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But it's not simply passing an economic bar either. A few evenings ago I was at a neighborhood function and the 2008 recession came up in conversation as we were wondering how much financial resources people really have. Two of the long-term residents reported that one or both of their immediate nieghbors walked on their homes in the middle of the night. Which makes me wonder, how much in the hole does one need to be to walk on house??? Personally, we could just pay off the house before remotely getting to that point... but I'm not the one with the blonde hair, fancy workout get-up cruising along in my Lexus SUV either....
In other words you might not actually have to pass the economic bar or have a generous budget... as long as you can pretend, you'll get an enthusiastic acceptance too.... My guess is, in Medina or in these other areas with older money, it's actually more difficult to fit in as everyone would know if your wealth was real or not. At least that is what I saw in Dallas when my old man became new money and worked his tail end off trying to get in with the Perots.
I could be wrong though, it's just an observation.
This cracks me up.. old money, new money... I'll take either/or
you can live in Issaquah and not deal with the Highlands, ever. There are so many parts of Iss that aren't anything like the Highlands/Talus, but they get all the attention. Fine by me! I can imagine the complaints about snobbery leading to bullying in schools would pertain more to the ones that serve the Highlands and places like Discovery Park Elementary. We toured there looking at the neighborhood and the adults were so stuck up I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Then we toured the school we're now zoned for and it might as well be on a different planet. Wildly different atmosphere - warm and friendly and no stress.
With that said, do you want close proximity to nature and a really chill lifestyle, or do you want to feel like you're in a major neighborhood with much density? My time in WS has always felt more like Seattle in terms of density and things being packed. I've heard nightmare stories about commuting. BUT, I've not commuted from there personally so can't say for sure. If schools are an issue, TOUR them. The Seattle school employees were rude and unhelpful...they seemed miserable, and I couldn't imagine dealing with them every day or when there's actually a problem. That obviously doesn't bother most people.
We didn't spend much more than your budget and live on 3 acres with over 3000 sq feet. It CAN be done, BUT we don't live in a snooty neighborhood and you get TONS of crap from Seattle-ites all.the.time. Our neighborhood is tight and established, but not snooty at all. I commute to downtown Seattle daily. It's never been more than 45 minutes - typically it's somewhere between 30-40. The worst time to go to the city is at rush hour in the evening - 5-6pm. It's taken me 2.5 hours before.
We also live very much in nature and have all the things that go with it - including random animals daily, bears-in-garbage dilemmas, lots of spiders. There is a bobcat sleeping in our carport. Those things seem to send a lot of people straight over the edge. It's really not that big of a deal and just something you adapt to - pretty minimal adaptations if you ask me. You get a good company who evicts squirrels and deals with spiders and you're set. But if those things send you over said edge, go to WS
you can live in Issaquah and not deal with the Highlands, ever. There are so many parts of Iss that aren't anything like the Highlands/Talus, but they get all the attention. Fine by me! I can imagine the complaints about snobbery leading to bullying in schools would pertain more to the ones that serve the Highlands and places like Discovery Park Elementary. We toured there looking at the neighborhood and the adults were so stuck up I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Then we toured the school we're now zoned for and it might as well be on a different planet. Wildly different atmosphere - warm and friendly and no stress.
With that said, do you want close proximity to nature and a really chill lifestyle, or do you want to feel like you're in a major neighborhood with much density? My time in WS has always felt more like Seattle in terms of density and things being packed. I've heard nightmare stories about commuting. BUT, I've not commuted from there personally so can't say for sure. If schools are an issue, TOUR them. The Seattle school employees were rude and unhelpful...they seemed miserable, and I couldn't imagine dealing with them every day or when there's actually a problem. That obviously doesn't bother most people.
We didn't spend much more than your budget and live on 3 acres with over 3000 sq feet. It CAN be done, BUT we don't live in a snooty neighborhood and you get TONS of crap from Seattle-ites all.the.time. Our neighborhood is tight and established, but not snooty at all. I commute to downtown Seattle daily. It's never been more than 45 minutes - typically it's somewhere between 30-40. The worst time to go to the city is at rush hour in the evening - 5-6pm. It's taken me 2.5 hours before.
We also live very much in nature and have all the things that go with it - including random animals daily, bears-in-garbage dilemmas, lots of spiders. There is a bobcat sleeping in our carport. Those things seem to send a lot of people straight over the edge. It's really not that big of a deal and just something you adapt to - pretty minimal adaptations if you ask me. You get a good company who evicts squirrels and deals with spiders and you're set. But if those things send you over said edge, go to WS
When a bear is seen in the Highlands the community facebook page lights up. A third of the neighborhood grabs their high quality cameras and chases after it... another third locks their doors, calls animal control demanding that it be captured, carted off.. or killed.... a half of a third will just sit of facebook and either chastise those taking pictures or those who want the bears to die... and the final half of the third wonders what the fuss is all about.
When a bobcat is photographed some people ask if it's someone's lost pet.
Kalex, your place sounds awesome. We don't have any family and we're huge introverts so we feel compelled to live in the higher density neighborhoods for the kids' sakes. And indeed they're happy. But I dream about leaving the Highlands when they're in PCMS or IHS. A place where I can rip up the yard and put in a huge vegetable garden or paint the house without getting permission from the ARC (architectural review board). On the other hand, if there is a problem with the exterior of the condo I just make a call the management company and they'll handle it for me. We can go nearly a week without driving because of the Park and Ride and proximity to Safeway...
