Best suburb area of Seattle metro (Bellevue, Redmond: sale, condo, homes)

[xcalgal]

West side = Bainbridge Island

[LordBalfor]

My two favorite areas (by far) of the Seattle metro area are:

1) Old Bellevue (Meydenbauer Bay etc)
2) Kirkland (Waterfront/downtown area)

Aside from these two areas (and my overall preference for the Eastside) I really like downtown Edmonds (waterfront) and really like the transition occuring in Old Burien.

Ken

[aek11]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

The north side - Edmonds, Lynnwood, Shoreline, and the east side - Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond. I HATE the south side

I totally agree with you. It's all good.............(except the south)
Yeah! As for Bellevue, it's nice and all. I mean, I do like it.....But I feel like lately it's gotten to be overrated.

[Prple]

My Favorites:
North end: Bellingham, Lake Forest Park, Mill Creek
East Side: Mercer Island, downtown Issaquah, parts of Renton, Kirkland
West: Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island
South: Olympia, Gig Harbor, Proctor District of N. Tacoma

[BellevueGuy]

Originally Posted by aek11

Yeah! As for Bellevue, it's nice and all. I mean, I do like it.....But I feel like lately it's gotten to be overrated.

And vastly over-priced

It has an awesome school district, downtown is gleaming.... but still.... a 60s rambler at $700,000? =)

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by BellevueGuy

And vastly over-priced

It has an awesome school district, downtown is gleaming.... but still.... a 60s rambler at $700,000? =)

That's not a typical price for a 60's rambler in Bellevue - not nearly (not even at the peak) - not unless it was some especially massive rambler or it just happened to be located on some specifically prime piece of property.

For a typical Bellevue 60's rambler?
It was never near that price.
$400,000 - yeah.
$700,000 - no.

Ken

[BellevueGuy]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

For a typical Bellevue 60's rambler?
It was never near that price.
$400,000 - yeah.
$700,000 - no.

Ken

Did a quick search on Redfin, there are only 3 properties in Bellevue > 1500 sq feet priced under 400k. None of them are in the good school district.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by BellevueGuy

Did a quick search on Redfin, there are only 3 properties in Bellevue > 1500 sq feet priced under 400k. None of them are in the good school district.

You must not be looking with the right tool.
I used trulia.com (for example) and found a lot more than that. There are 3 on this page alone:

Bellevue Real Estate & Bellevue Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

Work backwards and you'll find more (not counting the repo's which are going for MUCH less). Having said that, $400,000 for a 1960's rambler IS probably a bit low if you are expecting a wide selection, but the Median home price in Bellevue looks to be currently about $500,000, so there is no way a 1960's rambler is going average $700,000 - not unless it's in one heck of a neighborhood.

Best Places to Live 2009 - City details: Bellevue, WA - from MONEY Magazine

Ken

[Ira500]

A couple of years ago you could almost find nothing in Bellevue for less than 500 thousand.
What I just came up with for under 400 thousand, over 1500 square feet, with a Bellevue address and in the Bellevue school district was 14. Most of them were 50's-60's ramblers, and most of them in not very good shape. You can get a nice older home in Bellevue for about 500,000 these days, which would have been 600+ a couple of years ago. Still overpriced considering what people earn....But there are Seattle neighborhoods just as overpriced. I showed a home near Greenlake a couple of months ago for just under half a million dollars complete with mold on the walls, filthy wet carpeting,rodent turds, and gang graffiti.
Amazingly enough, it's still for sale.

[BellevueGuy]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Work backwards and you'll find more (not counting the repo's which are going for MUCH less). Having said that, $400,000 for a 1960's rambler IS probably a bit low if you are expecting a wide selection, but the Median home price in Bellevue looks to be currently about $500,000, so there is no way a 1960's rambler is going average $700,000 - not unless it's in one heck of a neighborhood.

Ken

Ya the 700k figure was my jest at the craziness in 2007. A rambler with a sizeable lot in West Bellevue and Eastgate would easily go to 700K back then.

I would be surprised that the average home price has dropped to 500k. That probably includes the lower-end condos. Single family house didn't drop much around Microsoft, fortunately (for the region) or unfortunately (for house hunters).