Younger couple possibly moving to Colville (Seattle, Spokane: appointed, real estate, mortgage)

[Fleeby]

My husband and I are considering moving to Colville from Silver City, NM to be closer to family and get back to the inland NW. I have a specific job I'm applying for and my husband is a carpenter. Can anyone tell me about job availability in the construction industry? Are there many homes being built in the area? Also, we're planning to start a family soon. Is there decent childcare available in the area? What about schools? I've read quite a few of the other Colville threads and they're helpful, but most seem to be focused on retiring. What might Colville be like for a young family?

[Small and solar]

Define young? My wife and I are not yet 40, but we consider a move to this area "retirement" as my job would change and we would actually be able to take vacations and enjoy a slower pace (I am on call currently and it makes for long days and nights)

Let us know what you find out, as we would be moving and then building. We are looking for skill craftsmen who will work on passive and active solar designs for a small home. "green" building is our hope.

Craig

[Fleeby]

My husband and I are both 30. So we're not young as in fresh out of college, early 20s, but we're wanting to start a family soon and hoping to find a good environment for an active family and hopefully some interesting folks to hang out with.

Are you from the southwest/Phoenix area originally? If so, you might find Colville quite an adjustment. Especially the long, grey winters. Both my husband and I grew up in the inland northwest but currently live in Silver City, NM. We've enjoyed it for a few years, but are anxious to get back home to where things grow other than cacti and juniper and both of our families are.

[dzmjp]

Dear Fleeby, There is not much construction at all in this area right now. The only construction that is going on, is the addition to our hosipital. There is this new fantastic day care that has opened up, CSG Openline... that I would recommend to anyone. They are on the pricier side for this area, but the facility is new, clean, and State certified.. there are not that many state certified day care facilities in Colville. There are some families like yours here in town, but this down does "shut down" after 5pm. It is a family town, and there is not much to do after 5 pm beside in the summer when the pool is open till 7pm. ) If I can help you with any other questions, please feel free to ask!

[Small and solar]

Originally Posted by Fleeby

My husband and I are both 30. So we're not young as in fresh out of college, early 20s, but we're wanting to start a family soon and hoping to find a good environment for an active family and hopefully some interesting folks to hang out with.

Are you from the southwest/Phoenix area originally? If so, you might find Colville quite an adjustment. Especially the long, grey winters. Both my husband and I grew up in the inland northwest but currently live in Silver City, NM. We've enjoyed it for a few years, but are anxious to get back home to where things grow other than cacti and juniper and both of our families are.

Very good observation! I am from out side of NYC and spent my youth in the northest, with all the snow, and miss it. My wife if from the DC area, and likes the snow, but would also like a life where when it snows hard, she can sit and watch it through the window or go for a walk vs commute in it.

SaS

[north_by_northwest]

We moved to the Colville area 4 years ago. We are originally from Texas and had been living in the Seattle area as a result of a job transfer. We had never heard of Colville until we started looking for ranch property in Montana, and discovered Colville on the return trip back to Seattle. We were very disappointed with what we (didn't) find in Montana and Idaho, and (luckily) stumbled upon Colville. It was exactly what we were looking for - mainly lots of land with some of the best real estate properties we had ever seen. My daughter was "sold" when we found the area abundant with trees and mountains. The only taste I had for "Eastern" Washington was the scab-land along the I-90 corridor. We had never ventured into the NorthEastern part of the state. What a surprise!

We found a great mountain property with room for our horses. The kids go to school in Colville and have found it to be one of the best schools they've ever attended. Most of the young adults that I encounter in the area are very polite and respectful.

As some of the other people have already mentioned - there's not a lot of new home construction in the area, but there does seem to be a small supply of existing homes. Most of the homes in the area are rural, farm and ranch properties within 10 miles of the town center. Homes in the town of Colvile are usually older, smaller houses but usually good prices.

My job is still in Seattle (360 miles away), but I telecomute from my home office. It's a perfect mix, and works great with the local wireless wi-fi internet available. We're 10 miles from town and get great reception and connection speeds.

Cell phone coverage is good in the Colville valley area, but can get spotty if you travel North or East of town. There seems to be good coverage from Colville all the way to Spokane, but not beyond Colville (north).

Colville is starting to get a lot of business from Canadian consumers due to the value of the Canadian dollar. When we first moved here it was just the opposite, and we would travel up to Canada a lot for short vacations and getaways.

