Relocate to WA state?'s

We may have an opportunity to relocate from Mommie-fornia to Washington state.
I recall reading Marin's take on the current state of affairs in the Seattle area, somewhat pessimistic as I remember, but honest.

The area in ? is Issaquah. My wife and I are curious about the area, housing, land, weather, crime etc.

We currently own a home and 3 car finished garage on 10 acres of wooded oaks and would like to purchase something smaller, yet rural and with some level land. We are such pack Rats that it may take a year to ready this place for sale.

I have read housing is out of sight in the Seattle area. This city looks to be 70 or so miles east of Seattle. Is real estate very high there?

I do not want to spend my boat money on a huge dirt home, but the old saying happy wife = happy life. So some compromise would be in order.

Anyway comment away please while I go off to Goggle WA state everything.

I spent a long weekend exploring the Olympic peninsula with friends whom are lifelong Wa residents. Wooded property in abundance with homes of all flavors. Greater Sequim and Shelton areas are on our current shortlist.

If you'll be employed or retired comes into play. Good luck with your pursuit.

This should give you a general idea about house prices in Issaquah:

Zillow: Real Estate, Apartments, Mortgage & Home Values in the US

Note: If you're into paragliding they have some nice flying areas close by on Tiger mountain.

Issaquah is nice, built a lot of stuff up there. For boating though, I'd look closer to the sound. Bothell, Woodinville, Arlington, Probably similar price range as Issaquah.

If you are coming from CA, define 'ridiculous' house price?

First of all, will you be working when you move up here? If you have to work, the choice of where to live will be dictated by where you will work. Traffic in the Tacoma to Everett corridor is as bad or worse than anyplace in the US. So for simple quality of life, drive times have to be taken into account.

If you are retired, or work from home, then you have lots of options. Not sure why you chose Issaquah but there are lots of other places that I would probably look at first. Not that the Issaquah area isn't nice. Zillow can give you an idea of current housing prices.

Now, if work or family aren't keeping you close to Issaquah, I would suggest looking at the Kitsap peninsula. There are lots of areas on the West side of Puget Sound where you can find decent sized lots for less money. The quality of life is good, the traffic is not so bad, and you are close to the water. Seattle is a short ferry ride away and Tacoma is easy with the Narrows Bridge. So if you want the big city, you can get to it easily enough.

I live West of Tacoma and only 2 1/2 miles from my primary office and am only a 15 minute easy drive to my boat in Gig Harbor. If I were looking to relocate, my biggest concern would be to find a place where I didn't have to drive on I-5, I-405, or I-90. It is hard to describe how truly horrendous traffic is in this area.

Is it possible to take the train into Seattle from Tacoma for work?

The house I sold in 2006

Was a 3/2 on 3/4 an acre in a small community 40 miles east of Sacramento at 1300 feet for $409,000. I paid $97,000 for it in 1986.

I over paid for my current manufactured home, with 3 car garage and finished loft on 10 acres of wooded Oaks @ $525,000. We put a lot of our profit into our down payment here.

The county has us assessed at half that and real estate prices are down in our area. But I have at least $200K in equity as I make double payments.

I would like to purchase another hobby ranch/farm but do not want a lot of debt at my age. (62)

We are unsure if we will sell here or rent it out. It is all very dicey to rent IMO.

I have about $100K in cash so that would play into a down payment/moving etc. And my boat will have to wait.

dw8928 said:

If you are coming from CA, define 'ridiculous' house price?

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My son was in the USN based out of Bremerton,

So we experienced your traffic first hand. We actually took the tube from Seattle to Bremerton. That was pleasant.

I would like to remain retired but am able to go back to work. The big $$ job is for my wife in the town mentioned.

So figure a 50 mile or so radius around the town, with acreage. And Zillow shows a lot of dogs for a lot of money.

Thanks.

dhays said:

First of all, will you be working when you move up here? If you have to work, the choice of where to live will be dictated by where you will work. Traffic in the Tacoma to Everett corridor is as bad or worse than anyplace in the US. So for simple quality of life, drive times have to be taken into account.

If you are retired, or work from home, then you have lots of options. Not sure why you chose Issaquah but there are lots of other places that I would probably look at first. Not that the Issaquah area isn't nice. Zillow can give you an idea of current housing prices.

