Best island in WA? (Seattle, Tacoma: real estate, apartments, renters)

[cinhawaii]

I would like to move to WA, what would you say is the best island and why? Are there any where people live on house boats? Is this expensive? (what is your idea of expensive?) ARe any of these island communities open to renters (apartments?)? I am fascinated by this, I live on an island nowbut everything is centralized. I love the idea of being near a larger community, but simply taking a ferry to a more isolated place. Any suggestions (as well as what they are by I don't know the area) would be appreciated!

[Xenobion]

I like Whidbey Island because you don't have to take a ferry to get onto it. Its very pretty as the ocean is all around you. House boats can be found in any marina it seems and typically they are expensive and not very ideal as far as rents go since they typically are vacation rent prices. You can rent on most islands like Vashon, Whidbey, Bainbridge, Camano, and all the San Jaun Islands.

[allforcats]

Houseboats... got a spare million dollars? And willing to live in downtown Seattle or Tacoma?

Next subject: "best" island. What are your qualifiers for "best"? Are you talking about you and your daughter living in a forest, and you working in a prison? My research hasn't turned up any prisons on the islands. Jails, sure, but no prisons.

Cinhawaii, it's not fun to burst bubbles but the islands here aren't conducive to young mothers who are not already wealthy.

You should realize that all the islands were already "spoken for" decades ago by Washingtonians, who fell in love with them and drove up real estate prices, which also drove up rental prices of course and retail lease prices which drive up the costs of the items or services the retail stores sell.

Another thing to consider: the cost, to you, of anything you can think of on an island. To GET stuff to an island entails a lot of costly transportation, wages, gasoline, tolls, etc., so everything from gas to toilet paper costs more if purchased on an island. If you want to avoid that cost, you ferry and/or drive to the mainland, and your ferry tickets and gas consumption destroy your grocery savings and add pollution to the environment and take up hours of your time, and by the time you get back home on your island, your frozen groceries have defrosted and in summer your dairy items have gone sour.

The Olympic Peninsula (see the thread you started about LaPush) is attached to Olympia and Tacoma and "imports" consumer goods by direct land routes (highways), and prices of everyday items aren't nearly as high on Oly Pen as they are on any of the islands.