Thinking of moving...

[speedhop]

I know lots of you guys live in the PNW, so I was hoping to get some thoughts on it as I'm not to familiar with this area. Where are the nicest places, what do you think about the weather, what cities/towns are worth living near, what are the average home prices in these nice areas etc etc.
I don't want to live out in the middle of no where, but I'd like to have some land around me.
If you can think of anything else that'd be a great help! Thanks pnw :D

[steinbachphoto]

in Canada? or like Seattle and stuff?

[speedhop]

haha...still US, so Washington or Oregon. Although if you have any input near there I'd take it.

[steinbachphoto]

victoria BC!!!! haha its actually not bad at all here, except for a lame e30 scene

[speedhop]

victoria BC!!!! haha its actually not bad at all here, except for a lame e30 scene

I'm sure it's nice, judging by your sig...but it's still Canada; no offense of course

[318isbmw]

I like some of the small towns like Covington, Auburn and Maple valley. Their all around eachother and have Highway 18 running right past so seattle is 30-45 minutes away yet there's all of the usual safeway and qfc and fred meyer in town, but great land if you get out of the immediate town. Land is expensive though, altho it is going down quite a bit with the recent dive in economy. Its nice, I'm 10 minutes out of town at most and my parents have a full acre of land in a small community, no gates or nothin, and lots of woods on the property.

[speedhop]

Hopefully by the time I'm ready to move, the real estate is at an agreeable price. Thanks for the advice. Anyone else have any other pointers?

[speedhop]

Bumping this up

[logger]

Yes run away to Canada.

[speedhop]

righttt...90% of the active people on this forum are from the pnw and they have nothing to say?!

[TwoJ's]

It's beautiful up here. I grew up in Puyallup which is about 40 minutes South of Seattle, and like 10 from Tacoma. I also lived in an apartment in Seattle for a year. And now I live on the East side of the mountains. You want to live on the West side for sure. But, it is definitely more expensive there. And you definitely don't want to live in Seattle or Bellevue or anything like that. For example, when my mother moved from Puyallup to Bellevue she sold a 3500 sq. ft., 4 bedroom house with a pool and shit for $700k. She then purchased a 1400 sq. ft. town home with a 10 ft. backyard for about the same price. Shit is way too expensive in Bellevue, but the city is amazing. Also, that one year I lived in Seattle, our apartment was 1500 sq. ft. and 3 bedrooms. It was $2400 a month plus $300 a month for 3 parking spots in the garage. Then I moved over here and I bought a 1600 sq. ft. 3 bedroom house on 1/2 acre for $215k.

So you want to live on the west side of the mountains, and in an outlying town, not a big city. When I finish school, I'll definitely be looking for a job somewhere near the Puget Sound. I've lived near it almost all my life, and I love it. And as far as weather, it is wonderful 9 months out of the year. In the winter, it just rains.

I've not been exposed to Oregon very much. My uncle and aunt live there, and I know Portland and Lake Oswego are great places. That's all I know of it down there though.

[Tavern Gnome]

I really like the North End of Tacoma. I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. I've lived EVERYWHERE too.

[Kruzen]

I really like the North End of Tacoma. I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. I've lived EVERYWHERE too.

North end of tacoma is a shithole. I hate taking my e30 on those roads.

Ruston is pretty decent though. The rest is crap. (MSM Deli kicks ass though)

Gig Harbor/University Place are gonna be your best bets for 'nice neighboorhoods' on the south side.

[speedhop]

Thank you for the input twoj and tavern...really is appreciated. I've been down in LA for 5 years and I'm sick of spending an hour in traffic to get 15 miles! How is the professional atmosphere or the job market? I'll check out those places...any further input or first hand knowledge is obviously appreciated. :)

[TwoJ's]

What do you do? And if you hate traffic, then stay away from the Seattle/Tacoma area. It is absolutely horrible sometimes. It may not be like LA, but I also hate sitting in traffic. When I lived in Seattle, it would sometimes take me an hour and a half to drive down to Puyallup which was a 35-40 mile drive. But that's I-5 at around 5:00... If you're not commuting a large distance at bad times, then it's not a big deal.