Help!! Texan Moving To Yakima! (Seattle, West Valley: rentals, crime, houses)

[Othrklly2]

My husband is in the Navy and has been stationed as a recruiter in Yakima Washington. I've never lived anywhere but Texas (dallas area) so this is going to be a HUGE move for me.

We are looking to rent a home, but I can't seem to find any online? Any suggestions on where to look for rental properties or is it a stick a sign in the yard kind of place?

Crime rate?? i've read so much about the actual city of Yakima being kinda scarey? Is this really true (i'm from dallas? is it really that bad?).

What towns, cities, etc? outside of Yakima should we be looking at?

Lastly...it is really that hard to find a job in the Yakima area?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP / SUGGESTIONS!

[seattlerain]

Have you tried craiglist for rental housing? If not here is the link: Rentals

Here are a few links about the area:

Yakima (rental, job, college)

Pros and Cons of Yakima

yakima; where not to live

I hope that you will find some answers to your questions on those threads.

I don't live in Yakima, but hopefully somebody that does live there will read this and be able to help you a bit more.

Good luck with your move!

[military-wife2001]

Othrklly2,

My husband is also in the Navy and we are too moving to Yakima for recruiter duty. I have also been having trouble finding a home to rent. Craiglist is the best place I have found so far. From what I have been told there is only one recruiting station in Yakima. I have done a bit of research on Yakima and I have found out that Yakima does have a very high unemployment rate. My husband and I have been looking in Zillah, Selah, Terrace Heights and basically anything on the Westside of town. I hope this helps.

[missyM]

It is hard to find a job in Yak, if you don't have a bachelor's or are not bilingual. Most of the jobs are low-paying, in retail, construction trades, education, farming, warehouses. If you're in healthcare, you should be okay.

[sykesfamily]

Stay on the west side stay away from the east. Was born and raised there and moved away almost 12 yrs ago. Selah, West Valley , Terrace Heights are all good places to live. Stay away from the lower valley though toppenish and Wapato.... IMO very bad.

[Othrklly2]

Thank you so much for the advice! : ) It is greatly appreciated and will certainly come in handy during our house hunt! : )

[Idunn]

Having read some other threads on this forum concerning Yakima, the near unanimous consensus seems to be avoid living in central Yakima. Lots of crime, at least by Washington standards. That would include everything on the east side of town, and it seems one has to move to nearly the far west end of town to be okay.

[Jodes1270]

Originally Posted by Othrklly2

My husband is in the Navy and has been stationed as a recruiter in Yakima Washington. I've never lived anywhere but Texas (dallas area) so this is going to be a HUGE move for me.

We are looking to rent a home, but I can't seem to find any online? Any suggestions on where to look for rental properties or is it a stick a sign in the yard kind of place?

Crime rate?? i've read so much about the actual city of Yakima being kinda scarey? Is this really true (i'm from dallas? is it really that bad?).

What towns, cities, etc? outside of Yakima should we be looking at?

Lastly...it is really that hard to find a job in the Yakima area?



THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP / SUGGESTIONS!

I live in Yakima myself and have been here all my life. I'm not sure what it's like where you live but it's not THAT bad here. Definitely stay away from the East side. I live in West Valley myself and really like it. If you have kids, the schools are AWESOME here in West Valley. If I was you, knowing what I know about this area, I would want to find a place either in Selah or West Valley. I would not put my kids in any other schools in this area. I have friends that live in Zillah too and I've heard good things about that area also. Zillah is really small but very nice. I hope this helps. As far as jobs go, that depends on what you do and how bad you want to work.

[KrystalAway]

I agree with what's been said so far. I grew up in Yakima and only moved away (to Seattle) for school. The west side of the city is where you want to be. As has been said, I'd shoot for a place in West Valley or Terrace Heights.

That said, for the bad reputation that Yakima has, it's really not THAT bad. I mean, yes, there's crime (mostly drug-related), but you're not going to get caught in the middle of some sort of gang-land warfare. Really.

Compared to Dallas, I'd say your biggest adjustment is going to be getting used to the much smaller size. It literally takes 15 minutes to drive from one end of town to the other. Now that I live in Seattle, I really miss some of those small-town perks.

Basically, I think Yakima's an okay place if that's where you want/need to be. It's small, yes, and "boring" so I can understand people wanting to go elsewhere, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a bad place to live or grow up. I'm actually considering moving back to the eastside (of Washington state) after I finish college. In fact, if I could find a job in Yakima that paid well, I'd move back there. Unfortunately, the job market isn't that great, so I'll probably have to look elsewhere.

Anyway, I started to ramble here.

Welcome to Washington.

[st33lcas3]

Crime rate?? i've read so much about the actual city of Yakima being kinda scarey? Is this really true (i'm from dallas? is it really that bad?).

I just heard on the news last night Yakima is rated #9 in the nation for auto thefts.

NICB issues top 10 cities for car theft: California and Vegas rank high - WalletPop (broken link)

I've only driven though there otherwise, so I can't give you any more info about. Just thought you may like to know that.