Working in Bothell - Best Place to Live (Seattle, Bellevue: for sale, real estate)

[Tulkas]

Folks
I have an interview coming up out in that area. I am trying to figure out what places would be best to live. Here is my list of what I looking for.

1) Nice views water or mountains, or both if possible.
2) 1/4 Plus acre
3) Easy commute (car or bus, longer if by bus)
4) Nice community
5) Near water if possible
6) Informal community, not some high strung place where HOAs come out and measure your grass.
7) More of a country feel
8) Reasonable access to mass transit in to Seattle.

Thanks much for any suggestions.

ART

[redrum]

Are you looking to rent or buy? How many bedrooms/bathrooms/square feet do you want? What's your budget?

[Prple]

I would look into Lake Forest Park or Mill Creek.

[Tulkas]

Looking to buy, I have Newfoundland Dogs and trying to rent with a 150 lb. dog doesn't work well. As for budget I am looking at 525K and down with a preference under 500K. Some of this will depend on a relo offer and ability to sell my existing house but I don't have that in hand yet.

Art

[Tulkas]

One more quick question, what is the percentage of houses that are in HOAs, where I live now it is about 90%+.
Art

[redrum]

I don't know about the percentage of HOAs. Pretty much any new development will have them, but there are still plenty of older homes in the area that don't have them. You'll probably want to avoid Mill Creek (north of Bothell), it's a planned community.

You can definitely find an older, non-HOA house with a large yard in a decent neighborhood in Bothell for under $525k, although quite a few have disappeared the last few years to make way for new mega-developments. I've worked in Bothell for 7 years and I'm amazed how much it's changed in that short time.

However, I think you'll have to compromise on either the view or commute. Finding a house on a quarter acre with a view of water and mountains is going to cost more than $525k in any nearby community. For that price, you'd probably need to look farther up north like Everett, Lake Stevens, and Marysville, which really aren't that far but you'll need to use I-5 and 405 to get to Bothell, and both can become very congested during the daily commute.

[larrykcragun]

I would recommend you consider Monroe.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by ArtF

Folks
I have an interview coming up out in that area. I am trying to figure out what places would be best to live. Here is my list of what I looking for.

1) Nice views water or mountains, or both if possible.
2) 1/4 Plus acre
3) Easy commute (car or bus, longer if by bus)
4) Nice community
5) Near water if possible
6) Informal community, not some high strung place where HOAs come out and measure your grass.
7) More of a country feel
8) Reasonable access to mass transit in to Seattle.

Hi, ArtF. Welcome to the wonderful idea of moving to western Washington!

In order to give you ideas that might be useful, we need some specific information from you.

1. Your "interview": Where will you be working? Commuting is hell here, so the location of your job is critical to locating your home where you'll be happy. Will your job be in Bothell? Seattle? Where?

2. "Easy commute": What do you mean by "easy"? Time span? Difficulty driving? What?

3. "Nice community": What do you mean by "nice"?

4. "Near water": Is Puget Sound (salt water) necessary, or are lakes and rivers good?

5. "Country feel": Do you mean edge of suburbs, or do you mean rural and agricultural?

6. "Reasonable access to mass transit in to Seattle": It's hard to live somewhere here that doesn't have mass transit to Seattle, even if only during commuter hours. What do you mean by "reasonable access"?

7. Are you looking to rent? Or to buy?

Looking forward to your specific information! In the meantime, the following resources might help:
Rentals info: http://rentals.nwsource.com/rentals/
Rentals info for Bothell might also be in: Seattle Real Estate, Top Seattle Real Estate Search, TheMLSonline.com
Real estate for sale: Seattle Real Estate, Top Seattle Real Estate Search, TheMLSonline.com
You might also be interested to search on Craigslist.

[Tulkas]

Folks
Thanks much for the info, my answers to the last question below.
ART


"
1. Your "interview": Where will you be working? Commuting is hell here, so the location of your job is critical to locating your home where you'll be happy. Will your job be in Bothell? Seattle? Where?

The Job will be in Bothell

2. "Easy commute": What do you mean by "easy"? Time span? Difficulty driving? What?

Driving I am looking for under a half hour, under an hour would be ok, under a half hour better.

3. "Nice community": What do you mean by "nice"?

Low crime, not real retentive. Looking for a place where people talk and don't measure each others grass to make sure it isn't too long.

4. "Near water": Is Puget Sound (salt water) necessary, or are lakes and rivers good?

Any water is good.

5. "Country feel": Do you mean edge of suburbs, or do you mean rural and agricultural?

Edge is fine.

6. "Reasonable access to mass transit in to Seattle": It's hard to live somewhere here that doesn't have mass transit to Seattle, even if only during commuter hours. What do you mean by "reasonable access"?

Looking for 10-15 minute drive to a park and ride or bus center.

7. Are you looking to rent? Or to buy?"

Definitely buy, renting with 150lb dogs doesn't work.

[allforcats]

ArtF, sorry -- "Bothell" was in your thread title!! I just blew past it!

Your details sound really doable. The only thing I'd caution you about is being NEAR water: rivers and streams tend to flood badly and often in November and December, most years, and you want to stay away from buying a house near such a body of water. That's something you want to discuss seriously with your Realtor.

To work with a buyer's Realtor instead of a seller's, 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.

Sounds to me as though Bothell could just about suit all your needs. Or Woodinville, maybe even Kenmore. That covers quite a bit of geography. On the MLSonline site I gave you, on the home page, lower right, there's a map. You'll see the names of the locations near Bothell.

IMPORTANT: Bothell is scattered around the highway known as 405. You want to stay away from having to commute using 405. For 3 to 4 hours around each rush hour, 405 is virtually a parking lot. However, if you live in Bothell, or travel west to work from Woodinville or east from Kenmore, you should encounter less traffic, since most commuter traffic goes south in the morning to Seattle and Bellevue, and north in the evening.

A bit of land for you and the Newfies to run around on would more likely be in Bothell and Woodinville.