Where to live in Seattle?
March 31, 2005 6:18 AM   Subscribe

If I were to work in Bellevue, Washington, where would I want to live? We love where we currently live so we would want to replicate it as much as possible.

Details: We currently live in one of the first planned communities in the US. It is wooded, contains 55 miles of paths making it easy to walk, run or bike anywhere in the community, and we're less than 2 pedestrian friendly miles to the grocery store, a town center with movies shopping and restaurants and a 45-mile multi-use rail-trail.

We would have approximately 600K from the sale of our current place and could, if necessary, put all of that into a 3-4 bedroom condo, townhouse or single-family home in the Seattle area. It could be urban or suburban but bare in mind that what some people consider funky or full-of-character my wife often views as dirty and old (she'll visit but doesn't want to live there).
posted by probablysteve to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I grew up in Bellevue, practically across the street from Microsoft (In the "Overlake" area). Then I moved to Kirkland, and I have to say I'm very fond of the city. The downtown area is pretty cool, and then there's Juanita, which is like a seperate town (but my impression was always that it was technically part of Kirkland) and has people with horses and whatnot.

If you can find something affordable on the east side, I'd go with a house. Back yards are important! Plus, in my mind Seattle is very different from some other cities in that you can find places seemingly in the wilderness or at least in the woods that are reasonably close to high-density areas. (so living in a house doesn't mean living in the middle of nowhere as it might in, say, New York.)

If you want closer, I remember Crossroads as a depressed area in which you may be able to find very affordable housing close to downtown Bellevue. It's probably come up a bit since the last time I was there (a couple years ago).

I highly suggest you check out the DOT's site on biking, and their state and local bike maps.
posted by lorrer at 6:58 AM on March 31, 2005


We live in Seattle and work at Microsoft. Downtown Redmond is cute--there's an old downtown that I always enjoy visiting. I don't know that you'll find the kind of planned community you have now though. We moved here from Mpls and ended up in the Ballard n'hood of Seattle, which has a Scandinavian flavor reminiscent of Minnesota for us. We really wanted to live in the city, not the burbs. If we'd had as much money as you to throw into a house, our #1 city neighborhood choice would have been Madison Park, which is in Seattle but offers one of the better commutes to Bellevue/Redmond.
posted by GaelFC at 7:08 AM on March 31, 2005


I'll second Kirkland and Redmond, but don't think either of them is quite what you're after. You may want to take a look at Mercer Island as well, I had a few good friends who grew up there and loved it (though it's expensive). I would also whole-heartedly recommend that you try to live on the East Side of Lake Washington - if that's where you'll end up working, even if there are attractive neighborhoods on the West Side. I made the cross-lake commute for years, and really really hated it - I want those lost hours in traffic (multiplied into months probably) back.
posted by kokogiak at 7:42 AM on March 31, 2005


In terms of trying to replicate your experience and being relatively close to Bellevue, Issaquah or Snoqualmie might work for you.

The older areas of either are very spread out, but I think there's a new planned community in Issaquah being built in the area. Issaquah is a short drive from Bellevue, distance wise at least - maybe 10 miles.

Snoqualmie has a similar area that's already been built, but it's attached to a high-end championship golf course. The city of Snoqualmie is very small (~5,000 people, I think), and a little east of Issaquah - probably another 5 or 10 miles.
posted by milkrate at 8:50 AM on March 31, 2005


"Pedestrian friendly" and Bellevue are not generally two things that go together. Though of course there are some exceptions. The Issaquah Highlands project mentioned above is probably more like what you have in mind.

As a Seattleite, I do think that much of what you are looking for can be found on the west side of the lake -- but if your wife has issues with "old", it probably won't suit her. (There are some stunning bungalows in Seattle, though. Sure, they are old, but they are really nice. They might be pushing your budget a bit, though.) Still, maybe a neighborhood like say, much of Wallingford, would be tolerable -- it's not planned but most of what you are looking for is there. The houses are old but not in a bad way. There are shops and movies. It's about 5 minutes to downtown, the U District, etc. It's not wooded, though there are many trees -- most of the time you have to go suburban to get the serious woods.

