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While I know it's out of the area, but there is a Super Walmart in Federal Way, & they are building a Super Walmart (they hope to have it open by Black Friday) at the SuperMall
I don't think they will spread into the Eastside. They will get a ton of opposition.
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Originally Posted by AreWeThereYet??
No Walmart! Sounds good to me! The actual houses here in Houston are cheaper, however, our property taxes are ridiculous. For example, a house that is appraised at $365K will pay about 12K per year in taxes. I think the taxes for the same house in Seattle would run about 3500-4000 per year which makes it possible to afford a more expensive house in Seattle.
Keep in mind that sales tax is also more than it is here in Texas. It's worth it though.
I grew up in Southern California but have been here a long time. I don't notice the rain much anymore unless it really pours which isn't that often. Wear a baseball cap to keep it off my glasses.
There's a Wal-Mart in Renton.
I've known quite a few people to have some bad allergy attacks in the spring. Depends on what pollen you can't handle.
Traffic in the City of Issaquah can be a nightmare.
Seattle does have fairly mild weather year-round, but winter can bring snow and ocassionally very cold (teens and single digits) winter storms. Summers are nice- low humidity and 70s and 80s mixed with rainy days in between. I would not say that Seattle 'rains lightly all the time', it has downpours often- although it usually lightens up enough so you can get outside and enjoy things in the comfort of your raincoat! Hiking could be done year round, but only with appropriate gear and clothing.
As far as allergies go- they can be quite bad there depending on what your allergies are, also lots of mold and fungus issues in that climate.
Traffic in Seattle is VERY VERY BAD!! I hate to be negative, but it is completely insane, and I have lived in many other big cities all over the country. Seattle has the WORST traffic of anywhere else I have lived, mostly due to the fact that there are only a couple of highways/freeways and EVERYONE seems to be on them at once. That said, if you live and work in the same neighborhood, traffic may not be an issue. Everyone drives in Seattle, even with the options of public transit, Seattleites love their cars!
400k might be a bit low for a house in or near the city, but there are TONS of other areas not too far away that you can find decent deals. Good luck to you, you will love Seattle!
I've lived in Houston and Seattle, so I can answer these pretty well.
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Originally Posted by AreWeThereYet??
Hello all,
My concerns are the following:
1. I know it rains lightly all the time (except for summer). Does the constant drizzle hamper you outdoor activities? We would like to be able to go hiking year-round, but do not know if it is possible if it is raining all the time.
Are you able to be outdoors all through-out the year or only during the summer?
It's more of a mist more often than not. Get yourself some good waterproofs from Columbia Sportswear and you'll be good to go. Make a friend with someone who works at Columbia and you can get access to the employee store.
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2. We have a 2.5 year old who is currently in a great daycare. Are there good daycares in the suburbs (specifically Issaquah)?
I have no kids, but the city is the most literate in the country. Logically, there must be good day cares, then.
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3. What is the traffic like? I know everyone says it is bad, but it can not be bad as Houston. Our ideal situation would be to live in the suburbs and have about a 30 minute commute to downtown.
Houston traffic is NOTHING compared to Seattle. Houston's traffic is centered around the fact that the city just Goes. On. Forever. Seattle's traffic is based on the fact that it's a very compact geographic area (water to the west, mountains to the right), and is built up, not out. Seattle's traffic was rated worst in the nation when I lived there in 2000 or so. These days I think LA has taken back the crown, but my trip to Seattle this week just reaffirmed it's still horrible.
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4. Cost of living. We can spend about 400K for a house. Is that enough to buy a nice home in the suburbs?
Won't be a great house, but you can get one. I seem to recall the North side (Edmonds, Everett, Shoreline) being cheaper than anything else. When I lived up there (and again soon), I lived on the East side in Mercer Island. 400k wouldn't get you a house around there 10 years ago, so it's highly unlikely it will now, either.
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4. Cost of living. We can spend about 400K for a house. Is that enough to buy a nice home in the suburbs?
Won't be a great house, but you can get one. I seem to recall the North side (Edmonds, Everett, Shoreline) being cheaper than anything else. When I lived up there (and again soon), I lived on the East side in Mercer Island. 400k wouldn't get you a house around there 10 years ago, so it's highly unlikely it will now, either.
Everybody has a different definition of great. Keep in mind that Seattle area home prices are down about 25% from what they were three years ago, so a house that was 500,000 then would sell for about 375 now.
So right now there are quite a few nice houses on the eastside ( Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Newcastle, parts of Kirkland) in the low 400 thousand dollar range, but no, not on Mercer Island.
We are not handcuffed to the idea of living in the burbs, but generally it seems to be more family-friendly and a little more affordable. Please let me know if there are any areas that are closer to downtown that have decent houses in the low 400's, good daycare and schools nearby, and low crime.
Since you're looking for good schools, I would suggest looking north of Seattle DT and east of DT Seattle. There are many daycares and even different kinds. I agree with one of the previous posters that 400K would not get you anything nice in Mercer Island... but I would point that you'd probably have better luck with Bainbridge Island (also an affluent area, west of Seattle) which also has one of the state's best school districts and is a 30 minute ferry ride away.
