Kennewick Questions (Yakima, Richland, Pasco: apartment complex, rentals, low crime)

[cdc1211]

In the next 8 months, I am looking to relocate from North Dakota. I have researched many cities, and Kennewick appears to be a real contender, strongly because of the better climate and affordable rents. I just wanted to ask a few question relevant to my situation.

First off, I work in retail, and we have a store there. Most likely I will just put in for a transfer and have no problem. I am just curious how the retail job market appears there. Are most stores hiring? I have read that some people had trouble finding jobs there, but I think a lot of times it depends on their field.

I would be working and hopefully living near the Columbia Center Mall area. Is this area considered safe? I walk a lot, as an eye condition prevents me from driving. The public transit system appears decent for a city your size. A lot of cities have less.

I prefer to live close enough to walk to work. Right now, I walk about 2 miles each way, even when it is below zero. Are there apartments within 2 miles of the mall area? I am likely looking for a one bedroom under $650. Is that reasonable? It appears to be from the classified listings.

Finally, I know the Tri Cities area is growing pretty fast. How would you assess the growth. Is it out of control? Do the cities seem to be managing it well?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply. I appreciate it.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by cdc1211

In the next 8 months, I am looking to relocate from North Dakota. I have researched many cities, and Kennewick appears to be a real contender, strongly because of the better climate and affordable rents. I just wanted to ask a few question relevant to my situation.

Good idea. One thing I can tell you right off: from periodic reading of the obituaries, I can tell you that a lot of people settled here during/after WWII from the Great Plains. I would call this area influenced by that to a degree. For the most part, no one bothers you, and differences are tolerated provided one doesn't wash everyone's face in them.

Originally Posted by cdc1211

First off, I work in retail, and we have a store there. Most likely I will just put in for a transfer and have no problem. I am just curious how the retail job market appears there. Are most stores hiring? I have read that some people had trouble finding jobs there, but I think a lot of times it depends on their field.

I don't think it's too bad for retail, at least less bad than many other places, because we haven't taken the economic hit to the same degree as some other regions.

Originally Posted by cdc1211

I would be working and hopefully living near the Columbia Center Mall area. Is this area considered safe? I walk a lot, as an eye condition prevents me from driving. The public transit system appears decent for a city your size. A lot of cities have less.

Very safe. Crime is minimal. Your greater worry is local drivers, who generally aren't paying attention. They mean you no harm; they just aren't looking. When they are, they are decent enough. There's a lot of retail in the mall vicinity, east and west and south.

Here's an idea of how it is. Saturday I'm going across Kennewick (lived here eleven years) to a sports bar just north of the mall. I'm driving. I will surely drink, and may become inebriated. I'll take a cab home and leave my truck. Sunday, I'll jump on my bike and head for the park (the entire Kennewick coast of the Columbia is a park), riding west until I get to the bar. I fully expect to find my truck there, safe and sound. I would be very surprised if it were vandalized and shocked if it were gone.

Originally Posted by cdc1211

I prefer to live close enough to walk to work. Right now, I walk about 2 miles each way, even when it is below zero. Are there apartments within 2 miles of the mall area? I am likely looking for a one bedroom under $650. Is that reasonable? It appears to be from the classified listings.

It probably is. There are a fair number of apartments within walking distance, and there has been heavy construction of same since I moved here. If your job is at Kohl's, Circuit City or Staples, that may be harder, as that area is awkward to access by road and not very close to housing. In general, I consider renting here a bad deal overall because a small house really isn't very expensive--but not many such houses are near your work area, so if you prefer to walk and don't like to drive I can see the logic in renting.

Originally Posted by cdc1211

Finally, I know the Tri Cities area is growing pretty fast. How would you assess the growth. Is it out of control? Do the cities seem to be managing it well?

Fast but not out of control. Much of the growth lately is in west Pasco and West Richland. I don't think the cities are managing it worth a damn, frankly, but I don't think they manage anything worth a damn, especially traffic. Transportation-wise, the place works like was designed by numerous overstaffed committees all disliking one another. Which is a fair statement, since the three (arguably now four) cities all jealously guard their independence. Talk of consolidation always founders.

Originally Posted by cdc1211

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply. I appreciate it.

