Nice Neighborhoods in Camas (Vancouver: renting, good schools, pros and cons)

[chrissyd]

Holly Hills, Sunnydale Garden & Deer Creek in Camas. Westridge in Fisher's Landing.

[diggitydot]

Originally Posted by hml1976

And can I ask a real newbie question? Is ice a problem in the winter? If so does that make areas like Prune Hill difficult to deal with in the winter?

Ice can be an occasional issue during the wintertime, but not very often. Maybe a couple times during the entire winter. (Some winters not at all.)

At various times through out the last 30 years we've had family living on Prune Hill. There are usually only a couple times a year when they have trouble getting off the hill. And even then, it's usually over fairly quickly.

Something to remember about winter weather in the NW; the snow is exceedingly wet. Even if there isn't an ice storm, you can still get ice when the snow thaws a little and then refreezes or when it is compacted down on the roads.

[olgapok]

I would recommend Prune Hill in Camas. We are looking at Drewf's Farm moving from Oregon. This is one of several new subdivisions here but very resonable. Just bloks avay from schools, and very private back yards with big trees. I just love out here!

[olgapok]

1976... I think we are on the same page here! That's my date!!!

[hml1976]

Thanks everyone! My husband has moved out to Vancouver (in temp housing) and is checking out the neighborhoods mentioned. He likes Holly Hills and Deer Creek so far.I will send him by Drewf's Farm this weekend. The good news is he's really enjoying the area, the bad news is that no one is buying our house here in the Nashville area as of yet so I can't leave quite yet,hopefully we'll have an offer soon, lots of traffic!

[movingmom92508]

I am also thinking of moving to the Vancouver area. We were looking at Camas (Prune Hill area)as well. We are planning to make our first visit in April. We currently live in the Southern CA area and want a big change. How are jobs in the area? Are the schools good in the Prune Hill area? We have freinds in the Fishers Landing area as well as Lake Oswego, OR area. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Balco9]

Prune Hill, Fisher's Landing, and Lake Oswego are all great area's to raise a family, great schools, and low crime. All Camas schools are top notch as well as Lake Oswego, as a matter of fact Lake Oswego has the best schools of the three area's you mention, but it's upscale and homes are 450k and up...
Prune Hill Elementary in Camas is rated a 10 by greatschools.com, but so is Fisher's Landing Elementary.
I personally think the economy is pretty good in Vancouver and should not have problems finding employment. There are sooooo many kids activities in the area, also
soccer is very big in Vancouver.
Hope this helps a bit...

[hml1976]

Hey movingmom and all, I thought I should update my own thread.

Well, I've lived in the area for 2.5wks now (in corporate housing) and here are my thoughts on neighborhoods in Camas.

The biggest thing that bugs me about Camas is all of these beautiful homes all on a hill. We have little kids and I just can't see how one would learn to ride a bike or go for a family walk in many of these neighborhoods.

Keeping that in mind we like the Lake Pointe, Lake Heights, and Deer Creek. Holly Hills is really pretty but a little too hilly for us. Lacamas Shores is pretty but out of our price range. Waterleaf is also nice but seems to be suffering from the market downturn a bit so we're wary of buying out there.

We are also considering Westridge Place in Fishers Landing. I thought I was sold on Camas but my daughter is in a great preschool in Vancouver and it would be convenient for us to be in the area, besides Fishers Landing is nicer than I expected so we're going to give it a second look.

HTHs!

[Topaz]

We live in Holly Hills and we go for family walks all the time. My children are 3 and 5. The only time the hills were any problem at all was the last time it lightly snowed and the sidewalks started to get icy. That was a very unusual situation...usually, our high energy children love the exercise of going up and down hills.

When my son was learning to ride his bike, we took him to Grass Valley Park and he could ride in loops that were flat and car-free.

Also, our children were in preschool in Fisher's Landing and it takes literally minutes to go from Holly Hills to Fisher's Landing. I didn't realize how close it was until we had done it for a few times and got our routine down.

[hml1976]

Thanks Topaz, Holly Hills is really beautiful!