Moving to seattle this summer..cost of living/where to live? (Bellevue: middle-class, real estate)

[klm40691]

Hi, my name is Kellie, and my husband just got a teaching job at University of Washington, and he will be starting Sept 1st. I am a stay at home mother with 3 little ones, all under 5. We will be putting them in the public school system. We will be making a trip out to Seattle next month hoping to find a rental place (hoping for at least a 3 bedroom house or townhouse or we will even consider a condo but a house would be best). Based on what I have read on this forum, I gather that Bellevue, Issaquah, Redmond and Kirkland are where we should be looking. Are there any place closer to U of W with good public school and family oriented communities? How about in Seattle itself? We are coming from Birmingham, Alabama where cost of living is much lower and real estate is much lower than Seattle so we are quite concern about the cost of living in seattle, particularly the possibility of owning a home there. We are a one income family and hope to keep it that way. Will we make it on about $110k a year for a family of 5? That's what my husband will be making annually. Will we be able to own a home sometime in the future? We are looking forward to moving to a new city but nervous and at the same time. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Kellie

[CityGirl72]

My father's family is from Alabama! Welcom!

I live in Seattle with my husband and our 5 year old, you are right in your assumption of the better school systems are over on the east side (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland etc)

Most people in Seattle will put their children into private schools because the Seattle School system is crap. The schools hardly compare to the schools on the eastside.

The East side is much more family oriented then on the Seattle side. All the bigger communities with year round family coordination are on the East side

It gets a little boring over here on the Seattle side once you have kids.

[wythors]

A family of 5 living on $110k on the Eastside? Tough, very tough. You can do it, but there won't be much left for extras. You're probably looking at at least $1500 a month to rent an apartment, let alone a house. Owning a home? Houses on the Eastside start around a half-million and go up from there.

[klm40691]

Originally Posted by wythors

A family of 5 living on $110k on the Eastside? Tough, very tough. You can do it, but there won't be much left for extras. You're probably looking at at least $1500 a month to rent an apartment, let alone a house. Owning a home? Houses on the Eastside start around a half-million and go up from there.

Ok, that's not very encouraging to hear. What are some of the other areas that we can consider with good public schools and family oriented communities that aren't so expensive? Does such areas exist? After my husband probationary period of 6 months, he will get a salary increase of $10,000 so after the first 6 months, he will make $120,000 but I am assuming that it will still very very tough to live off that for a family of 5 on the eastside? Maybe we have to consider somewhere other than the eastside. There gotta be other areas with decent school district and family oriented communities?

Kellie

[jwb123]

Not really.

Seattle would be more expensive, and while there are areas of Seattle that are good for families, the schools are very bad. You would have to consider private school.

We just moved away from the Seattle area because we were tired of living paycheck to paycheck. We were making around $120k+ and we are a family of five. Specific to us though, we had very high medical expenses & insurance costs...

It's tough to have a decent quality of life in Seattle - because of costs, weather and traffic. If you live any further out than the eastside, you are looking at adding a lot of time to a commute. Even on the eastside, some days the commute can be an hour, or more.

We just sold our house 30 miles north of Seattle, 4 bedroom 1600 sqft, 23 yrs old, spotty neighborhood of older homes - some kept up, some not... most in need of cosmetic repair, for $370k. I just checked Zillow.com and it's up to $400k now. I wouldn't recommend that area anyway though - based on school district alone.

For a good school district & quality community, you want to stay in the Lake Washington, North Shore, or Issaquah districts.

[scirocco22]

Well, here's my take, Kellie. I'd rent for awhile. You can get a decent house in a relatively nice area on the eastside for around $2,000.

You can then see if that's the school district you want to be in (again, L'dub #414 is very good!). You can judge how your finances are going as you rent to see what kind of mortgage payment you can afford with the costs you are incurring consuming stuff along the way.

As I've said in previous threads, there's good bus service into the "U" from the eastside. Let me know if you want me to reiterate on that.

--'rocco

[klm40691]

Thank you so much scirocco22! That makes me feel much better. My husband is very excited about the job and he's trying to stay positive about the move and said that we can make it work and I would hate to be the one trying to put a negative spin on everything.

By the way, what's L'dub #414 - is that a school district? Sorry for my ignorance.

We will be visiting next month, and will also hook up with a realtor so they can show us what is available.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Kellie

Originally Posted by scirocco22

Well, here's my take, Kellie. I'd rent for awhile. You can get a decent house in a relatively nice area on the eastside for around $2,000.

My former house in Redmond is renting for about $2,100 and it's a 4 bedroom, 3 bath split-level in a nice middle-class neighborhood close to Microsoft.

You can then see if that's the school district you want to be in (again, L'dub #414 is very good!). You can judge how your finances are going as you rent to see what kind of mortgage payment you can afford with the costs you are incurring consuming stuff along the way.

As I've said in previous threads, there's good bus service into the "U" from the eastside. Let me know if you want me to reiterate on that.

--'rocco

[jwb123]

L 'dub is Lake Washington School District...

University of WA is known as Udub.

[wythors]

Originally Posted by klm40691

By the way, what's L'dub #414 - is that a school district? Sorry for my ignorance.

"Lake Washington School District 414"

[klm40691]

Thanks everyone!