Vancouver? (Salmon Creek, Camas, Battle Ground: for sale, real estate market, apartment)

[cagirl]

Hello,

We are going to be relocating up north and are trying to figure out if we should go to the Portland area or Vancouver, WA. Please share any suggestions as to which is the better choice and how affordable Vancouver is. Please share any good areas as we are going to be renting an apartment for about 6mths until we get to the know the area a bit. Also what is the job market like compared to Portland. I am looking for insurance agencies or clerical work and for my husband mechancial work.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[klpeake]

CAGIRL,

One thing to consider is that if you live in WA then you have no state income taxes and then you drive over the border into Portland to make your big purchases as there is no sales tax in OR.

[NWgirl]

Cagirl,

I live in the Vancouver area. If you're going to be renting an apt for about 6 months, you will be able to check out the neighborhoods and see what you like. It will, of course, depend on what you're looking for. Liberal? Conservative? Diversity? Public transportation? Libraries? Churches? Parks? Big back yards? Dog friendly? Hunting friendly? Chain stores and restaurants or indie boutiques and markets and small restaurants?

I can tell you that for me, I like the area around Vancouver where we live because I like suburbs, I like Target and Fred Meyer and Spaghetti Factory and Red Robin and Vancouver has a pretty decent library (but Portland has THE BEST Library) and it's fairly clean, lots of families, and we've got a couple of dog parks now, but I really couldn't tell you whether it is conservative or liberal because I can't tell, so I'd guess our area is in the middle, but maybe I'm just not perceptive enough!

Both Portland and Vancouver have jobs, but there are more options in Portland due to size. If you're looking for clerical work, you probably won't have much of a problem finding work.

Good luck!

[diggitydot]

You'll both be able to find jobs in either city. Granted, the opportunities in Portland will be greater, but so will the cost of living. If you're looking to buy, the Portland real estate market is outrageously expensive for what you end up getting.

Here's kind of a run-down on the two:

Portland
Great arts scene
Awesome indie music scene
Beautiful downtown
HORRIBLE schools, (funding was tied to property taxes several years ago and property taxes were then artificially held down, thus limiting the schools' ability to increase funds as necessary. Lots of programs were cut or turned into "pay-to-play" type of programs.)
Income tax, even for people living out of state but working in OR
No sales tax
INSANE traffic, particularly during rush hours
Awesome public transit, MAX trains are clean, cheap, on time, and pretty safe.
Some great higher education choices
Higher gas prices. (It's against the law to pump your own gas in Oregon. I know, I know...it's stupid. I've actually had friends call me from the gas stations near my house because they needed help. They had no clue how to fill their own tank! )

Vancouver
Less like a "city" and more like a loose association of suburbs.
Excellent school districts
Sales tax, but no income tax
Public transportation isn't that great. I wish they'd put MAX up I-5 to Salmon Creek.
Beautiful WSU-Vancouver campus in Salmon Creek.
More reasonably priced real estate, particularly in the more outlying areas.
Lower gas prices
Indoor Farmers Market in downtown.


While some of the positives in Portland outweigh those in Vancouver, the great thing about living in Vancouver or some of the other smaller cities in SW WA is that you can easily go to Portland to catch an art show, a great music group, or to just hang out at Saturday Market. Kind of like getting the best of both.

[rochelle0123]

We are a family of 4, 2 boys ages 11 and 3, two big dogs, looking for a neighborhood to call home. We moved here from out of state to Wilsonville 2 months ago but can't afford a home. We are looking for something around $250k that is a house (not a townhouse/condo) with a good size lot. Good schools are a must and the feeling that you are not stacked on top of your neighbors. We have been looking at Battle Ground and Yacolt, visited Woodland (but didn't like it much) and were hoping someone could give us an idea of what areas to check out in Vancouver. How is Salmon Creek? Any other suggestions for a city to live in? What about Washougal?

Thanks for the help

[klpeake]

Originally Posted by rochelle0123

We are looking for something around $250k with a good size lot. Good schools are a must and the feeling that you are not stacked on top of your neighbors. We have been looking at Battle Ground and Yacolt. How is Salmon Creek? Any other suggestions for a city to live in? What about Washougal?

Rochelle0123,

For Housing, google the RMLS. That will allow you to search on your own with whatever parameters you want. Washougal is a beautiful place. Hilly and not much in the way of a downtown (although they do have plans in the works to do something about that). Camas is very expensive as is Evergreen. Salmon Creek is nice but certain areas can get expensive because they have some the top schools and they are right near the new hospital and also WSU. I have never checked out Yacolt; it was too far removed for my taste.

