Need Some Advice About Yakima (West Valley, Terrace Heights: for sale, apartment complexes, rentals)

[dagwa]

My wife and I will be moving to Yakima in the next 6-8 months. I'm in the Marine Corps and will be getting stationed up there. She and I both are originally from Washington, having lived on both east and west of the Cascades, but we've been living in southern California for the past few years. I'm trying to find out a bit more about Yakima, having never really spent any time there. We'd like to be able to find a single family home for rent but I've had little luck in the way of finding rentals online for this area. Any suggestions about neighborhoods to avoid? Any good apartment complexes or rental agencies that could assist us in finding a rental home? I've heard the crime rate is high in Yakima, though I've lived in plenty of places where the crime rate was considered high and have never had any problems though. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[camano lady]

In reference to Yakima, my husband was raised there and his family still lives there.
As far as places to live, I would suggest the West side of Yakima or out toward the Terrace Heights community.
The East side of town is not a good place to live because of the high crime.
Unforunately, Yakima has changed alot over the past few years and the crime rate is high there.
It has a very large hispanic population due to the agriculture areas surrounding the area.
If you like Mexican food you will have no problem finding good food.
There are two fast food places I would recommend if your into the hamburger end of things. Miners Burgers have been there in Yakima on South 1st since 1947 and the other place is called Lariot Burgers, it is located on West Yakima ave.
Yakima is know for its fresh fruit and vegetables.
We still go over in August to get fresh tomatoes and peaches and other produce from the lower valley area fruit stands and you can't beat the prices.
The weather can get very warm in the summertime and they do get snow in the winter. The mountains are within a hour driving distance which makes it nice in that respect.
The Mall on South First has everthing needed for shopping and there is a Costco with another one being built on the west side of town.
If you have further questions, please let me know and i will try to answer them for you.

[Prodigal Coug]

If you're going to be stationed out at the Firing Range, Selah would be a good choice.

[dagwa]

Thanks for the advice. About Selah, is this a larger town? Is there apartment complexes in Selah? My wife and I had considered buying a house in the area, however we'll only be there for the next three to four years and from everything I've seen, houses seem to sit on the market for awhile. When you're in the military and you own a home, it pays to be in an area where you can sell it quickly.
So Terrace Heights is a good community? I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the input. Any other useful info from anyone would be appreciated.

[Alcon]

Selah is an outskirts town of about 7,000. It's growing at a pretty decent clip too. There are indeed apartments, as you can obviously imagine in a town of 7,000. But it's a safe, static town.

Terrace Heights is very similar. It's more residential, though, and apartments might be harder to find. Plenty of rental houses from what I hear. Terrace Heights, though, is not a town and I imagine it relies on Yakima more.

[dagwa]

First and foremost, thank you all for your input. I'm really looking forward to moving up there. It's been a long time since I've able to live in my home state. The military tends to keep you away from home most of the time.

Maybe it's just me, but does no one believe in advertising on the Internet in Yakima. I figured that it would be no problem to find a place to rent (house or apartment) up there on the Internet, but I've had little luck in the way of finding places to rent. I did find one place though called Cornerstone Apartments in west Yakima. Has anyone ever heard of these apartments or ever lived there? The pictures look nice on the website, but I've had my share of apartments that looked nice on the web, only to show up and find out the place is a dump. Most likely my wife and I will have to move during the holiday season this year, so I'm trying to plan ahead as much as possible. If anyone's got any input on these apartments or any other apartments in west Yakima, please chime in with your input. Thanks a lot everyone.

[CathFitz]

You're right, nobody advertises on the internet here. It's difficult to find a business or an apartment online. You really just have to drive around the city to find places or ask the locals. Where are the cornerstone apartments located? The address will tell you a lot about them!

[dagwa]

Cornerstone Apartments' address is 1210 S. 72nd Ave. The website says it's located in West Valley.

[missyM]

Their website says they are tax credit housing. Something closer to your work would be Lake Aspen apartments. I don't think they have a website.
Or, you could check that guy's list. I think his name is craig.

[jjjmr02]

Hello. I can certainly understand your reservations about moving to a new area while being in the military. My husband is in the Army and works at the Firing Center, and we had no clue what areas were good or bad to live. We had 5 days to move our family and find housing last Christmas, and ended up living in a horrible house for 6 months before buying. We looked in the Selah area, but rentals and houses for sale within our budget were few and far between. We ended up buying in West Valley. It takes a bit longer for my husband to get to work, but it's a much nicer area than most places in Yakima, and the schools are great here. There are actually quite a few of the Marine Corps families stationed here that live in our area. I hope you find something suitable for your family, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Oh, and while I can't tell you of a good rental agency, I can tell you of the AWFUL one we had. It's called Daybreak Associates. Because of them, and that first rental we had, I wish I could just erase the first 6 months we were stationed here. :-(