Buying Our First Home! Please Help Us Pick the Neighborhood! (Spokane: new home, neighborhoods)

[CaliWa]

I have been looking around this forum for a while and everyone seems so helpful! It would be great if you could give my husband and me some much needed suggestions on where to look for homes in Spokane.

We previously lived in Spokane when we attended Whitworth University between 1999-2003ish. So we are familiar with North Spokane for the most part but that's a bit far from where we'd like to be.

My husband's job is in the KHQ building at 1201 W. Sprague close to downtown. We'd like to live somewhat close to there (maybe within 15-20 minutes at the most).

We would like a home with at least 2 bathrooms and at least 2 bedrooms and a fairly nice sized yard. It doesn't have to be a new home but we don't want to buy a total fixer-upper. We're looking in the 175k-250k range.

We've heard the South Hill is a great place to live but would love your input!

[Arquebus]

Also consider looking at Spokane Valley, we moved here last spring & really like it. I work over by the airport & it only takes me twenty minutes to commute (14 miles).

[redhead]

ahhhhh this is right up my ally; i've been tracking the market and looking through different neighborhoods in spokane for quit awhile; and i live on the south hill in moran parie. I've found that if you want a big yard then this limils your picks for homes on the south hill. the south hill area is very nice; it has such a san francisco feeling to me. but that said it's also filled with old homes and that means unless you are buying a mansion; you'll be settling for a small yard; and you've got to love having the basement count as living space as well, because even if the home's basement isn't totally converted into living space the realtor still counts it as living space, so pay attention to that. some will list the tax assessed square footage seperate from what they list as the total square footage, so that's the most honest representation. i for one don't care to live in a basement. so that's leading me towards spokane valley because the homes are newer with larger lots and you'll find more then just bungalows where you need the basement counted as living space if you want more then around 1,000 square footage in your home. so there's lots of nice neighborhoods in the valley like otis orchards and veradale, millwood is nice and closer into downtown and has some charactor to the neighborhood. liberty lake is very nice as well. plus the shopping in the valley is concentrated in a major commercial area and right off the freeway so it's very handy; and the city of spokane valley maintains roads in the winter better then spokane imo. but you do give up the old charm of the south hills' neighborhoods if you choose the valley but then again, you are adding a very nice view of the sourrounding mountains and you're closer to couer d'alene. plus you wouldn't have to deal with the steep icy snow packed hills in the winter if you didn't live on the south hill, (the valley is much flatter) it gets very dicy here in the winter; some resort to riding the bus when it is icy in order to avoid slipping around on the steep hills here. so over all for what you've said you like as far a big yard and in your price range you'd have many very nice even newer homes in the valley over anything the south hill has to offer. moran parie is my favorite place in the area but the homes are well over 200K even in this market. but the market is going down still and within the next 6 months i think you'll see a bigger correction, there's an article in the spoksman review about this this week. so you might do a search on our local newspaper to read it. good luck.

[redhead]

just to add more to my last post regarding homes in the area called the "south hill" here in spokane. not all of the homes here are bugalows on small lots, but many are older homes; victorian, bungalow, and craftsmen, and there's lots of california split levels as well, but many don't have garages because the homes take up so much of the small lots that there's no room for a garage; but there's also many ranchers as well, and you do find some larger lots with big yards; but overall spokane valley is a newer area than the south hill so you don't have as many homes aged around 100 years old. so there's more ranchers on 7K sq ft lots in spokane valley then there are in the south hill area, and they'll be priced lower then the more "desirable" south hill here in spokane. also want to add another area in spokane valley called greenacres which has lots of nice homes as well. the west valley section of spokane valley has some nice homes but the drawback to that area is that it's so commercalized and has sprague ave (a main thoroughfare) and the freeway running right through it. the area south of the freeway between pines rd all the way to sullivan rd is nice as well. lots of big ranch style homes on quarter acre lots. but stay away from any area around Trent up till sullivan rd. pretty run down areas and the rail road runs parallel to it. this gives you a little more detailed info. the nicest area in spokane valley is liberty lake, that's the uppy area with hight priced homes and very pretty.

[unopepito06]

I've been here 10 years, never lived anywhere but around South Hill, and I'm glad. Here's my quick opinions on the areas around town.

South Hill: the mostly "ritzy-titzy, high-class" area in Spokane proper. Pretty slummy at the bottom of the hill, gets better at around 18th ave, and houses generally get nicer/more expensive the higher up you get. The upper-20s (above and below 29th ave.) is a really nice area, especially around Rockwood/Grand. Lots of nice mansion-sized houses, and close to Manito park. House sizes/prices peak as you get up into Brown's mountain, up in the hills in the more rural areas. Pretty quick to get downtown, but you'll have to go downtown or somewhere else if you want anything to do. South Hill is mostly just houses and restaurants, not much shopping or anything (which is, like, all there is to do here) so if you're bored you'll have to drive out north or downtown, or to the Valley. And it can be a bit harrowing in the winter going up and down any one of the steep streets to get back home.

North side: Can be cool around downtown or the U district, but mostly just slummy bad neighborhoods with gangsters and junkies walking around, until you get out to the Y, and then things clean up a bit, especially as you get into the hills.

The Valley: My refuge, as there's stuff to do, places to shop, and you can be there in about 14 minutes on the highway. I don't know about living areas out there, but there's definitely some nice neighborhoods, again, up in the hills especially.

I frankly wouldn't want to live anywhere but South Hill. Maybe in the Valley, but that means getting on the highway and driving in to town every time you want to do something, or have an appointment in the city.