Good area to rent for commuting to downtown bellevue and west seattle? (Mercer Island: neighborhoods)

[pood]

What's a good place to rent, my friend is commuting to west seattle, I'm commuting to Downtown Bellevue.

We're looking to spend $1200 + utilities/month for 2 bdrm. (Maybe a little more +$150/month)

Both us will be taking the bus. We'd like to keep our commutes down to a hour each way.

Looking at Mercer Island and factoria.

[nikdahl]

You'll want somewhere near the I-90 Interchange, so that you have easy access to both I-90 (heading east through mercer island, and on to the eastside), and near the West Seattle bridge. Georgetown, First Hill, Beacon Hill, Mt Baker neighborhoods.

[Ira500]

I'll second what nikdahl said, and add Leschi, the Central District, and Columbia City to the mix, all within 5-10 minutes to I-90.