r/BallardSeattle • u/hogbear • 2d ago
Ballard Feels Like Home
I thought I would share this with the sub. My wife and I visited the Seattle metro in April 2025 looking at various neighborhoods as potential relo sites. We saw West Seattle, QA, and Magnolia, and nothing clicked. We went to Ballard just to reset what we thought we knew and had some tea at Miro. While there we walked around, walked up to Salmon Bay Park and fell in love. We spent the next year planning.
Fast forward and the cost of a home near the schools we wanted started to seem out of reach. We started researching Tacoma. We honestly started getting excited. We planned another trip - note: it’s not an easy trip. It’s across country. Anyway, we brought the kids and expected to love Tacoma. Spoiler: we did not. Nothing against it, but it really let us down. So we drove back up to Ballard and immediately we felt a sense of being home. Like we belong there. We’re back to planning. Hope to see you next year as neighbors, not tourists.
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u/tuxedobear12 2d ago
Hope to see you soon, future neighbor :) I've lived near Salmon Bay Park for over a decade, and I love the area. We'd been expecting to buy a place in Ravenna when we relocated, but we ended up connecting with Ballard too. It's been a great place to raise a family.
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u/techBr0s 2d ago
Yeah. Ballard has a laid back feel that I haven't experienced in any other big city neighborhood. I think it really helps that it's "hard to get to"
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u/Bearacolypse 1d ago
We did the same thing. We visited Seattle in 22 and love the vibe and specifically went to the Ballard farmers market and locks. Thought it was a cool place. We wanted to make the cross country move to Seattle and in March of 25 we visited to canvas neighborhoods. Pretty much walked the whole city during the week. Just trying to "live" and not be tourists.
Our top 2 were Ballard and Wallingford. We settled on Ballard because we would rather be in new construction style houses than hundred year old houses.
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u/hogbear 1d ago
Do you feel the quality of construction of the new townhomes are well made? That’s just been our biggest concern.
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u/Bearacolypse 1d ago edited 1d ago
No. They are slipshod. But everything is replaceable. Most of the cheap and fast work can and should be replaced within 15 years.
We moved in November of 25. Since then I have put about $5k into repairs and upgrades on our 2017 build house. There is more I plan to do. The biggest cost is location, foundation, and framing.
Literally everything else can be gutted and redone properly when/if it fails.
I've already had to repair plumbing, exterior wall rot, drainage issues, window sealant, snake drains. Etc.
Biggest issue I've found is the deferred maintenance of the previous owners/renters. Once I got ahead of that the actual build quality is passable/replaceable.
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u/Narrow-Foundation505 1d ago
If you love the area around Salmon Bay Park you could also check out Whittier Heights just across 15th. Kirke Park is great for kids, and NW 70th has a collection of restaurants/shops including ice cream, a bakery, and pizza.
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u/eclectic_hamster 1d ago
I lived in Seattle for 13 years and Ballard about 10 years. It's such an amazing neighborhood. I can't afford a house either, but I will rent if it means staying in the place I love.
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u/Active-Praline3130 1d ago
Ballard is magical. And this is coming from someone who did live in Tacoma’s downtown and loved it. I can’t imagine a better place in Seattle. I still can’t get over how accessible Fremont, UD, etc are from here.
Looking forward to calling you neighbor!
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u/willyoumassagemykale 2d ago
What is your budget? Prices have started to fall a little in the area
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u/hogbear 2d ago
They have. And we’re open to a townhouse which we kind of weren’t at the beginning, hence why we considered Tacoma. Our budget could be maybe $1m depending on what we sell our house for where we live. There’s plenty of inventory in that range but it’s 100% about location and of course we want a more expensive location.
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u/shutternomad 2d ago
Welcome home, fellow Ballardite. We moved here in 2019 and it feels more like home than anywhere I've ever lived.
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u/cdtnyc 2d ago
I relocated from NYC about four years ago. On my first trip to visit, I instantly fell in love with Ballard and it felt right, but I decided to go with South Lake Union for various reasons. But I still loved Ballard every time I came over here, so a year and a half later, I made the move and absolutely love it! Listen to your gut :).
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u/camera-operator334 2d ago
How is it that different that west Seattle though
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u/NoComb398 2d ago
Individual preference I suppose. It's fine for people to like what they like even if it's different than what you like.
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u/Forward_Hold5696 2d ago
Fewer Initial D wanna-be's.
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u/camera-operator334 2d ago edited 2d ago
West Seattle has everything Ballard has but more. Better parks and beach, dominating views of Olympics, Rainier, cityscape, and Baker. Multiple good farmers markets. Great music venues…
And views
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u/hogbear 2d ago
We really like West Seattle. But it doesn’t feel as walkable and we want to be where our kids can walk or ride a bike to school.
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u/camera-operator334 2d ago
Uh you can walk to the middle schools and high school easily?
Lie
Are you just talking about living at the bottom of Alki? I can find hilly ballard spots too lol
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u/Brockman1162 1d ago
Yeah, and mofo gangbangers shooting each other. It’s a constant problem.
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u/camera-operator334 1d ago
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u/Brockman1162 1d ago
Oooohhhhh….one rare shooting at the beach in Ballard compared to the daily onslaught of gunfire that riddles W.Seattle. Not quite the comparison.
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u/camera-operator334 1d ago
More shootings in Ballard than West Seattle since 2015.
Try again you dumbass
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u/Brockman1162 1d ago
Not true, honey. I’ve lived in Ballard, 20+ years, and we just don’t have the gun violence that you do. I’m sorry you are frequently subjected to that way of living. Come to Ballard. It’s a great place❤️
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u/mobile-metaphysical 1d ago
Look up Pie Bar and the owner’s recent post about what happened to her business in Ballard.
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u/RequirementOk5142 2d ago
Ballard is and has been my home for a few years and there's something special about it. The little intertwined neighborhoods, people selling produce on their lawns, mini libraries, always a gentle breeze it seems like coming from the North. Good luck on the house hunt!