Moving to Vancouver from San Diego (Salmon Creek, Edgewood: section 8, for sale, houses)

[hhuerta3]

[SIZE=3]My family and I are moving to Vancouver from San Diego next month. Both our jobs are transferring to Vancouver. My wife will work for a company with an office on Officers Row and my job requires that I travel the whole Portland/Vancouver Metro area. We live in the Normal Heights area of San Diego in a funky old Craftsman style house and my wife’s commute is five minutes. I’d like to find something similar in Vancouver and I’d like to stay away from cookie cutter homes with no yard. We’ll be in Vancouver April 23-26 to find a rental. Does anyone have suggestions on what areas we should concentrate our search? Thanks.[/SIZE]

[PDXtransplant]

I'd take a look at the Hough and Arnada neighborhoods, both immediately north of downtown Vancouver and within walking/biking distance of Officers Row. These neighborhoods consist largely of homes built between the 1920's and 40's, have tree lined streets and character that, unfortunately, you just won't find in the rest of the city. I purchased a 1922 bungalow on a corner lot in the Hough neighborhood just a couple blocks west of Main St. We can walk to a couple nice restaurants, cafes, the Farmer's Market or go for a run on the Columbia river path. I moved from Portland for tax reasons and was initially reluctant to relocate to Vancouver as, like many Portlanders, all I thought existed was production built homes and strip malls, however downtown Vancouver is much different than the rest of the city and is similar to the neighborhoods you'd find in NE or SE Portland.

[andtm66]

The Lincoln area of Vancouver is a nice area of older homes with tree lined streets as well. It is just north of downtown Vancouver ... north of 39th Street. Some friends of mine lived in that neighborhood for several years and I lived with them for awhile and visited often. It is a very nice, quiet place for families. That's the area I know the best that is closest to downtown. There are other areas ... like old Hazel Dell ... or Minnehaha ... etc that also have older homes. You don't really run into "cookie cutter" homes unless you go to newer developments which would be up toward Salmon Creek or out East.

ps: Hope you enjoy living in the NW. I am a Portland native ... but lived in SD for three years. I LOVED it there and would love to move back someday (I actually lived in Normal Heights, on Cherokee, for about 8 months). But, the NW is beautiful and there is a lot to do (hiking, biking, beach, mountains, etc) ... you just have to get used to LOTS of rain and gray skies!

[StealthRabbit]

I'd find a spot in Edgewood neighborhood, SE of the Igloo Cafe and East of the Deaf school. 5 min to Officer's Row, and 10 min to PDX. Smaller craftsmen homes, and varied prices from under $200k to $1m for the few 'estates' over looking the river. There is a nice one that is has been for sale for several months, that is ~$230k and has a nice big lot (~90 x 100') ~ Cedar and Clark I think (faces Cedar) (after some searching...http://www.trulia.com/property/10682...ouver-WA-98661)
http://www.cityofvancouver.us/upload...ood%20park.pdf
Edgewood Park - Neighborhood Associations - Neighborhoods - Our Community - City of Vancouver, Washington, USA

There are also a few nice homes west of Grand and towards Officer's Row. There are several new row houses for sale in the triangle between S&T on the south side of Evergreen.
mod cut: link removed
I was gonna buy that lot and do the some thing, but glad I avoided the hassle. (I really like the potential for a 'walkable' location, and it is possible with the new Fred Meyer Grocery / general store on Grand& HWY 14, but I would only walk that section during the day...for the time being. I think there are some section 8 units between here and there + too much industrial (for the time being).
http://www.cityofvancouver.us/upload...sons%20bay.pdf

[hhuerta3]

Thanks for the suggestions. We found a home right between the Lincoln and Carter Park neighboorhoods. We loved the area and everyone was so nice. We can't wait to live there.

[StealthRabbit]

Great, I forgot about that area, hope you enjoy it! Good friends lived there in the 80's. And I helped a friend who was operating "Franklin Farms" at the time. Another is currently teaching at Lincoln Elementary, and I know several who use Lady of Lourdes school.

Good luck on the move and new job situations.

[katlins]

Welcome to the neighborhood! We love our Carter Park home. See you at Marcelle's coffeehouse!

[PDXtransplant]

Welcome to the neighborhood hhuerta3! That's a nice area which I think is significantly undervalued.