Can you recommend a neighborhood in Bellevue, Issaquah or Sammamish? Visiting this week. (Seattle: for sale)

[citadelcadet]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend neighborhoods for our trip next week?


My wife and I traveling to Seattle on wednesday for 3 days to look at neighborhoods/ subdivisions.
We are interested in the Issaquah, Bellevue and Sammamish areas.
We have 2 kids ages 5 and 8.
I will be working in downtown Seattle near Virgina and 8th for Amazon.
We are looking for:
Great Schools- My kids are in the talented and gifted program currently
Sq ft - over 3500
BR 4 or more
BA 3 or more
Larger lot - flat
Not a cookie cutter area
kids can play outside safely
commute less than 50 minutes during rush hour


We would either be looking to rent or buy
budget:
rent $4,000 or less
buy: $800k or

[Ira500]

I don't follow the rental market much, but the inventory of homes for sale that fit your description of what you want is pretty limited. Zero in Bellevue( for the price and square footage on a large lot). In Sammamish, look west of 228th, closer to Lake Sammamish, and in Issaquah, there are a coiuple of places to look. One is the May Valley area south and west of DT Issaquah( south of Tiger Mountain) heading towards Renton, and the other is the Squak Mountain area, just up the hill from DT Issaquah, south of I-90. All these neighborhoods are either in the Issaquah or Lake Washington school districts, which are both very good, and subject to debate which is better. I'd recommend going to a site like redfin.com and putting in the parameters of what you're looking for, and seeing what comes up on the map. If you play around with the numbers you might expand what's available( like seeing if there are houses between 3250 and 3500 sq feet, or up to 850k, or looking for a slightly smaller lot( I looked at 1/4 acre and larger).

[Hemlock140]

I agree with Ira and will go a little further. Not that many homes for rent in those cities anyway, far fewer over about 2,800 SF. There are new homes in Sammamish at that size for the top of your price range but they are definitely cookie cutter and on small lots. Another problem for you is you are looking for flat in areas that are almost all hilly. There are flat spots here and there but the chances of a big house on a big lot on a flat street are very small and would go very quickly.

[BellevueNative]

A house over 3,500 sq feet is practically considered a mansion here. When combined with a big lot, it's called an estate. What makes you think there are a ton of those to rent, or even purchase, in your budget?

[Hemlock140]

I found one that size in your just under your rent maximum, actually bigger at 5,170 sf near the Plateau Country Club in Sammamish. The lot, however is under 10,000 SF, that's less than
a third of an acre. Almost everything else for rent is under 2,700 sf and most 2,000-2,200.

[Ira500]

Checking out the MLS, there are six houses for sale listed in Sammamish that meet the square footage, large lot and price requirements. In Issaquah, there are eight houses that meet those requirements. Renton( in the Issaquah school district) has three, and Newcastle( in the Issaquah district) has one. I can't tell by looking at the listings online how flat the lots are.

[RVD90277]

It's not available anymore but just for a price point for rent, there was a 3500 sq ft house in Clyde Hill that was $4500/mo. The lot was small though (I'd guess around 10k sq ft). You probably won't be able to beat the school district. The house was worth around $1.5m (well, that was the last sold price about 3-4 years ago).

I work on 8th/Virginia for Amazon. For a under 50 minute commute, you actually have a lot of options including anywhere in Bellevue or Mercer Island, most of Issaquah, parts of Sammamish, and most of Kirkland.

I think you'll find something closer to what you are looking for in the $4k/month rental market rather than the $800k purchase market.

Just for reference, I am renting right now in Kirkland for $4k/month. The schools are good but not at the Bellevue Medina/Clyde Hill level and the house is big (4000 sq ft) but the lot isn't that big. Commute to Amazon is around 40 minutes or so.