Redmond area questions (Bellevue: student loans, custom home, neighborhoods) - Seattle area - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

just*us · 08-01-2008, 10:41 PM

My husband has his 3rd round of interviews coming up at MS and we have been researching all we can about the area. My main concern is traffic, with my 2nd concern being the cost of living.

Two years ago we built a custom home and hate to leave it. We have about $100k in equity. It seems like to replace it in a decent Redmond/Bellevue area is about $800k or more. We expect to "downgrade".

My husband will make about $140k and I make about $50k part time and can telecommute when we move. I still worry about "making" it there. We are completely debt free other than student loans.

Are there any decent areas with easy commutes to Redmond campus for under $500k? We have 2 daughters, 2 and 6, so schools are very important. We would want a nice quality home with a small yard, 3 bedrooms and a garage as it appears most homes in the area don't have basements. I don't want my husband's commute to exceed about 20 minutes even at high traffic times.

My husband has spent lots of time in the area and prefers Bellevue, but I am worried this is too far away? Thanks for any help!

ETA: I see houses in Redmond Ridge but how far a drive (worst case and average) is it to the campus?

allforcats · 08-01-2008, 11:18 PM

Hi. Bellevue is a wonderful area to live in, right next door to, and indistinguishable from, Redmond. Here is a lot of current information with answers to your every question:

Ira500 · 08-02-2008, 12:45 AM

While Microsoft is in Redmond, it's just barely above the Bellevue border.
And yes, there are decent areas with three bedroom homes for under 500k within a 20 minte commute to the MS campus. Not an abundance of homes for under 500k, but some, and some fairly nice ones.

jenlion · 08-02-2008, 07:23 PM

Justus, we went through all this within the past year. DM me (click on my userID "Jenlion" and choose to send a direct message) if you want to talk about it. We saw redmond ridge, I test-drove a ton of neighborhoods at different times of day, and we were looking in the same ranges there.

Also: pretty much anything Ira says is exactly right. Most of the time, I think of MS as being more Bellevue than Redmond myself anyway.

just*us · 08-03-2008, 03:34 PM

Thanks for the help everyone. I am trying not to invest too much mental energy in case we don't move, but this site is very helpful!