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Hi all, more questions. This group has been a great help so far.
When visiting in December, we had a weird realtor show us around. We need to be an easy drive away from MS, but we don't have quite half a million to drop on a house. I want to stay under 450 if we can. Need a decent backyard for kids and dog, a "walking" neighborhood with sidewalks (was surprised to see several without sidewalks) or very, very little traffic, and at least 4 beds. Beyond that we can make a lot of things work.
She took us to a place (not sure how it's spelled) - Klehanee? It looked nice, except when you enter the subdivision there's a jumble of stuff on the left that doesn't look so good. Realtor said that the construction co was required to add low-income housing. Is that true? Is it true of other areas? Is it an issue in Khelanee? (again no idea how it's spelled). Is that area an easy drive to MS?
There were several reasonably priced houses in Lake Hills she wouldn't show us. Says the neighborhood is old and smelly and no good. It's minutes from MS. We drove through, and it didn't look wonderful, but should we really write it off altogether? She said the same about some other parts of Kirkland -- near Juanita Beach? -- though it looks like commute time from there makes it a moot point anyway.
She also wouldn't show us Redmond. There were some reasonably-priced homes in/near Education Hill but apparently those don't meet her "standards" either. What are they like?
She was insistent we see Issaquah Highlands. I hope I don't offend anyone, but we saw several "homes" up there and it looked like hell to me. Maybe it was the price range, but everything was crammed in together, uniform, and ugly. not ugly-ugly, just so "modern" and "nice" that it was ugly, if that makes sense. I don't want to reach out my window and touch my neighbor, I don't want a townhouse, and I don't want a dollhouse.
She also took us to a newish part of bellevue. All the houses were the same color. Realtor said it's "Bellevue Beige" and she apparently likes it. Again, I felt like we were in some weird alternate reality. I don't mind not having some weird giant blue house, but do the houses all have to be some variant of brown??
Anyone provide perspective? We're moving in 2 weeks up to temporary housing, then we have 2 months to find a home. If we don't, we'll be renting for awhile, but still looking for a home. We'll get a different realtor, I just didn't like ours (obviously), but I plan to drive around for awhile on my own first.
Can anyone tell me what the appx borders (streets) of Klehanee and Lake Hills are? And, if there are other good areas to target, some general boundaries? I don't know the local-area-names yet, but streets I can get on a map!
While looking in Dec we found a nice house in Sammamish for $424k. 4-beds, 1680 sqft, split-level, nice neighborhood near a big park and school. It lasted about a month on the market. It was a bit small but workable, and the backyard was HUGE. That's the kind of thing we're looking for, and a price we can probably pay (still stings, but that's the choice we're making by moving there), but I hope we can get more like 2000 sqft. Anyone know if we'll find more like that over the next few months?
I do check sea.themlsonline.com, but looking for local perspective on what things are actually like in person.
Good grief! I just skimmed your post but I think you need to get a new Realtor.
Klahanie is up on the "plateau" in Issaquah. It's new and many neighborhoods up there are still being developed along with the "Highlands" area more towards the south. It could be true that subsidized housing may be interspersed as it is in a lot of neighborhoods because of federal requirements. I wouldn't call the commute to Microsoft easy from the plateau although there are a lot of employees who live there.
Microsoft is developing a campus in the Issaquah Highlands. I don't know a lot about it other than they've scaled it down quite a bit from the original plans.
Education Hill is not an extremely upscale, high-income neighborhood. It's a nice upper-middle-class area which is known for its convenience to good schools as they are all located close to each other on top of the hill. Much of Education Hill was developed in the 1970's and so you'll have the core group of houses in that age range. There are newer developments on the east and north sides of the hill as well as the English Hill area to the north where many newer developments exist. The commute to Microsoft is much better from Education Hill than from Klahanie or, as you say, the Juanita/Totem Lake/Kingsgate area of Kirkland. Many consider the commute to Microsoft from Education Hill convenient.
Lake Hills is one of the older parts of Bellevue. Smelly? ...eh, I don't know. Perhaps lower-middle class but not necessarily a run down area in my opinion. It is one of the first "mass produced" residential neighborhoods in Bellevue when tracts were going up in the 50s and 60s.
