City Couple Moving North Bend? (Seattle, Bellevue: new home, neighborhood, public schools)

[mike62pp3]

For the past 6 months, my wife and I have been looking at the market for a new home here in Seattle. We currently live in the Magnolia/QA area and I work in Downtown Seattle while my wife commutes to Bellevue. The housing market in Seattle is quite ridiculous and although we both love city living the thought of paying +$400K for a small town home does not sound appealing at all. We're both in our mid/late 20's and both come from a suburban neighborhood.

We recently stumbled upon the North Bend area and had been throwing the idea around about moving here. We both really enjoy the outdoors, scenic views, and being surrounded by so many trees brings a great amount of peace to us. We really like that this area has all of the benefits of living near a city (high pay, good bus system, in k.c., etc.) without all of messiness of a city (congestion, high costs, and noise). But I think the biggest selling point for us are the new homes and communities that are being built as this would be a great place to raise a family.

So my question is, would you recommend living in NB? What is the community and public schools like? Do people often visit the city or do people go there less often? What are the locals like? Where do most people work/commute to? What's the commute to Downtown & Bellevue? Are we crazy?!

Granted, it sort of sounds like we're wanting to retire to a small remote town, but the thought of a smaller/quieter town that is surrounded by nature excites us both.

[cocaseco]

Well IMO it is a great place to live and a bargain. There was a comprehensive North bend thread a few days ago here, //www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...-bad-ugly.html. and if you do a search you will fiund lots more. Besides great home values and easy access to outdoor recreation, the drive to town is easy and beautiful. if the search doesnt help, feel free to PM me and I'll answer anything I can.

[tobester]

My two cents ... I think the commute would be a killer especially into downtown.

[Hemlock140]

I may have mentioned this in the other thread, but I know someone working near Westlake that lives in North Bend, using the bus to commute. Due to a limited schedule that far out, this person drives 20 minutes to the Issaquah Highlands Transit center, parks and takes the 219 bus at 5:55am to Westlake bus tunnel station where it arrives at about 6:40. That's a little over an hour total time. When droving it took less time than that in the morning, but more than that getting home in the afternoon with congestion between Seattle and Mercer Island, again just before Eastgate, and again through Issaquah.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by tobester

My two cents ... I think the commute would be a killer especially into downtown.

I suppose one persons killer is another easy.

For me its 35 to downtown Bellevue during commute times. Thats less than many, probably more than others. But the real difference is that the first 15 to 20 minutes are on wide open I90 with 4 lanes and beautiful scenery. No issues until past Issaquah. I'll take that 20 minutes of forest over stop and go on 405 any day.

[mike62pp3]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I may have mentioned this in the other thread, but I know someone working near Westlake that lives in North Bend, using the bus to commute. Due to a limited schedule that far out, this person drives 20 minutes to the Issaquah Highlands Transit center, parks and takes the 219 bus at 5:55am to Westlake bus tunnel station where it arrives at about 6:40. That's a little over an hour total time. When droving it took less time than that in the morning, but more than that getting home in the afternoon with congestion between Seattle and Mercer Island, again just before Eastgate, and again through Issaquah.

Thanks for that info! I did read the other thread, North Bend? Good, Bad & Ugly?, that contained a lot of helpful information. Although there wasn't a whole of talk about the community and schools.

In terms of commuting, I did expect the commute time to be around an hour. I did a search and saw that there is a bus (215) that goes from NB to Downtown in a little over an hour, although the route back is much longer. I would imagine majority of people drive to the Issaquah P&R and ride that downtown? My current commute time is 30min. so I wouldn't be opposed to adding an additional 20min of driving.

[Hemlock140]

Because the drive from NB to Issaquah is so quick, people drive there and take the bus. The problem lately is that the two park & Rides in Issaquah are filling up early, get there too late and there are no parking places left. That will get much worse as they build more homes in Issaquah Highlands, and worse yet when they start tolling I90. There are meetings going on to discuss that, but I think it's a done deal, the state need the money to pay for the 520 bridge.

[mike62pp3]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Because the drive from NB to Issaquah is so quick, people drive there and take the bus. The problem lately is that the two park & Rides in Issaquah are filling up early, get there too late and there are no parking places left. That will get much worse as they build more homes in Issaquah Highlands, and worse yet when they start tolling I90. There are meetings going on to discuss that, but I think it's a done deal, the state need the money to pay for the 520 bridge.

What would the peak time be for the Issaquah Highlands Park and Ride?

[Hemlock140]

The peak time at the IH P & R starts at 6am and last until about 8am, when it's full. Nearly every bus is standing room only, though the one I take that stops there, the 5:45 219 has a few empty seats left.

[tobester]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

I suppose one persons killer is another easy.

I was referring to one poster's response that it was an hour and 20 minutes to drive to park-n-ride/bus to downtown Seattle. Then, it's more time to get to your final destination. Three hours each day just getting to work and back would kill me! That's 30 24-hour days bus each year - one full month gone!