Wanting to retire in WA, but not sure where (Seattle: real estate, houses)

[KidBlue]

I would love to retire in WA but not sure where the best area would be. I currently live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in No. CA. It is pretty, but getting very crowded and VERY HOT and dry in the summer (which seems to last about 6 months).

I was considering Roseburg, OR but decided that the OR state and real estate taxes were too high. I like about 40 inches of rain a year, about 10 inches of snow, and an area where it rarely gets over 85 degrees (a little tired of 100+ degrees in the summer!) I like smaller towns with a country feel. I'll be retiring in about 3 years and am starting to research.

The town of Centralia looks promising from what I've read. Does anyone know if Centralia (or close towns) would be a good choice?

[Ryan]

Hi! We just moved to the WA coast from Folsom a year ago. Sure miss those summers . We did a years worth of research before moving, so I'm a good source. The Centralia area is not nice. Coming from Placerville, you'll definitely be area shocked; almost polar opposites, except for the heat, shopping and expansion. If I was you, I look at settling down in or around Aberdeen or Shelton. Aberdeen is still the best value in the state. It's less than 45 min. from Olympia and is the business hub of the WA coast. Nicer homes start at $135k. The huge homes, mansions and estates start at $250. The homes are appreciating at 20% and have the most room for continued growth as well; most of the rest of WA is considered overpriced. Half the homes here are in the hills and have great views. It's just down the way from the state salmon hatchery, so fishing is the best. It's bordered by a bunch of state forests, wildlife preserves, recreation areas, the Oympic Nat. Forest is just north and the beach is a 20 min. drive. There's lots of outdoor recreational activities. Best seafood in WA. Quiet and charming; very suburban country. Lots of parks and shopping (a mall and a few large shopping centers), but also small country town feel. Has a nice little old town area and a community college. Schools are average, but improving. 3/4 blue collar population, very down to earth and friendly people. Summer runs from Apr. to Nov. and it's winter the rest of the time. About 12" of snow total this winter. Very long summer, and long winter. Nothing in between. The summer is the best. We get a ocean breeze because we're on the coast and lots of sun. The temp. usually stays around 80 and never gets over 85 (that's hot for here). Each month I've been here, the city's gotten nicer and nicer. It's feeling more and more like Monterey/Carmel. Lots of folks from the Seattle cashing out and have been moving and investing in Aberdeen as of late. I honestly feel it's the best buy in WA. Another nice city in this area but 10 miles closer to Olympia is Montesano. Less features than Aberdeen and quite a bit more expensive, but nicer overall community (still can't beat the Aberdeen Hills IMO). Shelton is similar to Aberdeen but it's closer to Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle and the homes are slightly more expensive. The pictures they have posted on the Aberdeen City-Data page are probably the worst pictures anybody could have taken, but I've sent some good ones in and they should be up soon. Hope all this helped. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[KidBlue]

Thanks for the great information. I'll definitely start researching the Aberdeen, Shelton, and Montesano areas. The weather sounds perfect. I'm more of a mountain that a coast person, but it sounds like it may be a little colder than I'd like the farther from the coast. Thanks for the warning about Centralia (so much for going by demographics!)

I actually live in Shingle Springs near Latrobe (no one knows where SS is, so I used P-ville) and shop every week in Folsom. I'm a little strange for CA as I love rain, cool weather, and some snow (more like Bend, OR than Madison, WI). We've had about 35 inches of rain this year, and I'm the only one still smiling.

Houses in our area have increased so much in value (our home and land have increased by four times what we paid) that we will probably be OK relocating to most areas of WA except Seattle. My husband and I and two big sled dogs currently live on 10 acres of oaks and digger pine, so I'll be looking for some space between houses. Sounds like the Aberdeen and Montesano areas will be worth looking into.

Have you noticed any resentment from long time WA residents? This might just be an OR issue.

[Ryan]

