Fed-up Texan family moving to WA

[Marinvibe]

Originally Posted by aldok

Hello all,
I've been digging through the forums and the interwebs for a couple days now and it looks like I may be hunting for a unicorn (or Sasquatch).



I've been living in a suburb of Dallas (McKinney) for 14 years now (originally from CA). Family and I are really tired of a lot of things here, but I don't want to turn this into TX bashing. Mainly, we want to escape the crappy weather. We like to garden, hike, swim, basically anything outdoor.



We are a family of 6. Children aged 7-15. I work in IT and the company has shifted my position to full-time work-from-home. What we want:


1. Somewhere relatively near to IT jobs. This is kinda a mixed bag because I think most IT jobs will be remote, my current job is stable and I don't anticipate needing to look for a new job, but I don't want to be in the boonies and suddenly need to get a job in a major metro 2 hours away.



2. We would love a waterfront (Ocean or Sound, not really into lakes). Ideally, a bluff overlooking ocean as opposed to a beach. 3 bed min, preferably 4.



3. Safe, quite neighborhood with decent schools. Costco with a reasonable distance (less than 30 min?).



4. My current home in TX is $370K. I pay about $6700 in property taxes. I can stretch to $550k-ish. I'd like my home payment to stay below $2500 after 20% down payment.



Am I crazy?



Thanks!

I had responded to one of your many "following up" comments from others and forgot to offer up something on your search. If you look for housing near Poulsbo, WA which is a nice Norwegian town on the other side of the Puget Sound, there are occasionally lovely waterfront properties towards the top of your price range. You can go North from there up the Coast and maybe find something in Sequim where it is said to be the lowest level of rainfall in all of the Puget Sound area. Then there is the "artsy" town of Port Angeles farther north on the Olympic Peninsula. Olympic Mountains and Rain Forest are pretty special.

[WestGuest]

I live in Texas but plan to spend extended summers in Skamokawa- Cathlamet. They are not touristy but exceedingly friendly, scenic and not too expensive.

[rhymeswithcovid]

Originally Posted by aldok

Hello all,
I've been digging through the forums and the interwebs for a couple days now and it looks like I may be hunting for a unicorn (or Sasquatch).



I've been living in a suburb of Dallas (McKinney) for 14 years now (originally from CA). Family and I are really tired of a lot of things here, but I don't want to turn this into TX bashing. Mainly, we want to escape the crappy weather. We like to garden, hike, swim, basically anything outdoor.



We are a family of 6. Children aged 7-15. I work in IT and the company has shifted my position to full-time work-from-home. What we want:


1. Somewhere relatively near to IT jobs. This is kinda a mixed bag because I think most IT jobs will be remote, my current job is stable and I don't anticipate needing to look for a new job, but I don't want to be in the boonies and suddenly need to get a job in a major metro 2 hours away.



2. We would love a waterfront (Ocean or Sound, not really into lakes). Ideally, a bluff overlooking ocean as opposed to a beach. 3 bed min, preferably 4.



3. Safe, quite neighborhood with decent schools. Costco with a reasonable distance (less than 30 min?).



4. My current home in TX is $370K. I pay about $6700 in property taxes. I can stretch to $550k-ish. I'd like my home payment to stay below $2500 after 20% down payment.



Am I crazy?



Thanks!

Unless you're moving to eastern WA, it just likely won't work. Yup, Texas summers are hot. Picture what happens to your mental health when you go 30 days with 0 sunshine. i don't mean mostly cloudy days. I mean days of just cloud.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by aldok

Ummm, what? When I said CA was my point of reference, I was obviously talking about literally every single corner of every street in the whole wide state. Is LA not in Cali anymore? I guess I should have said E14 St. in Oakland, and Telegraph, MacArthur, 35th, etc.



DOOD! Are you trying to argue your experience is true and mine isn’t? Oakland is one of the most dangerous cities in the country...but you used freeways to teleport around it. I guess driving with your eyes closed would explain the terrible drivers. As for “that’s what freeways are for”, you mean they are for driving around the bad areas? So this?

“Oakland hills were very upper class and expensive and unless you went out of your way, you drove through the ghetto”

It’s almost like depending on where you are driving to/from dictates the experience. But hey, out of sight out of mind right?

Calm down. This sort of agitation isn't welcome in Washington

[Indy1982]

To the OP, the short answer is that you definitely can move here and get most of what you want. You'll most likely have to give up on your dream of waterfront property, but like you've already mentioned, you're willing to do that.


With that in mind, pretty much the entire area east of lake Sammamish is beautiful, if a bit wetter due to the proximity to the cascades. If you search primarily between Duvall in the north and Maple Valley in the south, you'll easily find a number of very nice places for sale that are in the $500k - $700k range, and that are all about 30 minutes commute from places like Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Renton which all have good sized Tech companies.


For example, Fall city (which many consider to be the boonies) is 30 minutes from downtown Seattle via I90.


I'm not familiar with the school systems in those areas, but I'm sure others here can fill you in on what to expect.


However, for example, if you bought a place in Carnation, you're 12-13 miles from Redmond (which is where Microsoft is located), and even closer to lake Sammamish where boating, biking and walking activities abound. You would also be about 20 miles from the cascade foothills where there are many hiking opportunities. Skiing is right up the road at Snoqulamie pass. And when you get tired of the gloom, go a bit farther east on I90 and spend the day in eastern WA. All this for less than $700k.


There will be many people who will tell you that your dream is ridiculous, but each state, and even different parts of the same state will be different, none better or worse than the other. Each location has it's issues... you just need to find the set of issues that bothers you the least.

[CrazyDonkey]

The OP hasn't posted in this thread since July...