Anybody in Puyallup - Sumner - Edgewood area?

[renoun]

I don't know where all of my South Sound buddies actually live. A close friend got hired at Good Sam and has to move South from Seattle by early September. It would be nice to have a few folks other than her new colleagues to ask questions. Right now housing is a big issue but I'm sure other things will be coming up too.

I've been helping her look for house to buy that are a quick commute to the hospital (at all hours she will be on-call frequently) that don't totally suck. She is especially interested in modest craftsman style homes within walking/biking distance to a retail core rather than living in some non-descript subdivision off in the foothills. She doesn't like South Hill and Tacoma is too far away. We've been looking for nearly two months now and are focusing on downtown Puyallup and Sumner.

How bad does fair traffic screw up the drive into town from the North? It seems like a ten minute commute when there is no traffic. Is she at risk of breaking her contracted 30 minute response time if she lives in Sumner or Edgewood?

She is running out of time to buy a place so she'll be looking for a short term rental if she does't start a purchase in the next couple of weeks. If anybody knows of a nice 1-2 bedroom apartment close to Good Sam that might be more useful than starting with Craig's List.

[Dusty2]

There are back ways into the hospital from summner that won't be too badly effected by the fair traffic but just about anywhere in puyallup will be because they redirect so many streets during the fair. Edgewood is a definite no. That road is a bottleneck year round. There are some decent developments near the hospital. Check out Manorwood park. It is an older development with some nice homes. If she wants the older craftsman style homes Sumner is the place to go. Unfortunately the hospital is in a high traffic area all the time and during the fair it is crazy.The black square is where manorwood is.

[cardiver]

The problem with downtown Sumner will be finding a home that is for sale/rent.
Bonney Lake is another good spot that will put her 10-12 minutes from the hospital.
Quite a few craftsman homes out in Enumclaw that are easily within walking distance of town but she would be right on the edge if that 30 minute response time....

[pogiguy05]

I live in Edgewood and home prices in this area always seem to be a bit steep for some reason. Would she want a 1 story or two? They are however expanding Meridian in Milton/Edgewood to 2 lanes each direction and it is scheduled to be completed around May 2014. Traffic is pretty heavy on Meridian north bound in the morning 6am-8am and then south bound 3pm-6pm.
What is her price range if you dont mind me asking?

[Dusty2]

One thing to keep in the back of your mind is that the Summer/Orting valley is a flood plane subject to flooding should anything happen on Mt Rainer or if we have a severe winter. Some of the areas down there have flooding problems.

[renoun]

She is single and really wants a fairly modest house with 2-3 bedrooms, a kitchen that isn't tiny or segregated from the living/dining room, and room for a few raised vegetable beds in the yard. She could spend $450k for the perfect house but is mostly looking at houses in the $250k-$350k range. She doesn't care about one vs two story houses but has a really hard time wanting to live in a rambler on a cul-de-sac. The 3500 sq/ft house with a three car garage isn't her idea of home. There's a great modest mid-century modern house with a valley view that I can't get her to consider.

There is lots of inventory of sub-division houses but so far we've only seen one downtown Puyallup house that didn't have major issues. She has an offer on a short sale in Puyallup near the riverwalk trail and is considering making an offer on a Sumner house next week.

We've seen a few Edgewood houses. Our impression has been that they get a overpriced as soon as there is a tiny valley view. One house might have been ok if there hadn't been a double-wide next door.

We have been watching the food and lahar maps.

She has close friends in Tacoma and Seattle so driving away from the I-5 corridor into Bonney Lake, Enumclaw, Orting, etc. isn't really being considered. We did a drive-by of a South Hill house last night that wasn't that far away and she had a rather negative reaction to the whole drive out there.

[cardiver]

South Hill is Brutal!

[pogiguy05]

Have you also considered the Summit area? you have 512 right there and should be able to get to Good Sam within the 30 minutes.

I also agree South Hill traffic is murder, painful, and like a root canal.

[renoun]

Just saw a new listing that is just West of Puyallup but outside municipal boundaries. It looks like the Riverside Fire Dist. merged with Central Pierce which serves the city and surrounding area so there should be good fire coverage. It has a well and septic system rather than municipal utilities but there is gas service. Other than relying on the sheriff's department are there any other detriments to being in an unincorporated area?

[pogiguy05]

I own a home in unincorporated king county and have had no issues. I would highly recommend getting the septic inspected as well. We are having to replace ours in edgewood and it is going to cost at least $25, 000. The soils in this area are not very good.our house was built in 1977 with an addition in 1987.

[renoun]

Thanks everyone, she has bought a newer house above the flood plain in Sumner that should close in about three weeks.

Now she is looking for a recommendation for house cleaners.

[Jeff Pack]

I own a home in unincorporated king county and have had no issues. I would highly recommend getting the septic inspected as well. We are having to replace ours in edgewood and it is going to cost at least $25, 000. The soils in this area are not very good.our house was built in 1977 with an addition in 1987.

A septic inspection wont tell if the soil is getting too full of biomat. Plus a home sale requires septic pumped, so you cant check for anything other than screen/baffles for the tank, since effluent is already removed.

25k, you must be doing once of those great King County required big mound systems of some sort...

[renoun]

From what I learned Pierce Co. requires a seller funded septic inspection by a third party as part of each real estate transaction. If I was getting quoted $25k for a new system I'd be taking a week off and calling the local equipment rental place. Once you have an approved design it isn't rocket science to follow the plan to move dirt around and glue plastic pipe joints together.

[Jeff Pack]

actually, the new mound type systems are more expansive to do. Mounds, multi layer filtering, etc. The old gravity fed ones are a piece of cake to do. But even gravity fed ones are tricky, as you have to tweak the junction box, so stuff flows evenly between the legs. Plus your dirt/ditchwork needs a measure of precision for both sides and bottom of the trench, or you'll have biomat problems.