Issaquah Highlands - Pros / Cons / Suggestions (Bellevue, Snoqualmie: living in, mall, pine)

[texastrigirl]

Connector also runs from the Pine Lake PNR in South Sammamish (228th and Pine Lake Rd). We live in the Pine Lake area and love it!

[schnieds]

Awesome! thanks for the commuting info. Great to know that even in traffic the commute will only be around 20-30 min from Issaquah.

I am sure they have the Connector shuttle schedules posted internally at MSFT - I guess I will figure that out when I get started. The idea of riding a bus with WIFI instead of driving sounds pretty darn good.

[Jadisssss]

Originally Posted by schnieds

Awesome! thanks for the commuting info. Great to know that even in traffic the commute will only be around 20-30 min from Issaquah.

I am sure they have the Connector shuttle schedules posted internally at MSFT - I guess I will figure that out when I get started. The idea of riding a bus with WIFI instead of driving sounds pretty darn good.

You're not going to get from Issaquah Highlands to downtown Bellevue in 20-30 mins during rush hour. It takes a solid 20 mins minimum on a Saturday morning with zero traffic.

There is only one road (crazy!) that leads in and out of Issaquah Highlands and you must navigate the tight inner roads/arterials to/from your house before you get to that main road.

When I was taking the Connector from the Park and Ride to Redmond campus it was a solid 45-60 min deal in good weather. On a rainy day or other bad weather, it would easily hit the 60 min mark. Granted, downtown Bellevue campus would be closer.

But my main gripe about IH was/is that there was no general space and no backyards by and large: only parks. While the parks are nice you don't always want to make a "trip to the park" just to stretch your legs or let your kid(s) play a bit EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's a hassle to get dressed, get the kids dressed, get out the door, walk for a few mins, etc. The entire community is packed liked sardines! Two cars can't even drive by each other on most of the roads without one car yielding the way because the roads are so narrow (and people park on both sides of the street).

IH may seem nice if you are coming from living in an apartment or some place like Manhattan, but for a family with young kids 2 years old+ who need to actually move around not so much.

real example: want to have your toddler tricycle or bicycle around the neighborhood? Not many places to do that because it's too hilly and the roads are too narrow and unsafe for young kids to bike. Except in the parks, but then you have to yet again, make a "trip to the park". Forget about the concept of a "ride around the block".

It's little details like this (not neccessarily exactly these - but there can be any number of things that make a place "not right for you") that you are not likely to foresee until you spend some time living there. That's why it makes much more sense to rent - even if your kid would have to be pulled out of grade 1 to grade 2 or something.

Oh and while I am hammering IH, the worst thing there: massive HOA fees and terrible mismanagement of the HOA in general - a nightmare...

[schnieds]

Originally Posted by Jadisssss

You're not going to get from Issaquah Highlands to downtown Bellevue in 20-30 mins during rush hour. It takes a solid 20 mins minimum on a Saturday morning with zero traffic.

There is only one road (crazy!) that leads in and out of Issaquah Highlands and you must navigate the tight inner roads/arterials to/from your house before you get to that main road.

When I was taking the Connector from the Park and Ride to Redmond campus it was a solid 45-60 min deal in good weather. On a rainy day or other bad weather, it would easily hit the 60 min mark. Granted, downtown Bellevue campus would be closer.

But my main gripe about IH was/is that there was no general space and no backyards by and large: only parks. While the parks are nice you don't always want to make a "trip to the park" just to stretch your legs or let your kid(s) play a bit EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's a hassle to get dressed, get the kids dressed, get out the door, walk for a few mins, etc. The entire community is packed liked sardines! Two cars can't even drive by each other on most of the roads without one car yielding the way because the roads are so narrow (and people park on both sides of the street).

IH may seem nice if you are coming from living in an apartment or some place like Manhattan, but for a family with young kids 2 years old+ who need to actually move around not so much.

real example: want to have your toddler tricycle or bicycle around the neighborhood? Not many places to do that because it's too hilly and the roads are too narrow and unsafe for young kids to bike. Except in the parks, but then you have to yet again, make a "trip to the park". Forget about the concept of a "ride around the block".

It's little details like this (not neccessarily exactly these - but there can be any number of things that make a place "not right for you") that you are not likely to foresee until you spend some time living there. That's why it makes much more sense to rent - even if your kid would have to be pulled out of grade 1 to grade 2 or something.

Oh and while I am hammering IH, the worst thing there: massive HOA fees and terrible mismanagement of the HOA in general - a nightmare...

Wow, that you for all of the information Jadisssss! I also really appreciate your perspective having lived there.

If you were to recommend areas for us to look at where would you recommend?

