orchards versus fishers landing (Vancouver, Camas: rental, houses, crawl space)

[karelise]

We are looking for houses to rent in Camas but there is little available so we are expanding our search to parts of Vancouver as well. We'd ideally like a family-friendly neighborhood with parks and, while it's not a dealbreaker, would prefer soemthing that wasnt total cookie cutter where each house looks the same, street after street.

I've heard mixed reports on Fisher's Landing - some say suburban blight, others say nice area. Any other thoughts on that, the Orchards area, or any other great, safe nrighborhoods in Vancouver? I know the better schools are Illahee, Shalala, Union but we have a couple years before schools are an issue.

thanks!

[sykesfamily]

Well since you have a couple of years since school will start have you given any thought to other parts of vancouver?? I live on the west side in the minnehaha area and we love it over here even though we are moving from the area, we love it here in our neighborhood and are going to miss it here dearly. If you are going to rent consider other parts of vancouver besides camas and fishers landing and really get a feel of the area and then when you are ready to buy purchase in your desired area to have your children in the school district that you want them to be in. Vancouver is a beautiful place and there is more to the area than just the east side. Good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for.

[karelise]

thanks you sykesfamily. We do have young kids, just not school age yet. Is your neighborhood in Minnehaha a good 'kid' area? Can you tell me what you love about it?

thanks for your help.

[StealthRabbit]

I like Minnehaha (we had a fruit farm there when our kids were small), they loved it and one hid in the attic and refused to get into the rental truck when we left. (I should have listened to him...)

I would generally steer clear of Orchards, (i.e. 'Dogpatch') it is very 'rental' heavy and not the best of clientele. Be sure to not get electric ceiling radiant heat if you get a 70's or 80s house. Our first rental in "Evergreen" area (Between Orchards and Cascade Park) had that heat. It was a 'freezer' house. My SIL from Hawaii spent the whole week standing on the toilet with her hands on the ceiling to keep warm. There was nothing but a very cold draft below the waist. The floor where the kids were crawling around was frigid. That winter was a doosy, everyone's pipes were freezing, crawl spaces filling with water, freezing rain, had to wear golf shoes to go outside.

I never remeber having freezing rain in Minnehaha (Banana belt). It has some 'shady areas' too, unfortunately. I best like the areas adjacent or near Ross Complex (Bonneville Power) or Leverich Park (tho it is cooler in the draw, try to get up on a hill - more light, healthier)

[sykesfamily]

Karelise

I do live in a very child friendly neighborhood. All good kids and more an more are entering the neighborhood due to new construction around us. We chose our neighborhood just on the factor of it being family/child friendly and we are extremely close to our neighbors. We rented a duplex off of mill plain and 104th near the super walmart and that area was not child friendly. There were no kids for our then 3 yro son to play with. Now that he is 11 and in middle school he has kids he grew up with that will be life long friends. There are many good areas of Vancouver and I agree so much with janb about the minnehaha area. Look on google and check the area out. Good luck to you.

[hml1976]

If you're not worried about schools yet I also like the Vancouver Heights neighborhood. I love old ranches on big lots and would have considered buying there if not for the schools.

[karelise]

thanks - I'll check it out. It's been a little challenging to figure out the character (or lack or) of various Vancouver neighborhoods from online research.