Relocate to Bothell, WA from NYC with 1 toddler

[Thom52]

Since I am moving out of the area anyway, I will pass along a hidden gem area to consider, if you are thinking of Kirkland. IF you are willing to live in an older home, built in the '70-80's, and likely remodeled at least once since then, the North Rose Hill area of Kirkland has an interesting mix of housing, and I believe Mark Twain Elementary and LW high school still have a decent reputation. (Our kids went to a mix of those and an excellent local alternative school).

If you need a shiny new house, you are looking at $900k-$1.5million on a postage stamp lot in the area.
But for reasons unknown and a frustration to me, the older houses have never appreciated much compared to the region in general, although that may be starting to change. You might even be able to find something in your $550k range, although that is starting to be on the low side for anything in the region with a decent commute location. The trick is at the moment, no one wants to sell those older houses because they would have to move somewhere that costs more and is less convenient. Average time on market for those rare older gems is listed as a few days.

North Bothell, almost Mill creek, has some bargain pricing also, but you are starting to get into the north end 405 gridlock, and have to consider that tradeoff, which really depends on where you job is located.
You will have a tough time with a $550k budget finding anything centrally located.

North Rose hill crime is only your average car and house break-ins. I walk and bike the neighborhood regularly with no fear, and it is a very walkable neighborhood.

Our house is going on the market soon. I just wish it wasn't such a bargain place to buy an older house, from our perspective.

[perigee]

Summer is the worse time to visit! It is too easy to fall in love with the nice weather, the super long days and seeing boats out on the water. The trade off comes about three months later, if at all possible schedule a November visit. I lived on the east coast, so while we may not get as cold, the number of sunny days are less and the days are shorter, which compounds the lack of sunshine.

Fun fact, we actually are far from the wettest area, our rain tends to be light, but it's the clouds that get to people. It seems to me that east coasters that really hate their winters find the trade off not needing to shovel snow for gloomy weather seem to do the best. When we complain about the weather, they just laugh and say well at least we're not shoveling snow.

I love the Pacific Northwest and seeing how you come from NYC I think there might be a good chance you might find the positives outweigh the negatives. First, our summers and winters aren't as extreme as you are use to, you understand bad traffic, though you might miss the MTA. Cost of living might actually go down, a little, probably won't be very noticeable other then the lack of income tax.

The possible negatives for you might be lack of earning potential, the lack of sunshine, people aren't as direct and it might be harder to make friends. Oh and I almost forgot our homeless situation is more visible then NYC, driving down the freeway you see tents all over the place.

Come for a visit and try not to be seduced by all the greenery, the mountains, lakes and The Sound. It is a beautiful area, but we do have our issues.

[laurabf]

It does rain a bit, but it's mainly the winter drizzle that gets to people. It can can be overcast for a few days up to a week or so but we have some amazing sunny days too. Honestly the weather is not bad. You just have to be willing to go out in the rain and get a bit muddy.

[tiffanychan715]

Originally Posted by perigee

Summer is the worse time to visit! It is too easy to fall in love with the nice weather, the super long days and seeing boats out on the water. The trade off comes about three months later, if at all possible schedule a November visit. I lived on the east coast, so while we may not get as cold, the number of sunny days are less and the days are shorter, which compounds the lack of sunshine.

Fun fact, we actually are far from the wettest area, our rain tends to be light, but it's the clouds that get to people. It seems to me that east coasters that really hate their winters find the trade off not needing to shovel snow for gloomy weather seem to do the best. When we complain about the weather, they just laugh and say well at least we're not shoveling snow.

I love the Pacific Northwest and seeing how you come from NYC I think there might be a good chance you might find the positives outweigh the negatives. First, our summers and winters aren't as extreme as you are use to, you understand bad traffic, though you might miss the MTA. Cost of living might actually go down, a little, probably won't be very noticeable other then the lack of income tax.

The possible negatives for you might be lack of earning potential, the lack of sunshine, people aren't as direct and it might be harder to make friends. Oh and I almost forgot our homeless situation is more visible then NYC, driving down the freeway you see tents all over the place.

Come for a visit and try not to be seduced by all the greenery, the mountains, lakes and The Sound. It is a beautiful area, but we do have our issues.

HAHAHAHA, i love they way you say its too easy to fall in love w/ the summer! I know!!! I was living in Spokane for 4 years! GO ZAG (Sorry, cant help it!)!! I really love the summer in seattle and spokane, the weather is too good to be true!!

Hey, MTA really sucks here in NY! They also have "train traffic", can u believe that? haha. I really don't mind driving and the traffic in seattle, but its really the money. Like you said, i guess we won't be making as much as in NY.

Thanks for ur respond!

