Help! Where to live around Federal Way? (Tacoma, Bellevue: middle-class, real estate)

[kpsig79]

Looking for suggestions and am relocating from the Boston area. I live in a great town north of the city and am looking for a similar enviornment, good schools for kids, quality of life, commute, low crime rate. I see a lot of negative stuff posted out here on so many areas that it is quite dizzying for me to wade through. I do not have problems making commutes and presently have a 40+ mile one way one to deal with now. So, I'll drive for the right environment.

Any suggestions? Help! Many thanks to you all.

RB

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by kpsig79

Looking for suggestions and am relocating from the Boston area. I live in a great town north of the city and am looking for a similar enviornment, good schools for kids, quality of life, commute, low crime rate.

Well, you certainly aren't going to find that in Federal Way. (I've lived here almost 10 years.)

If you're going to be making enough that puts you on the wealthy to upper-middle-class range, there are definitely nicer neighborhoods in Federal Way. Even some gated communities. But the public schools, especially the high schools, are a mess. Gangs, drugs, etc. (Check out the local news sites over the past few days for the latest story. It's like 21 Jump Street come to life!)

As far as schools go, Bellevue schools are consistently the best-rated in the general area. It's about 30 miles or so away, but most of the traffic would be headed the other way.

Any of the communities along the I-5 corridor are going to have crime and safety issues. You definitely want to avoid Tacoma.

[scirocco22]

kpsg, are we assuming that you're going to be working in Federal Way?

[kpsig79]

Yes......will be working in Federal Way @ Weyerhauser. I've seen nothing but not so favorable posts about places such as Kent, Auburn, Tacoma, etc. Surely there has to be some wonderful places to live and I do appreciate that every city has a few "warts" to deal with. Appreciate any and all help that can be offered and thanks so much to all as this is a major move for the family, especially given how much they love New England

[Evlevo]

Bellevue, Issaquah, and Mercer Island are some of the best public school districts in the Nation... However, they also have sky-high real estate prices too! I think $500,000 for a 1400 sq ft "starter home" is pretty typical, if not actually cheap. Mercer Island is the best school district, but add at least 20% to the price of the home, too (it is the most expensive place on the west coast outside of California for real estate). The commute would be similar for all, @ about 30-40 miles, but would be a "reverse commute" so it would be at maybe 10-15 mph slower than "no traffic" for most of the way and take you under an hour (Wyerhouser is right off the freeway).

I am assuming that if you have kids, a 1400 sq ft home is too small and you'd need something closer to 2,000 sq ft. That puts you in the $600K+ range in those aforementioned cities.

A 2,000 sq ft home in Federal Way (in a decent neighborhood) would run about $350,000. For another $50-75K, you can get one in a country club. A 3,500 sq ft home in a country club (totally renovated to "model home" quality, and with an outstanding view) would cost about $600K. I would suggest you "compromise" and get a decent home in Federal Way, and then go the "Private School" route, at least when the kids hit High School. Kids can still get a quality education in the Federal Way system, but there are more "problem kids" than most would be comfortable with.

[scirocco22]

Evlevo makes some very good points. I too would recommend staying close to work. And yes, your housing money will go a lot further in Federal Way than if you were considering the same type of property on the eastside. I keep saying this but I still think it's worth repeating: more time you spend commuting, the less time spent with your precious family.

Federal Way has a bad rep as do all the cities in the south King County region but you can find nice neighborhoods in all these cities.

Yes, you may want to consider living in Bellevue or other eastside locations and granted, the commute will be in the reverse direction in that the heavy traffic will be going in the opposite direction but even so, with the area's congestion being what it is, I'd still want to be closer to work.

I guess it will be a personal decision on your part whether you want to make such a commute from the eastside but you'll know better once you see more of the area and familiarize yourself with the various communities.

[chocobot18]

Don't write Tacoma off to quickly. People here have biases. Consider NE Tacoma. It's right next to Federal Way and cheaper because it's in Pierce and not King County. For schools, there's always private schools but personally I think every school has bad apples, even ones in Bellevue.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by chocobot18

Don't write Tacoma off to quickly. People here have biases. Consider NE Tacoma. It's right next to Federal Way and cheaper because it's in Pierce and not King County. For schools, there's always private schools but personally I think every school has bad apples, even ones in Bellevue.

That's true. NE Tacoma has some nice neighborhoods.

I'd still recommend the private school route if you move here though. Sure, every school has some bad apples. But the Federal Way public schools seem to have a pretty healthy crop of bad apple trees.

[kpsig79]

Is that a viable option to Federal Way? How would the traffic be given you would have to pass by Tacoma at rush hour?

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by kpsig79

Is that a viable option to Federal Way? How would the traffic be given you would have to pass by Tacoma at rush hour?

You'd definitely be going through rush-hour traffic through Tacoma. Once the expansion of the Tacoma Narrows bridge is done, I suspect it will help to alleviate some of the traffic. But it's also probably going to cause a lot of growth in Gig Harbor.