When you run your real estate search, you can put in the name of the elementary school that you want. Here is how the schools rank in reading & math (amongst all schools in Vancouver, Ridgefield, Battle Ground, Brush Prairie, Camas & Washougal). Woodland, Yacolt, La Center are not included in here. The first "ranking" is what place they hold in reading and the 2nd is their place in math.

ELEMENTARY '04/'05 ~ '05/'06

Fisher's Landing 1st/1st ~ 1st/1st
York 2/23 ~ 11/14
Chinook 3/8 ~ 30/29
Lacamas 4/2 ~ 3/15
Illahee 5/6 ~ 24/28
Helen Baller 6/17 ~ 8/17
Prune Hill 7/12 ~ 2/4
Gause 8/4 ~ 18/8
Lake Shore 9/10 ~ 5/3
Dorothy Fox 10/9 ~ 7/5
Union Ridge 11/15 ~ 26/19
Hockinson 12/7 ~ 14/23
Harmony 13/18 ~ 9/6
Image 14/18 ~ 6/9
Mill Plain 15/19 ~ 31/11
Riverview 16/16 ~ 17/7
George Marshall 17/30 ~ 25/27
Cape Horn Skye 18/20 ~ 10/16
South Ridge 19/5 ~ 4/2
Pleasant Valley 20/22 ~ 35/33
Hathaway 22/25 ~ 36/41


There are more schools and you can get their "report cards" from the Superintendant of public educations website. These are just the top scoring ones. Do keep in mind that there is more to a school than just test scores.

Other info:

If you start looking at La Center, beware that there are plans to put in a
huge Casino to the west of the I5 La Center exit.

Battleground is in the process of building a brand new elementary and will be building another one next year. They will be putting out a new vote in Feb to see if the citizens will give them the funds needed to build a new high school also.

Hope all of this helps.

Karol

[rochelle0123]

Wow, thank you so much for all the information! Fisher's Landing looked good so far along with Washougal and Battle Ground. We are not fans of the newer homes that are stacked on top of one another but seem to find good sized lots in Battle Ground and Vancouver areas. Are there any areas in Vancouver we should stay away from? I heard that Fourth Plain area wasn't the greatest. I want to make sure my kids can play outside safely. I'll probably drive up there this weekend and look around, maybe visit the farmers market.

Thanks again!

[klpeake]

Originally Posted by rochelle0123

Wow, thank you so much for all the information! Fisher's Landing looked good so far along with Washougal and Battle Ground. We are not fans of the newer homes that are stacked on top of one another but seem to find good sized lots in Battle Ground and Vancouver areas. Are there any areas in Vancouver we should stay away from? I heard that Fourth Plain area wasn't the greatest. I want to make sure my kids can play outside safely. I'll probably drive up there this weekend and look around, maybe visit the farmers market

One thing that I did was to get a large map of the area and then go to the school websites and pull up their "district boundary maps". I colored in each of the schools boundaries on the map and that gave me a better guidline as to which areas I wanted to live in. You can also get statistical information for each of the schools from the OSPI website.

Karol

[penpen]

Originally Posted by rochelle0123

We are a family of 4, 2 boys ages 11 and 3, two big dogs, looking for a neighborhood to call home. We moved here from out of state to Wilsonville 2 months ago but can't afford a home. We are looking for something around $250k that is a house (not a townhouse/condo) with a good size lot. Good schools are a must and the feeling that you are not stacked on top of your neighbors. We have been looking at Battle Ground and Yacolt, visited Woodland (but didn't like it much) and were hoping someone could give us an idea of what areas to check out in Vancouver. How is Salmon Creek? Any other suggestions for a city to live in? What about Washougal?

Thanks for the help

Salmon Creek is nice, Vancouver School Dist is very well established, passes its levies and has a good school system. Battle Ground is growing has the lowest taxes in the county and suffers from levies not passing. Evergreen school dist is the largest employer of Clark County and passes nearly every levy. Washougal isn't great, Camas is better but has high taxes due to school levies always passing. You will have to look hard to find a home in price range with a nice lot in the better districts. I have lived in area all my life. Good place to raise kids, but we will be leaving for a more affordable place when ready to retire. Our home is for sale but out of your price range has 1 acre.

[penpen]

Originally Posted by cagirl

Hello,

We are going to be relocating up north and are trying to figure out if we should go to the Portland area or Vancouver, WA. Please share any suggestions as to which is the better choice and how affordable Vancouver is. Please share any good areas as we are going to be renting an apartment for about 6mths until we get to the know the area a bit. Also what is the job market like compared to Portland. I am looking for insurance agencies or clerical work and for my husband mechancial work.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Many portlanders are moving to Wa due to better schools. No state income tax. Area here is growing and becoming more expensive but a good place to raise a family.