Advice for Move and Driving to Work Near Kahlotus

[j_k_k]

Depending on how much land you want, $200K should be doable. I'm currently selling a nice three bedroom with basement and view in south Kennewick for less than that, on about 1/2 acre. (Mods: I am not a realtor. I am the seller.) Probably about $50K of the value is in the view and excellent neighborhood (pleasant without being McMansiony, mature landscaping), so you should expect pretty good results for $200k when you subtract some of those factors and trade them in for an extra acre or so of desert. Lots of farmy/ranchy properties on the periphery of Pasco.

I don't think there is anything special about Kennewick or Pasco that would make you yearn to live within the city limits. In both cities, the major question that few will bluntly articulate is: how many Hispanics do you want to live near? Here is how that works in Tri-Cities. It's socially unacceptable for people to say that they are racist, so in the TC, people use the code word 'rough area,' which really means 'has Hispanics.' Myself, I believe people should be more self-honest about their prejudices, but they aren't and won't be. If you would like to live near a lot of Hispanics, east Pasco is excellent, and the middle of Pasco or northeast Kennewick are also good. Richland, west and central Kennewick, and west Pasco have the fewest Hispanics. How you feel about that is up to you, but when your agent says 'rough area,' just know that she probably means the ethnic factor (there are no areas of the Tri-Cities that are actually rough). If you hate hearing Spanish and seeing businesses brightly painted in peach, orange, purple and green, just ask your agent to steer you away from 'rough areas.' She'll know what you mean. If on the other hand you are comfortable in Spanish (like myself) and don't mind being around lots of Hispanics, the secret word is 'diversity.' It means the same thing as 'rough area,' but is the positive spin term. When Pasco brags about its 'diversity,' that's what it means. It really isn't very diverse; it has Anglos and Hispanics, with African Americans a distant demographic third. 'Diverse' is just the code word. African Americans can still get pulled over for DWB; it's just not as common as a DWH pullover, especially in north Kennewick.

Dogs depend on the area, so you probably want to be out in elbow room land as you described. I'm not a good source on that, as I am one of the people whose politeness your dogs' barking would strain, so all I can do is commend your desire to be in a place where their noise level won't bug anyone. Many dog people simply assume that anyone who doesn't like dog racket deserves to suffer from it. If more dog people took your approach, the world would be more harmonious.

I don't know anything about cell phone amplifiers. I actually paid more to get a flip phone, and even then I thought it had too many widgets I didn't need. Verizon seems to have good coverage in the area; Sprint is spotty.

[poisonivvy]

I also think $200k is doable. I built my dream house for around $245K a few years back so that I didn't have to deal with any fixer-upper or "master electricians" that have ruined my previous dwellings.

My dogs have not upset anyone that I know of, but only bark for the doorbell (and I'm on .27 of an acre). If you have a dog with a fear of fireworks or barks at them---you'll definitely want a panic sound-proof room built in your floorplan. It's borderline obnoxious at New Years, and just plain ridiculous at 4th of July. There are some neat farms and farmland in North Pasco that could suit your need. I'm over in West Richland, so perhaps a bit to far for you, but also has some larger land tracts available.

AT&T has decent 4G coverage. Sprint was awful when I first had them up here.

[squidchief]

j_k_k,poisonivy – Thank you very much for the replies. Upon further research I’ve found that the main Tri-City area itself may be too far for me to want to drive every day for the next XX years. I “assumed” that the drive would be shorter when I was first looking. For example for one way miles and driving time to my new job:

West Richland = 70, 1:20
Kennewick =66, 1:15
East Pasco =56, 1:05

I really didn’t want to drive that far 2X per day, every day. Not to mention the sheer amount of “wasted” driving time– time that I really have other important uses for. Since employment opportunities for my wife and kids would be best in the Tri-Cities (not to mention shopping choices), I’m thinking maybe a compromise of some place near Eltopia or Connell would work out better. Othello would be just as far to my work as East Pasco. I just don’t know if I’ll find a home that meets my needs near there or any other amenities lacking that I’m not aware of yet.

Do I need to be in a suburb? No (need neighbor space from my mutts). Do I need to be 10 minutes from a Wal-Mart? No. But I don’t want to live off the grid either. This all may be a moot point because the spouse may just end up saying she needs to be closer to the Tri-Cities than I wanted to be (from a commuting standpoint).

Still, I appreciate any additional input on the area because as the saying goes “you don’t know what you don’t know”. If I was able to come up there prior to starting work then I could see for myself how the area is but I can’t (I’m near 2000 miles away), pretty much moving blind at this point.

[M3 Mitch]

I'm thinking the most practical approach would be for you to set up in one of the better "by the week" motels in Pasco, let the family stay put for a few weeks, while you get started in the job and have time to shop around for a house.

I'm not certain about the cell signal on the road to Kahlotus.

In general I think Pasco or even Finley might be your best bet for a reasonable house price and low taxes.

Sorry for the limited information, I don't get to that part of town much.

[j_k_k]

Burbank might work. Our self-adopted daughter lives up on the Snake in Burbank Heights (it might be 5' higher than the rest of Burbank) on a bunch of land with no city government, and she and her husband love it. I seem to get Verizon cell signal up there.

[squidchief]

M3 Mitch, J_k_k -

Thank you for the inputs. I appreciate it. I very well may be coming upthere by myself for a few weeks, depending on what my start date needs to be. Hopefully I can find a small month to month studio apartment that won’t break the bank. I'll likely need to rent a house when the family joins me until my house in Missouri sells, and then I can look for permanent digs.

Unfortunately my initial web searching for either rental homes or to buy homes seem to be all sandwiched within 20-40 feet between other houses - something I really am trying to avoid because 1. I like my space, do not like the idea of seeing straight into someone's house from my window and vice-versa, and 2. I really want to put space between my dogs and neighbors (a quiet neighbor is a good neighbor - something I would want to be...). They are good inside house dogs but do like to bark at birds, squirrels, UPS drivers, etc…

The other thing is the tri-city area houses are smaller, significantly less land, and are more expensive than what I have here in Missouri so there are going to need to be a lot of compromises on my end to try to make something work.

Another question regarding air travel – would I be correct in assuming that flying anywhere east would have me likely leaving out of the little regional airport there to Seattle, then to points east?

[j_k_k]

Yeah, most rentals are in the city. If the city is too crowded, you may have to buy in the country.

No, that wouldn't be correct about air travel. Some flights east or southward go through Seattle, but some go through Portland. Most of those I have taken (KC, Orlando, Atlanta) went through Salt Lake.

[squidchief]

j_k_k,

Thanks. Since the family wants to live as close to the Kennewick / Pasco area as possible, I'm hoping to find something maybe just on the outskirts of town where there is a little more space between properties. I would imagine property with some "elbow room" in town would likely be out of my price range.

Thanks for the airline info. I was thinking I'd likely have to backtrack to Seattle every time I wanted to go east.

[j_k_k]

At least you can't get lost or misplaced in PSC. Five gates. One terminal. Two baggage carousels. If you fail to spot your party coming out of the left side of security, it's because you fell asleep waiting.

If I were you, I'd look in Burbank. Close to the main urban area but separated physically from it by a river, unincorporated, lots of orchards and cattle and horses and property, friendly, schools have a good reputation, and a lot of houses with an acre or two.

[squidchief]

j_k_k -

Awesome info on Burbank! Thats the tidbits of info I'm looking for. Thank you!

Sounds very similar to where I live now. I'm on 2 acres, house is 10 years old at 2,300 sqft, with cows mooing in the distance and enough tree density that I can't see my neighbors between spring and fall.