Typical questions about Vancouver/PNW (Seattle, Kent: for sale, rentals, how much)

[Laura77]

Hi, I'm sure these questions have probably been answered a million times over. I've done my research but keep coming up with conflicting information. Hoping some locals can keep it real with me

I'll be moving from Phoenix, AZ. (Originally from Kentucky). I absolutely cannot stand the heat and neverending summers any longer. It's gotten so that I don't care if I ever see another sunny day.

How are the job prospects for healthcare workers? I'm a clinical laboratory scientist and typically have worked at hospitals. Not really all that interested in commuting to Portland if I can help it. How is the salary in comparison to other cities in the united States, or just in the PNW? (Not necessarily for my career specifically, but in general).

Are there a decent amount of vegan restaurants and/or grocery stores in the area?

What areas are, in your opinion, the best to live in? My budget is $400,000, or $1800-2000 per month. We're not looking to rent. We'd like to buy in an area that is community oriented. We do not have children, so schools and things like that are absolutely not a concern.

We're looking at Vancouver primarily, but also considering suburbs of Portland, as far south as Salem, and 30ish minutes of Vancouver in any direction.

Thank you for your time and suggestions/information.

[Ruth4Truth]

You could start by looking at RE listings for Vancouver and Salem, just to compare. Also look at Camas, WA, just east of Vancouver, and possibly Washougal, a little further east. There are two hospitals in the Salem area.

Once others chime in, you should have plenty of areas to explore, OP. And whether or not there are vegan restaurants depends on the location, but I think you wouldn't have trouble finding restaurants, that at least have vegan items on the menu.

[texasdiver]

1. I don't know about your specialty, but most of the health care providers around here are struggling to keep up full staffing with Covid. Vancouver has 2 hospitals and a variety of clinic networks but I'm not sure how many labs. I'm a member of Kaiser Permanente (the big west coast HMO) and I'm pretty sure all their labwork is in-house.

2. Portland probably has more good vegan restaurants than any city in the country. For real. People come down from Seattle just for the vegan dining in Portland. Here is an article last week in the Seattle Times about Portland's vegan scene: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/fo...n-to-find-out/ My wife is vegan and we usually dine out vegan and there are endless options over in Portland. Here in Vancouver/Camas not so much. You can find lots of restaurants that have vegan options in the Vancouver area, but few if any dedicated vegan places. You gotta cross the bridge for that. Which is not really an issue unless you are looking to dine in your own neighborhood because the reverse commute over to Portland in the evenings is really easy when you want to eat out.

3. If you don't have kids then I'd be looking at closer-in neighborhoods in Vancouver that are close to downtown. Or alternatively the Fishers Landing area in east Vancouver. I'm not sure how much single family house $400,000 will buy you in Vancouver but you should have lots of townhouse type options. So, for example, an attached home like this one in Fishers Landing which is a good area that is very convenient. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...58233117_zpid/

[StealthRabbit]

Seek out walkable areas of Vancouver.
There are many nice choices. Some of my favorites are east evergreen near Harney Elementary, or Crosley Bowl / east of officers row. (personally, I would live within Ft Vancouver / historical trust properties and invest my RE dollars elsewhere for a 12+%roe.)

Upper downtown has some nice smaller homes, Carter Park, Franklin. Upper Vancouver Lake (sunsets).

Heights (north or south rim) Dubois Park, Father Joseph.... Walkable jobs to Peace Health, or near 136th Ave and Mill Plain that would be walkable to Kaiser or Providence Vancouver jobs. We lived near Evergreen Memorial Gardens when we arrived from Colorado in 1980. Homes in that are are 1970s, and I prefer 1930's - 1950s in mature neighborhood.(and without privacy fencing). Your desires may be totally different. That's fine.

Reminder... Summers can be plenty hot in Washington state. But nights usually cool off.

Jobs are quite plentiful for skilled and professionals.
Pay is very good for our moderate cost of living. (Same wages as Portland, slightly less than Seattle).

