Sold our digs on the coast and bought in the Tri-Cities (Seattle: crime rates, new house)

[Ryan]

Never thought it would happen, but duty called...

So here are my first impressions-

Are police as gung-ho as they seem? I haven't been pulled over or cited for anything in 10 years. 10pm on the first day I'm here, and I'm pulled over for "rolling a stop" which I didn't do, and for a dead rear tail lamp. No ticket. Second day I'm pulled over for going 39 in a 35. Guilty as charged and cited with a hefty ticket. Nice.

What's with the wind? Not that there's a lot of it, but sporatically throughout any sunny or overcast day, it will just start gusting hard for 5-10 minutes and then just dissipate to nothing.

Speaking of overcast, there's lots of it. Wasn't expecting that or the week of rain we got the first week we were here although it has been getting considerably warmer/sunnier lately.

I though there was a lot of hispanics in Aberdeen, but this place has it beat hands down. Also, there aren't many places for Mexican food and that really stinks. LOTS of LDS/Mormons here as well. Didn't have many of them on the coast.

Why does anybody by used houses here? Seriously, we spent a month looking for a home until we realized that we could build a brand new place for less than the cost of a used one. So that's what we did. According to the home selling street logic around here, we should now be able to put the new house we paid $150k for on the market for $180k and not have a problem selling it, just because it's used. If you're looking for a place here, builders are selling 3br 2ba homes starting at ~$115k with decent sized lots, and your choice of colors/options. Seems like a no brainer.

There really isn't a bad element here, is there? Aside from some rough spots in E. Pasco, the entire area is pretty mild. And most of the people here are wicked polite. Like creepy cult polite. It's all good; just something else I have to acclimate myself to.

W. Pasco is exploding right now, but the other parts of the tri-cities aren't. When we first started looking here, you could ask where the nice area was to live and people would say W. Richland. Now everybody says W. Pasco is the place to be and W. Richland is podunk. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Overall, I like the change of scenery. I missed some of the conveniences of a larger city. The area still isn't "developed" like Tacoma or anything. It feels more like a countryish suburban sprawl, and I can deal with that. I miss the "older" feeling of Aberdeen, though. It feels more real over there, and the city/homes/people have way more character. Every place is different though, and I'm sure, the longer I'm here, the more I'll like compared to the coast. This is a very nice area though, and most of the good things I've heard about the area have turned out to be true.

[missyM]

Glad you have been, for the most part, pleasantly surprised. We have the big-bad-bogeyman reputation, so it's nice when a neutral party can debunk much of it.
Enjoy the overcast, there will be precious little of it in July/August. Can you send some of those traffic cops my way? It seems like you have to crash into one of them to get a ticket here.

[chris]

Ryan, what was your biggest reason(s) for moving over there?

I too was interested in Aberdeen for a time but I was really glad to have passed on it a few years ago (per *strong* recommendation by my wife's family). I happened to see a fun statistic tonight (kiro7 - candy flavored meth targets teenagers) where the Grays Harbor County sheriffs office announced that 90% of all crime (this is for 2006) was meth related.

The two most important factors for me in a place to live are general safety/low violent crime, and decent schools, so for the future I'm pondering the tri-cities. My wife knows several good people over there.

[Ryan]

Most of the "against" recommendations I've heard mentioned about Aberdeen have been from people who either lived or visited there years back when it was a certifiable dump or people who "heard from somebody who heard that blah, blah...". It's certainly not a secret Shangrila on the coast, but the Harbor has many great qualities, a lot of great people and great things to do. Most of the people I know who have grown up there refuse to live anywhere else. There are a couple of problem areas and meth is an issue in places, but I've witnessed little of the area's bad element. My reason for moving from the harbor? Well, ironically, it's greatest assets as a small community are also it's greatest downfalls. Work is harder to find. Pay isn't outstanding and won't be any time soon in non specialized career fields. Schools, while not bad by any means, are closed in and not funded as well as larger area schools, and kids do take a hit for it. My wife was also tired of the weather in the harbor (we're originally from hot and dry NorCal) and the "oldness" of the area. The possibility of training outdoors year-round in the tri-cities (I'm a competitive athlete, and there's little rain here) was a draw for me. We're also about to turn 30 and tired of moving. We wanted to set up shop at least semi-permanently, and for our kids to have that "town they grew up in" that neither of us had. We both also insist on the best for our family (within financial constraints). An opportunity to transfer to this area came up so we bought the biggest/best home in the best area, near the best schools, shopping etc.- that we could afford and put down roots. The harbor worked well for us while we were there, but we ultimately required more than what we knew the area could give us. It was our time to move on. I like the tri-cities a lot; I wouldn't have moved here if I didn't. It has a lot in common with both CA and the Harbor, and because of that everybody's happy. I'm sure that we'll be spending a long time here.

