Mill Creek? (Everett, Kirkland: neighborhoods, school district, taxes)

[jwb123]

WestCoastDiva, yes, if you can find something in your price range in Kirkland, I am sure you would be more happy there. Mill Creek is decent, like the planned community itself - but you have to get to it going through a pretty depressed, older area... there are small pockets of newer areas - and in some years time it might be totally different... but for now, if you can afford elsewhere, do it. Then, also - you won't have to deal with the whole "Unincorporated Snohomish County" problem.

[WestCoastDiva]

I really do not want to live in an unincorporated area. Been there, done that here in San Diego ( our first real estate purchase was a condo). I couldn't wait to get out of that area. Thanks Jenbar. We don't plan to move again, so Kirkland it is. Anyway, Kirkland is closer to my mother's home ( she lives in Madison Park), and she is the reason we are moving back to Seattle. Thanks again!

[J99skybird]

Ok, I have to step in and correct something JenBar posted about... Mill Creek is in SE, NOT NE. We live in the northernmost incorporated area of Mill Creek (133rd se), and we are still SE. The area around 137 SE is very nice and is indeed part of Mill Creek. Because of Mill Creek and Bothell sharing zipcodes we are all often lumped into one big "bothell" lable.

Kirkland is lovely too, but we love it here. I would recommend taking a closer look at both areas. Also, it seems that since Mill Creek is right in the "convergence zone" for weather patterns we seem to get more extremes that down in Seattle/Bellevue. More snow and more sunshine. Nowhere near the extremes of the east cost (where I am from), but certainly more interesting than a little further south.

Good luck with the hunt!

[jwb123]

"Very nice"? I guess it depends on your standards.

Regarding this specific address, I looked it up online, and it's listed as BOTHELL. Check the tax records.

I could be wrong about the "NE" for some areas but, all of Mill Creek is NOT SE. I remember trying to find a place from craigslist, and having a heck of a time because of the SE/NE Mill Creek/Bothell confusion.

LOTS of places say they are Mill Creek to appear better than they are... but they aren't paying Mill Creek taxes, or going to Mill Creek school district schools.

None the less, the area I lived in Bothell, (North Creek Park, behind the QFC, off of 164th, sometimes called "Mill Creek" but wasn't) was SE. If you cross Bothell-Everett HWY, going down 164th, into Mill Creek, away from 5 - that is NOT SE. Once you cross Bothell-Everett HWY, it became something else, and I am pretty sure it's NE.

Kind of a pointless thing to pick at... but whatever.

[jwb123]

I don't know if this link works - but I google mapped it, and you can see, it's outside of the Mill Creek area. It's actually, almost Everett. You cross over 132nd and it's Everett.

http://www.google.com/maps?q=137th+S...i=map&ct=image

[J99skybird]

Actually we truely are in incorporated mill creek. I know where my taxes go. My dog is liscenced by the city of Mill Creek. And I just paid my surface water use bill for the year to the city of Mill Creek. If you check the incorporated town boundries, we are inside of them and the rest of mill creek is south of us. The NE section of the county does not start until you get North of Everett, in fact if you look at a map of lake stevens (way north of mill creek) it switches from SE to NE near the lake. 133rd se is intermitant, so parts may be not be with in the city, but our area is.

Also the link to the google map says nothing about that being non-mill creek, in fact it recognizes it as a mill creek address and it is very near the mill creek sports park. Mill Creek's incorporated boundries run as far east as 35th. and the main part of it is east of Bothell everett Highway (ie the side both 137th and my home are on), you can see the golf course it is built around if you zoom out on your link. Both google and rand mcnally (and the city of mill creek) show the boundries to be approximately 527 to the west (ie bothell everett highway), 132nd (aka route 96) to the north and Seattle hill road to the south and east (it runs on an angle).

Go here, it brings up a pdf of the city's true incorporated boundries as defined by the city of mill creek government:
http://www.cityofmillcreek.com/Public%20Works/WEB_SITE_MAP_JAN_2006_FEB_6.pdf (broken link)

The map the above site has also shows that all of mill creek is indeed SE, SE runs from I-5 east all the way to the end of the county and from the snohomish/king co line north to past route 2.

The "very nice" is purely opinion so I won't argue it... just the facts.

[WestCoastDiva]

I've been talking to a Realtor, she is going to find out if the address that I'm interested in is actually Mill Creek. I'll let you guys know.

[WestCoastDiva]

J99Skybird was right, it's Mill Creek. We just received an offer on our house , it's only been on the market since Monday( We'll find out about it tomorrow). I guess San Diego real estate still hasn't hit rock bottom. I'm putting Mill Creek back on the list to look at.

[WestCoastDiva]

Oh by the way, I like the idea of extremes in the weather. I'll go to my mother's house in Seattle if the weather gets really cold in Mill Creek. Since I have lived in San Diego for the past 20+ years, I like the idea of a little warmer summer in Mill Creek.

[WestCoastDiva]

I've received additional information on Mill Creek, ( I have some friends in Seattle), so I'm just going to have to look very carefully. We are not moving again, so I want to make sure that we are happy wherever we end up. Actually my husband is favoring Kirkland. Thanks again to Jenbar and J995skybird! We'll be in Seattle in May or June, and we will decide at that time which area that we want to live in!