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We are relocating to Centralia. We have found the business and economic climate there to be rapidly improving despite what a lot of other people say about it being hickville. It remains a great place to own a home - 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for under $200,000 which is unheard of in most places. Centralia is located 1/2 way between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, just 25 minutes south of Olympia. More than anything we have been attracted by the progressive city government. We have found them to be a group totally dedicated to the improvement of the area. In recent years they have raised, invested and applied huge sums of money to improve the area. Centralia at one time about 10 years ago was a run down ratty old place - - however, the current council has REALLY done their work to make the necessary improvements. We love the quaint historic downtown that is currently undergoing a HUGE revitalization effort. I have been following a blog from some folks who bought one of the historic hotels in downtown called the Wilson Wilson Hotel Blog - the site is updated frequently and they talk a lot about the progress being made downtown. A lot of local folks think of the old Centralia ~ they have not been there in recent years and so they know only the past conditions there. There is a thread about Centralia on this forum that may be worth a good read. We have found since 1 in 3 people in western WA is now a transplant from outside the state - - things are changing here - no more hickville....
I think Bellingham has been slow to change because it is so isolated and has not really been intergrated as much. You can also go to CENTRALIA.COM which is the city site to learn more. Hope this helps you in your search. :-)
Alot of you I noticed are searching for info about Bellingham, and being a lifetime resident of Bellingham I will fill you in. My wife is 27 and I am 31. Bellingham was a nice little town. A skilled trade worker could make $12-$15/hr maybe more and median price homes were in the $140K range. A few years ago some dumb retirement magazine named Bellingham #2 in the nation to retire in. As you can imagine they came in groves from California, Arizona, Florida, and more. Some of them not the best quality of people either. Real Estate prices went thru the roof, and are still horribly high, averaging around $470,000 currently for the homes listed for sale. Very few jobs here are capable of supporting such a mortgage, it's said that 90% of the working families here can't afford a home. There are so many availiable jobs here for that reason, alot of the workers packed up and left because there is pretty much no hope here. The anti-growth attitude of our local government caused a massive price increase of real estate and cost of living. This inflated cost of living is passed down to everyone. We pay more for gas, food, homes, and property taxes, but the worst is that the jobs don't pay anymore than 5 years ago. A co-worker of mine built his own home on the lake in the 80's, cost him about $85K and they paid it off in the 90's. In 2006 it was assessed at $680,000, making his property taxes approx $780 a month on a home he built himself and owns outright! My wife is a Biology teacher with a Master's and I am a jouneyman union structural steel worker, and together we are looking at maybe being able to afford a home if we can get a deal on the lot and build it ourselves. Most of the working people here are stuck in apartments or, like us, living with relatives waiting for this hell to end. Last week some old bag in a big BMW backed into my car in the parking lot and ran, gotta love it. The police won't even do anything and my insurance either has to cover it, or we leave our car with a big dent in it. There's nothing to do here for fun and we have a high crime rate, almost 2x the average. Our police are worthless. Your car gets stolen, too bad. House gets burglarized, too bad. Doing 5 over, you're getting a ticket. I have family here that need us to be here, so I am stuck here unfortunately. Those of you looking to relocate, look carefully. Weigh availialble jobs and average pay with cost of homes, and choose a state that HAS an income tax. Go where everyone else, isn't. Remember our economy goes by "demand and supply". Retiree's are flocking to WA to avoid income tax which is really dumb because we have a nasty 8.5%+ sales tax, almost .50 of gas tax, and some nasty and still rising property taxes. Our medical services are overrun, everyone is short on nurses and doctors, yet doctors can do much better elseware so it doesn't improve. I don't even bother to go to the doctor anymore even with full benefits, by the time I can get an appointment whatever was wrong is gone or maybe one day I'll be dead. Most anywhere in the state will be better than Bellingham. In Seattle/Tacoma/Olypia you have a little bit higher prices but alot more potential for income and certainly alot more to do. The next few years will be very interesting, with so many people moving here to retire, it's creating alot of needs and less business/workers and industry to pay for it.
Anyway sorry to be so negative but in the last 5-6 years it's really gone in the toilet here, unless you're some Millionaire real estate land maggot.
Are you sure you aren't talkin about California specifically the SF Bay Area? Sales tax is 8.5% and most of homes in decent neighborhoods start at the $700,000 to over a Million. Plus you do pay more here EVERYTHING than you would anywhere else. i.e gasoline for super unleaded 91 octane fuel goes from $3.21 from Arco to 3.50+ a gal. for Chevron. Got taxes up the but and lots of that property tax pays for kids schools which isn't right especially if you don't have kids. Funds also go to projects that are no longer in existence or vacant hospitals.
Along with all this financial distress comes droves and droves of people, gridlock, crime rate, road rage. One doesn't want to even go out anymore. Most of the things you mention are in the SF Bay area but much worse.
without all this rain we could also have about two million people living in whatcom county. which is the biggest blessing! though it is a drag to see a short, soggy summer basically skip fall and go right into winter like it has this year. after getting pounded with winter storms that began in early november the year before. i still love Bellingham and think that at least seasonally it should rank right up with the best places to live if you don't have to work. though i wouldn't know anything about that lifestyle. and, it is simply a fact of life that the quality of life that made Bellingham (and countless other cities across this great nation) such a special place for myself and so many others to grow up and live is gone.
