Double WFH + baby moving to Washington (Seattle, Bellevue: apartments, condos, low crime)

[pomotac]

Hi all,

Our family is planning to move to Washington (from Washington DC). Both of us work from home so the exact location is not critical, though we want a place with good retail/services nearby, and ideally not a ton of traffic or stroads. We also would like an area with other young families and at least some East Asian presence/restaurants. School quality is not our main criteria at this point since we may move again before the kid is school age, but parks and general walkability (strollerability?) is a plus. Safety is important, but we're coming from a pretty bad neighborhood, so I imagine most Washington suburbs or smaller towns are a big improvement.

We are primarily looking to buy rather than rent, and would need at least 4 bedrooms or equivalent (e.g. 3 bedrooms and a separate office room) for the two home offices. We are hoping to stay under 800k but could go to 1M if necessary.

Right now it's hard to even get started since we have few hard constraints (no friends or family, no commute, we're boring people and don't have a lot of hobbies, schools not that important, don't care about going to sports games, etc). ~1 hour proximity to the SeaTac airport is a plus for semi-frequent international travel.

We are primarily focused on the three Seattle area counties, but are open to other suggestions. Ideally somewhere where the wildfire smoke is not super strong, and also ideally a place that would not get insta-wiped out in a megatsunami, so probably not the islands or the coast.

I realize this is not a lot to go on, but any advice (even very broad) is highly appreciated!

[NWbyNW]

If you are looking for a city near an airport, may I recommend Everett? Paine Field is a growing secondary airport and has a decent amount of national flights. A good alternative to SeaTac in many ways, cheaper too. If you need to go to SeaTac you are 45 minutes to an hour away. As for the city, the prices are lower, and all the major shopping you need is in Everett or the nearby cities of Lynnwood or Marysville if you want alternatives. Really Snohomish County (north of Seattle) is a good place to look for everything you have listed. Pretty much anything is within your budget.

Everett itself is a working city that is on the up and up. One of the next city's in the metro that I think will explode when people find it. It's got a beautiful parks system, one of the biggest in the state. More public water front space than any other city in the state, and has the largest public marina on the west coast. Lot's of new condos and apartments being built if you want to live with some water and island views, looking towards the Olympics. If that is not your thing, move inland and have striking views of the Cascade's to the east. Either direction you will see snow capped mountains. Traffic in and around town is no issue and since you won't commute, there is no need to worry about I-5 traffic to Seattle.

I would look at any surrounding city of Everett too. Mukilteo, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, etc. Lot's of great choices. If you stick with Everett specially, for your budget, look at north Everett. Northwest Everett (Bayside, Northwest Everett, Port Gardiner, View Ridge) and the western neighborhoods (Harborview, Seahurst, Glenhaven, Boulevard Bluffs) along the waterfront bordering Mukilteo are beautiful. Lot's of greenery and fresh ocean breezes make the area mild year round. Cleansing winds help keep the air clean.

[pomotac]

Originally Posted by NWbyNW

If you are looking for a city near an airport, may I recommend Everett?

Plenty of folks on this and other forums seem to be describing Everett as a "ghetto". My guess is they're exaggerating, but can you comment on that?

[mayfair]

Paine Field won't have as many flights and destinations as Sea-Tac, and Everett/Mukilteo etc. can be tough to get to Sea-Tac in an hour when traffic is bad.

The east side of Lake Washington will be more diverse and have lots of families and have lower crime.

[Hemlock140]

Here in Sammamish we are 33% Asian and most from India, including our next door neighbors on both sides. There is an Vedic Cultural Center, a n Indian market (Apna Bazar) and an Indian restaurant, with others 5-6 miles away in Redmond and Issaquah. Unfortunately the houses here start at well over a million, but there may be condos in the $700s.

[homesinseattle]

Hi Potomac! The Renton Highlands might be a good fit for you, there are homes within your budget and the location is within reasonably easy reach of Seattle’s main airport, Seatac. It also fits a number of your other criteria.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by pomotac

Plenty of folks on this and other forums seem to be describing Everett as a "ghetto". My guess is they're exaggerating, but can you comment on that?

Hardly ghetto in the traditional sense. There are some parts of Everett that have more crime but plenty of really pretty most peaceful neighborhoods, like Historic North Everett, Rucker Hill, View Ridge. Historic North Everett, with the pedestrian bridge to the marina/waterfront, is my fave.

[jabogitlu]

East Asian proximity to me instantly screams King County.

You're budget challenged in this area (especially for four bedrooms). I think you might be happiest on the Eastside of King County, but you're priced out of suburbs like Bellevue, Redmond, Sammamish, Kirkland. Renton Highlands is a good suggestion (from above) that you could follow up on.

Westside of King County (aka Seattle and its I-5 burbs) will also give you some options at $1 million or below. West Seattle might be the best option (or among the best).

Wildfire smoke is going to be prevalent region-wide when we get socked in. If that's important, might be best to look for a home with an HVAC system or the ability to install one. Lots of houses here do not have air conditioning (only heating).

[pomotac]

Thanks for the Renton Highlands recommendations! We're not too picky about being in a big Asian bubble (we're currently not in one and we're used to living within white/black/Hispanic majority areas, and our family is only half-Asian anyway) but don't want to be completely isolated from good/authentic restaurants either. I agree this is overall a bit tricky equation because of the hard requirement requirement on size. We're more willing to be flexible on the location and the school system than size or low crime.

I've also looked far east of Eastside along the I-90 and north from Snoqualmie, but those houses don't seem to be getting meaningfully cheaper there.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by pomotac

Thanks for the Renton Highlands recommendations! We're not too picky about being in a big Asian bubble (we're currently not in one and we're used to living within white/black/Hispanic majority areas, and our family is only half-Asian anyway) but don't want to be completely isolated from good/authentic restaurants either. I agree this is overall a bit tricky equation because of the hard requirement requirement on size. We're more willing to be flexible on the location and the school system than size or low crime.

I've also looked far east of Eastside along the I-90 and north from Snoqualmie, but those houses don't seem to be getting meaningfully cheaper there.

You are right, Snoqualmie is a relatively easy (and pretty) commute to Microsoft, T Mobile, Bellevue, hence the prices. You might also peruse Maple Valley, though you would find more diversity in the Renton Highlands.