Where is the best place to buy a house on the eastside? (Seattle: houses, neighborhoods)

[Ira500]

I'm just frustrated with the real estate market like everyone else in this town. I think once you start looking for houses, you'll start feeling this frustration too, especially if you stick to Bellevue. Good luck finding a house.

It's really easy to lose patience when looking for a house to buy. But prices are continuing to drop, and unless you have an urgent need to buy now, take your time. When a real estate agent tells you something like " This one won't last, you better make an offer", it isn't necessarily your needs he's looking after.

[kagona]

Seattlenextyear that was sweet of you. I like this forum after all.

Ira do you think the market is at its low point yet? Or do you think things might still drop?

[LongDawson]

Ira will have good insight but I will share an opinion.

There are a lot of homes that people paid $800k+ for, tons of them. Or there are just dreamers trying to sell for these prices. Kirkland seems to have the most of these "things" -- massively overpriced homes at $1M++, they don't seem to have much value above $500k in my opinion. Waterfront maybe, they will always get good prices. But some random street in Kirkland? Day of reckoning is here, so wake up, prices will continued to drop. I have no idea how that will play out. I don't think there are any buyers.

At the $400k level Bellevue is stable though. This is a solid market. I don't see it going much lower. I am not a real estate agent though. Bellevue seems much nicer than Kirkland also.

[Ira500]

I almost completely agree with Long Dawson above. I don't think we've hit bottom yet, despite what a lot of other real estate agents think. To bore you with data, there's often a lag between inventories and sales dropping or rising, and prices. 3 or 4 years ago, sales slowed, inventories rose, yet prices continued to rise for another year+. Now, inventories are shrinking and sales are rising, yet prices are continuing to drop. I guess it's a sign we're getting closer to the bottom...What I especially agree with Long Dawson is about the high end properties. There aren't enough people out there that can afford houses at that price. They're dropping significantly...the lowest end Bellevue houses? I don't think they're done dropping either, but they're not going to drop nearly as much as the high end homes. They might drop another 10%...but there's not a lot of them for sale, and even though some of them are very dated and need work, there just aren't a lot of 400,000 dollar houses for sale in Bellevue,and people want to live in Bellevue, so they'll hold their value a lot more than an 800,000 dolar home in Kirkland...There's a lot more of them for sale with a smaller buyer pool.

[seattlenextyear]

No kidding. There was a high end house in Kirkland that just dropped its price $200,000!

[justus4]

We really like Redmond Ridge and feel like it is a great place for kids. I am seeing houses in the $429+ range that were more like $550 when we staretd looking a year ago...

[eskercurve]

If you listen to the good folks at seattle bubble, they will state that there is roughly 10-15% more to go in falling home values. I think they will be right as Alt-A and ARMs start resetting in 2010. Then we'll see a second wave of foreclosures, short selling, and bank reassessments. Don't forget Boeing is laying off roughly 10,000 people, and are only about halfway done. Not all fo them will be in the Puget Sound region, but many are. Microsoft is also not hiring anyone with experience. Chase basically cut half the workforce here once WAMU went under and got bought by Chase.

Some areas are simply still overinflated. I would echo Ira's advice and wait it out for another 6 months if you can. Renting right now is so much better for saving up and waiting that it's too good to not rent.

As for where to rent, if you are not dead set on owning your own roof and four walls, then there are plenty of condos in the $300k range on Mercer Island and they have one of the best school districts around. You can rent a 2 br 2 ba on MI for about $1350 a month.

I live on Mercer Island and have to say that I like it here. I prefer it over Bellevue and people here are friendly. There's also basic necessities within walking distance and a very short drive to Seattle or the Eastside. If I could afford a home, I would, lol, but average for a home here is $1 mil. Thus renting I will be doing!

[Ira500]

I'll second eskercurve's recommendation of Seattle Bubble. Lots of data, great discussions, a wide variety of opinions. Anybody thinking about buying a house around here is better served by reading Seattle Bubble than by simply listening to a realtor's advice.

[JesseJames34]

Originally Posted by kagona

Hi All!

My husband and I are fairly new to the area and we want to buy a house in the next month or so. We are looking for somewhere to settle down for a while. We have an 8 month old son, and will probably be having more kids soon.

My husband works in Bellevue. I am a stay at home mom.
Our budget is around 400k.

I am seeing a lot of houses popping up in Kirkland, some in Bellevue, a bunch in Redmond. I also was wondering about Ballard since my husband and I are having a hard time settling into the suburbs, but the commute is long.

Are any areas better than others? I keep hearing that the Bellevue school district is the best. Is this true, and if so how much better is it?

Thanks!!!!

newcastle, a little south of bellevue/factoria area, has some homes around $400k, but of course they are old. to be honest, don't expect alot of new in bellevue.

i've also seen some in that range in "northeast bellevue". again, mostly old and some kind of junky looking. but hey, it might suit you.

[Ira500]

I'll second jessejames' recommend for the Newcastle area. Some of the homes there are newer, and the nearby hiking trails are awesome, but...Newcastle addresses are in three different school districts. Most Newcastle homes are in the Renton district, and if you lived there your children would attend the better Renton schools, but they're still not as good as the Bellevue or Issaquah schools are.