Working in Spokane Valley - good place nearby to live w/kids? (Seattle: fit in)

[Moon Waffle]

I am stronlgy considering a very good job in Spokane Valley. I don't know much about Spokane other than from a tourists perspective...we go there about once a year, Silverwood/C'dA/downtown/riverfront park/etc.

I am NOT a commuter. I would ideally want to be no more than 15 mintues from home, but could do 30. No more than 30 though, and that's during traffic.

Where could I live that would be a safe, friendly place to raise a family? I would not want to go above $300K for a home, and I strongly prefer new construction. What I don't want is to end up in a snooty gated community where everyone lives 10 feet apart and is overly obsessed about the HOA covenants. Did that in Seattle, what a nightmare. Rather, I'm looking for a "normal" neighborhood where my kids can play with the neighbors, go to a decent school, and where people "live and let live". Somewhere safe, nice, and clean, but minus the pretentious suburbia attitude (don't know if Spokane has much of this to begin with, but that's another area you can help inform me!)

Thoughts? Appreciate the help up front.

[Deena160]

I hear you on the ridiculousness of HOA's. Our first house was a condo and we swore that we'd avoid another HOA like the plague. Some of those people!
New construction, huh? Problem is that most of the new Valley homes in the under $300K range are on postage sized stamped lots and probably do have HOA's--great if it includes snow removal, but not if they won't let you paint your house whatever color you want or tell you what kind of shingles you have to put on. It'd be great if you could find an odd bit of land in an established neighborhood to build in. That'd be the best of both worlds. Otherwise, I'd stick with looking South of Sprague Ave. or East Veradale/Liberty Lake area .
Anyway, in our visits driving all over and looking to compare neighborhoods, we've liked South Valley the best (probably south of 16th). Most Central Valley schools rate pretty well. We liked South Hill, too, and it would actually be closer to my husbands work, but we just feel like our family might fit into the Valley better. We'll see...we'll be looking here in earnest in the next few weeks. Heaven knows we could end up anywhere if we find the right house! :~) D

[Moon Waffle]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-HOA, necessarily. I'm just anti the kind of people who walk around the neighborhood and freak out when your garage door is open or something ridiculous like that. I'm trying to avoid that mentality which I believe is very prevalent in certain subdivisions. Like I said, I'm not even sure if people are like that (generally) in Spokane.

[jessysunshine]

We lived in a very nice neighborhood on Woodlawn just off of 16th. It's a very nice area all back in there.

[vette-dude]

There are a good number of properties in the Spokane Valley , and only 10 or so minutes from the Mall and major business' in the valley. Yes some of the new homes are on propertys that are small, but nice and you have some privacy and most are HOA. Check them out on the web, using any of the many realty websites..

Good Luck...