Now, if work or family aren't keeping you close to Issaquah, I would suggest looking at the Kitsap peninsula. There are lots of areas on the West side of Puget Sound where you can find decent sized lots for less money. The quality of life is good, the traffic is not so bad, and you are close to the water. Seattle is a short ferry ride away and Tacoma is easy with the Narrows Bridge. So if you want the big city, you can get to it easily enough.

I live West of Tacoma and only 2 1/2 miles from my primary office and am only a 15 minute easy drive to my boat in Gig Harbor. If I were looking to relocate, my biggest concern would be to find a place where I didn't have to drive on I-5, I-405, or I-90. It is hard to describe how truly horrendous traffic is in this area.

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BigJim said:

The big $$ job is for my wife in the town mentioned.



So figure a 50 mile or so radius around the town, with acreage. And Zillow shows a lot of dogs for a lot of money.



Thanks.

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Not certain of the area but Olympic peninsula I'd definitely tighten that up to 25 miles. Here in California 50 miles is an hour or less, this weekend we discovered 50 miles could easily be close to 2 hours without traffic.

Born in SOCAL, lived Orange Cty and commuted to all over LA

And I was a road warrior in NOCAL for 24 years. Up and down 99, 5 and 80 from Bakersfield, Frisco, Redding, Tahoe and Reno.

Traffic in every little town along the way. Before cell phones!!

CPseudonym said:

Not certain of the area but Olympic peninsula I'd definitely tighten that up to 25 miles. Here in California 50 miles is an hour or less, this weekend we discovered 50 miles could easily be close to 2 hours without traffic.

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The Issaquah that I am familiar with is the East Border of the Seattle/Bellevue metro and certainly not 70 miles from downtown Seattle. It is barely East of Lake Washington and I405 and on I90.
If your wife is to be working in Issaquah and you are wanting to have a little acreage, I would concentrate my search just East of there for an easy commute and relatively affordable land. I would look at the little towns of Fall City, Carnation, North Bend and Duvall, and surrounding area. I would look for a property that had a homesite just out of the Snoqualmie flood plain and the land in the flood plain. If you like critters, most of these places have what's called a critter pad raised up to keep them dry until the floods recede. Sounds odd I know, but seems to work and pretty common.
Be prepared to do battle with the blackberry bushes which grow wild everywhere.
This would seem to be a pretty workable plan, not a bad commute to where you could keep a boat if you avoid the heavy traffic times of the day. I travel this route almost weekly and if you time it right you can survive it. Bring your rain gear.

Marin was not the least bit honest. He was trying to keep more people from moving to Washington.

Or he was saying what he said to be funny.

Marin is/was way too late. There are already way too many people here. But I can't understand why many more people are'nt moving here when I watch TV and hear all the terrible weather reports. I can't imagine people stAying where there is terrible storms and heat. Maybe it's a "can't happen to me" syndrome. But the weather here is wonderful compared to any other place in the continental US.

klee wyck said:

The Issaquah that I am familiar with is the East Border of the Seattle/Bellevue metro and certainly not 70 miles from downtown Seattle. It is barely East of Lake Washington and I405 and on I90.
If your wife is to be working in Issaquah and you are wanting to have a little acreage, I would concentrate my search just East of there for an easy commute and relatively affordable land. I would look at the little towns of Fall City, Carnation, North Bend and Duvall, and surrounding area. I would look for a property that had a homesite just out of the Snoqualmie flood plain and the land in the flood plain.

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I would second what Klee wyck said. If your wife is working in Issaquah then you need to be in this area.

Issaquah is just a suburb 12 miles East of downtown Seattle. Housing prices drop as you go east from Issaquah and it's more rural.

Yes, watch out for low lands which are subject to flooding. Out to the North Bend area is an easy commute into Issaquah with minimal traffic.

But the further east you go, you're getting up into the mountains which means more rain and significant snow. So anything North Bend east is almost guaranteed snow during the winter months. Very pretty area though.

