East of Seattle

Joshua Stubbles

Hey all, just need some input here if possible. I'm looking to move to the Seattle area in 8-12 months. I've been in Reno for 6yrs, and it's time to move on.
I've been checking out different neighborhoods, trying to figure out good places to live. I'm basically looking for some place quiet, safe and enjoyable. I'm not big on partying a lot, so I'm not looking for in-the-city life.
From what I gather, it looks like these are the nicest places so far (correct me of I'm wrong here)

- Redmond
- Bellevue
- Kirkland
- Newcastle
- Issaquah

I'll be visiting Seattle is September, to get a closer look on things. I'm also interested in hearing from you Seattle natives. Is there are a particularly good place (online) to check for housing costs in these areas as well? Local realtors that are online and such?
I read a similar thread a while back, but it wasn't 100% informative. Any help would be great.

Thanks.

Ryno

Windermere.com is a pretty big Pac Northwest real estate company. All of those eastside communities have nice areas. Bellevue would probably be the most metropolitan. I like Kirkland, which has a cute little downtown. Redmond isn't too bad either. I'm not as well aquainted with Issaquah and Newcastle, but you can pretty much count on lots of trees and rolling hills in all of these communities. Some of the areas get a bit too suburb-ey for my taste (McDonalds, Taco Bell, Applebees, McDonalds, KFC, Applebees), but there are some nice neighborhoods that have a quiet woodsy feel to them.

ebagg

Kirkland/Bellevue/Redmond area is nice and has the most game companies, so staying within that area is assuring you a quick commute to work. I've lived on the kirkland/redmond border since I was little, and love it. Nice laid back suburbs, all within a 15-30 minute drive of Seattle. As Ryno said, Bellevue's downtown area is a booming mini-Seattle, but the outskirts are just like Redmond and Kirkland. I would recommend Kirkland the most because there are the Juanita and Downtown areas where you can get a decent place for cheap and be within walking distance of the lake. There's enough scattered small shopping centers that its actually kinda hard to not be within walking distance of a grocery store, coffee stop, teriyaki joint, etc.

yeluis

I believe it depends on where you are going to work. if your working on the bellevue/kirkland/redmond area it might not be a good idea to live in seattle side because traffic is so bad. I live in the bellevue are its pretty nice, not much of a night life but comuting to downtown seattle on the weekends for that is way better than living there and comuting to bellevue every day.

Joshua Stubbles

Right, yeah. I don't care about the nightlife (if you mean partying/clubbing, etc). I just want a nice place to live. There are plenty of businesses throughout that area, so I'm just looking for a good area.

Thegodzero

Id say Kirkland as well, its got a great distribution of homes and shops. I love my place, i have the lake, indian food, many types of asian, pizza, mexican, subs, seafood, and many pubs, a gym, and a wallgreens all with in a block of me. The best part is i'm 15 min walking distance from work.

Joshua Stubbles

What's the average rent around there, TGZ?
Like $1500-2000 or so?

Thegodzero

What size?
Mine is $900 for a one bedroom one bath ~800 sqft place.
$1100-1200 will get you a 2 bedroom two bath easy.

Its about a $1 = .85sqft ratio here.

Joshua Stubbles

Ideally, I'd be looking for 3bd 2bth. But 2bd 2bth is doable.
$1200 or so doesn't sound bad at all. What area of Kirkland do you live in?

Thegodzero

Juanita area.
You might be able to find a town house around here for around that with what your looking for.

animatr

hmmm. 1200 sounds cheap. if you're going to find a place on craig's list, maybe, but a complex will charge you close to 1500 or more for a 3bed 2 bath. im moving next week to kirkland(from redmond) into a 2bd/1bath for 1095. (900 sq feet).
a good condo/town home rental would probably be cheaper but I'd still bet on 1400-1500 a month for a place that size.

for housing costs, you could always try apartment ratings.com or rent.com to get a general idea. and list by price.

Joshua Stubbles

I'll check it out, thanks. It can't be any worse than Reno, that's for sure :P
I'm paying $1200 for a 2bd/2bath apartment. A little more than that is fine by me, considering I'd be getting paid more up there.

skrubbles

OMG... The Kirkland kicks-ass thread! I live in the area too. I used to work with ebagg at Crankypants Games and I rented an apartment within walking distance. It was a 2bd/1bath and I was paying $810/month. Wasn't the prettiest place, but it was home. I started freelancing and didn't need to live that close so I moved. I still live in Kirkland because I like the area.

If you're willing to spend a little bit more I'd encourage renting a house like I do. That way you don't have to deal with upstairs and downstairs neighbors (they drove me crazy when I started freelancing). I'm now renting a 4bd/2bath house with garage for $1550/month... not bad for the area. I'd look into that if I were you especially if you'll be getting paid more. If you're curious I managed to find this place through Craigslist.

ebagg

You can easily find a 2bd/2bth for around your asking price. I would check townhomes for sure. I lucked out and got into a 4 unit building, 2b 1.5bth for $1000 a month, utilities included, Juanita area. Check out not only craiglist.org, but firstexclusive.com also has some awesome listings. Or, go for a condo, the area is only going to go up in price and a condo is an intelligent investment.

McIlroy

I live a bit north of Bothell and Woodinville and those areas are pretty nice . Bellvue and the very nice places are high dollar . Ebagg has the right Idea I live a bit north and I live in a house 2bd 2bath and it's only 1000.00/mo well worth the commute for peace of living and my own yard !

PfhorRunner

I live on top of Finn Hill, which is a big hill inbetween the heart of Juanita and Lake Washington, just outside of Kirkland. Technically its labelled as Kenmore. Kenmore isn't a bad place to live, its quiet, and very homey neighborhoods, very similar to Bothell or Woodinville (Generally cheaper rent too, if you can find a good place, one that doesn't have the great view of Kenmore's most exciting attraction, the cement factory tied into Kenmore Air Harbor). Juanita into Kirkland is a little bit more happening, and even though you said you don't really care about nightlife, its still pretty difficult to find *anything* to do in bothell/kenmore area.

If you're into any exercise at all, Kirkland is very welcoming in this respect, and there are a lot of really neat speacialty shops downtown all the way into Juanita.

TechSmith

Do not live in Everett. It's one way sucky place.

OGRE

I'm not much of a fan of Newcastle. (I am here for a couple months then I'm moving downtown) It's very "suburb-ey" like Ryno was saying... plus it rains every other day. What is that shit?