Is there any chance you can rent for awhile until you get a better feel for the area? That's what I always recommend. It gives you the time to talk to co-workers and new friends you'll make on what neighborhoods are recommended. It also give you time to look around at a more leisurely pace and compare different locations. It will allow you to see where the traffic patterns are the best and where they might be worse. It's just easier when you're more familiar with the general area. Plus, who knows, prices may even drop while you are renting and getting more acquainted with the greater Eastside.
Here are some links which can help you be more successful.
YOUR MICROSOFT RELOCATION ADVISOR or HIRING PERSON:
That person is PAID to know everything, find everything, be on your side, and provide you with PRACTICAL HELP. USE that person! Get on your phone at the crack of dawn tomorrow at 8:01 Pacific Time and make that person feel important, needed and wonderful that he/she is earning their salary by helping your family transition happily to Microsoft! That's their job.
RENTALS:
As scirocco wrote, this is a really wise idea for 6 months or so, while you learn what you'd actually like. Even if you hate the idea of an additional move, remember that the real estate market nationwide, and now in this area too, is in a slump that looks as though it will last for some time -- so that if you buy right away, hate it and find where you really want to be, you could live a nightmare trying to sell what you just bought in this buyer's market.
The best resource for rentals is the combined Classifieds for the two largest local newspapers. These Classifieds cover Seattle and pretty much all Redmond, Bellevue and Issaquah. The site is called NWSource.com. I selected for you down to the east side (the area you'll want): the link as I've pasted it here has a break - don't put any breaks in it. http://rentals.nwsource.com/rentals/searchCriteria.asp?p=C&CountyIds=20&CountyIdCount= 1&search2=No
There's also Craigslist.
BUYER'S AGENT (instead of relying on a seller's agent to be your buyer's agent):
This is the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents: National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents | NAEBA
I know that most Realtors can be wonderfully objective, and some of them write on this forum. This NAEBA resource is 100% objective for a buyer.
There are also: realtor.com, condocompare.com, and homes.com (for King County which includes all the places you would want to live). But none of those provides complete listings, which MLSonline seems to do.
Last edited by allforcats; 01-13-2008 at 12:13 PM..
Location: In a place with little freedom (aka USA)
712 posts, read 1,366,403 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scirocco22
Good grief! I just skimmed your post but I think you need to get a new Realtor.
Klahanie is up on the "plateau" in Issaquah. It's new and many neighborhoods up there are still being developed along with the "Highlands" area more towards the south. It could be true that subsidized housing may be interspersed as it is in a lot of neighborhoods because of federal requirements. I wouldn't call the commute to Microsoft easy from the plateau although there are a lot of employees who live there.
Microsoft is developing a campus in the Issaquah Highlands. I don't know a lot about it other than they've scaled it down quite a bit from the original plans.
Education Hill is not an extremely upscale, high-income neighborhood. It's a nice upper-middle-class area which is known for its convenience to good schools as they are all located close to each other on top of the hill. Much of Education Hill was developed in the 1970's and so you'll have the core group of houses in that age range. There are newer developments on the east and north sides of the hill as well as the English Hill area to the north where many newer developments exist. The commute to Microsoft is much better from Education Hill than from Klahanie or, as you say, the Juanita/Totem Lake/Kingsgate area of Kirkland. Many consider the commute to Microsoft from Education Hill convenient.
Lake Hills is one of the older parts of Bellevue. Smelly? ...eh, I don't know. Perhaps lower-middle class but not necessarily a run down area in my opinion. It is one of the first "mass produced" residential neighborhoods in Bellevue when tracts were going up in the 50s and 60s.
Is there any chance you can rent for awhile until you get a better feel for the area? That's what I always recommend. It gives you the time to talk to co-workers and new friends you'll make on what neighborhoods are recommended. It also give you time to look around at a more leisurely pace and compare different locations. It will allow you to see where the traffic patterns are the best and where they might be worse. It's just easier when you're more familiar with the general area. Plus, who knows, prices may even drop while you are renting and getting more acquainted with the greater Eastside.
Well put Scirocco22! I would say though to definitely stay out of Lake Hills.
Before you decide on a house, just consider things like traffic. It is a big problem here in the Seattle area. Mostly due with the poorly designed highways, roads & bad naming conventions and not to mention bad drivers.
Last edited by Negotiator75; 01-13-2008 at 05:35 PM..
