Where is the best place to buy a house on the eastside? (Seattle: for sale, how much)

[kagona]

Hi All!

My husband and I are fairly new to the area and we want to buy a house in the next month or so. We are looking for somewhere to settle down for a while. We have an 8 month old son, and will probably be having more kids soon.

My husband works in Bellevue. I am a stay at home mom.
Our budget is around 400k.

I am seeing a lot of houses popping up in Kirkland, some in Bellevue, a bunch in Redmond. I also was wondering about Ballard since my husband and I are having a hard time settling into the suburbs, but the commute is long.

Are any areas better than others? I keep hearing that the Bellevue school district is the best. Is this true, and if so how much better is it?

Thanks!!!!

[Ira500]

I think all of the school districts on the east side are good. Mercer Island has the reputation of being the best, but Mercer Island has houses that are very expensive...
If you have a hard time settling in the suburbs, Bellevue is becoming more city like all the time, and, in my view Redmond is the most suburban. At the same time a lot of people here might suggest that there aren't huge differences between the east side cities. Downtown Kirkland is expensive but charming...I also like Issaquah, which is an older town.
And finally, if you become convinced that the suburbs will drive you nuts, there are Seattle neighborhoods closer to Bellevue than Ballard, and Seattle even has some good elementary schools. But the Seattle school district in general is mediocre at best, and has very few good middle schools or high schools. But depending where in Bellevue your husband works, there are Seattle neighborhoods which are a fairly quick commute to Bellevue, but Ballard isn't one of them. You don't have to live in Ballard to go there for pizza.

[seattlenextyear]

My advice might be to wait until you have more money and look for houses in the $500 range, especially since you want to have more kids. Then you might be able to find something newer than 1960 or more than 1500 sq feet.

[jenlion]

Seattlenextyear, I wish. $450k will get you plenty of house from the 80s and up eastside. In SeattleLASTyear you needed $500k+; this year.... no. :-D

[seattlenextyear]

Really? Why do my searches in the $400 range keep coming up with 3 houses with crumbling roofs?

[LongDawson]

$400k you can get a nice place in Bellevue, but it takes time to shop around. Bellevue is a very nice place to live. Good luck.

[BellevueGuy]

Originally Posted by LongDawson

$400k you can get a nice place in Bellevue.

$400K gets you nothing in Bellevue. Will get a nice place in Renton and Kenmore.

[Ira500]

There are currently about twenty homes in Bellevue for sale listed for under 400,000 dollars.
It is true that most of them, at the very least, need updating, if not more. ...And there is nothing close to downtown Bellevue for 400,000.
....But two years ago there were only a handful of homes in Bellevue for sale for less than 500 thousand.
Now there are a number of nice Bellevue homes for under 500 thousand, just not a lot of nice( if any) Belelvue homes for under 400 thou.

[jenlion]

And note I said 450k. It'll be at least another 6 months before you get a nice house for under 400k even, I think. Sigh.

[Ira500]

I wasn't at all referring to your post, Jenlion. More to someone else's post that said " 400k will get you nothing in Bellevue."
Not much, but not nothing.