Karen and Chirag

When executives and professionals relocate to Seattle for work, they often need to find a place to live before they land in town and get to know the personalities of each neighborhood. While transitional housing is an option, most everyone I’ve worked with would much prefer one move to two, especially when spouses and kids are involved. When I talk to new clients, I get to know their personalities, dreams and goals — with hopes of better understanding the lives they want to lead beyond the foundation of “a good school district” and “easy commute”. Budget and timeline are also primary factors on selecting the house to live in, but lifestyle is the key decider in selecting a neighborhood to call home. Within Seattle, there are unique hotspots like Fremont, Wallingford, Ballard and Madrona. Beyond the city, suburbs to the north, east and south all have unique personalities that vary by neighborhood.

Karen is an ER Nurse, so she wanted to be near the medical hubs in First Hill. Chirag is an executive, so he needed to be a quick bus ride away from downtown Seattle. Based on their budget and hopes to have a more relaxed community to raise their kids, West Seattle rose to the top of our list. In the winter of 2015, we found a great house close to parks and shopping. The house had granite countertops, vaulted ceilings and a beautiful yard. It was new construction, so I negotiated the price, the punch list, and built in buyer protections to cover a variety of scenarios. Today, the family and kids are settled in and proudly call themselves West Seattle “locals”. As the events of 2020 unfolded, they were thankful to be in a tight-knit community they could call home.