Colville, Omak, Oroville, i need some tips (Spokane, Wenatchee: real estate, houses)

[south123]

Hi, i going to move to Washington to south america, and i would like some tips because i have to find a place to live.
I have one boy (10 years), and i would like to find a community with good school, some entertaiment and commerce facilities and friendly people.
What could you tell me about Colville and Omak?, Do you know the avaibility of houses there?.
I met a woman who used to lived in Oroville, and she describe me a beatiful place, but maybe could be too small, what do you think?.
Thanks in advance

[PS90]

A lot of any advice given to you is going to depend on your preferences and specific interests. For example, what does "too small" mean to you? I grew up in Winthrop, which is about a 45 minute-drive from Omak - and so, compared to Winthrop, Omak is a "big city", but compared to A LOT of other cities, Omak is fairly small.

Omak and Colville are almost identical as far as population and amenities are concerned, but by most standards they are both very small towns. They both have Walmarts, Omak has a Home Depot (Colville doesn't).

Omak is moderately warmer and gets slightly less snowfall than Colville. Both have considerable amounts of National Forest acreage in the vicinity, although the forested areas seem to be much thicker/more treed in the Colville area, with more of a mixture of forests and open, rocky scablands around Omak.

As far as housing - I'm not sure I can help. Compared to other parts of WA state, housing is fairly cheap in those areas, although still a lot more expensive than other parts of the US. And there are a considerable amount of run-down, dumpy houses that help to drag those real estate values down. Maybe someone with more real estate experience can help you out a little better in this regard.

Oroville is a very small town right on the Canadian border, otherwise it is essentially identical to Omak. I have heard mention that Lake Osoyoos (sp?) may become the next "must have" locale for rich people from Western WA to have a second home, much like Lake Chelan was in the last decade. If that is the case, I would expect property values to skyrocket. May just be a rumor, though.

Personally, I love the entire North Central and Northeastern areas of Washington, but they are definitely rural in every sense of the word.

One last point - as far as school quality is concerned, I think Colville is usually rated significantly better than any of the Okanogan County schools.

Don't know if any of that helps.

[xboxmas]

Both towns are in a very rural area. Probably not too much to choose from as far as jobs. As far as being close to larger cities, Omak is about 90 miles from Wenatchee, while Colville is about 70 miles from Spokane. I hear both get very cold in the winter, although the summers are hot. Both good places if you don't mind being away from everything.

[south123]

Thanks, your tips help me a lot!.
I mean small city compares with Colville or Omak, and i know all area is rural, but for us beatiful because we live in a semi-desertic place now, althought in a very big city (for south american standard).
In a big city (mine at least), the life is usually not communitary, the people live their own life don´t care about the others; i think in small cities could be different, off course we would like than be like that because we will came from another country and we have a little concern because our son.

[south123]

Thanks xboxmas,
i try to figure out where could be the best place to live in that area.