Neighborhoods- Schools + water views (Seattle, Tacoma: townhouse, safe area, school districts)

[williams18]

Hello, all. I have spent several hours browsing threads here and you have been quite helpful! I haven't seen a thread addressing my specific questions, so I hope you don't mind a new thread.
My family (me, husband, and 2 preschoolers) as well as my parents (late 50's) are considering a move to the Seattle area. We would live separately, but would be prefer to live close to one another. Our top priority is great schools for our children. My parents' top priority is proximity to water, preferably salt water. We are from Texas and are used to getting a ton of square footage for our dollar and realize this will decrease in the Pacific Northwest, but would still like as much space as possible.
We are planning a visit in September to check out potential suburbs and neighborhoods. Can you recommend specific places that might make sense? The ideal place would have outstanding schools, larger homes, water views, safe and somewhat walkable streets, and a sense of community. We all work from home offices, so commute is not an issue. Thank you so much for your insight.

[Hemlock140]

You can county on safe neighborhoods and good schools if you have water views, those will be affluent areas where the well-educated and well paid residents care a lot about the education of their kids. For salt water, however, there isn't much available since you are limited to Elliot Bay. Everything else is on Lake Washington or Sammamish, fresh water. West Seattle, parts of Magnolia, parts of Ballard, Windermere. Farther out, parts of Edmonds and Mukilteo. All but the most beat-up fixers are going to be over a million with water views unless you go across the water to Bainbridge or Whidbey Island,
and even as low as $500k in Bremerton, Silverdale on the Hood canal at about $800k.

[williams18]

Thank you, Hemlock. Ignore salt vs. freshwater... non-coastal resident here and I'm sure I have a lot to learn.

Let me try again- does a place exist that has water views, great schools, and nice homes in the 500K-800K range?

[tobester]

Originally Posted by williams18

Thank you, Hemlock. Ignore salt vs. freshwater... non-coastal resident here and I'm sure I have a lot to learn.

Let me try again- does a place exist that has water views, great schools, and nice homes in the 500K-800K range?

If you define water view as seeing some water, perhaps. Nice water views - double your price range.

[poopskooper]

If you don't mind being in the Tacoma metro area, I see a couple of very nice houses in Steilacoom that you may be interested in taking a look at.

Photo: click here This one is listed at $850k but seems to have a gorgeous water view and is a large house. 5-bed, 4,240 sq. ft.

Photo: click here This one is listed at $750k and also has a gorgeous water view. Older home, 4-bed, 3-bath, 3,006 sq. ft.

(Photo: click here This one is listed at $595k and has a very nice water view. 3,240 sq. ft. townhouse, 3-bed, 3-bath)

Steilacoom is a very safe area with a nice sense of community. It has a small but very well respected school district. It feels isolated but is very convenient to all the amenities of Lakewood/University Place/Tacoma.

If you're interested in the links to these listings, let me know and I'll message them to you or you can look them up yourself. I don't think we're allowed to actually post links to Realty sites on the board. I am NOT a Realtor. I was just hunting around to help some friends and actually liked these personally.

There may be other places that have water views but as others have said, they could be double the price if you're looking in Seattle itself. There may be other areas in Pierce or Snohomish counties that you may find similar properties in the price range of those mentioned above. And you'd probably have even a better chance away from the metro King/Pierce/Snohomish county area.

[prosin]

For clarification, how close do you wish to be to your parents? And do you need to be in Seattle proper? And I'm assuming $500-$800K each; please correct me if this was a total, not individually.

For example, your folks could get a great place on the water in Poulsbo or Suquamish and you could get a nice sized place in Bainbridge Island that is not close to the water, but the schools are highly ranked. The commute between locations is 10-20 minutes apart, given ferry traffic on Hwy. 305. However, both of these locations would require a ferry ride to downtown Seattle proper, so if that is needed, my example may not work for you.

And yes, Washington has postage-stamp size lots and houses compared to Texas, but the trees around here will give you the feeling of privacy. Many homes are on greenbelts, which will give the impression of more space. My house is on a greenbelt so I'm not looking directly into a neighbor's backyard or windows!

[beautifulseattlehomes]

Edmonds and Mukilteo both have good school districts and many homes with water views. Salt Water : ) and drop dead gorgeous views of the Olympic Mountains which are on the other side of Puget Sound toward the west. The nice things about both communities are that they are a little bit further out so the housing is more affordable relatively speaking. Mukilteo would be less costly than Edmonds because it is a bit further north. Edmonds is fairly close to Seattle. You could also try Richmond Beach which is part of the Shoreline School District, also considered quite good...

For fresh water meaning Lake Washington you could try the north of the lake which is the Northshore School District which is considered excellent. All the high schools in that district are a 10 on Great Schools. The communities would be Bothell/Kenmore.

[Bill Loney]

As nice as Lake WA views are, living with a view of the Puget Sound and The Olympic Mountains is glorious. I used to live on the shipping lanes in North Beach with a 180 of the Sound and the Olympics. The sunsets would bring tears to your eyes. The salt air is addicting. Photos simply don't do it justice. Do yourself a favor. While you're here, go to Ray's Boathouse, have dinner up on the deck and experience a sunset.

[williams18]

Originally Posted by prosin

For clarification, how close do you wish to be to your parents? And do you need to be in Seattle proper? And I'm assuming $500-$800K each; please correct me if this was a total, not individually.

For example, your folks could get a great place on the water in Poulsbo or Suquamish and you could get a nice sized place in Bainbridge Island that is not close to the water, but the schools are highly ranked. The commute between locations is 10-20 minutes apart, given ferry traffic on Hwy. 305. However, both of these locations would require a ferry ride to downtown Seattle proper, so if that is needed, my example may not work for you.

And yes, Washington has postage-stamp size lots and houses compared to Texas, but the trees around here will give you the feeling of privacy. Many homes are on greenbelts, which will give the impression of more space. My house is on a greenbelt so I'm not looking directly into a neighbor's backyard or windows!

Prosin, I'd say within a 30 minute drive. Closer would be better, but that distance would be fine if we all got what we needed house-wise. And yes, that budget is for each family. Thank you for your suggestions- will check those areas out!

[williams18]

Looking at each of your posts I see that there are a lot of options for beautiful views. Thank you for your suggestions; I will be investigating all of these areas!