Thinking of moving. (Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma: apartments, rental, condos)

[carolmora]

Hello all. I was told Washingston State was quite a nice place so I am now doing research. I would like to know how sunny it is overall during each season. Cold is fine but I do enjoy the sun. I am looking for a place that has good schools, low crime, small town such as 30,000 people and under, things to do, good health care, clean water and air. I looked at my pictures and the state is beautiful! I would rent the first year to see how I enjoyed it. I would like to keep the rent at $2,000 a month or under. Jobs don't matter at all. Any help would be appreciated.

[mthomson]

Probably want to look east like at Spokane if you're wanting sunshine. The summers here can't be beat, but from Nov-April you'll get a good amount of rain and cloud cover. We get lots of "sun breaks," short periods where the sun pops out for a couple of hours, but we'll get clouds almost daily as well.
I'm always partial to Gig Harbor, but it may not have the things to do you're looking for. It's very close to Tacoma, and less than an hour to Seattle, so it's not too bad. It certainly meets all your other criteria.

[WendyK]

There are small towns outside Spokane like Deer Park, Cheney, Colbert, Chattaroy, Nine Mile Falls, Tumtum, Medical Lake that would not be as populated as Spokane, and give you more of the small town feel you're looking for. All would be within a 20-40 minute drive into Spokane, if you needed to get to a larger city. Spokane is very well known for having excellent medical resources and hospitals. You can find a really good rental (3-5 bed/2-4 bath/2000+ sq. ft) here in the $1200-1600 range, even nicer if you can afford more.
Right now we are having more snow than we've had in years but it's beautiful! Spring & summer are very sunny and warm. Lots of outdoor activities available - plenty of lakes & rivers for boating or fishing, parks, hiking & biking trails, skiing, you name it...

[earls]

You can not say Sun and Washington in the same sentence.
$2000 per month may get you the GOV's place. 30,000 is a 'big' city here. Things to do? Fish,Farm, and anything else you can think of.

[mthomson]

I may be wrong here, but didn't we go 102 days straight with no rain 2 summers ago? That's a lot of sun I think. Doesn't Sequim get over 300 days of sunshine a year? That's a lot of sun.

[Negotiator75]

Originally Posted by carolmora

Hello all. I was told Washingston State was quite a nice place so I am now doing research. I would like to know how sunny it is overall during each season. Cold is fine but I do enjoy the sun. I am looking for a place that has good schools, low crime, small town such as 30,000 people and under, things to do, good health care, clean water and air. I looked at my pictures and the state is beautiful! I would rent the first year to see how I enjoyed it. I would like to keep the rent at $2,000 a month or under. Jobs don't matter at all. Any help would be appreciated.

Washington State is cheap to live 1 hour away from Seattle. The Seattle area is what would be the prettiest, you have Douglas Fir trees everywhere and during the winter it's mostly green.

Houses are very expensive to buy. Even if you are able to afford a house, it is very competitive, as expensive as they are now they still sell fast.

NORTH & EAST of SEATTLE: For example in Kirland, you can expect to pay $400,000 average for a 3 bedroom home that is about 1,300 to 1,500 SqFt.

SOUTH of SEATTLE: In Kent & Covington you can expect to pay less, probably $300,000 average for a 3 bedroom house with about 1,800 SqFt.

NORTH BEND AREA (EAST OF SEATTLE): If you like the mountains you can live among them in North Bend. You can get a 3 bedroom house between $350,000 and $500,000 with alot of privacy and nice views.

WEST OF SEATTLE: If you dont mind Ferry rides you can live in Port Orchard where you get the biggest bang. For as little as $250,000 you get a 4 bedroom house with 2,000+ SqFt. It's quieter over there away from the City.


The rain is continuous almost. It is very pleasant the first 4-5 months. After a while you will find yourself at Barnes & Nobles bookstore researching ways to commit suicide. It's very depressing to see gray skies every day. There IS sun during July and August but its SO humid -- most apartments & homes DONT have A/C. Thats right, NO air conditioning is normal. So those months can be brutal.

There is always the ever present threat of Volcanoes & Earthquakes. Everyone has sort of "forgotten" that we are right next to the Plate of Juan de Fuca, which is just waiting to happen. Or another St. Helens eruption like in 1980. But yes this is rather pessimistic. Chances are it will be years before something like a 6.0 earthquake hits again. But you need to know the facts. The last one was in 2001 it was called the Nisqualmie Earthquake. Seattle is sitting right under a fault line called The Seattle Fault line. Google it.

JOBS? No problems finding jobs in Seattle. There are PLENTY of them, especially in the computer fields such as Web, Software, IT etc.

PEOPLE? Peope are dressed down in Seattle. They act almost as if they dont care about anything. They are however polite and some seem sincere. Don't be surprised if people butt into your conversations. Alot of people ride bikes and are health nuts here. Most people drive 4 wheel drive cars because of the constant driving uphill, downhill, around lakes, around mountains etc. You will get lost among the Subaru's.