As others have mentioned, though, the cross-lake commute can be a bitch -- but if you are planning to take the bus, maybe that's not a big issue for you.
posted by litlnemo at 9:04 AM on March 31, 2005


I'd say live in Bellevue proper, close to downtown, if you want something bikeable/walkable. There's a major mall, a couple smaller shopping centers, two grocery stores, a library, a cinema, a museum, a waterfront park, plenty of restaurants. There is currently construction going on at the Qwest building (it is becoming Bellevue City Hall) and at Lincoln Plaza right across from Bellevue Square, but that's a temporary annoyance. Once Lincoln Square is complete there'll be yet more shopping and residences in downtown. Now if you're looking for nightlife, downtown Bellevue is not the place to be; it empties out pretty quickly after work hours, and the only place I'm aware of to see live music, for example, is the Rock Bottom Brewery in the Galleria. Fortunately, Seattle's a short drive away (take I-90 rather than 520) and the drive is tolerable after evening rush hour, maybe 15-20 minutes.

Issaquah is also a great choice if you want something a little more out of town, but I'll warn you, it takes me a good 10-15 minutes to get to work in downtown from the Eastgate area of Bellevue, at 10 AM, and Issaquah is about 10 minutes further out. I'd say as a practical matter you're looking at about a half-hour commute from Issaquah during rush hour. Hint: don't try to take I-405 into downtown. Instead drive past I-405 on I-90 and get off at the next exit, Bellevue Way, and bear right when you get to 112th. That'll take you right downtown, in pretty much the same spot you'd end up if you took I-405. Or else get off I-90 at 156th, before the I-405 interchange, and follow Eastgate Way, Richards Rd., and the Lake Hills Connector into town -- that ends up as 116th, just the other side of I-405 from 112th.
posted by kindall at 9:16 AM on March 31, 2005


If you are around 50ish, you might want to check out Trilogy Redmond Ridge, especially if you like to golf.
posted by noahv at 9:17 AM on March 31, 2005


The eastside in general (the area you will be working, and may live) has no soul. Great views here and there, but no soul.

People come to Seattle for a variety of reasons - it's a great place to live, if not overdeveloped and losing it's soul as well. When I read your post, I'm reminded of those who weekly fathom their move to Seattle, some with jobs, some not - it's a common influx. Overall, the city is bipolar: downtown/Seattle is a metropolitan city, with all that entails, good and bad. One with fantastic views as well, but other issues. The eastside is one big development, which at one time (pre-Microsoft), had great appeal for those seeking nice properties with Northwest appeal. Now, it feels like Colorado Springs, or any other rapidly developed, homogenized suburban center.

You should do yourself the favor of spending a little time here in an executive suite (I did) before deciding which side of the lake (Lake Washington) will divide you. You may be hugely disappointed...or perfectly happy, in that Reston kind of way.

My apologies if any eastsiders were offended by anything I've said. I lived there over 20 years ago, so I know what I'm talking about.
posted by ValveAnnex at 11:28 AM on March 31, 2005


Man, we do the cross-lake commute (Seattle to Microsoft) every day, and it's just not that bad! We carpool, occasionally bus (drive to the park and ride and bus from there), arrange our schedules to avoid rush hours when possible, etc. I've seen commutes in LA and DC and even my own former home of Mpls, and this crosslake thing is fairly tolerable, in my opinion.
posted by GaelFC at 4:42 PM on March 31, 2005


The whole east side suffered a housing boom during the .com years, with vast tracts of land scraped clean and converted to shoddy but superficially expensive-looking housing for the stock-intoxicated 'softies. So be careful that whatever you buy actually has a life expectancy of more than five years.

On the other hand, a lot of the developments there are at least trying to reproduce the kind of place you're moving from, and I assume some have succeeded.

I also recommend against the cross-lake commute. There are worse commutes, but it's still an hour of idling in your car when you could be doing something else. Plenty of people disagree with me on that, though, as you can tell by looking at the bridges during rush hour.
posted by hattifattener at 11:39 PM on March 31, 2005


At least one person I know enjoys the daily commute because it's time she is away from her kids and her work and she can (mostly) just relax and think about stuff. ;)
posted by litlnemo at 11:13 AM on April 1, 2005


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