I don't agree with the other posters's comments that you'll have a hard time finding a house for the 400K. Like IRA says, within a 30 mile radius of DT Seattle, you have plenty of options. Even the Eastside. Obviously immediately around DT Seattle will net you a smaller house and lot and they tend to be a bit older. At most, you'll just change your expectations... basically 400K will net you a decent/very nice house, but not a mansion with acreage.
Wow, I cant believe traffic in Seattle is that much worse than Houston. It is really awful here during rush hours and even on weekends. I was lookign at traffic maps during rush hour from Issaquah to DT and it didnt seem too bad. If you leave by 6:30 - 7:00 am it says its only a 20-25 minute drive which isn't bad at all.
Wow, I cant believe traffic in Seattle is that much worse than Houston. It is really awful here during rush hours and even on weekends. I was lookign at traffic maps during rush hour from Issaquah to DT and it didnt seem too bad. If you leave by 6:30 - 7:00 am it says its only a 20-25 minute drive which isn't bad at all.
Xanathos lived in Seattle from 1999-2001 (according to an earlier post on another thread). Someone explained to me on another thread ( //www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...pse-i-5-a.html ) that traffic was much worse around 2000. Here is the other person's post. It backs up Xanathos:
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To CarawayDJ: Seattle's reputation for fearsome traffic congestion really stems from the dot.com boom days (late 90's to 2001), when it really was commonplace to see much of I-5 thru the city limits, SR 520 across the bridge, I-405 thru the Renton area congested throughout the entire working day. Another example was I-5 through Everett, where congestion during the afternoon could last for up to 7 hours a day, heading up toward US 2. That area now has HOV, *AND* auxiliary (i.e. merging) lanes, which has made a huge difference. There were *many* other sections of freeway, where it was commonplace to see average speeds fall to 15, 10, sometimes even lower than 5 MPH, anytime between 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., and 3 - 7:30 p.m.
Since then, a multitude of factors have converged to reduce traffic in the region (the I-405 SB bottleneck, for example, had a braided ramp added in the mid-2000's to SR 167 south, reducing congestion to about 4 hours a day). I-405 thru Bellevue also has extra lanes now, so congestion is now confined to peak hours. But the two major reasons are higher gas prices, and a severe recession. In 2000, I believe traffic counts peaked at over 310,000 vehicles per day along I-5, just north of downtown, and that number today is down to 271,000. A 10% drop doesn't sound like much, but it does make a world of a difference in reducing the number of hours of delay, and the intensity of congestion, when it does happen.
The only real consistent traffic jam that you're likely to see throughout most of the day, is I-5 South, coming into downtown (usually at least 5 miles long), on some days, that is a bottleneck that never eases up, and only intensifies during peak hours (40 minutes to 1 hour to get into the city). Other days (I filmed this on a Tuesday at 11 a.m.), the backup may not start until 1 p.m. or so.
In short, getting around the region is quite a snap, presuming that you're not trying to do so during the typical peak rush hour periods.
Note that I live in Northern California, but am *very* familiar with commuting patterns in the Puget Sound region.
While it was a decade ago I lived up there, I was just up there this week. It's still horrible. Not as bad as it was. But it's horrible.
Getting across the 520 floating turd still takes forever and a day. Bellevue is just a mess with all the construction (and where did all those skyscrapers come from?! Little ole Bellevue has become a mini-Seattle). There's still the mass exodus of people coming out of Redmond every day. They've got those ridiculous "variable speed limit" signs that bring traffic to a crawl on I-5 north from Boeing Field into the tunnel. The viaduct is still a nightmare. 405's still got some huge issues from Southcenter through Renton and into Bellevue. And then factor in that apparently the floater is going toll road next spring, and that's just going to increase overall congestion even more unless you're into paying 7 bucks a day to get into town since everybody is going to route through 90.
Issaquah is WAAAAAAY east, almost out to Snoqualmie. I just did a quick mapquest and it shows 25 minutes to get from Bellevue to Issaquah. Now factor in the time to get from Bellevue to downtown on top of that. There's no way you're getting from A to B in 20 minutes.
Since you're looking for good schools, I would suggest looking north of Seattle DT and east of DT Seattle. There are many daycares and even different kinds. I agree with one of the previous posters that 400K would not get you anything nice in Mercer Island... but I would point that you'd probably have better luck with Bainbridge Island (also an affluent area, west of Seattle) which also has one of the state's best school districts and is a 30 minute ferry ride away.
I don't agree with the other posters's comments that you'll have a hard time finding a house for the 400K. Like IRA says, within a 30 mile radius of DT Seattle, you have plenty of options. Even the Eastside. Obviously immediately around DT Seattle will net you a smaller house and lot and they tend to be a bit older. At most, you'll just change your expectations... basically 400K will net you a decent/very nice house, but not a mansion with acreage.
Good call, Inkpoe. A quick MLS search I just did shows about 20 houses for under 400,000 on Bainbridge, about 55 houses for sale under 400 in Bellevue, and zero on Mercer Island.
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