Seattle is good to visit. As far as living here, its VERY expensive. I cant speak much for Spokane, although houses are VERY cheap there. Tacoma is run down and filled with pockets of bad areas. Olympia even worse.

Hope this helps!

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by WendyK

Spring & summer are very sunny and warm.

Seattle gets 71 completely sunny days
Spokane gets 86 completely sunny days
no big difference

[sean98125]

Originally Posted by mthomson

I may be wrong here, but didn't we go 102 days straight with no rain 2 summers ago? That's a lot of sun I think. Doesn't Sequim get over 300 days of sunshine a year? That's a lot of sun.

102 days straight with no rain is an aberration and isn't typical. At least not yet.

Those 300 days in Sequim are days with periods of sun, not necessarily days that are entire sunny or even cloudless.

And keep in mind that because Washington is so far north there is about an hour less of daylight in the winter months than most other states.

[mthomson]

And on the flip side, an hour of extra daylight in the summer. Light at 5am, dark at 10pm. That, again, is a lot of sun.

[mikec34]

Originally Posted by carolmora

Hello all. I was told Washingston State was quite a nice place so I am now doing research. I would like to know how sunny it is overall during each season. Cold is fine but I do enjoy the sun. I am looking for a place that has good schools, low crime, small town such as 30,000 people and under, things to do, good health care, clean water and air. I looked at my pictures and the state is beautiful! I would rent the first year to see how I enjoyed it. I would like to keep the rent at $2,000 a month or under. Jobs don't matter at all. Any help would be appreciated.

i moved from AZ to seattle, washington, and it's the best place in the world! i've not been to every state or every country, but from east asia, western europe, and all regions in the USA, i'd say washington/oregon are my favorite despite the 'rain'.

some facts, in volume it rains more in NYC, Houston, Atlanta, and other places you don't consider 'rainy' cities. seattle has more cloudy days though and when it rains, it often drizzles, so the rain takes longer to get out thus probably causing the feeling of it raining more. the witner from december on is mostly gray like england. i feel like april (when i got here)-november were extraordinarily beautiful!! the humidity in the summer is nothing at all if you've been to the east coast, South, or anywhere with subtropical humid weather. only a few days did i wish i had AC, and a fan was sufficient anyways. the humidty keeps your skin nice, and you will appreciate it in the winter, where most places in the country are dry and cold/snowy in the witner, causing dry skin, chapping, etc. but not in washington!


spokane, while i've not been to it, is based around a military base, so you know what towns like that are comprised of. it may be a little warmer in the summer there, but it is significantly colder in the winter. i says give me rain in seattle keeping the air warm, than freezing snow that's dangerous to drive in!


seattle: south side is grundgy with scattered areas that are decent. north side i've not seen a lot of, but it seems much better. you can see where cheaper housing will be.

renton: not so hot, but not too bad. driving up the 405 is a major pain for about the first ten miles...like NYC gridlock! housing is fairly decent here, though much more expensive than most places in the country. 200k can get you a 2bed, 2 bath 1000sqft condo. not sure how great it is, but that's the general idea. housing is about 325-400k for a 1800sqft+ home. all the housing in seattle metro area is old...like 1930-1980, with exception to condos and maybe a few other small spots. it's not the southwest with relentless sprawl, and it's nice to see containment to be honest.

bellevue: my favorite place in washington and where i lived at until late december. newer city, with a commercial district, so it's not like your common suburban city that has nothing but walmarts on every corner. $240k 650sqft can get you a nice renovated 1 bedroom condo. it's a joke, but bellevue has more high rollers, so it's not terribly bad if you are an advanced professional. bellevue is also close to all major employment area: bellevue, seattle, kirkland, redmond.

redmond: nice place, kind of sleepy. around the same prices as bellevue, maybe a little cheaper. i think too far to drive to seattle though, so i feel you are losing half or more of the job market moving there.



traffic is so flippin' slow in seattle it'll make your skin crawl! going north on the 405 in rush hour it once took me 20+ mins to get 3 miles! driving with rush hour the entire way it took me 1hr 50min one way to work that was 26 miles. basically, count at least 2.5-3minutes per mile when driving in rush in most directions in this state.

about the driving...it is much safer than in other states. most places or major raods you can't turn left except on a red arrow. sure this makes traffic slower, but most accidents i've seen have been left turns when there's not an arrow. i'm from AZ, and this is very much the case. driving is like 35mph everywhere, which might drive you nuts at first. but again, you feel safer driving, instead of pondering if you should increase your life INS every time you get out on the road like you do in AZ, Ca, TX, etc.



and oh, did i mention it's the most beautiful state in the union? really, the air is wonderful, at least on the East Side, the water is great, the cool humidty is awesome! the food i feel like is as diverse and good as being in NYC! seattle city is a lively one, with people actually walking the streets! unheard of in AZ and other places in the US. once you see mt. rainer in the summer you will never want to leave. port townsend and such on the west side of the Puget Sound are small towns, pretty much nothing going on over there, but great for retirement and still nice to see.