Thoughts on Washougal (Camas, Bingen, North Bonneville: apartment, rentals, new home)

[bcgreen]

We are looking at retiring in the Washington area and have narrowed our search down to a few cities based on reading a lot of posts here at city-data.
I would like to know if I do a 1031 and need to buy a executive style home. How difficult would it be to rent the home out at a fair price? Are there a fair amount of homes for rent?

Is the Washougal river considered a good river for fishing?
Thanks

[StealthRabbit]

Executive homes in Washougal are plentiful for rent, but not as good of rental rates as Camas (good schools, more businesses, closer to PDX). There are a few nice Executive houses in Mt Pleasant district (east of Washougal). That district WAS good, but is struggling with leadership. Cape Horn Skye (Washougal River gets most of the great kids from Washougal and Mt Pleasant and has good marks, so might draw an executive renter. (with kids). I do a lot of 1031's, but not sure I would do Washougal (Overbuilt in high end). I assume you plan to 1031, then eventually roll to primary and do the 5 yr 'exclusion' rule. As usual... buy it at the right price. and PAY for the BEST location available. Be VERY cautious buying along the river, and don't expect to split / build, as there are strict regs and most existing homes would not comply under new rules.

Washougal River has some decent fishing. Wind River is better, Klickitat is better yet (further east, and region you will want to be if you fish a lot)

Look for a place east of Washougal near North Bonneville... Wauna Lake (private area with 4 joining lakes, VERY nice but maybe restrictions on rentals), VERY hard to find a place FS there, UNLESS you know of a current owner, they usually get first pick.

[bcgreen]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Executive homes in Washougal are plentiful for rent, but not as good of rental rates as Camas (good schools, more businesses, closer to PDX). There are a few nice Executive houses in Mt Pleasant district (east of Washougal). That district WAS good, but is struggling with leadership. Cape Horn Skye (Washougal River gets most of the great kids from Washougal and Mt Pleasant and has good marks, so might draw an executive renter. (with kids). I do a lot of 1031's, but not sure I would do Washougal (Overbuilt in high end). I assume you plan to 1031, then eventually roll to primary and do the 5 yr 'exclusion' rule. As usual... buy it at the right price. and PAY for the BEST location available. Be VERY cautious buying along the river, and don't expect to split / build, as there are strict regs and most existing homes would not comply under new rules.

Washougal River has some decent fishing. Wind River is better, Klickitat is better yet (further east, and region you will want to be if you fish a lot)

Look for a place east of Washougal near North Bonneville... Wauna Lake (private area with 4 joining lakes, VERY nice but maybe restrictions on rentals), VERY hard to find a place FS there, UNLESS you know of a current owner, they usually get first pick.

You're very helpful, thanks. I asked about the fishing because I had seen a house on the net along the river and it looked great, but I've never been there so that's the reason for the question. I hear the Columbia river is good, what do you say? I don't know if I will be fishing alot, it depends if I am catching. If I am able to catch whenever I go out, then I will be fishing as often as possible.
Our thoughts are turning to Camas, but again never been there so info you can provide is great. Thinking of buying a motor home soon to check out recommended areas and rent an apartment or whatever to get a feel for the comunity and then decide to buy a home.

[StealthRabbit]

I am setting up 'RV' places across USA where there is a rural homesite that is rented out, and RV sites + shop with apartment (Laundry, showers), kitchen) for me and my friends. Each place will have a spare car and room to store RV (thus you can use it as a 'fly-drive' destination), or even as a home where you store your stuff buy furnishing the apartment and have a home to come to.

I currently have a 40 x 60 shop on a rental prop that is empty (except for my stuff). 7 minutes of paved road to town.
I am keeping them < 1 hr to major airport, and currently have one in Washougal and one in Hill Country TX, Hope to add Colorado and NE TN yet this yr. Maybe you have some ideas along the same line. I would like to add a few places. Looking for similar in Thailand for access to affordable healthcare.

Unfortunately there are no RV places in the local area, but you can possibly use one of my 3 places. (All are rural with nice views and RV hookups (some still needing completed).

Camas is better for resale, but the right place in Washougal that is affordable to active retirees would be a good investment as well. sounded like you need to do a 1031 from a mega investment house. I would ONLY recommend that in Camas, (View Property... PLENTY available) Washougal has a glut of $600 - $1mil EMPTY properties. There are some fantastic ones as well, but really limited in BUYERS, only the wealthy or retirees not needing schools or jobs. The TRENDY place to be is Camas, so those younger couples with $1m+homes, kids & businesses or JOBS will buy there. (Fisher Investments just announced 400 more jobs in Camas (potential)),


I have a Neighbor who would LOVE to part with their prop that was listed for $1.2m, and another neighbor who has a SWELL older home with gorge view that you could probably make some dough on. (Partially finished remodel, but great lot ~ 10 acres).

Not sure of your 1031 needs / and what type of 'like-kind' you need to use. For investment properties there are lots of local options, For a primary residence of modest price for retiree, Washougal would be fine. I would venture the extra couple minutes into Skamania county, which is a mess fiscally, but is considerably less of a tax burden that Clark. (In some cases). New Home will kill you in either. Thus, put your NEW home inside the walls of a junky looking shop / barn. In a few yrs it will be covered with blackberries and you can knock down the walls of the shop NOT facing the driveway. Do be advised the use of Satellite / optical recognition imagery is used in County Assessment, and I'm sure drones are coming soon (designed and built in Bingen, WA).
DO NOT add driveways or sheds, or buildings w/o permit.