Sammamish to Ballard Commute, etc. (Seattle, Bellevue: condo, credit, how much)

[belowzero]

Looking to relocate from MN in the spring of '07 for employment in Ballard. We lived in Enumclaw about 3 yrs ago and liked having access to Seattle but not living right in it (personal preference due to family considerations). Enumclaw was actually nicer than I think it is sometimes given credit, but would agree that it is more remote than our preference and accesibility to good restaurants and shopping was quite limited. Just in Seattle over the Holidays and looked at Edmonds. We liked the community feel of that area but would prefer to be a little further away from Seattle and avoid the north / south commute. At this point, we are interested in the Sammamish area as schools, safety and family environment are high priorities. Looking to spend $375,000 or less for a 3 BR home and willing to look at a nice condo if necessary. Is that realistic in the Sammamish area? Also, what would be a realistic commute time for a M-F 9-5 'ish position near the Swedish Hospital (1 hr or less?)? Location of employment is 15th Ave NW and NW 54th ST. Also, if we needed to look outside Sammamish, would North Bend schools be on par with Sammamish (children ages 11 and 16) and are there flooding issues in both areas? Thank you for any feedback

[the dufferz]

Originally Posted by belowzero

Looking to relocate from MN in the spring of '07 for employment in Ballard. We lived in Enumclaw about 3 yrs ago and liked having access to Seattle but not living right in it (personal preference due to family considerations). Enumclaw was actually nicer than I think it is sometimes given credit, but would agree that it is more remote than our preference and accesibility to good restaurants and shopping was quite limited. Just in Seattle over the Holidays and looked at Edmonds. We liked the community feel of that area but would prefer to be a little further away from Seattle and avoid the north / south commute. At this point, we are interested in the Sammamish area as schools, safety and family environment are high priorities. Looking to spend $375,000 or less for a 3 BR home and willing to look at a nice condo if necessary. Is that realistic in the Sammamish area? Also, what would be a realistic commute time for a M-F 9-5 'ish position near the Swedish Hospital (1 hr or less?)? Location of employment is 15th Ave NW and NW 54th ST. Also, if we needed to look outside Sammamish, would North Bend schools be on par with Sammamish (children ages 11 and 16) and are there flooding issues in both areas? Thank you for any feedback

At 5PM expect a 20-30 minute crawl from there to I-5. From I-5 you can either go across 520 or I-90. 520 is shorter, but the path home would not be nice. 520 to redmond/fall city rd, then down w-lk samm. I would guess that from work to home would be 60-90 minutes for a typical day with Fridays being especially rough for some reason. You would be far better off in Edmonds if the commute were important. The farthest south you may want to look if Edmonds of out would be Shoreline. Check out Lake Forest Park. Very bedroom community, not a lot of "developments". the streets are laid out based on the terrain of the hills. It's older, not as nice as Edmonds in general, but the commute would be better in most cases. You would not need to use I-5, but you can use it if the traffic is looking good, so you will have more street options.

[compltlyme]

Originally Posted by belowzero

At this point, we are interested in the Sammamish area as schools, safety and family environment are high priorities. Looking to spend $375,000 or less for a 3 BR home and willing to look at a nice condo if necessary. Is that realistic in the Sammamish area?

That would be a deal here. I am sure you could find a condo for that in this area.

Since I don't commute much... I can't help you there. All I can offer is that it depends on your work schedule. The commute hours don't last all that long. Not like what I was used to in the So Ca area.

[belowzero]

Originally Posted by the dufferz

At 5PM expect a 20-30 minute crawl from there to I-5. From I-5 you can either go across 520 or I-90. 520 is shorter, but the path home would not be nice. 520 to redmond/fall city rd, then down w-lk samm. I would guess that from work to home would be 60-90 minutes for a typical day with Fridays being especially rough for some reason.

Would a van pool or ride share cut down on the commute time and roughly by how much? If I left home around 9 a.m. and work at 5:30 p.m. would that help much? In general, how much time would the commute to North Bend where the homes are less expensive add from Sammamish or Issaquah? It seems like it would be a straight shot at 65 mph (ideally) from the Issaquah area?? For me, commute time is not as important as the other priorities I have mentioned previously. Thanks again for the local insight--very helpful.

[the dufferz]

Originally Posted by belowzero

Would a van pool or ride share cut down on the commute time and roughly by how much? If I left home around 9 a.m. and work at 5:30 p.m. would that help much? In general, how much time would the commute to North Bend where the homes are less expensive add from Sammamish or Issaquah? It seems like it would be a straight shot at 65 mph (ideally) from the Issaquah area?? For me, commute time is not as important as the other priorities I have mentioned previously. Thanks again for the local insight--very helpful.

The van pool would not help much if you go over 520. There is not a carpool lane of any value from Ballard across the floating bridge, but once you get on the Bellevue side you get a carpool lane that will take you to Redmond, but that is it. so that would help a bit, but the extra time needed to do the van pool pick up and delivery would eat your time savings up.

North Bend does give you the advantage of clear sailing from NB to Issaquah, but then you have quite a trip from there. Moderate to heavy traffic on the bridge across Mercer Island, then you have to go through the heavy downtown Seattle corridor. You will probably be having about the same commute time comparted to much of the Pinelake plateau area.

Flexing your work schedule would help a bit, but if you have to punch a clock, much care must be taken to monitor the traffic because all it takes is one major accident to mess the roads up for hours, so you would need to leave earlier in that case.