[Houstonjames7]

tri cities has almost no crime, some of the best public schools you could ask for, and a generally mild climate. i have lived here my entire life and i will never leave. this is truely the perfect place to raise a family. i have some great pictures of the area i can send you if you would like. let me know if you have any questions.

[6thgen]

I lived in Idaho my whole life, then moved to Seattle, then relocated to the Tri-cities due to a job thing...now we're back in Idaho and I'll never move back to the Tri-Cities...you either love it or you hate it!

The hispanics...well, there's vineyards there, that's what I've always attributed the growing hispanic population to. You can't even go in to a store anymore without feeling like the minority!

We bought our house in W. Pasco (Rd. 100, Loviisa Farms subdivision) in 2004 for 98K brand new, we sold it last August for $125k...pretty nice investment I don't know why people buy used houses, you can get one built for a smaller price, BUT, a lot of people don't want to deal with putting in sprinkler systems, sod, fencing, stuff like that. And, in the Loviisa Farms subdivision, a sprinkler system is MANDATORY!!! Silly, huh?!?!

And the cops lol...our friends got a ticket for blocking the sidewalk with a vehicle at 2 AM!!! Then, the officer came back and issued another ticket later because the vehicle had not been moved. They were getting sod delivered and the vehicle had to be moved so they could get the sod in...I'm guessing they just have nothing to do! We had also been pulled over numerous times for going less than five over the speed limit, but, my wife is a good crier, so we did get out of a few, but got dinged hardcore for one ticket of SIX MPH over...had to pay a $90 ticket. Hehe, we also got stopped because our tires squealed when we were turning...it was the paint on the road, I swear. Pay attention to the white paint on the road when you turn, it seems like regardless of how fast or slow you're going, your tires will squeal lol!!

And the wind...yeah, that's a fun time Just keep in mind that those cheapy little pavillion/cover things you can put over your back porch (you buy em at like, Sears and whatnot) don't stand a chance here. We bought a $300 one last year and it was blown over and bent and completely useless in a few weeks!

[chris]

That's crazy about the ticket situation... The Police dept must need $$$$

Glad to hear the crime rates are so low. I saw that west richland has a 98 for crime, that's one of the lowest I've *ever* seen!

Houstonjames7, if you have some pics and can post the links, that'd be great. I'm sure quite a few people would like to see them.

[matthews028]

Hmm... Cops here are crazy for violations, but there aren't very many of them. I've driven a lot over the limit for years and gotten one ticket for 45 in a 35. There definitely are far more gung-ho cops in Pasco, though.

I'm not sure what your problem is with Hispanics, 6thgen. That's... kind of a scary thing you said.

[Ryan]

Other things-

There is thin inversion layer here that sets up overnight after hot days. Similar to the one's we had in CA, but not nearly as thick or stinky. It's dissipated by ~10am every day (so far).

Amazing sunsets! I've got to put some pictures up. With the exception of some islands I've vacationed on and down in Death Valley, I've never seen such beautiful sunsets. If there's clouds up in the sky, it's looks even crazier. Very surreal.

Aside from the inversion, I'm extremely surprised at how clear the skies are here. Comparable to where we were on the coast. Very clear with little to no smog during the first part of the day and a little more smog during the later half, but theat just helps those amazing sunsets, so I don't mind much.

No traffic during "rush hours". None. I love it. That was one of my favorite things about Aberdeen. I was expecting at least a little being that the area is so populated, but I think congestion is dispersed well because of the way everything else in the area is spread out.

Aside from that ticket (still irritates me) I'm really enjoying myself here.

[KidBlue]

I'm totally shocked!!!! I never thought you would leave Aberdeen. I'm also shocked you can build a house so fast up there. It takes 6-8 months just to get plans approved in El Dorado Co.

Hope you'll be happy for a long time in your new home and area.