There are a lot of areas in this part of the state that deal with poverty and lack of education, but I've seen it improve in just the few years that we've lived here. When we first moved here several of the lumber mills had recently closed and created a void in the blue collar workforce. The good news is there have been several Seattle based companies have recently opened "rural" offices in the area, and I've heard there are a few more looking at the area. The Canadian business has also helped sustain the area more recently. The Realestate market seems to be insulated from the national trend. It was late peaking during the boom years, and was never overpriced like most other areas of the country.

When we first moved here, we had a hard time finding any carpenters in the area that were dependable. I've spoken to other people that have also had the same experience. I'm not sure if it's the same this year with the decline in building, but I'd love to see more carpenters move into the area.

Hope it works out for you.

[MMullin]

The Realestate market seems to be insulated from the national trend
My husband and I are considering moving to Colville from Silver City, NM to be closer to family and get back to the inland NW. I have a specific job I'm applying for and my husband is a carpenter. Can anyone tell me about job availability in the construction industry? Are there many homes being built in the area? Also, we're planning to start a family soon. Is there decent childcare available in the area? What about schools? I've read quite a few of the other Colville threads and they're helpful, but most seem to be focused on retiring. What might Colville be like for a young family?

Fleebly, moving the family is a big endeavour and has long lasting impacts. I'd suggest staying in Colville for a couple of weeks - treat it like a vacation. At least you'd get a feel for it.

I don't live in Colville but do live in another nearby rural community. I'm in the mortgage business so real estate trends are pretty important for me to understand.

I'm guessing Colville could be a spectacular place to find a nice home on acreage for a great price. I'm sure the environment would be wholesome and nurturing for the children.

Is Silver City a small town of similar population? A small town like Colville is going to severly limit your husband's ability to find work and with it being over an hour to the Spokane area (the nearest area of any population) he may get frustrated if he tries to commute. Construction also strikes me as an industry that is partial to personal relationships and referals which would be very time consuming to establish in Colville. It's not like an office job or retail where you just submit your resume with qualifications.

Colville, and the entire region for that matter, is very beautiful and I'm glad I moved here last year. However, if Colville would be your first experience living in a small and isolated town I'd be very careful with your analysis.

If you have any other specific questions about the region feel free to ask.

[Fleeby]

Thanks to everyone for all of the info. I got the job I applied for and we'll be moving to town in the June of July! Goodbye desert, hello forest! Maybe we'll see you around. By the way, anybody wanna buy a house in Silver City, NM? :-)

[MMullin]

Congrats on the new job Fleeby!

If you need help or info when you get to town shoot us another message.

[RelocatingToColville]

We moved to Colville this summer and were very excited about the area. After living here for 4 months, we have discovered the area is the pits. The is heavy white supremist groupings in the area --- you don't dare be anything but white. Stay away from Kettle Falls and the Onion Creek area if you are not white. Also, they hate government and there have been several governmental officials "disappear" forever who have ventured into the Onion Creek area with uniforms on. It is very remote here which is why the dregs of society hide out here. They try to stay off the grid.

There is absolutely nothing to do here unless you like to hunt. If you are a runner, you don't dare run on the roads or trails after dark -- you'll get shot by a hunter. Tons of illegal hunting. It is common to find animal heads with their brains carved out on the side of the road because they took the illegal bullet out to not be caught.

The town looks charming, old fashioned, and appealing until you have lived here for any length of time (unless you grew up here). People do not dress up for anything (work, church, etc.) and are unprofessional. They swear in business and school meetings (including the school staff/administrators). They do things like they were done 20 years ago.

There are a lot of poor people who live off the government here because there are very few jobs and definitely no jobs for anyone with a degree unless you are in education or the medical field. The lumber mills have been laying off workers by the hundreds (latest lay-off was 110 people). Women do not talk in meetings in the Kettle Falls area and must be subserviant to men always (beat up a lot too). There are a lot of older men with more than one wife (who are young teenagers, usually pregnant). The good news is they usually keep to themselves because they don't want anyone to know what they are doing.

It takes an hour and a half to get to Spokane if you want to shop anywhere other than Wal-Mart. The only available swimming for kids is during the summer so you can forget swim lessons during the year. There is absolutely nothing to do. The tiny, old theater in Colville shows only one movie at a time and it is usually nothing a family should view.

We were enthralled with the beautiful city park before we moved here until we started going to it and discovered the type of people we were sharing the park with (dangerous scumbags you would not want your children around).

We are very disappointed with Colville and will be moving as soon as possible. When we moved here, the U-Haul place said people rarely stay more than a year (they come in the summer and leave in the spring). We figured that wouldn't be us. Now we know better. Too bad. We really wanted Colville to work out.