Thanks for all that

I just printed your post.

klee wyck said:

The Issaquah that I am familiar with is the East Border of the Seattle/Bellevue metro and certainly not 70 miles from downtown Seattle. It is barely East of Lake Washington and I405 and on I90.
If your wife is to be working in Issaquah and you are wanting to have a little acreage, I would concentrate my search just East of there for an easy commute and relatively affordable land. I would look at the little towns of Fall City, Carnation, North Bend and Duvall, and surrounding area. I would look for a property that had a homesite just out of the Snoqualmie flood plain and the land in the flood plain. If you like critters, most of these places have what's called a critter pad raised up to keep them dry until the floods recede. Sounds odd I know, but seems to work and pretty common.
Be prepared to do battle with the blackberry bushes which grow wild everywhere.
This would seem to be a pretty workable plan, not a bad commute to where you could keep a boat if you avoid the heavy traffic times of the day. I travel this route almost weekly and if you time it right you can survive it. Bring your rain gear.

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dw8928 said:

Is it possible to take the train into Seattle from Tacoma for work?

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Yes, it is. Bus connections to and from the train stations are pretty good and there are outlying park and ride lots for the busses. Again, it is all personal preference, but an hour or more commute each way is not something that I would chose to do if there were any options.

Edelweiss said:

I would second what Klee wyck said. If your wife is working in Issaquah then you need to be in this area.



Issaquah is just a suburb 12 miles East of downtown Seattle. Housing prices drop as you go east from Issaquah and it's more rural.



Yes, watch out for low lands which are subject to flooding. Out to the North Bend area is an easy commute into Issaquah with minimal traffic.



But the further east you go, you're getting up into the mountains which means more rain and significant snow. So anything North Bend east is almost guaranteed snow during the winter months. Very pretty area though.

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I agree. If your wife is working in Issaquah, look East of there. You should be able to find something.

I have lived in the Seattle area for more than 20 years. I recently moved closer (East Redmond to West Bellevue) to get out of the very bad suburban traffic jams. Sure, it is more expensive housing, but I now spend far less time in traffic than before. And I am retired so I can choose when I go. If you are traveling anywhere during rush hour(s), you will get caught in very bad traffic constantly, and it seems worse in the suburbs as growth has outpaced road capacity.

Ditto what Nomad Willy says. Like so many things in life it all depends. On any number of things. I left Seattle in 1989 for Skagit County and never looked back and rarely go there unless pressed. As others have said, traffic on I-5 and the other interstates is or at least can be a nightmare, especially it seems between Olympia and Tacoma, but you are not looking there. As for across the sound,,unless you like having to pay big bucks to ride the ferry everyday with all that entails, forget it. It double any commute time you would have. I know lots of people do it, but I cannot imagine doing it. BTW, the ferries are subsidized by the taxpayers to make it more affordable for those that CHOSE to ride the boats back and forth to work. This galls the hell out of me! They keep the boats under the State Highway System to get us all to pay for them even though we don't use them but for very occasional recreation or vacations or whatever. Its a giant rip off for the taxpayers. And yes, Issaquah is lots closer to Seattle than 70 miles.

I grew up in the North Bend, Carnation, Duvall area. It does flood there...alot. Also the traffic is beyond awful as it is two lanes in and two lanes out, lower home prices have it going over the top in population density. If I had to pick a poison it would be in North Bend and on the high ground.

Bob

Hi Big Jim,

Since I am out on the Olympic Peninsula, and you received detailed advice on Issaquah, I will be broad. We relocated here 2 years ago - I have previously lived in the Midwest, South Florida, and the lovely LA basin.

We enjoy WA very much overall. Our weather, though slightly different from Seattle, has not often been too hot or too cold. I sold my snowblower and really don't need an air conditioner. Yes, there is rain - we don't usually leave the house without a hat and jacket, but we prefer it to tropical humidity or snow up to my shoulders. Much like California, the area is diverse in that you can do the big city things or the country things in the same day. There are abundant parks and mountains. The boating, no secret here, is some of the most desirable in North America. We are welcomed in nearby BC where the culture is also rich and the exchange rate favourable. There is no state income tax.

Would we choose the Northwest again? Certainly!

Good Luck,

Jeff

IRENE said:

Hi Big Jim,



Since I am out on the Olympic Peninsula, and you received detailed advice on Issaquah, I will be broad. We relocated here 2 years ago - I have previously lived in the Midwest, South Florida, and the lovely LA basin.



