New faculty at UW--where to live? (Seattle, Bellevue: renting, mortgage, houses)

[vatodallas]

Let me start by apologizing if this post is similar to others, I read through most of the others but couldn't find a close enough match.

Our young family is moving to Seattle for a faculty position at UW. We are really conflicted on where to live as we have experienced the awful evening rush hour commute from UW to Bellevue/Kirkland via 520 but aren't sure that the Seattle proper neighborhoods are right for us because a) houses are outrageously expensive (we know that home prices are high both in and out of the city but nicer city neighborhoods like Laurelhurst are especially high) and b) we want a more suburban feeling neighborhood (and want our kids to attend great public schools).

Where would you suggest we look at homes? Would Mercer Island be a good compromise and if so, what are commute times like around 6pm? If not MI, where else should we look?

Thanks so much for your help!

[Ira500]

There are a fair number of UW faculty members living on Mercer Island, and for good reason. The public schools on Mercer Island are consistently rated among the top 3 or 4 in the state....Traffic on I-90 is much better than on 520, and there are a few different options to get up to the UW once you've crossed into Seattle.....The negative? Mercer Island is fairly expensive. But it mostly does have that "leafy suburban" feel, a quaint downtown area with nice stores and restaurants...And Mercer Islanders are allowed to use the I-90 carpool lanes !

[Ira500]

Also, Mercer Island has great bus service to the UW. One bus, no transfers, faster than driving,skips downtown Seattle, and goes right to the campus.

[vatodallas]

Thanks! Any idea what bus this is and how I can find out more information about it?

[Ira500]

There might be some others , but the Metro Transit route 205 is the one I was thinking of. There aren't a lot of them per day, but it's a good one:

Metro Route 205 Timetable, Weekday (http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/schedules/s205_0_.html - broken link)

[SaltyDawg]

Greenlake might be a great option depending on your kids' age.

Super neighborhood with a small business district and the most beloved park in the city (and busiest in the state). With our recent sunny stretch, it looks like summer everytime I walk down there with tons of folks out with friends, dogs, at the restaurants, etc. Lacks a great in-neighborhood grocerty store besides the massively overprices PCC though.

Terrific, frequent bus service to UW.

Bagley is a great elementary school, and I believe Greenlake Elementary is also highly rated. Roosevelt is one of the better Seattle public high schools. Don't know much offhand about middle schools in the area though.

[Prple]

Originally Posted by SaltyDawg

Bagley is a great elementary school, and I believe Greenlake Elementary is also highly rated. Roosevelt is one of the better Seattle public high schools. Don't know much offhand about middle schools in the area though.

Ecstein (spelling?) is suposed to be a good middle school/jr. high in Seattle. It's not too far from UW.

[kabohami]

We just moved here last summer for my husband to start a faculty position at UW, we have a daughter in 4th grade and hate dealing with rush hour, so we went through a very similar thought process. We live next to Magnuson Park, in the Sandpoint area. The area we live is a super easy commute to UW (just one 15-20 minute bus ride, or 20 minute bike ride along the Burke Gilman trail.) We are renting now as we house hunt so this is not where we will stay permanently but we like it so far (the only thing it is lacking is walkability.)

When will you be moving? The Seattle public school registration system is a bit tricky if you are moving in the summer. However, even though the process drove me a bit nuts the end result worked out fine for us. Our daughter spent one week at Laurelhurst and is now at Viewridge. We have been really quite pleased with Viewridge (in fact we like it much, much better than Laurelhurst).

There are some really good public schools in Seattle, and we know people who are very happy with a number of different schools. Although everyone is different, for me the benefits of living near UW and living in some of the neat neighborhoods around here are definitely worth it. The prices for houses have been coming down (I have been looking at all of the listings obsessively for about a year now) and you can find really nice options in the 400,000 - 500,000 range in Greenlake, Phinney Ridge, Ballard, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, etc (and some houses are even cheaper depending on what you want).

Let me know if you have specific questions and I might be able to help. Good luck!

[SYS]

As a former faculty (not in WA, though), I know that lot of universities around the country have some sort of housing assistance for new faculty. Have you explored anything that UW might offer? My most recent tenure didn't have a faculty housing, but it did offer a better mortgage option.

[Prple]

Originally Posted by SYS

As a former faculty (not in WA, though), I know that lot of universities around the country have some sort of housing assistance for new faculty. Have you explored anything that UW might offer? My most recent tenure didn't have a faculty housing, but it did offer a better mortgage option.

UW has Family/Grad housing that is open to faculty and staff (and the public?) as well. It is called Radford Court. It is located in Sandpoint near Magnuson Park near where kabohami was describing. The public schools are suposed to be good in that area. It might be a good place to be while getting to know the area and schools a little better.