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Old 03-11-2010, 04:06 PM
 
29 posts, read 79,183 times
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I've never been to Vancouver, but my brother lives in Portland and say its nice there. I plan on moving to WA somewhere in the next year or so, but I'm not sure where yet. I like the idea of living somewhat close to OR for the 0 sales tax, but I also need a place that has great schools, and a lower cost of living ($200-250k avg. cost of homes). Any ideas?
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Old 03-11-2010, 04:51 PM
 
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The 2 school districts that are great in the Vancouver area is the Hockinson SD (just south of Battle Ground) and Camas (East of Vancouver).

You could find a house in that price range in the general Vancouver area.
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Old 03-13-2010, 11:02 PM
 
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I looked at Hockinson and Camas and it seems like home prices are a little high for our budget we'll be starting with. Any other suggestions?
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Old 03-14-2010, 03:16 AM
 
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Well, WA's real estate is overpriced, are you sure you want to buy?
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Old 03-14-2010, 04:37 PM
 
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My advice would be to research the TWIN CITIES area. This is specifically Centralia and Chehalis. These two cities are located at the midway point between Seattle & Portland. Homes are affordable whether you rent or buy. It takes me about 1 hour to get to Vancouver & Portland from Chehalis and we are about 20 minutes south of Olympia. Olympia is a great city to "hang in" as well. Insofar as the Chehalis schools....they have a great reputation. The price of homes you mentioned are totally within the price range here. I have lived here for 3.5 years and love it. Before moving here I lived in Tacoma, WA, Olympia, WA and British Columbia, Canada.
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Old 03-14-2010, 08:52 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrice View Post
My advice would be to research the TWIN CITIES area. This is specifically Centralia and Chehalis. These two cities are located at the midway point between Seattle & Portland. Homes are affordable whether you rent or buy. It takes me about 1 hour to get to Vancouver & Portland from Chehalis and we are about 20 minutes south of Olympia. Olympia is a great city to "hang in" as well. Insofar as the Chehalis schools....they have a great reputation. The price of homes you mentioned are totally within the price range here. I have lived here for 3.5 years and love it. Before moving here I lived in Tacoma, WA, Olympia, WA and British Columbia, Canada.
Thanks I'll check it out. Out of the areas you lived in, which area have you enjoyed most? Are the twin cities suburban type cities?
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Old 03-14-2010, 09:32 PM
 
29 posts, read 79,183 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrice View Post
My advice would be to research the TWIN CITIES area. This is specifically Centralia and Chehalis. These two cities are located at the midway point between Seattle & Portland. Homes are affordable whether you rent or buy. It takes me about 1 hour to get to Vancouver & Portland from Chehalis and we are about 20 minutes south of Olympia. Olympia is a great city to "hang in" as well. Insofar as the Chehalis schools....they have a great reputation. The price of homes you mentioned are totally within the price range here. I have lived here for 3.5 years and love it. Before moving here I lived in Tacoma, WA, Olympia, WA and British Columbia, Canada.
One more question Thrice, how's the crime in that area?
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Old 03-14-2010, 09:37 PM
 
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Sorry I just thought of another question just as I posted the last one. How is the drive/traffic from Centralia/Chehalis to Portland and to Seattle? Is the speed limit fairly high in that area?
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Old 03-14-2010, 09:55 PM
 
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Originally Posted by bigj628 View Post
Is the speed limit fairly high in that area?
Once you go south past Olympia, speed limit goes up to 70mph. But as you get close to towns, the speed will go back to 60mph (then back up once you pass the towns). It remains like that until you get closer to Vancouver, then it's 60mph speed limit. (OR is 50 mph.)
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Old 03-14-2010, 11:26 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 58,004,579 times
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There are some cheap properties in Camas / Vancouver / Hockinson.

You might need to dig a bit.

What is your price range, and what do you want?

I found some really nice stuff last week in the $150 range (needs fixing).

If rural, I would suggest a trashed mobile home on acreage. You can bulldoze and replace with a repo MH, much cheaper than building new.

For in-town, I suggest a multi-family (duplex / 4 plex) Let your renters subsidize your costs and validate your expenses. And later in life, they will be still paying you rent while you are sitting on the beach in Tahiti.

There were a couple real bargain duplexes north of Vancouver, right near I-5. They were ~ $150k, and would easily rent for $800 - $1000 / side.
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