My problem is that I don't know the approximate boundaries of areas like Lake Hills. I can drive south from MS and know that I'm in Lake Hills. Or, I could point to it on a map. But that's only the heart of it really. When have you left Lake Hills for a "nicer" part of Bellevue? (Maybe the answer to that is, when I can afford the house?).
For example, would 165th Ave SE and Main St in Bellevue still be Lake Hills, or am I "far enough" south there?
Sir, we are SERIOUSLY considering renting. We would have to buy this year if we're going to at all, or we throw away some MS benefits (and we do want to buy eventually, unless house prices are really dropping like mad). But maybe we will rent for six months, or something. Doubt we can find a 6 month lease on a house that will also let us have the cat and dog, but, well, leases can be broken and they'll keep the cash we won't get back. Don't like breaking a contract, but it looks like there are more renters than houses (I've been getting email alerts of good houses and there's usually only one at a time available!!). We'll look at both houses to buy, and houses to rent, I think. I DO hate to move twice, especially with a 9-month old, and having to find good care for him twice, and meet neighbors twice, and pay for it twice. But those costs are probably cheaper than making a mistake.
But that's what you guys are here for -- helping avoid the mistakes. Right?? ;-) (Haha, I know, Sir and Negotiator would say it's likely a mistake to move there at all. Scary. But, you go where the jobs are. And I DO appreciate the info).
Thanks :-)
Last edited by jenlion; 01-13-2008 at 07:12 PM..
Reason: more specific
Again, I wouldn't consider Lake Hills a run-down area. It's boundaries aren't well defined as it's within the city limits of Bellevue. Like all sprawling suburbs, neighborhoods tend to run into each other without distinct boundaries.
There are some very nice areas surrounding Lake Hills proper. What's considered the center of Lake Hills is the intersection of 156th Avenue SE and Lake Hills Blvd. That's where the old shopping center is located. As you go east toward Lake Sammamish, there are some very nice home with views of the lake. There are some very nice areas around the Phantom Lake and Robinswood areas to the south. To the north is the Crossroads area. To the west, again, some nice homes near the Kelsey Creek area.
I tried to denote the older area of Lake Hills on the map with the oval but its not a real accurate depiction. The smaller oval is the intersection mentioned above.
You can use redfin.com to display on a map any listings that meet your requirements. You can see where 4 br houses under $450K can be found. There are only two or three in Bellevue, they are in the Lake City area. North of Bellevue up by Kingsgate and Juanita are about 20 listings.
Sir, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! That's a much smaller area than I thought. Opens up some houses that looked decent but I thought might fall under the dreaded Lake Hills heading.
And, AzDreamer, that's a cool site. That will help me a lot! As I understand it, Kingsgate, Totem Lake, and Juanita are all "old and smelly" or "going downhill" (heehee), or, more realistically, too long of a commute. We'll be doing a lot of "practice commuting" the first weeks of February, I think.
Personally, I don't like Bellevue for families, unless you are on, or just off, the water... much of it is rundown OR very expensive and smacked right up the smelly and run down areas.
I also wouldn't look in Totem Lake, Kings gate or Juanita....
I do pretty much agree with everything everyone else has posted here. I love Education Hill... I think you need a new realtor... I have used the same one to sell and buy several homes in the area before we left, my mom has used her too... she's excellent. PM me if you want her name.
As for Klahanie... are you talking about the condos right across from the shopping area??
Those are NOT low income homes... Klahanie isn't new, it's oldest area might be almost 15ish + years old now... they are just older condos. We used to live in Klahanie and we loved it!!! This was, however, in 2000... and some people have mentioned on this board that it's less of a community now, and more of a rental place??? I don't know if that's true or not - and it's sad if it is, because it was GREAT and SAFE for young families when we were there...
15 years is "new" to me ...remember, I'm an old *art. I bought brand new houses in the 1970s that I still consider fairly "new."
And again, there are some very upscale neighborhoods in Juanita (near the water and as you go up Finn Hill on Juanita Dr. --Hermosa Vista area, etc.).
The Highlands area of Kirkland just south of Totem Lake is becoming the next Hougton.
Kingsgate, I'll agree, is more on the scale of Lake Hills only just a bit newer but nowhere near what I'd consider run down.
Again, as I stated in my DM, don't let these broad generalizations of staying away from an area close your mind to even consider looking at a property just because it's in one of these areas. You just might miss a gem.
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