No place is perfect. I'm glad that BOTH are situated in the same 3 mile town though. It's really a lovely piece of the planet.
you can live in Issaquah and not deal with the Highlands, ever. There are so many parts of Iss that aren't anything like the Highlands/Talus, but they get all the attention. Fine by me! I can imagine the complaints about snobbery leading to bullying in schools would pertain more to the ones that serve the Highlands and places like Discovery Park Elementary. We toured there looking at the neighborhood and the adults were so stuck up I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Then we toured the school we're now zoned for and it might as well be on a different planet. Wildly different atmosphere - warm and friendly and no stress.
Ok I guess I missed it. What's so bad about the Highlands?
Issaquah is cleaner, has some good shopping malls, safe, close to mountains. But it has zero character and almost no walkability. Total generic suburbia land. I personally could not live out there. I would choose West Seattle without question, but that's just me. I think West Seattle has some cool older homes, great parks, walkable downtown with character. But I can see how a family with school age children would choose Issaquah or someone who works on the Eastside.
I've lived in generic suburbia in 5 different states/major cities, and disagree completely. If you think Iss has no character, you haven't spent any time there. Sorry. It's very different from every other suburb I've spent any major amount of time in. That doesn't apply to all of the Eastside by any means.
Flyingsaucermom- we are the same- major introverts and would rather be far, far out. We live in an established neighborhood so my daughter has kids to play with I grew up without that and really wanted her to have people around! We spent forever and a day hunting down a spot where we can't see our neighbors, but they're there People look out for each other - the bears-in-garbage dilemma is a coordinated neighborhood effort. Bobcats are nomadic, so they won't stick around for long. I was pretty happy that "ours" came back this year!
you can live in Issaquah and not deal with the Highlands, ever. There are so many parts of Iss that aren't anything like the Highlands/Talus, but they get all the attention. Fine by me! I can imagine the complaints about snobbery leading to bullying in schools would pertain more to the ones that serve the Highlands and places like Discovery Park Elementary. We toured there looking at the neighborhood and the adults were so stuck up I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Then we toured the school we're now zoned for and it might as well be on a different planet. Wildly different atmosphere - warm and friendly and no stress.
With that said, do you want close proximity to nature and a really chill lifestyle, or do you want to feel like you're in a major neighborhood with much density? My time in WS has always felt more like Seattle in terms of density and things being packed. I've heard nightmare stories about commuting. BUT, I've not commuted from there personally so can't say for sure. If schools are an issue, TOUR them. The Seattle school employees were rude and unhelpful...they seemed miserable, and I couldn't imagine dealing with them every day or when there's actually a problem. That obviously doesn't bother most people.
We didn't spend much more than your budget and live on 3 acres with over 3000 sq feet. It CAN be done, BUT we don't live in a snooty neighborhood and you get TONS of crap from Seattle-ites all.the.time. Our neighborhood is tight and established, but not snooty at all. I commute to downtown Seattle daily. It's never been more than 45 minutes - typically it's somewhere between 30-40. The worst time to go to the city is at rush hour in the evening - 5-6pm. It's taken me 2.5 hours before.
We also live very much in nature and have all the things that go with it - including random animals daily, bears-in-garbage dilemmas, lots of spiders. There is a bobcat sleeping in our carport. Those things seem to send a lot of people straight over the edge. It's really not that big of a deal and just something you adapt to - pretty minimal adaptations if you ask me. You get a good company who evicts squirrels and deals with spiders and you're set. But if those things send you over said edge, go to WS
Kalex - this sounds like a wonderful place, exactly what I'm looking for. What neighborhood is it, if you don't mind me asking?
On the other hand, it's extremely kid friendly here. It's safe enough that I can let my kids (8 and 11) walk with their middle school friends to Subway, Ben & Jerry's and to the park without a parent tag-a-long.
...
Issaquah is beautiful. I LOVE the trees, trails and fog. Schools are wonderful.
This part sounds great.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom
And really, my complaints were pretty specific that the community was not being authentic in what it really is. If you know anything about the Highlands then you know that we were intended to be a eco-conscious community, an "urban village" of the New Urbanism movement that started at the United Nations' 1992 Earth Summit on the Environment and Development. Environmental consciousness was written in the by-laws, it was designed in the streets and buildings. But it has not been adopted by the residents trickling in. Many don't even know what New Urbanism is...
Any other New Urbanism around? (I'm more interested in the walkability than being eco-conscious.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalex
you can live in Issaquah and not deal with the Highlands, ever. There are so many parts of Iss that aren't anything like the Highlands/Talus, but they get all the attention. Fine by me!
...
We didn't spend much more than your budget and live on 3 acres with over 3000 sq feet. It CAN be done, BUT we don't live in a snooty neighborhood and you get TONS of crap from Seattle-ites all.the.time. Our neighborhood is tight and established, but not snooty at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalex
If you think Iss has no character, you haven't spent any time there. Sorry. It's very different from every other suburb I've spent any major amount of time in.
...
Flyingsaucermom- we are the same- major introverts and would rather be far, far out. We live in an established neighborhood so my daughter has kids to play with I grew up without that and really wanted her to have people around! We spent forever and a day hunting down a spot where we can't see our neighbors, but they're there
This sounds amazing!!
I, too, would love to know what area this is -- to whatever degree you're comfortable with, of course.
Critters don't scare us!
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