Kid-Friendly (Seattle, Bellevue, Kent: for rent, house prices, buy)

[TempNest]

And with traffic what's the drive like to Seattle, not during rush hour? Right now we like to go into Dallas for entertainment, museum visits, etc, which is nice. Thanks!

[TempNest]

Originally Posted by modc

Did you check out Bothell?

No, but I will. Thanks!

[TempNest]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

The Eastside schools perform better, score wise. Within Seattle proper though (where you could walk into any school and find a fabulous principal and passionate, committed teachers), there are some fine schools. Test results may be skewed a bit based on a variety of income groups, ethnicities, immigrants in a certain area. Isn't that real life though? In a nutshell, Seattle and the Eastside have pretty different feelings. The roads are good from the Eastside to Seattle, easy to get over, tough during commute hours.

I guess the question is, what kind of life do you like? Seattle is a city of cute little neighborhoods, well-built vintage charming homes, pubs, cafes, farmers markets, a little funky, very walkable in many locations. You being okay with a smaller home would allow you to be in one of these. The Eastside is, in general, more suburbs: safe quiet streets, access to shopping, newer homes. Bellevue and Kirkland have great central cores, Kirkland a little more low-rise and pedestrian friendly. Maybe coming here and looking around would help.

This is great info; thanks. I'm fine with a small home but I don't really want to pay top dollar for said small home unless the area is a great fit for us. I want my kids to be able to play outside with other kids in a safe area, but I'd also love to expose them to diversity and culture. I think you're right that visiting is going to be the most helpful information-gathering I can do. Thank you!

[modc]

Have you thought about renting first? It's probably a good idea to get to know the city and what you are looking for before buying. All of these places Seattle, Renton, Bellevue, Bothell have different vibes.

[TempNest]

Yes, we're wanting to rent first.

[homesinseattle]

You're welcome

[RustinginSeattle]

If you're renting first, I would consider renting in some of the more affordable areas that appeal to you so that you can get a better feel for them. It's not that hard to imagine what it feels like being in a very expensive area with excellent schools in a highly competitive real estate market (well, except that you will be living in a very small old house with a very small yard in your price range), but I think it's easy to believe the worst about a lesser desired area if you don't have experience with it.

I live in Ballard and kids don't run around on the streets and knock on neighbors doors (there may be a few blocks that are exceptions). It's much more walkable and the schools are great, but I don't consider it super kid friendly. Yards are very small and I don't want to go spend every day watching them at the park. My kids won't be allowed to ride their bikes without us until they're teens. Most of the intersections are uncontrolled, cars are parked everywhere (impeding visibility), and cars move fast. I watched one guy blast through an uncontrolled intersection right by the grade school as school was getting out. That scares me much more than the bogey man.

[CAMama]

Renton is south of Seattle, so apparently less desirable? Also something about its industrial past? I'm not sure.

It's about 45 minutes to Seattle. Though once we came home on Friday afternoon during rush hour and it took an hour and a half.

Yes! We walk to school everyday (elementary). The middle school is also within walking distance (a little under a mile). We actually picked our house on the ability to walk to school. The high school is much further away and the kids take the school bus to and from.

The grocery store is like 2 miles from our house, no worries ever about running into traffic getting there. It's a typical suburban strip mall, so besides grocery, there's a drug store, gym, fast food, restaurants, ice cream, Starbucks, doctors, dentists, etc, right there too with the grocery store. Places like Target are at the Landing (15-20 minutes away) or Southcenter Mall (20-30 minutes away). Southcenter has any store you could possibly ever want and there's bowling, restaurants, movie theatres, etc there too. Going to Bellevue during off peak times is like 20 minutes. We live in the waaaay east part of Renton (Fairwood), so if you are closer west, the Landing/Southcenter/freeway would be even closer. Honestly, we go out during off peak hours, so I don't really know how bad traffic can be, but I still don't think it's anything near Seattle or Bellevue levels.

Hopefully Ira can chime in as he knows Renton a lot better and I can only speak about the small area where we live.

[Ira500]

Renton is physically large, and diverse. I live in the part closer to Seattle, so it takes 20 minutes to drive to downtown Seattle. Unfortunately, that's not the part of Renton with the better schools. After the last child graduated high school, we bought here because we could find a lower priced home with a larger garden space.
You can have a Renton address and be in one of four school districts. Most of Renton is in the Renton school district, which has both good and bad schools. Some of Renton is in the Issaquah school district( really good schools), some of renton is in the Kent district( Kent's schools are generally not so good, but those in Renton are very good. A few Renton addresses are in the Tahoma(Maple Valley) district, also very good. Because Renton is big, you can live anywhere from 20-45 minutes from downtown Seattle. There are many parks and playgrounds, and it's fairly easy to find a place to live with walking distance of an elementary school. Renton also is not lacking for shopping and restaurants. I just read something that said that no city in Washington has more restaurants per capita than Renton. Sure, some of them are typical chain places, but Renton also has it's share of cheap, good, ethnic holes in the wall.
Fairwood, which CAMama mentioned, is nice, as are the neighborhoods adjacent to it. Kennydale is very nice. The eastern Renton Highlands is nice, and mostly in the Issaquah school district. The western Renton Highlands is somewhat run down, but getting better. The part of Renton west of downtown Renton is a mixed bag. Where I live is quiet and boring, but there are other parts that are more run down.
All in all, I do think Renton offers more house value than other parts of the Seattle area, and I enjoy living here. It's definitely kid friendly.

[razmatazzy]

Like Ira said Tahoma Maple Valley school district rates high. They are building a new high school to open next year. There are plenty of parks and trails in Maple Valley. It also has a new Fred Meyer and is close to the Covington Costco. There are some housing developments close to shopping areas. They are mostly cookie cutter with small lots.
Due to weather around here, kids playing outside together is limited except in summer.
The Seattle neighborhoods have a lot of charm but I am not sure you realize how crowded and busy they can be. You will need to visit before deciding.