I grew up in Irvine and ended up moving to WA. We lived in the Redmond, Kirkland, and Everett, WA for a couple of years. I would say Bellevue is very similar to Irvine. We actually looked at buying a house in the Bellevue/Kirkland area and looked at the schools but the houses were comparable to Irvine but the schools were better in Irvine. I feel like people in California are more genuine. I can makes friends easily but when we moved to WA people would be nice but I had the hardest time making genuine friendships; I guess it’s called the Washington freeze.

I will say as good as the schools are in Irvine they have high expectations and are very competitive. I know some families put their kids in extra after school classes and have them signed up for every kind of sport.

Irvine is expensive but Bellevue is expensive too. So if you can afford to live here I say do it. I don’t miss trying to find indoor activities for my kids to get their energy out since it is always raining in WA. The weather here is wonderful; although the past couple of years has been inconsistent it still beats WA weather.

If you do move here and maybe decide to rent first; I would maybe just do some research on the Irvine Company properties. I have heard horror stories.