Good family place to live if working at SeaTac airport? (Seattle: co-op, houses)

[tammylw]

We're considering a future move to Seattle. We are investigating several job possibilities, but one would be the SeaTac airport. Can anyone suggest areas that would be a reasonable commute for my husband? Some things we'd like:

- Less than $1 million (really in the $700-900K range).
- Safe neighborhood, good for families.
- Reasonable access to the city for entertainment.
- Organic grocery stores

We'd be moving from San Diego, and have only visited Seattle, but really liked it whenever we've been. I'd also love to know a couple general things if possible. How high are property taxes? How expensive are utilities typically?

Thanks in advance for any sage advice.

[Ira500]

Taxes are about 1200 dollars per 100,000 of assessed valuation, so an 800,000 house would usually have a 10,000 dollar annual tax bill. Electricity's cheap, one of the least expensive in the US. Water is expensive, despite all the lakes, rivers, sounds, bays, etc. Most of that is attributed to the sewer and wastewater treatment side of the equation. Most people heat with natural gas, and it doesn't get quite as cold here as the northeast or midwest, but might feel frigid to Southern Californians.
As far as family friendly, nice neighborhoods not painfully far from Sea-Tac, I can think of a few:
West Seattle:
The Seaview neighborhood or Gatewood...breathtaking views of the water, not all that far from downtown Seattle..friendly, good feel...
West Seattle's Admiral District: A bit denser than the above neighborhoods, but upscale with beautiful old houses. Home to the PCC Food Co-op and the Metropolitan Market( local competitor to Whole Foods). There's also a Trader Joes in West Seattle and a foot ferry to downtown Seattle( 8 minute boat ride).

Maple Valley: More suburban/rural, a bit further out, great school district. A 700-900 thousand dollar house would include acreage there. Still 35 ish minutes from the airport. Pretty, good hiking.

Renton ( the eastern part of the Renton Highlands, Issaquah School district):More rural, pretty, also consider Issaquah itself. Great schools, great places to hike( Cougar Mountain, among other places). Issaquah has another PCC Food Co-op branch and a Trader Joes.

Bellevue: The southern part wouldn't be too bad of a commute, around Newport Hills or heading further east including the Lakemont/Cougar Mountain neighborhood.

Normandy Park: Great water views, beautiful houses, not far from Burien, a fun/quaint area with good restaurants, art galleries, micro breweries, etc, and a terrific elementary school, but the town is having financial problems, which will be resolved by either the residents voting to tax themselves more, neighboring des Moines or Burien taking them over, or disincorporating as a city and being taken over by the county. Normally, I'd be more enthusiastic about Normandy Park. It's very nice, and it's really close to the airport. But given their uncertainty right now, I'd be a little cautious.

[duckieee]

I second the Normandy Park statement. I grew up in that area and there's good public schools and private schools in the area, and loved it!

There's an area in Burien called Three Tree Point that has beautiful views of the water, and everyone I know that is from this area has a strong connection to the community and it's definitely family friendly, and it is near a Trader Joes too! Three Tree Point is more of an upscale area compared to the rest of Burien, and it's pretty safe. Much like Normandy Park, it's close to the airport, and about a 20 drive down 509 into Seattle.

[tammylw]

Wow, thanks for the great feedback so far. Really, really helpful!

[tammylw]

I have a few more questions. One good friend recommended West Seattle for us. When I asked about all of this on another personal board, there were concerns about commutes, the bridge, tolls, etc. It sounded to me like if we wanted to live in a nice neighborhood, that a 30 minute commute one-way would be very challenging And also if we live anywhere where you'd cross the bridge on your commute, that it would be problematic if there was even a dusting of snow. I'm excited at the prospect of Seattle, because I've always thought it would be a great place for us (my husband is military, we've had lots of time to think about this), but the logistics are making me nervous.

Thanks in advance for any further insight.

[Inkpoe]

If you choose to live in West Seattle, you wouldn't be using the bridge to get to the airport, you'd use hwy 509/518 and traffic definitely isn't going to be problematic during commuter hours. The time you would use the bridge is when you want to visit DT, and depending on when you go traffic can be pretty bad... or nonexistent. There is a lot of construction going on, especially as you enter into DT.

You would not be paying any tolls because the tolled bridge is the 520 bridge which is just north of DT. (Living north of DT would not allow for a less than a 30 mins commute unless you work overnight or so.)

If you're concern about snow and driving-- the usage of bridge wouldn't matter. Everywhere is going to suck because of the bad/clueless drivers and the hills. Just one of the realities of living here

[tammylw]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

If you choose to live in West Seattle, you wouldn't be using the bridge to get to the airport, you'd use hwy 509/518 and traffic definitely isn't going to be problematic during commuter hours. The time you would use the bridge is when you want to visit DT, and depending on when you go traffic can be pretty bad... or nonexistent. There is a lot of construction going on, especially as you enter into DT.

You would not be paying any tolls because the tolled bridge is the 520 bridge which is just north of DT. (Living north of DT would not allow for a less than a 30 mins commute unless you work overnight or so.)

If you're concern about snow and driving-- the usage of bridge wouldn't matter. Everywhere is going to suck because of the bad/clueless drivers and the hills. Just one of the realities of living here

Thank you. I have a friend who is convinced West Seattle would be the best place for us. I guess we'll have to wait to see what comes of the job opportunities.

[Ira500]

West Seattle does have some very beautiful parts. Getting to the airport will be easy, and getting to downtown Seattle will be easy most of the time. The West Seattle bridge gets jammed during rush hour, but if the job is at the airport, you can go into downtown when it's not rush hour, or take the water taxi from the Alki area near Salty's, about a ten minute boat ride.
I agree with your friend. West Seattle's nice, and given the budget you stated, you could find something in a very nice part of West Seattle with great views.

[tammylw]

Originally Posted by Ira500

West Seattle does have some very beautiful parts. Getting to the airport will be easy, and getting to downtown Seattle will be easy most of the time. The West Seattle bridge gets jammed during rush hour, but if the job is at the airport, you can go into downtown when it's not rush hour, or take the water taxi from the Alki area near Salty's, about a ten minute boat ride.
I agree with your friend. West Seattle's nice, and given the budget you stated, you could find something in a very nice part of West Seattle with great views.

Well I keep crossing my fingers that a great job opportunity will happen, so it's a wait and see game. Then we would take a trip there, again, to really investigate further and see what we think. I do think I'd enjoy it there. The water taxi into downtown sounds fun. And we are homeschoolers, so we definitely can be selective about when we are on the road, to avoid busy times.

One bad thing about me - I tend to romanticize everything. That can cause problems

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by tammylw

Well I keep crossing my fingers that a great job opportunity will happen, so it's a wait and see game. Then we would take a trip there, again, to really investigate further and see what we think. I do think I'd enjoy it there. The water taxi into downtown sounds fun. And we are homeschoolers, so we definitely can be selective about when we are on the road, to avoid busy times.

One bad thing about me - I tend to romanticize everything. That can cause problems

Also being homeschoolers, being next to the absolute best public school would also be less of a necessity too, no?
So, on that note, the Seward Park neighborhood might be worth looking into as well. It's not far from the very walkable and fun Columbia City neighborhood. Seward Park is arguably Seattle's best park, has great lake and mountain views, and is near a branch of the PCC Food Co-op. I tend to romanticize everything as well, but you know about Seattle. You know that not everybody who moves here is happy. You know that the weather gets to some people.