Considering moving to Seattle (Bellevue, Mercer Island: for sale, real estate, apartment)

[berkeleyres]

Hello all,
My wife and I are leaving SF Bay area. I have my own business that can be done from virtually anywhere ans I'm getting sick of high state taxes and high property taxes, so Seattle stands out as a fantastic city to relocate. We have no kids but are working on that. I wanted to know what would be considered the toniest, nicest areas of Seattle, the equivalent of San Francisco's Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, etc. Urban areas close to downtown, walking distance, with all its amenities that feel like "neighborhoods"
I would ask realestate agents, but they just want to sell you a place so I thought people on this board would provide a more honest assessment.
Thanks in advance

[Whereto?]

Bellevue would be what you're looking for matey

[berkeleyres]

I appreciate the answers. From what research I was doing, I thought maybe queen anne, capital hill, madison park, magnolia, etc. I assume all these neighborhoods are within walking distance of downtown. Am I missing any?

[allforcats]

No place you have mentioned is "within walking distance of downtown", except maybe lower Queen Anne if you really, really love to walk a lot, but lower Queen Anne will not give you the Nob Hill you want.

What a previous poster was saying is that "the money" doesn't live in Seattle, for the most part. They mostly live on "the east side" of Lake Washington, especially with lake frontage. The reference to the wealthiest man in the world was to Bill Gates, who lives in Clyde Hill, an area that politically split itself off from Bellevue. His house cost -- what was it? $70 million? -- to build several years ago and is both the Gates' home and a conference location for world leaders and business moguls.

Your "toniest" areas here are Bellevue and Mercer Island, in no particular order. You might also find a larger older semi-mansion for sale in Magnolia or on the east side of Capitol Hill. However, you will be miles from "downtown" Seattle, and up and down hills, in any of these four locations.

For-sale info could help you identifiy tony locations. Almost every listed property seems to be covered in this area by MLSonline -- the link is:
Seattle Real Estate, Top Seattle Real Estate Search, TheMLSonline.com

You should also know that property taxes seem to be skyrocketing yearly here. :-)

[Whereto?]

Depends on your definition of walking distance,maybe as a couple but not necessarily dragging a kid Queen Anne is my favourite though. I'm leaving Seattle after 3 yrs and thinking for Denver for a friendlier spot

[allforcats]

I just thought of something else. In and around downtown Seattle, there are many new condominium buildings that might interest you. They're expensive, modern, filled with clever extras. Here's a website just for condos in the area: condocompare.com.

[berkeleyres]

Glad for the information. I wonder if the Bellevue area is like our Tiburon and Sausalito and the rest of Marin county. Super wealthy suburbs of SF, but nonetheless still suburbs. I guess I was looking for more of an in-city area. If Bellevue and Mercer island are known as the areas where the wealthy live, what is the reputation of the few neighborhoods I mentioned earlier, lke queen anne, magnolia, etc.. that are in the city?

[allforcats]

Scirocco, please help me with this.

Queen Anne: hip, young, tenants sometimes just out of college, lots of pizza places, crowded with apartment buildings old and new, old ones are great architecture, on a hill so walking is up and down, trees.
Magnolia: older, older, older. Now kind of crowded single-family houses, trees, pretty. Not Nob Hill. Quiet. Kind of suburby feel, don't you think Scir?
Fremont: artsy, quirky, hippie, fun, really different from the rest of the city because of the hippie-artsy feeling. Crowded.
Wallingford: Scandanavian and older. Crowded.
Ballard: Scandanavian and older. Crowded.
Capitol Hill: artsy, noisy, gay, trendy, busy, fun, up very late at night.
University District: around the campus of the University of Washington, busy, crowded, college kids, lots of pizza places, lots of older apartment buildings.

Madison Park and Broadmoor are east of Capitol Hill, in some cases front on Lake Washington, and are filled with huge old trees, huge old houses (okay, some of them are), a few small, quiet apartment buildings, and quite a fair bit of money and "toniness". The houses aren't as crowded together as in most other areas on the perimeters of downtown Seattle. But you can't walk to downtown Seattle from there -- you must take the busses (which run very frequently, like every 15 minutes or so on weekdays) or call a taxi or drive.

[scirocco22]

Not a bad description, cats!

Queen Anne- There are single-family residences but berkeleyres is correct, they will be very expensive for the most part.

Magnolia- Yes, I'll agree

Freemont- Agreed

Wallingford- No longer predominantly Scandanavian as is true also for Ballard.

Agree with the remainder of your comments.

We have some regulars here who I'm sure will want to add to this or even dispute our opinions. Let's hear from all.

[berkeleyres]

Appreciate the responses alot..very helpful. I did do some research, redfin primarily, and found that the density of listings in the $1.25-2.5 million is about the same in certain neighborhoods in Seattle city and Mercer island. What's more, if you take out the obscenely priced homes, $5 million and above, the price per sq ft is roughly the same between say queen anne/ magnolia versus Mercer Island and the houses are roughly the same size..3,000-4000 sq ft.. I guess it's the obscenely priced homes that make the area the "monied area."