Moving to Olympia Soon!

[Andy]

Originally Posted by sean98125

6. No bears in Olympia. Not the animal kind, any way.

Yes there are. They are rare within city limits. Heck, rare outside of it too except deep in the woods. There is a reason Oly High School are called the Bears. Olympia's aboriginal name Cheetwoot meant "place of the bear."

To avoid bears, don't live in the far periphery of civilization. To avoid Oly Bears, heed my goal post advice from above post.

I'd be more worried about cougars. More recent sightings within the city limits than bears (google: "grass lake" cougar). Plus you can't keep Cougars away with that goal post trick. In fact you will end up attracting them.

[Bans]

Panning for gold? Never heard of people doing that in Oly. Maybe you could try surrounding areas.

Apocolypse preppers: I am sure you could find some but I don't know anyone personally. Maybe Ramtha in Yelm has some of that as an organized group.

Schools are decent and their bonds always pass.

I think it was Time or Newsweek that once deemed us the "Hippest Town in the West" for the music scene. Lots of arts here: shake a tree and 500 artists of varying types fall out. Great live theatre and music scene.

Health and coughing: sounds like they cough when it's wet and when it's dry so...who knows. We have a summer drought and winter rains. Maybe snowfall once a year.

Religion: statistics are that we are the least churched city in the least churched county in the least churched state in the country. That said, there is something for everyone here, from ultra conservative to Eastern practices, to atheism, to a gigantic Wiccan population with stores to meet everyone's needs.

Jobs are jobs and a good one is hard to come by.

Oly's got quite the hippie vibe withEvergreen State College here. Yet we are also the stae capitol and have lots of piticians and suits running around. And always a protest somewhere as a result.

Great place to raise a family- beautiful area, lots to do. Like I said, there is a pocket for everyone here.

[Beenhere4ever]

My sister lived there once. Always wondered what it was like. Sounds a lot like Madison WI without the winter snows.

[JKA]

My wife and I are retiring early next year and looking for a place to move to. Our daughter lives in Vancouver WA and we are interested in the Olympia area. One concern is property taxes. Both of us are from long-lived families. Today we live in CA and our home taxes will never be much more than they are today - property is reassessed only when it is sold. Other than that assessment grows about 1% a year.

When does WA reassess home value? Are there any breaks for retired? Over 65? Over 70? Over ??

[lady fern]

JKA, I believe property taxes are reassessed every year. Mine have hovered between 3400 and 3800 for the past 5 years on a 2400 sq ft home on a city lot in Olympia. They actually did go down this past year with the decreased market value of the home.
It does not look like there is much in the way for tax breaks for retirees. Not like some other areas of the country. Here is a link to the treasurer's webite:

The Official Website of the Thurston County Treasurer