BG YARD AREAS properties w/in driving distance to MSFT campus (Seattle: condo, townhouse)

[Bear4me]

We are moving to Seattle from FL (I know - but gotta work). I know nothing of Seattle/Redmond, sadly. My husbad will be working for MSFT

We REALLY NEED to find an area to look for homes (new) with at least .75 acres. - BIG YARD 4 DOGS - Where do we look? (good upscale/upandcoming community)

Budget is 500K. (I have already surmised housing is more expensive in WA)

THANK YOU

[Ira500]

There's not a lot out there with .75 acres within driving distance of MSFT and upscale and 500k or les, but...there's a few places meeting the criteria ( don't know about the upscaleness) in Woodinville/Snohomish/Duvall, and the a few on both sides of Renton, one side betwen Renton and Issaquah, the other the little pocket neighborhood west of Renton, the West Hill.

[jinj]

Unincorporated Issaquah has some great areas with acreage, high point exit off the 90.

[jwb123]

You can't have all of that. $500k + upscale (with a $500k budget????) + .75+ acres = not gonna happen.

You have to give on something.

[Pittgal]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

You can't have all of that. $500k + upscale (with a $500k budget????) + .75+ acres = not gonna happen.

You have to give on something.

Agreeing with Jen, you better up your budget if you want land. The house behind me is up for in the 700,000's with barely enough yard for a swingset!

[Ira500]

Well, it's not common but not impossible.You can find the house and the land and the price, but upscales gonna cost you.

[MarketingGuy]

As a Floridian, I can attest to the fact that 500K will buy you nearly a mansion in some areas..

Seattle area, not so much. Keep that in mind Bear4Me.. Otherwise, read my other threads in this Seattle section. I've asked a few of the same questions. Where in Fla are you coming from?

[jenlion]

You'll also have to define "driving distance". Really here it's "driving time". If he's got to work regular office hours, then he'll be in some bad traffic pretty much every which way. Most people say they want to be within 30 minutes at rush hour, which severely limits where you can find a house. And, when we looked a few months ago, there was not much nice under 500k. (our budget started at 400k and we upped it to 550k. Paid 515 in redmond and loving it. House is 30 years old and BY is fine for 2 big dogs... maybe 4, maybe not).

One thing to consider is that there's a ton of trails and parks around here. You might have a smaller yard but really exercise the dogs running them in the park or on a trail. Trail might run very near a house. It's cool. And you get exercise too, if you want it.

I'm new here myself but it does sound to me like you want to look in Issaquah. The "new" and "up and coming" Issaquah Highlands neighborhood houses we looked at had tiny backyards. So did the similar-seeming (to me on visits) Redmond Ridge. Not enough for my ONE medium dog. But there are some other parts of Issaquah, I remember, that had land - they were just older homes (under 500k). Woodinville, too, has some ranch-type places with land. I don't know you'll get in for 500k though. And if you're moving now, you can't wait for the prices to drop!!

So, I'm agreeing with everyone that you'll have to budge on something -- distance/time, or land, or price, or "nice" "up and coming". I advise the "nice/up and coming" because you can fix up your house, and really, people here don't seem to be as status-conscious as they are in other parts of the country. You can get a BMW and drive it to parts of bellevue if you want to hobnob, but most people around aren't going to notice. There are lots of safe, pleasant places that are 20, 30, 50 years old. The original toilets don't work so well -- replace them, and it's all good. ;-) Or, find a condo near a trail and a park. Issaquah Highlands has a dog park, I think, where you can let them off leash. (Someone may correct me if I'm wrong). You could get a great new townhouse there for under 500k and walk them over to that.

The first MS-affiliated realtor we saw was no good. She took us to townhomes even though we'd been clear we didn't want a townhome. Took us to places with no backyards when we were clear we had a dog and a kid and wanted a backyard. Wouldn't take us to Redmond when I wanted to see it (and we wound up buying). So, I'd also advise you tell your relo person you want to get in touch with a realtor, and have a good, honest discussion with them. Get them to send you some links to some houses they think are close matches. See what you can get for what budget. Also, we just today turned the keys in on our MS-paid-for temp house in Sammamish. It was totally decent for our family of 3 and a dog -- several dogs would do fine there for a couple of months. So, you don't have to cram yourself into an MS apt for a few months -- you *might* get a free stay in a house. Not a mansion, not a wonderful house, but one that's good enough to plop down and begin really exploring before you have to buy. We'd have totally screwed up if we'd bought on our first visit here!

Good luck! After two months here even in winter I'm loving it... and it's not even summer yet!

[woodinvilleguy]

I think that in Woodinville you will find homes on acreage but they will be older. Houses that are older aren't necessarily bad, they have some advantages as well. It is just a personal choice.

[debbyanne]

Hello & welcome to the Pacific Northwest!

Sorry to say that you won't find new construction on .75 of an acre within commuting to MSFT campus. If you would consider an older home, that is possible for .75 acres - like in Issaquah, Redmond, May Valley, Woodinville areas. You could find an older home that's updated - lots of the older homes are built even better than the new ones they build on the tiniest of lots! There are some nice established areas I think you would be happy with.

It's beautiful here! I hope you enjoy your move!