Trip to Seattle & east side this weekend - what to see, what to avoid? (Tacoma: days on market, sales)

[jenlion]

Me, my husband, and our seven-month-old baby are going to Seattle this weekend. He's been offered a job at Microsoft but we aren't sure yet whether we want to move to the area.

We arrive Friday afternoon and leave Tuesday. What should we make a point of seeing? We'll see a few east-side houses to get a feel for what we'd get for what money. (I suspect we may simply not be able to take the job because housing is too expensive! But, we'll see to be sure!).

So, we'll have a day or two peeking at houses and neighborhoods and maybe on Monday we'll try to see what rush hour is like in some places (ugh).

Does anyone have suggestions on what else to see while we are in town? Keep in mind we move slowly because we have the kiddo, but we do like to drive around quite a bit.

And, how long does it take to drive to the Oregon border? I'd like to stick my toe in and say I've been there if we have time. (I'd check mapquest but I figure people on here know better, especially with the recent storms tearing things up).

Appreciate any pointers for how best to use our time. Thanks!

[debbyanne]

Portland Oregon (which is across the river from the border between WA & OR) is about a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle - but DO NOT plan on going there this weekend. I'm sure you've heard about the storm we had last weekend and the flooding. The freeway (I-5) is closed - in places it was under 8+ feet of water! It may be open by the weekend, I'm not sure - but there will be lots of work & testing being done on it.

In the Seattle area - depends on what you like to do. Some of my favorite things are taking a ferry boat ride to Vashon Island or Whidbey Island (easy with a baby). There are some beautiful parks, beaches and towns to visit. Snoqualmie Falls is another nice attraction - east of Seattle about 45 minutes. A great place for lunch or brunch - if you can get in. Lots of new homes in the Snoqualmie area also.

Also, the Pike Place Market is fun (downtown), Woodland Park Zoo - Seattle or Pt Defiance Zoo in Tacoma (both family friendly). There's always the Space Needle - if it's a clear day - the view is fabulous! But just go to the observation deck - the restaurant is very expensive and not that good (or go for coffee & dessert. The Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is) is fun to explore too. Nice restaurants along the waterfront too. Ivar's is fun for fish & chips if you don't mind the seagulls begging for a french fry!

Home prices are less the farther out from Seattle & Redmond/Kirkland you go. Depending on what commute you would be happy with. Rush hour (most of the day!) can be crazy. Not sure what is "too expensive" for you. Prices have been softening since the last year when everything was multiple offer craziness.

Hope you enjoy the area, even if you don't decide to move here.

Debby

[kmfseattle]

Portland is just across the border, about 2,5 hour drive in good traffic. However, due to highway flooding closing a large chunk of I-5, it may take significantly longer than that - not sure if they've opened it back up yet.

Personally, I MUCH prefer Vancouver BC to Portland, and the drive is actually shorter if you hit the border at the right time. Extremely beautiful and amazing city, well worth the trip for a day (or night). Just make sure you bring your passports or insane amounts of photo ID and whatever else they require to bring your kid across if you do.

The waterfront in downtown Seattle has a lot of touristy activities and an amazing view, along with some excellent seafood.

[debbyanne]

You're right kmfseattle! Vancouver BC is a great place to visit - and even closer than Portland!

[scirocco22]

As Debby and kmf have said, I wouldn't even attempt to visit either Portland or even Vancouver B.C. this weekend.

Spend the time exploring the Seattle area. You can always see those places once you move to the area.

Spend some time walking and driving through the Microsoft campus. Also visit the other satellite locations. Drop by the Red-West campus. There's a tiny but nice park inside with a water feature.

Drive around the various suburbs on the eastside and explore different neighborhoods. Have breakfast at the Salish Lodge and watch the water cascade over Snoqualmie Falls. Have a look at downtown Bellevue. Bellevue Square (the mall) will be decorated for the holidays.

Spend time (at least a day) exploring downtown Seattle. Those stores will also be decorated for Christmas.

Take the bus tunnel down to Pioneer Square and the International District. You can even take a look at Safeco and Qwest Fields when down in that area of town. All the buses are free to ride, even in the tunnel during business hours.

As kmf stated, see the waterfront. Take a round-trip ferry ride over to Bremerton as a walk-on. Explore the Pike Place Market. Visit the Aquarium.