No problem. Welcome, in advance, to the Tri-Cities. The area has its flaws, but it has low crime, good-hearted people and lots of peace and quiet. I like it. It doesn't have as many playtoys as a big city, but it does have things to do if one is willing to do them: music fests, folklife fests, trade shows, minor league sports, cultural fests, the fair, and so on.

Probably the best thing about the area is how its people handle general emergencies. I saw that with the big fire near Benton City and I saw it again when a plane got frustratingly, repeatedly delayed. We don't have many crises, but when we do, you really do see the best in people. That too counts for something. And it's something you never see until, suddenly, it's desperately needed. If stuff goes down, I can think of few other places I'd rather take my chances.

[M3 Mitch]

There are definitely apartments near the mall, I don't know about vacancies. Ben Franklin bus service is available at the mall as well.

Probably not the cheapest area of town, but, it is safe, there are, as noted, houses available as well within an easy walk to the mall.

Good luck, it seems to me you have a good plan.

[GameHog9]

j_k_k is right, its better to get a house as it is a lot cheaper here than many other places, even in WA (Correct me if im wrong, but I believe we have the cheapest retail). Not to sure about the truck thing though... depends on where you park it.

Which store are you working at?

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by GameHog9

j_k_k is right, its better to get a house as it is a lot cheaper here than many other places, even in WA (Correct me if im wrong, but I believe we have the cheapest retail). Not to sure about the truck thing though... depends on where you park it.

Well, and what I'm most thinking of is the disparity between a house payment and rent here. Rent, I think, is fairly high for what you get. Not sure what a house payment would be on a $90K home (and there are quite a few here), but I know what it is on a $150K 30 year 5.85% mortgage: $1150/month, including homeowners and property tax. So if one gets a studio (if we even have those) at $650, yeah, that's less. But when we moved out of Crosspointy in 01, they were about to jack our rent on a 3BR to about $1050/month. (At that time everyone was gearing up to gouge the vit plant people.) Our house payment at that time was about $1100. So I think we would have been stupid to stay. But when we were paying $850 it was debatable.

In my view it makes a lot of sense to at the very least talk to a mortgage banker and find out what size mortgage your apartment rent could buy. I strongly recommend Yakima Federal to the OP, as they don't sell their loans upstream. They have done well by us at every turn, including keeping a loan officer's verbal commitment even though it turned out what he offered was going to cost them money and was against their new policy, so I would definitely do business with them again.

[rambrush]

The tri-cities have grown up since I actually lived there, but I spent 3 weeks up there a couple of months ago.
My take is go and look and around Columbia Center area, there are rentals / apartments south of the mall towards the railroad tracks. Plus if you head over towards Kamiakin High School there are more in that area. We used to walk from Kamiakin to the mall all the time and it was not bad at all.
Columbia park is great as posted, I used to ride my bike from Pasco through the park to the mall with no problems.
Now columbia park is kind of messed up around the east end. we used to be able to cruise around the Lagoon and check things out.
It is now called the family fishing pond, I assisted/ operated a front end loader during the renovation and we dug the pond out and created fishing beds. We sure made it a different place than when we grew up as kids.

[GameHog9]

As has been already said, their isnt a significant amount of crime here. Theres a murder ever once in awhile (every other year or so, or more), but this isnt the kind of place where you'll be packing a weapon to walk across the street. Then again, common sense dictates you never walk alone at night, no matter where you live.

Overall, this place is safe, far more so than places like Toppenish.

[tcres]

I used to live in the apartment complex Orchard at Hansen Park. It is on the corner of 4th Ave and Columbia Center Blvd. It is definitely walking distance from the mall and is new as well as nice when I lived there. There is another complex on Col Center Blvd even closer to the mall and a couple more near Hansen Park area.

It was nice living up in that area and being able to walk to the mall area or to the Toyota Center for hockey and football games. I miss that area.

[nickel5]

My husband and I moved to Kennewick not too long ago, and we were looking for the same thing, something close to the retail area near by the mall. We settled on Tradewinds apartments which are on Edison, and it's definitely within walking distance, as I have walked it several times. It takes me about 20 minutes or less to get the strip mall with Petsmart, Best Buy and such. You can get a three bedroom here for your price range, so you should look into it. We think it's a great complex and have had no problems! Great idea to move here, this is a great place with some awesome weather!

[luddy]

when was kennewick established a city?