A big benefit of SWWA is access to Portland (especially airport, food, supplies, music, cultural events) Oregon Coast, mtns, Columbia River Gorge.

If you come I hope you bring some sun. I tie rain clouds behind the airplane each time I fly for sun. Works well. A couple weeks age I brought 3 days of Much needed rain to NW Arkansas!

[cyberous]

Hello from uptown village in downtown Vancouver!

A few years back we went to a progressive dinner party. It was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit. In conversation one of the host's said "I'm a Pescatarian", I said "I'm Agnostic." I had no idea he was not talking religion. Everything was labeled, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc. it was quite eye opening.

I don't want to assume your political stance by your diet but the downtown area is very blue, while anywhere outside seems to be much more red. We have been looking for property on acreage for quite some time and the divide is obvious with BLM, Biden and Pride signs scattered about in downtown. Go outside of the area and you will see old 2020 Trump signs still flying. We find ourselves pretty much in the middle but cringe when we see either of the extremes.

The one great thing about living in Vancouver vs. Portland (outside the financial benefits) is the number of houseless. We do have our share but nothing compared to the mess over in Portland. The Downtown development is a huge investment for the city and from the number of police that patrol the area they intend protect it.

Now for the bad news. There are only 6 stand alone houses for sale in the "Zone" 15th street all the way up to Burnt Bridge Creek, West of I-5 to the tracks. The ones currently on the market are dogs (on busy streets ie fourthplain) or way overpriced. Anything reasonable is snatched up the opening weekend. I know rentals are also a rare commodity. Unfortunately, the housing shortage is not limited to downtown its everywhere.

I hope I was able to share a little color on what its like in downtown.

[StealthRabbit]

Or.... Don't buy a house that is already on the market.

Be smarter and quicker, and far more economical than the average buyer.

Has worked well for the 40+ props I have bought in my free time. (Including recently).

Realtors? They have a purpose, but it is not to find or sell me props. They often bring me their tough to sell places, but I never take more than a few minutes of their valuable time. It is very easy to find your own props now compared to 20 - 40 years ago. And far easier to buy the props now!

[cyberous]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Or.... Don't buy a house that is already on the market.

Be smarter and quicker, and far more economical than the average buyer.

Has worked well for the 40+ props I have bought in my free time. (Including recently).

Realtors? They have a purpose, but it is not to find or sell me props. They often bring me their tough to sell places, but I never take more than a few minutes of their valuable time. It is very easy to find your own props now compared to 20 - 40 years ago. And far easier to buy the props now!

How exactly?

[MtnSurfer]

Laura, your biggest challenge won't be finding work. Rather, it will be finding a home in a desirable area within your price range. I don't know if you've been watching the RE market recently, but we're on a huge upswing in prices along the entire west coast. It's been a sellers' market with bidding wars, etc.. for the nicer properties. So, you will need to adjust your expectations or budget accordingly.

In terms of budgets in general, living in WA will save you state income tax. That is, as long as you 'work' on the WA side. Otherwise, you'll still pay OR income tax. These are some things to consider as you look at the financial aspects of your intended move.

If you go as far south as Salem, overall home prices will drop some as commute times increase. I think that's true of any large metro area. And Salem is more like 1.5+ hours from Vancouver depending on traffic. You'll also want to consider Portland's heavy traffic windows which can turn what looks like a reasonable commute into a parking lot of endless tail lights. These are things you'll quickly discover once out and exploring the various areas at different times of the day. Just some food for thought as you consider your options carefully.

Derek

[texasdiver]

Live close to your work. Living in Salem and working in Vancouver or vice versa would be completely insane. There are no places nice enough or bad enough in the greater Portland metro area to cause anyone do something like that. The only reason people do such things is when one spouse has a job in one town and the other in another town and you have to compromise or live somewhere.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by cyberous

How exactly?

this oughta cover it. Works fine for me.
GIS info is readily available in most counties / states.
https://gis.clark.wa.gov/gishome/property/

Beats spending 4 - 8 hours / week in the courthouse making notes. (As we did 30+ yrs ago)