kirkland or Issaquah/Sammamish? (Seattle, Redmond: sales, real estate, rent)

[delamom]

hi, we will be househunting next week and figured that we liked the areas around Issaquah. Real estate agent pulled a few listings from Kirkland as well which I know nothing about. Here is what we want

- neighborhood with other families. We have a 6 yr old and 3 yr old.
- great schools
- husband will be commuting to downtown Seattle. (Yes, I know it's far but heard the schools on the eastside might have better services for my son)

So based on the above criteria would you recommend Kirkland? Sammamish (we liked the look of some of the neighborhoods in there, playgrounds, etc) ? Issaquah?

We will only have a limited time in the area to hunt around for housing so any info would be a great help.
Thanks!

[VeronikaW]

Check out the Issaquah Highlands. They have everything you want, and there's a nice Park N Ride, which will help with your hubby's commute.

V. =)

[texastrigirl]

We love the Pine Lake area in Sammamish! We searched all of Sammamish, parts of Issaquah and Issaquah Highlands. Any of those areas meet your criteria.

[Ira500]

Issaquah is not all that far a commute to downtown Seattle. Issaquah Highlands is a little further, and Sammamish a little further still.
Kirkland is nice, family oriented, and has good schools. Tends to be a little pricier than Sammamish or Issaquah ( you get less house for your money), and there are parts of Kirkland that are clearly less desirable, like Kingsgate.
Both Issaquah and Kirkland have real downtowns, Sammamish doesn't. But it has Pine Lake and Beaver Lake, both very pretty( Beaver Lake is good for swimming). And enough places to shop and dine.

[texastrigirl]

If you stay on the south end of Sammamish (Pine Lake Rd area) it's not much different of a commute downtown than from IH. We can get down to I-90 pretty fast just off of 212th and Pine Lake Rd.

[Juniper1788]

Seattle Weekly voted Kirkland the best suburb to live in for 2011. Go Kirkland!

We just moved to Kirkland a couple of months ago from out of state. We have a 6 year old and a 1 year old, and my husband commutes downtown. So far we like it. Good luck!

[texastrigirl]

According to Seattle Met Magazine, Sammamish is the place to be in 2012. Kirkland is great as well...just less affordable but if you can do it, go for it!

[TX2WA]

with either Kirkland or Sammamish. We live on the northern half of the Plateau and it is 10 minutes to most conveniences (Target, etc.) via Redmond.

However, Kirkland is one of our favorite areas. Lots to do, great restaurants and right on the water. Some great housing options if money is no barrier. However, Sammamish has lots of great neighborhoods at more affordable prices and the schools are a bit more highly rated than Kirkland.

Still, you'd be in a good spot in either place.

[AddyLaddy]

Hi

We chose to live in South Sammamish (Issaquah SD) for the good schools and I commute daily to DT Seattle on the bus via the I-90. Takes me about 1hr door-to-door and is great as it uses the HOV lanes and transit tunnels. There were pretty bad (non HOV) queues this morning now the 520 Bridge Tolling has started!

I love Pine Lake and the many play parks around the area. Sammamish Library is wonderful too. We are about 10mins drive from the shopping areas of Issaquah which as Fred Meyer, Best Buy, Target and a huge Costco.

We are probably going to buy a house this year, but currently have been renting and watching the prices slowly decline for the last 18m or so. I don't think they've bottomed out yet, but we're looking at 4-bed SFH prices starting around $175 sq ft in the 98075 zip code area.

Many of the modern developments like Issaquah Highlands and most SFHs built since around 2003 have tiny lots. We currently rent a 2500 sq ft house on a lot of about 3800 sq ft - i.e. a tiny back yard, but I have seen lots sizes below 3000 sq ft too!

I think we'll look for slightly older developments from mid 1990s as they often have around 0.25 acre lots. I like Klahanie and the Pine Lake areas, but we are now pretty much stuck in 98075 as we don't want to move our kid's HS. There is a brand new elementary (Creekside) to the West of Pine Lake and a lot of new development there. Ebright park nearby is great too. I've looked around new builds over there starting around $185 sq ft.


But I would consider renting first, before you jump in to the Seattle housing market. Also check out Tim Ellis' excellent site at Seattle Bubble • local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin.


Hope this helps.