Moving to seattle, Ballard / green lake area questions (Bothell, Kenmore: real estate, lease)

[grid77]

Waiting on a possible job opportunity that would take us from NYC (but living and commuting from summit, nj). I have never had the opportunity to visit seattle my research is leading me to believe our family could have a better quality of life there. I am interested in these modern town homes I see in the seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and green lake area. Our housing budget is below 500k, we have a 3 and 5 year old who would attend public school. There is no area within 30 minutes of NYC that is decent enough and not full of trash and bugs! Just looking for commute and neighborhood vibe info on those seattle areas to seattle downtown. Husband currently commutes around 1 hour 15 minutes door to door on nj transit, which often has delays that make it longer. Nj real estate taxes are awful, and lifestyle expensive and boring. How's the food in that region of seattle. All there is here is pizza.....
Also for background I've lived most of my life in Brooklyn, ny, and 3 years in Los Angeles, almost 6 years in summit, nj. Haven't travelled above San Francisco on the west coast.

[mkarch]

Both areas provide a reasonable commute to downtown, have good neighborhood schools and a lot of restaurants - although Ballard probably has green lake beat by a long margin on the # of restaurants. Only thing I'd add is different parts of each neighborhood have very different characteristics and feel - they're not totally homogenous. Ballard in particular has a lot of sub-neighborhoods that developed far differently than one another. A town home near the West Woodland side is going to be quite a bit different and more urban than one on the Sunset Hill side.

[Ira500]

Property taxes will be much lower in Seattle than in New Jersey. The commute will be pretty easy to downtown.
I'm a New Jersey native. I've lived in Seattle for 35 years. mkarch is right. Ballard and Greenlake are both fairly large areas, so one part can feel very different than another part. In general, I think your quality of life will see an improvement, but not necessarily on the pizza front. Everything will pale in comparison to Brooklyn. Ballard has a few good places for pizza, but they're not DiFara's. There are a bunch of Neapolitan style pizzas in Seattle now, which are okay, but I greatly prefer a good NY slice.
Also, some people claim that Seattle people are cold and unfriendly. I don't perceive it that way, but they're not gregarious/loud/obnoxious like us east coasters.
I think you picked good neighborhoods for you and the kids. "Downtown" Ballard is bustling, fun, with all kinds of restaurants. I think you'll like it here.

[homesinseattle]

CONGRATS on the (almost) move! Try Greenwood neighborhood, too, a bit north of Phinney Ridge/Ballard. It is an area that is a touch more affordable, I think it would mesh well with your budget. Complex ethnic food and Asian food are quite good in Seattle, as is seafood as you might imagine. With relatives in NYC and on Long Island, pizza, not so much. You might also try Colombia City, very diverse neighborhood, vibrant and prices a bit better than some parts of town. West Seattle might work too, all giving you that neighborhoody vibe that I think you mean.

[Bill Loney]

Agree with Ira. As a kid who grew up on Phinney Ridge, I would be very careful about Greenwood. While there are some nice areas in Greenwood, there are also some areas where crime is an issue.

One nice thing for sure, your commute downtown in any of these areas is a snap.

[grid77]

Thank you for your replies. Our job opportunity has come through, and we will be visiting and moving in the coming months. I think my idea of the Ballard/ Phinney /Green Lake area sounds ideal - if we are lucky enough to find something we can afford. The schools are rated higher then West Seattle. Although some neighbors here in New Jersey have spoken highly about West Seattle. Pretty, bike trails, nice beach. I wonder why West Seattle schools are rated SO poorly!?
Everyone talks of the rain, but I can't imagine it can be any worse then the winters around here, this one was awful! Another quick question: Does the Seattle area get flooding? I know the rain is intense, and we surely get that in areas here (Hurricane Sandy being the worst of all) My particular neighborhood in Summit, NJ is at a high elevation and not near any rivers so we did not get any flooding just power loss. Just wondering, weather is getting crazy everywhere!

[homesinseattle]

Great news! Welcome (almost) to Seattle. I came here 24 years ago from the East Coast and can't imagine living anywhere else in America. I live with my family in Phinney Ridge and love it.

Flooding? Not an issue unless you are in the lowlands of East King County or Snohomish County. Seattle is at elevation and no rivers of size to affect it. I agree the weather is getting crazy, that's a conversation for a pint of beer or strong cup of coffee.

Schools? Some are good, some are okay. The people who live on the Eastside will tell you that their schools are much better, also the same can be said about some schools a bit north, notably Northshore school district in Bothell/Kenmore. For many of us though, we don't want to sacrifice living outside of groovy Seattle. So what to do?

On my block, I bet half of the kids go to public, half to private. For us, it isn't a question of "performance" as it is philosophy. We send our 9 year old daughter to a progressive, highly creative private school. We believe that common core and the fact that teachers in public schools are forced to teach "to the test " is very sad and leaves almost no room for creativity or fostering true curiosity and love of learning.

Have a great move!

[beautifulseattlehomes]

If schools are important I would start there and move backwards because as a previous poster mentioned SPS has some very good schools and some that are not great.

The quality of life in these neighborhoods makes life infinitely better in my opinion. As someone who moved from Seattle to a Seattle suburb and back to Seattle again, I can say (as a former Upper West Sider too) that these urban neighborhoods are a great place to raise a family and build a life. So much to do and see for the children and for you! Seattle is a great place to raise a family! I am an urban person so living in the city is important to me for a multitude of reasons.

Your 5 year old will be entering kindergarten and your three year old will before you know it so here are some schools in the neighborhoods you mentioned that have great reputations; West Woodland, Salmon Bay k-8 (lottery based), Whittier (spectrum program for advanced learners is housed here) , Loyal Heights, Greenwood (reputation has really skyrocketed and the housing in the area that feeds into it would be a bit more affordable) and Daniel Bagley (has a Montessori track as an option) All the schools I mentioned are elementary except for Salmon Bay. Crowding can be a bit of a problem because as you can well imagine, people are moving to Seattle in droves from all over the world and the school system is experiencing explosive population growth. Looking at teacher/student ratios is always a good idea. SPS is committed to smaller class sizes in K through 3 but that means portables are being used more and more too.

I bet you will love Seattle! Welcome and congratulations on your job offer!

[grid77]

Thanks for the tips on the better schools. And good to know the elevation of the area is high enough to prevent a lot of flooding.
I am considering renting in the Ballard area for a year before buying, does anyone know if you can live month to month after your lease is up? I know it is like that in California. It's nice that you can do that, so you can get your deposit back etc.

Thanks again for all the advice!

[Kayela]

Thanks for the tips on the better schools. And good to know the elevation of the area is high enough to prevent a lot of flooding.
I am considering renting in the Ballard area for a year before buying, does anyone know if you can live month to month after your lease is up? I know it is like that in California. It's nice that you can do that, so you can get your deposit back etc.

Typically you can go month-to-month, but at that point your rent can be raised. I've also lived in several places that charged extra for going month-to-month - one by ~30%! If you think you may want to go that route, just make sure up-front what you're in for.