We enjoy WA very much overall. Our weather, though slightly different from Seattle, has not often been too hot or too cold. I sold my snowblower and really don't need an air conditioner. Yes, there is rain - we don't usually leave the house without a hat and jacket, but we prefer it to tropical humidity or snow up to my shoulders. Much like California, the area is diverse in that you can do the big city things or the country things in the same day. There are abundant parks and mountains. The boating, no secret here, is some of the most desirable in North America. We are welcomed in nearby BC where the culture is also rich and the exchange rate favourable. There is no state income tax.



Would we choose the Northwest again? Certainly!

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Oh, no! Now you have done it.

Don't listen to Irene! It rains here all the time! You will grow moss between your toes after the first winter. The state color is "cloud gray". ?

I think the cat is out of the bag..

David you're last name is'nt Fare is it?

78, Most cats drown up here.

Speaking of cats! We came back from Sitka on my dads tug, in summer of 66 and the weather pretty much sucked the whole way down to Seattle. We had a cat that spent the whole summer with us on land and sea. When we made the Ballard Locks, the cat just up and vanished. We never saw him again. Guess he had enough of boating!

Lots of good advice! I have a love/hate relationship with Seattle. Love all, the great stuff/hate the traffic and recent development. That's progress I guess.

Good luck to you!

Jim,
Let me tell you about our experience...

We started coming up here in 1990. By 1994 we were renting a cabin on a lake for a couple weeks a summer. By 1996 we were spending the whole summers here, and usually making a New Years trip too. Started because good friends moved here. As time went on, we made our own friends here, mostly through the vintage sports car clubs.
As our three kids got older, with more summer commitments, we scaled back our visits, but came up at least once a year. Wanted to move here in the '90's, but my job as an airline pilot meant a commute by air, something I didn't want to do. So, we lived 110 miles south of LAX. After the kids were gone, we spent a couple years in Sonoma county, then when our daughter got a college professor job here, we moved as well. That was just this last February.

We looked and looked, but our wants & needs are fairly unique. I'm a car guy, mostly vintage British sports cars and vintage race cars. My wife, while she has her own race car, is mostly into animals. Chickens, sheep, pigs, etc... And organic vegetable gardening. So, we needed some space.

Not finding anything that suited our needs, and was also a nice house, we decided to build a custom home on acreage. We bought five acres in Fall City, and are living in our large RV while we build. Yes, it's different! My 911 is parked in a tent garage, her BMW sits out in the rain. The race & vintage cars are in car trailer here, or in storage. I have no shop, which is a problem... We're building a nice custom home, a great barn, and a decent shop. Just takes time and $$$...

We chose Fall City because it is very convenient to Issaquah, without the stigma of tract house developments. All custom homes, most on acreage. We're 12 minutes from downtown Issaquah. 20 minutes from Bellevue. Half an hour from downtown Seattle. Perfect!

If you would like to discuss more, please feel free to message me. After visiting here for 25 years, we've got a pretty good handle on what's where, and where you do or do not want to live.

Disclaimer: I do not commute to Seattle, Bellevue or anywhere to work.

Ed

I can't advise you specifically on housing in the area, but a couple of points. First, Marin only likes his dog so I'd digest his take on an area with a grain or more of salt. Second, a lot of people who live in all those areas love them. There is not a mass exodus of people wanting to leave the area by any means.

Now, why not rent rather than buy? Houses are not appreciating like they once did. You made two purchases, one at a time and place that appreciated greatly, the other eating the profit from the first. How long do you intend to be there? I would look at potential houses to buy, but I'd also look at current rental prices for houses, apartments and condos. That might well allow you to get a boat while dealing with your current house. If you had the flexibility and time to buy in an outlying area that people and industry are moving toward and could hold the house for 10 years or more, the potential gain would be great, but even then if you took the profit you'd have to spend it on a replacement. However, if you're buying within a fully developed area and/or your expected time there is less than 10 years, you aren't likely to experience a great gain.

Nomad Willy said:

.. But the weather here is wonderful compared to any other place in the continental US.

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Hawaiian Island and San Diego residences most likely would argue with you.

markpierce said:

Hawaiian Island and San Diego residences most likely would argue with you.

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Wifey B: I'd choose South Florida, Hawaii and San Diego. I like bikini weather. Choosing the ideal climate is such a personal thing. It's harder than choosing an anchor.