bay area to WA? (Seattle, Vancouver: fit in, renting, homes)

[mamamaya]

Anyone made the move? We keep leaving the bay area in search of the perfect place and coming back because we love it. But we are burnt out on being stuck renting, ridiculous high housing costs, crime, traffic, pollution...

As a mother I'm so depressed here by the culture of kids with nannies from birth on, and how hard it is to build community because people are so darn busy.

Some things that make WA appealing to us:

Looks like you get more for your $ than here???
Areas like Vashon, Whidbey, etc look pretty ideal to us, sitting here in the east bay listening to traffic & sirens.
We love the water. Hubbie would love a boat some day.
We spend all our free time hiking, biking etc.
Want to raise kids in slower pace of life, build community, be in nature.
I'm from England and LOVE rain, would like a much longer rainy season here.
We're homeschooling so don't need to worry about schools for now.
We're hoping my husband can telecommute a year from now.

All that said we wonder how we would fit in up there, if we would really find what we're searching for, if we could afford it, if we'd find work and if we'd miss the bay area too much....Any advice would be very welcome.

[LMB]

I don't know what kind of transition it would be moving from the SF Bay area to WA. We moved here from Orlando (no comparison to SF for sure!) and it's been an easy adjustment for us so far.

South Whidbey is really beautiful and definitely will offer a slower pace of living. We really liked Coupeville and Langley on Whidbey when we were shopping for a new community last year--both are on the water and very charming. Also, consider Port Townsend. It's a wonderful waterfront town with a strong sense of community and the arts. Check out LaConner and Anacortes too. The list goes on and on. So many choices...

We chose the small town of Poulsbo, located on Liberty Bay on Kitsap Peninsula and we love it! We live just a block from the waterfront and walking distance to the quaint downtown area. We walk our dog along the waterfront walking/biking trail every day--yes, even in the rain--and it's so beautiful. We see harbor seals in the bay nearly every evening. There are lots of kayakers and boats of all kinds here. There is also a real sense of community, with friendly neighbors, little traffic & crime, convenient healthcare and all kinds of shopping in nearby Silverdale. All this and we're just a short drive & ferry ride away from Seattle. We looked for quite awhile, but we found exactly what we were hoping for.

Good luck on your search!

Lynn

[mayfair]

Is employment an issue? It's a big deal to commute with traffic congestion in the Seattle metro area. You'll want to live close to work.

[Sandy Nelson]

Mamamaya,
I think you'll love it up here. It's so refreshing to hear of someone loving the rain. I'm from Germany and the rain doesn't bother me either.

Sandy

[mamamaya]

Originally Posted by mayfair

Is employment an issue? It's a big deal to commute with traffic congestion in the Seattle metro area. You'll want to live close to work.

We're hoping dh will be able to work form home to make this move possible. I would need to commute to Seattle part time, maybe 2 or 3 days per week. I'm a music therapist with private practice and hoping to find work at Children's Hospital or in the schools.

Looks like Bainbridge is more realistic than Vashon with that in mind. I have yet to check out Whidby. I've been looking at Poulsbo and liking the sound of it. Is that a hard commute?

Harbor seals? Ah....

Sandy, nice to know a German feels at home there. I find I often connect more strongly with Europeans in the bay area. Have you found many fellow Europeans up there?

[Leap of Belief]

I have lived many places and what I found after moving to Washington is that you don't REALLY know what you are looking for until you ahve lived here for awhile. We have lived in Bellingham for just over 3 years now and honestly, it is one of the weirdest places I have ever lived. What we expected from visiting 9 times BEFORE we moved here was NOT what we got when we actually made the move and settled in. Washington is very much a place for the individualist - the TV even promotes this concept. Having lived in California for a significant amount of time we found when we first moved here everything seemed to be moving super SLOW.... it is a very strange experience. The Bay area is FAST paced and so diverse - you may find that WA is less that way if you are outside the city of Seattle. In general, we have found that the people here are much more friendly, less snobby and more willing to engage in community and what and actual community is all about. We are moving from Bellingham because we have found it to be radically political and not business owner friendly. It is hard to get a true "sense" of a place just through visiting. What we thought we wanted in Washington we didn't find in Bellingham - but we have found in Centralia. One thing to know is that if you are looking for trees, PNW weather (rain) or nature - you will find that west of the mountains in MANY areas. Best to you in your search.

[bodozer]

mamamaya,

Just wondering if you have done any research in the Vancouver area? We were planning on moving there from the East Bay but that has been put on hold because my wife is pregnant with twins and we don't want to change doctors, etc... But sometime next summer we will be moving up there.

Good luck.

[mamamaya]

Originally Posted by Leap of Belief

In general, we have found that the people here are much more friendly, less snobby and more willing to engage in community and what and actual community is all about.

That is HUGE to us. Honestly, I worry about the slower pace as I'm a Londoner, was happiest in NYC and find SF too slow for me at times..!!!
But at this point in my life I'm ready to slow down and focus on home and community for my family, and it's SO hard to find here. People are so incredibly busy trying to make ends meet, on top of that stereotypical flakiness of CA, and so much transition in the Bay Area.

We found community much much easier to build in England, even though people there are on the surface MUCH less friendly than here. But once you make the connection, it's there for life. I think the weather has a lot to do with it, it slows people down and pulls people together. Our hope is that WA may have the same thing going on...

On the other hand I lived through a winter in western MA where the weather just made people shut down and stop even making eye contact; I couldn't take that again.

I haven't looked at Vancouver yet; I have a prejudice towards being near big diverse cities , but will take a look.

[mamamaya]

Originally Posted by Leap of Belief

I have lived many places and what I found after moving to Washington is that you don't REALLY know what you are looking for until you ahve lived here for awhile.

Oh yes...we 've moved enough in search of the "perfect place" to know that to be true now

I'm drying to know what's so wierd about Bellingham....

[Leap of Belief]

mamamaya ~

There is a thread that is pretty well read on city data in the WA string that has a LOT of posts about Bham.... interesting read. There are many people who think Bham is wonderful - - so bashing on it from "my" opinion would be pretty shallow. However, what I can tell you is that people here are either highly educated or not so much - - this creates conflicts which some term "individual opinions" - but in reality there are conflicts. The city and county governmental agencies run at the slowest pace I have ever experienced. Just like anywhere I would assume - the locals complain about growth and how all the "Californians" have moved here and raised their property taxes because of the housing price inflation over the past 5 years. This in my opinion, is a VERY narrow viewpoint because what the locals fail to realize is that this inflated housing market was a NATIONAL issue - not just in Whatcom County. Interestingly we have found that people here dislike anyone who is focused on what we would consider "materialism" in California - or improving your standard of living by making money so you have choices. Some people pretty much have entitlement issues - if you have money - they think they should get some of it. Here it is considered nobel to be poor and there are TONS of people using the state services as a way of life. Overall, I would say that the vast majority of people here are against capitalism as you would know it in California. Having lived in both small towns and large cities in several different states we have never come across this type of social conditioning and public opinion before. We have found that locals seem to settle their differences in uncivilized ways - as an example that happened to our friends; you have a dispute with your neighbor - instead of getting a third party mediation together to resolve the dispute, they break your car windshiled instead to "get even." Very "hillbilly-ish." As an independent married woman, I have found that the men here do not give equal respect to women. Women here are seen as second class for sure. Junk like that. If you are from England - you would find this place really backwards - - we sure have. Just a few honest opinions - and they are just that - my opinion - - - so no need for anyone to go on "bashing" me for sharing them, I was invited to do so. :-)