We currently live in North Seattle (Ravenna) which has decent public schools but not as good as east side schools. We are planning to buy a larger home and are in dilemma whether to buy Seattle and send our kid to private school (4y old) or buy a home in the east side like all our friends. We love the area we live in, as it’s close to work for both me and my wife. Lots of things to do and lots of kids activities in Seattle. More recently couple families moved from east side and put their kids in u prep as it’s too much competition in the east side schools and their kids were stressed so they sold their home and moved to Seattle. It will cost us $30k to $35k/ year for private school so assume 500k for k to highschool education. To buy a decent house in the east side it’s at least 1.8M (sammamish) vs $1.25M or less in Ravenna and surrounding urbs.. We are good with one kid and not planning to have more kids. What is the logical thing to do. I am confused and your opinions matter.
Sooo this might not help but count your blessings - we live in the Bay Area and schools are way worse here unless we somehow make enough to afford a $3MM - $5MM. Ravenna district would be a dream compared to most here. (Love the temperature / sun here as I got too depressed in seattle / needed a happy light but schools are like ummmm ) You could try it out for a year and see. They say that the thing that matters the most are the parents. As long as you don’t see them hanging out in the wrong crowd and are safe / happy.
Also missed the east side friends - listen to them!! Competition like that is not needed as a wee one. Just let them have a good time when they’re young :)
Why not hire a personal driver who could pick up/meet your kid from school? The cost would still be much lower than moving, buying a house, etc.
What! Time is not a concern.
For elementary, public is fine and you can start sending them to private starting middle school
Your friends may have moved from the east side to Seattle.due to some other reasons, most often people don't tell the right reason and only show their positive sides. So be careful before making such a big purchase. I think your friends moved due to commute may be. You are assuming. Private school tuition fee will be same.for upcoming years. Given the inflation in Seattle, you should count inflation to that as well. Sammamish is not a good commute to Seattle btw. Either buy in Issaquah or max klahanie. Why don't you look at West Bothell for a better commute. East side has lots of kids activities,I would suggest to look around. Sometimes we fear because we don't know the area well. Amazon meta Microsoft Google, all big companies are in east side, why would people move to Seattle proper. East side schools will always be preferred. Most bay area people move to Seattle Eastside just for schools.
I don’t know a single Bay Area person who’s moved to seattle / east side for schools. I do know people who move to SoCal for family help in raising them. I don’t like SoCal myself as it’s way too .. cool for me. Lol. Or other states but have yet to hear of someone going to seattle for schools. Usually people here get addicted to the sun and then we’re trapped
You meet less number of people unfortunately then. I know people love the sun in bay area. But in the last year itself 5 of my friends have moved to Seattle and a few are shifting in the coming year, due for the same reason.
Having the same dilemma but live in the Edmonds area. Basically about to flip a coin at this point.