind up getting here a month or two before October that will help. People seem to hibernate around here during the winter months. Natural opportunities to bump into neighbors during the fall/winter aren't as plentiful.

[citizen_jane]

My husband was there in February.

Cost of living and lack of sunshine are exactly the 2 things we're concerned about.

[texastrigirl]

Cost of living was our main concern and being a CPA, I ran the numbers every which way before I agreed to move here. We were actually better off financially coming here, even with the increase in COL, so it made sense. But if I were going to be worse off financially, that would have been a tough sell, even for a dream job. Weather is weather really. I saw a sign in Cannon Beach last weekend that said "Don't let the weather determine your day" and I think you really have to remember that attitude up here in the winter.

[jenlion]

I still don't see what's so bad about the weather. In the 18 months I've lived here, the only stretch that got tiresome was last June, when it stayed cloudy and chilly the entire month. Outside of that, seriously, it's been... normal. Like anywhere else. A little more cloudy, but really? Not that much. There's almost always plenty of sunshine during the week, as long as you're near a window all day.

Those in an office building all day that only see daylight before 9 am and after 6pm might be out of luck for several days running, but the rest of us see the sun many many many more days than not, even in winter.

I love the weather here, and I lived in the south (well, Austin, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Dallas) for twenty years. I do acknowledge the in-an-office-with-no-windows problem, but outside of that, I think as a "problem" it's seriously overblown.

Disclaimer: I'm married to obsidian and, obviously, we completely disagree about this one.