No resentment at all (there are quite a few Californians up here), but when we mention that we moved from CA, some folks are like "California, eh", like there expecting us to be jerks. We've got over a year in up here, and everybody we've met have "adopted" us in . It's a small town so you run into people repeatedly and develop familiarity quick around here. It's really nice compared to the CA social climate. Most of the people you run into up here are genuine and friendly. "Down home" is a description that comes to mind. The homes in the city part of Aberdeen and on the hill have lots usually falling between 1/3 acre and 1.5 acres. The outer city has homes with land up to around 50 acres. Hoquiam (Aberdeen's twin city) also has large outer city homes/parcels, but the Hoquiam inner city doesn't compare to Aberdeen. Montesano and Shelton generally have larger inner city lots (up to 5 acres), but the cities themself are also inherently more rural. We live on a hill very conveniently between the inner an outer city limits on a large managable parcel. If you like the country living more than the suburban living, there is an area between Monte and Aberdeen called Central Park and another between Montesano and Olympia named Elma (a lot of the rich folks in this area live on giant parcels on the skirts of Elma (Satsop etc.)). Lots of huge houses on huge parcels there, more so than Montesano or Aberdeen. Central Park is nice because it's close to shopping in Aberdeen. It's also a little more expensive and, in my opinion, has less character than Aberdeen itself. I prefer the Wishkah area of Aberdeen. The land is cheaper, gets more snow and has better fishing, hunting and privacy without being out in the total boondocks; it starts only about 5 miles north of central Aberdeen. The further out you go from Aberdeen in any direction (except west), the more snow you'll get. We just love it over here. So many different terrains, people and things to do crammed into this cool little area bearly anybody knows about. Can't beat it.

[Carlene]

I'm new to city-data forums, but really enjoying meeting NoCal folks moving to our soon to be our neck of the woods. We have a place in escrow in Ocean Park, a little ways away from Aberdeen, but what got us looking up there was Ocean Shores, but when we visited there last summer I just didn't like the feel of it, hard to manuver thru the strange streets, but that took us thru Aberdeen and Raymond, both really great areas. The second trip was in the fall after tourist season was over, and the coast was calling, we spent more time in the Long Beach area and then the first week of April '06 back up exploring the area and found the "transitional" property we bought.
We have actually looked from Newport Oregon to as far north as where we ended up buying.
We will be moving from Somerset, southern El Dorado Co, we actually have a Placerville address but po box in Somerset, have lived here for 26 years, we are the old timers in the neighborhood.
But to bring up the Washington forum and mostly Folsom / El Dorado County people sharing info... it's a small world.

I look forward to sharing any other info, and Ryan you are right about the people, very friendly and really don't mind "all of us" moving north.

Any other info on the area is invited.

Carlene

[johosofat]

I am a newcomer to this and any forum and have written a couple of days ago regarding the King County area. (researching KIng Co) I also was more than a little curious about the reception of CA to the WA turf. You will probably never come across more likeminded, grateful converts as us! I/we are not in retiring mode yet, but are ready for real, lasting, people and community. From several trips up and having both of our kids settling up in WA, we have seen and experienced good things. Any opinions as to towns out about 30 min. from Lake Union area would be greatly appreciated. We are going up on the 15th of this month(1 week!) to seriously look at towns, neighborhoods, houses.
Ps. RYAN! Am I doing this forum right? I have seem you on here a bit and thought you could advise. I am trying to get more feedback than I am getting. Or am I just being impatient?

[Selina]

If you want to stay in a dry warm climate, perhaps Centrailia is for you. I think its beautiful there. Good luck in your search!

[Ryan]

J-
I'll check you're posts out. Sometimes it just takes a little while for us to get over here and answer. You also have to keep in mind that this forum is only a few months old and doesn't seem to have accrued a whole lot of membership yet, and that is going to translate to a lower frequency of posting/responding. Another thing I've noticed is that thorough initial posts usually get better responses because they are taken more seriously; the more information you are able to provide, the more you can potentially get back. It seems like some folks on the board just post little vague tidbits or uninformative responses so they can see their name on the screen and their numbers go up. I don't take those too seriously. Sometimes people post the same message in 20+ different state's forums about moving to 100 completely different parts of the country. I usually don't respond to those either. Sometimes the information needed has already been provided in another post. So here's the bottom line: if you're thorough and patient, you'll eventually get the information you're looking for here.

Good luck grasshoppa.

[thekingofska]

If you want to be just out of town but still in the country, you could move to southeastern Pierce/northern Lewis county to a town like Morton or Elbe--some place that's about a 40-minute drive from town. if you really want to be out in the sticks, you could move to one of those small towns on the North Cascades Highway like Omak, Winthrop, or Twisp. The only real attention they get is during ski season and maybe the occasional arts and crafts fair.

[KidBlue]

Thanks to everyone for their great advice on possible areas to retire in WA. Next step will be to take a trip and visit. Some of the towns suggested may be too cold (ski areas), remember we are whimps from NorCA where it hardly ever snows. Love the rain, some snow, and cloudy weather, though. So lots of places to consider.

It's nice to hear from someone (Carlene) from the hood (Somerset). My hair dresser lives in Fair Play. We actually live in the metropolis of Latrobe near Shingle Springs, but then everyone thinks we are from Pennsylvania.