What suburb of Seattle can a family of 6 move to with good schools, larger houses, and not break the bank.?We will have a freshman in High School, a kindergarten student, and 2 preschoolers. We have lived in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Overland Park, KS(metro Kansas City). We currently live in a 2 story, full finished basement house with a little over 3,000 sq. feet. It is perfect, but I realize we can't afford... | |
So much depends on what your budget will be.
I'm in Mill Creek, and my 2300 square foot house (4 BR, no basement) would sell for about $400,000 these days. Many homes in this area are not built with basements - usually they are included only if the slope of the house requires it for the foundation.
Homes in the 3000 SQ ft range in Mill Creek would go for about $550,000.
Everett Schools overall aren't great, but those in the south end are good - Mill Creek, Cedarwood, Penny Creek, and Forest View are all good schools in Everett School district. We've been pleased with our daughter's education in the Everett school district so far.
South of Mill Creek in Northshore school district could be a good choice too.
You'll need to count on a 1 hour commute during rush hour into downtown Seattle.
Like other people have said, Seattle and the surrounding areas are expensive. Try Covington. It is part of the Kent school district and has GREAT high schools (Kentwood and Kentlake) The elementary and middle schools are great also. You may also want to try Peirce County. It is a lot cheaper than King County (The county Seattle is in) and is a safe and nice area! Some cities include; Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Sumner and Orting. I would stay away from Tacoma also. Good Luck on your journey!
The short answer is that you won't really find a place that is large, has good schools, and is cheap.
You will probably want to look in the Eastside (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, Sammamish) for good schools. But these areas are pretty expensive. You might find cheaper options in areas like Edmonds, Mill Creek, Renton, West Seattle and Kent. But you will have to do more research to make sure the schools you will be around are up to what you want.
Stay away from Rainier Valley, SeaTac, and White Center.
We have good schools in puyallup and it isnt so expensive. Stay out of King county to get cheaper houses. Plus, a lot of people commute from here. You might want to try more north of seattle too, i'm not sure what the housing cost is up there.
Seattle has very expensive housing and so do all the suburbs within a reasonable commute of Seattle.