Thanks!

[schnieds]

Hey, I just found an awesome site for figuring out commute times!

WSDOT - 95% Reliable Travel Times

So it seems that the Issaquah -> Bellevue commute (and visa versa) is indeed in the 20-30 min range most of the time even during commute times.

[texastrigirl]

Schneids, we turned down IH for all the reasons listed above. We really love the Pine Lake area of Sammamish...it's mostly older though there are a few new construction areas on Issaquah Pine Lake Rd and off of 212th up by the new green-built Creekside Elementary. We live in an 80's home but have a large treed lot a half block from the lake. It's heavenly and our house was 25K less than the avg IH homes we were looking at...is bigger and actually has a yard. Now that was in 2007 but to me, IH is overpriced for what you get. Another nice newer community is The Trossachs, an older community I like is High Country, both off of Duthie Hill Rd. Probably same type of commute as IH, or maybe 5 minutes more. But really nice areas to live. These are all considered south Sammamish neighborhoods. I can't remember your price range or specs anymore but DM me if I can help. We have two boys (8 and 11) but they were 4 and 7 when we moved here so I am up on the schools, preschools, etc.

[VeronikaW]

Originally Posted by schnieds

Hey, I just found an awesome site for figuring out commute times!

WSDOT - 95% Reliable Travel Times

So it seems that the Issaquah -> Bellevue commute (and visa versa) is indeed in the 20-30 min range most of the time even during commute times.

I made that drive a million times (Bellevue Square was my second home), and with no traffic it never took more than 10-15 minutes from IH. And it's true that there is only one road in and out of IH, but I never saw much traffic on it in the 3 years we lived there (except for when it snowed and people just abandoned their cars there). It took less than 5 minutes to go from our door to the freeway.

And there were times when I sat in dead stopped traffic from the moment I got on 405 until I got off, and even then, the drive never took me more than 30 minutes. Dead stopped traffic was very rare on 90, unless there was a big baseball/football game going on downtown, and even then, it rarely stopped before the 405 interchange.

I really loved IH, but it's true that it's not for everyone. Yes, a lot of activities required a "trip to the park", but there was a park literally across the street from my front door, and others within a short walk. If you live in the lower part of IH (near Ashland Park) it's not quite as hilly, and we used to walk to the park near the fire station all the time.

I liked having a newer built green place to live, and that's what you get in IH.

I agree, though, you should definitely rent, and decide from there. Of course, I chose IH from the internet before we ever moved, and I never regretted the decision to live in that neighborhood.

V. =)

[Jadisssss]

I'm not saying IH is inherently bad - it just wasn't right for us - particularly the price to square footage ratio. But the entire neighborhood does have the "newly built" clean look which can be nice, true.

There are some (very few) houses in IH that have a "decent" sized yard (relative to the rest of IH): they overlook the baseball field that is behind Central Park. Maybe 1 or 2 of them are for sale (but price is probably 600k+ easily).

Other neighborhoods you can look into: Kirkland, Sammamish (already mentioned), Woodinville, parts of Redmond too. These are all roughly the same amount of time away from Bellevue and roughly the same type of people and schools and all that.

My advice is still to rent. A 500k mortgage is not something you can get out of easily - especially with today's housing market.

[fastsix]

Originally Posted by VeronikaW

I made that drive a million times (Bellevue Square was my second home), and with no traffic it never took more than 10-15 minutes from IH.

It's 13.5 miles from the Issaquah Highlands to Bellevue Square Mall:

Issaquah Highlands, Issaquah, WA to Bellevue Square Mall - Google Maps

Without any traffic, you'd be lucky to make it there in 20 minutes, and luckier yet to make it back in 20 minutes as the 405/90 interchange south of Bellevue is almost always a traffic nightmare. And yet you claim you can make this 13.5 mile drive in 10 minutes?

[Hemlock140]

I'm 5 miles north near Sahalee, and used to drive every morning to the Eastgate park & ride in Bellevue, and it took me 30 minutes. Deduct the 10 to Issaquah Hghlands and that's 20. Downtown Bellevue is another 10 so more likely 30. The problem with Bellevue is the surface streets when you get off the freeway, always crowded. When I take the 218 bus from the Highlands, it stops at Eastgate and still takes only 25 minutes to Westlake station in downtown Seattle.

In our area the homes are larger, on bigger lots, and some are still under $500k. While it's high up there are some flat, quiet neighborhoods. On our side street, kids can ride bikes all day in the street. A house is for rent currently not far from us. It's $2,395/mo, 4BR 2.3 (??) BA 2,940 sf 12,002 sf lot built 1979.