[tiffanychan715]

Originally Posted by AllisonField

Hi Tiffany - I'm a lifelong Seattle resident with expert familiarity on schools and hope I can offer some perspective. This is a great place to live, highly recommend and compared to NY, I can't imagine you would be disappointed (both of my parents hailed from NY), with the caveat that I am looking to relocate east of the mountains currently. I'll get to that later.

Others may disagree and no shade intended on some of the areas I'm going to veto here ... but, in terms of jobs, schools and safety, I personally won't live beyond the Eastside (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland) borders.

SeaCove seems pretty savvy from other posts I have seen and I support her description of Bothell. That falls in my "not bad" category but job/commute will be the key factor there. If you or your husband are working in Seattle or the Eastside, I recommend North Kirkland as the farthest to live. I understand it may seem tame in contrast to NY traffic but trust me, give it a few months and you'll see.

A friend of mine at Microsoft who lives in Redmond now, built a big new home initially in Bothell but after a year moved to smaller, older home because the traffic tradeoff wasn't worth it. He told me it sometimes took 1/2 hour to get on and off the Bothell freeway access, then another 20 mins to get through the traffic lights in town - that was on top of his freeway and Redmond residential drive time into the Microsoft campus.

So while it appears close on a map, you have to truly consider the traffic density and where you will be working. Seattle is dicey from most places, from Bothell it is far from ideal. Prepare for a tough commute.

Shoreline and Edmonds are okay - but you are still dealing with crime/traffic issues. North of Edmonds (Everett, Marsville) is a "Hell No" from my book. Commute is one of the worst nationally to the Eastside or Seattle and crime/schools are not the best. That is putting it mildly.

I live in Kirkland - which is starting to show signs of increase in crime, but comparatively, it is much better than some areas. I know I may hear flack from that but it is the truth. If you can swing a place on the Eastside (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland), you should be fine. I have, but won't live now, anywhere else in this area. Especially with kids.

Then again, I am looking to move more off the grid than an Urban area, but that is another post entirely. Good Luck!

Really? I also know few people move from NY to the west as well. Mainly because of the kids...I really belive west coast is a better place to raise a child.

Me and my husband are trying to get a job in the bellevue area as well, if traffic is really that bad, I might as well look into Kirkland. I was also looking into bellevue too but most of the houses are out of our budget and the size r much smaller than Bothell.

Thans for ur advise!

[Cecilia M]

I've been house hunting in Bothell, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Edmonds, etc. Basically everything south of Everett in Snohomish County. I've even looked a few houses in Everett. One challenge at the moment is the housing market is very competitive. You can definitely get a nice home for your budget, and you will find lots of options, but there are lots of families looking in that range, and you might be in competition with other buyers and not get the first home you choose. You might want to get a short term month-to-month rental at first so you don't get forced into something really ugly/fixer upper no one wants, just to get a house. I know a couple that happened to when moving into the region from elsewhere. They happen to love fixing up houses so it was fine with them, but it's not something I would want to do. My budget was lower than yours but I still found lots to like in Snohomish County. We've made offers on five houses altogether- Three of which we lost on, the fourth we passed on after inspection revealed hidden mold issues, and the fifth is in the inspection period now.

I'm kind of raising an eyebrow at the idea that you should "only" live on the Eastside. There are tons of nice areas in the northern suburbs for your budget unless you want a mansion. The northern suburbs are fairly consistent when it comes to safety and location. You might even find something in the southern suburbs you like, but it's less consistent there with safety and location.

You should definitely live somewhere based on your commute time. There are lots of transit options here, like light rail, buses, SWIFT buses, etc. If you live in the suburbs and work in Seattle or Bellevue, you want to consider transit if that's an option because the traffic on the freeways is horrible here. Your commute might be long because of the traffic but if you are on transit at least you can do things like read or get work done.

I really like my real estate agent. He's based in Lynnwood but he has helped us look all over the North End from Shoreline to Everett to Bothell. I don't want to spam you, but if you want a recommendation, please inbox me and I will share his contact info.

[Disneyluv111]

Hello Tiffany! I live in Bothell/Mill Creek. In this area you will see homes and businesses with mixed up cities but same zipcode like that. It's confusing so we just say Bothell Mill Creek.
550k is a good range but homes are going up in prices so you'll have to act quick.

I like this are for many reasons, takes me about 25 minutes to get to Bellevue going the back road. Takes me 15 minutes to get to Woodinville, 15 to Everett, 15 to Lynnwood. Traffic stinks if you work on the Eastside and have to travel there. Because work is on the north end, Bothell Mill Creek works for our family.

I like being towards East because I'm closer to where I need and always want to go. The west side doesn't work for me because it's out of the way and there rarely anything on that side.