Starting to rethink a move to PNW. Thoughts? (Seattle, Tacoma: house prices, find a job)

[RustinginSeattle]

Oh, and we did set a traffic record today. 2.5 hours from Everett to Seattle with know known accidents to cause it. This is the 3rd time in the last 2 weeks that that commute has been over 2 hours. That's extreme, but common enough to be concerned.

[RVD90277]

maybe just me but construction and painting costs seem high up here. labor in general is pretty expensive.

i had a lot of paint work that needed to be done in the house and i hired a guy and his crew. he said he'd have 6 guys for 3 weeks working day and night to finish the job but in reality it was really just 2-3 guys working 30-40 hours/wk for 3 weeks. cost was $26k. other bids were in the $35k-$40k range. that's a pretty high hourly rate even after you take off the cost of materials, etc.

[mjmcgrath]

Thats what I thought about the traffic, i've been seeing reports about the 2-3 hour commutes from suburbs to Seattle and that sounds like a nightmare to me. Would Vancouver, WA maybe be a better choice for us?

[mjmcgrath]

Originally Posted by RustinginSeattle

I would say most of your concerns are dead on. You can't know if the lack of sunlight will drive you nuts until you live in it. I've lived here all of my life and it didn't really start bothering me too much until I was in my 40's. Now I keep a Happy Light on during the days all winter long and it barely helps. Going somewhere warm for a week long vacation actually makes me worse when we return, like I'm going through withdrawals. But that's me (and thousands of other people).

The cost of living keeps going up with no end in sight. I just don't think the income level meets with the cost of living here. And the gas tax feels like a tax on the poor, because if you can't afford to live close to work, you spend hours on the road daily.

We just got a flier today for a house that sold in Ballard. It was 860sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath. It sold for $390K.

Where you want to live to avoid traffic totally depends on where you work. Burien and Renton are more affordable, but you would want to work in the south end or at the south end of the city.

Have you thought about Idaho? Boise is growing by leaps and bounds, so may have construction work. It's a bit more desert like. C'oeure d'Alene is stunningly beautiful and as cool, if not cooler than Seattle, weatherwise.

If you are worried about the cost of coming out here to visit, then I would be very worried about the cost of living here.

Wow! I just looked up C'oeure d'Alene, ID on Wiki and its look beautiful. How's the construction industry there?

[Gardyloo]

Originally Posted by mjmcgrath

Wow! I just looked up C'oeure d'Alene, ID on Wiki and its look beautiful. How's the construction industry there?

CdA is really part of the general Spokane economic zone/markets. It's certainly not growing as fast as the Seattle metro area, but the cost of living is WAY cheaper, in particular housing. Go to a CdA MLS service and put in a max price of $200K for a house and see what you see, then compare it to a comparable search anywhere west of the Cascades.

It might be a good area to research. CdA is a lovely little town, the options for outdoor activities are endless, and you have all the advantages of a big city (Spokane) - medical, airport, shopping, etc. - very close by.

[ctr88]

I like the Vancouver WA area A LOT. House prices are about 1/2 Seattle, you still get no state income tax if you work in WA, and you get Portland 15 min away which is a great city. You get all the same benefits of the Pacific Northwest as you do in Seattle (beauty, mild climate, outdoors), but for 1/2 the price of Seattle. People get stuck on "Vancouver" being a sleepy not so exciting place, but it's not really Vancouver you are moving to, you are getting Portland 15 min away which is a really cool city. And only 15 min from Portland Int. Airport in Vancouver. You can get a really nice 3/2 house for $225,000 in Vancouver and you can rent a 3 bed house for probably $1,350/mo. And Portland and Clark County WA are growing a rapid clip. I like Vancouver over Olympia and Bellingham because you get PORTLAND when you move to Vancouver, which is a major metro area with a major airport with a lot more to do then those smaller metros. Oregon also has a much nicer coast & beaches than WA IMO and you are closer to that down there. Camus WA is also a nice city on the Columbia River just east of Vancouver and you still are 15 min from Portland. Very pretty.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by RustinginSeattle

We just got a flier today for a house that sold in Ballard. It was 860sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath. It sold for $390K.

^Proof there is still affordable middle class housing available even in popular neighborhoods. Although the supply is pretty slim.

[Bernadette_]

Originally Posted by mjmcgrath

Wow! I just looked up C'oeure d'Alene, ID on Wiki and its look beautiful. How's the construction industry there?

Coeur d'Alene is beautiful. I just moved to the Seattle area after three decades in CDA. We moved due to the availability of tech jobs.

I don't know many folks in the construction industry back home, but the market as a whole definitely seems to be picking up from where it was a few years back. Housing developments are entering their final phases, new developments are going up, etc. New commercial development is happening as well.

Due to the growth in the area there are some growing pains, especially with traffic, but it's nothing like you would experience in the Seattle area. North-south routes during rush hour can be a problem, but would hold you up for 20 to 30 minutes at most during peak hours.

Your housing dollar will definitely go a lot farther in Idaho there than it will here. We sold our starter home in CDA when we moved... it will be a couple years before we can save up a down payment for a mid-range home here and it will cost three times as much.

[noah]

Be aware jobs are a big problem in CDA and even in Spokane. CDA is mainly a small resort town and while you do have outdoor activities its nothing like Western Washington with the islands, cascades etc. Many of us moved away because of jobs, I know people who picked this area to relocate from CA and wish they had choosen the Seattle metro because of the lack of jobs. For construction you may be ok, but for Insurance you will definitely make substantially less and have few opportunities. I wouldn't describe the climate as mild either, its going to be a true 4 seasons with midwest cold winters and hot summers but without the humidity.

Originally Posted by Gardyloo

CdA is really part of the general Spokane economic zone/markets. It's certainly not growing as fast as the Seattle metro area, but the cost of living is WAY cheaper, in particular housing. Go to a CdA MLS service and put in a max price of $200K for a house and see what you see, then compare it to a comparable search anywhere west of the Cascades.

It might be a good area to research. CdA is a lovely little town, the options for outdoor activities are endless, and you have all the advantages of a big city (Spokane) - medical, airport, shopping, etc. - very close by.

[mjmcgrath]

Originally Posted by noah

Be aware jobs are a big problem in CDA and even in Spokane. CDA is mainly a small resort town and while you do have outdoor activities its nothing like Western Washington with the islands, cascades etc. Many of us moved away because of jobs, I know people who picked this area to relocate from CA and wish they had choosen the Seattle metro because of the lack of jobs. For construction you may be ok, but for Insurance you will definitely make substantially less and have few opportunities. I wouldn't describe the climate as mild either, its going to be a true 4 seasons with midwest cold winters and hot summers but without the humidity.

How hot do the summers get in CDA? On Wiki it's showing the average in July/August only around 80 degrees. Is that true or is it much hotter? Because 80 degrees is like a dream to me coming from 97 degree summers in Baton Rouge. lol