One thing I wanted to mention even when you first started posting is that you may want to consider renting first to take some of the pressure off of relocating. Trying to buy a house in an area that you aren't familiar with is so stressful. You don't know for sure what neighborhoods are good until you live in an area for awhile. You can then talk to co-workers and other locals to get an idea of places that would be good to buy a house. It will give you more time to explore the area while you are living in it to see for yourself what areas or neighborhoods you'd like to live in and be a property owner. According to a lot of people, housing prices may also continue to drop so you may be able to get more house for the money if you wait awhile (not a promise, of course).

Have fun this week-end.

[jenlion]

Yeah, it looks like we would definitely be renters for at least six months, maybe a year. I got a helpful link that showed there are some decent houses to be rented. We simply just couldn't buy and then move a year later, so it's prudent to rent, though I HATE renting and hate the idea of moving twice!! Oh well. But, if we are going to move, I want to know that we CAN buy a house within a year. If it's half a million to get a decent house within 30 minutes of work, then the price is just too high and we have to walk away. If it's $400k to get one 15 minutes away... well... we can consider it. I doubt the market is going to fluctuate by 10% or more in the next six months (since Seattle isn't having the troubles that other areas are, unfortunately for me!), so we can at least get an idea of what we'd be looking at when we were ready to buy. I doubt sellers like people trouping through on recon missions without a serious intention to buy, but what else can you do??? mlsonline helps but it just isn't the same.

Debbyanne, why would it be hard to "get in" to Snoqualmie falls? And, how much have things softened? How long (roughly) are houses in Redmond/Kirkland on the market, and are people getting their asking prices?

Thanks for the suggestions on things to see. Hoping to enjoy the long weekend and the opportunity to explore a new city if nothing else!! :-)

[scirocco22]

Ops, sorry, didn't even see Debby's suggestion about Snoqualmie Falls. Yeah, sometimes you have to have reservations relatively far in advance to get into the dining room at Salish. Well, at least you can go there to see the falls and take a look at the housing around the town of Snoqualmie and North Bend. Snoqualmie Ridge is a huge master planned community not far from the falls or the town of Snoqualmie.

[jwb123]

Hmmm... I think you should be fine just showing up for Breakfast, but if you think you might make the trip there, call anyway. You can get in. We stayed at the Lodge for an anniversary, and just walked in to eat, no reservations.

Check out the little town of Issaquah - cute cute.

Don't worry about going north of Kirkland, or south of Seattle/Bellevue.

Go to Redmond Town Center and Ferrell McWhirter Park - great for kids.

[debbyanne]

It probably wouldn't be hard to get in for breakfast or lunch now - I know when I've gone there in the summer for brunch, they were always booked! I would guess winter would be easier. Definitely call to make reservations - their number is 800.272.5474.

It terms of the Redmond/Kirkland market softening. The average number of days on market for sold homes is 73 and "pending" (an offer on it but not closed yet) is 86 days. The average sales price is 98% of list price. How much the market has softened is hard to tell - lots of homes were just overpriced (unrealistic based on the fast appreciation of the last couple of years) so they've needed to reduce their price to get it sold. There's lots of homes just sitting on the market because the seller's are unreasonable. Good pickin' for buyers! Even though sometimes the seller won't reduce their listing price, when they have a written offer in front of them, I've seen them jump at low prices which they said they would never take! Depends a lot on their motivation.

Debby

[tx_heat]

jenlion,

Please, share your impressions/experiences after you come back. We live in Dallas area and I have recently accepted Microsoft job offer. We will be relocating within the next couple of months (pending the sale of our house in Texas). We have concerns similar to yours (we also have two kids in elementary school) and will greatly appreciate if you could share your thoughts. I had a short morning after my day of interviews before flying back, so I drove around Sammamish lake (Redmond->Sammamish->Issaquah), but it was too quick to get any good impression. Issaquah was the least impressive, but now as we read more and more about the area I am guessing it was because I drove through its downtown which they say is somewhat different from the rest of Issaquah. From our research and requirements (relatively new - less then 5 years - 4br house under 500-550K, best possible schools, and commute to Microsoft under 30-40 mins) it looks like we might able to afford only something in areas like Issaquah Highlands or Redmond Ridge.

Thank you.