"best places to live if you don't have to work." That's the whole idea not having to work anymore and livin a slower pace of life.
Frozen custard, maybe. The key (95% or more) is obviously a strong marketing plan. Personally, I'd look to Vancouver and try to copy a successful progressive business model to start here that incorporates custard, if thats your thing.
What kind of neighborhood is Custer area? Price range for homes? Crime rate? Any specific advantages or disadvantages? I need a slower pace of life with privacy and peace.
I have followed this discussion from the beginning and found truths on both sides. I thought I would give my view. I live in Ferndale, just outside of Bellingham, I have lived here for about 3 years. We chose Ferndale because we are a lower income family and couldn't afford the rent in Bellingham. I will agree being a native Washintonian it is beautiful here, I love the way it smells after it rains. I love the ocean, mountains, forests, and rivers; in that respect it is paradise. The facts are if you don't make over $75,000 a year you won't be able to live here comfortably. We get by paycheck to paycheck, and will never be able to own a home here; we say its our trade-off for living in such a beautiful place. My husband works for a good company and makes very little $12 an hour, I am attending college to try and get us out of this life. Unfortunately we won't be able to continue living here the negatives outweigh the benefits. Negatives: poor school systems, HIGH housing costs(and I agree when someone says obscene), high gas prices(Whatcom county has the highest gas prices in the country), no jobs that pay a fair wage. We have decided after I get my AS in geology we will have to move so that I can finish college somewhere else. As sad as it is this area is just not suited for young professional families. The only reason we live here instead of near my family in Skagit county is the rent was actually cheaper, so there are places worse off. Washington as a whole is a very expensive state to live in, and we have lived other places, but we chose to live here and tough it out because our family was here and we love it here. But unfortunately we can't do it anymore. Im tired of being low income, and there is no way to crawl out of the hole here if your cost of living is so miss matched to the wages.
To all of you who wanted to know a good area in Whatcom to live, Ferndale is just north of BHam 5 miles and it is cheaper housing and beautiful, better schools than BHam, and if you're liberal its a good compromise to Lynden. I was told you don't want to live in Lynden if you like to mow your lawn on Sunday. Anyway that was my 2 cents for what its worth.
Any suggestions then?
So what are your gasoline prices for super unleaded? More than California? SF Bay area super unleaded is now 3.20+ a gal to 3.50+ a gal. Yet we have gridlock with lots of road rage to go with it and people here drivin fast and furious like the gasoline prices were in the 60's and 10 miles a gallon was the norm. You wouldn't think this by seeing how much traffic and the driving habits of people here.
One thing for sure is that you will never die of being lonely here as you are surrounded by people wherever you go. No privacy. So where is a good rural area to Live in Washington? I thought it was Custard, Whatcom Co.
I don't have kids so I don't have to consider types of schools. I just want lots of privacy and seclusion. I don't need neighbors because I'm surrounded by them now on all 4 sides within a few feet and I only hear from them when there are problems. (No I don't live in a prison) but I am tired of the high cost of living here, gridlock, road rage and overpopulation problem here in SF Bay area. Forget Seattle so where and what neighborhoods would I consider? Near the Canadian border? Whatcom Co? or Custard I thought might be a good idea. Skagit County? What are low prices? $500,000? $400,000 $300,000 $200,000 a possibility?
Again I seek peace, privacy and seclusion. I want a slower pace of living all of this is opposite of where I live now. Less or little population and the traffic and other problems population brings.
That's why more people need to pass props like ours here in CA. Property taxes do not go up each year or when the market goes through the roof. It stays the same as when you bought your home, no matter how many years have passed. The people that are over 60 years of age can use Prop 60, Prop 90 and Prop 110. We just used prop 60 on our current property, because my husband is 60. We transferred our property taxes from the property that we bought 13 years ago when the market was down 240k. We sold it for 850k this year. Bought a house last year in the same county for almost 700k. We dragged over the taxes and now pay less property tax.
So then it is true? I have heard of this here in California BUT you must buy in the same county that you currently reside in? Does this mean you can buy a 700,000 house and pay the property tax of a 93,000 house?
Rkcarguy compares Bellingham to Idaho over and over. Having been a resident of the Hayden/Coeur d'Alene area for the last 6 years, I can assure him, it's no picnic here either. Normal people are being priced out of their homes by Californians moving in and driving the prices up. And having a state income tax is no guarantee against rising property taxes. In fact, because of Bush's tax cuts, local governments are starved for cash and property taxes are the one way for fire and police departments to get necessary funding, and local school bonds are making up the difference from the pathetic No Child Left Behind act. Jobs here are few and far between and because it's a Right to Work state, we have the right to work for way less than the rest of the country. Plus, there is an extremely fundamentalist and conservative mind-set here that makes it downright scary at times. I've had friends run off the road or cars vandalized because of anti-war bumper stickers. One woman I know repeatedly had her car vandalized when she had a Proud Democrat sticker on it. She finally wised up and put a Gun-Toting Democrat sticker next to it and it hasn't been touched since. It's beautiful country, but the attitudes aren't, and the local economy doesn't make up for the anguish.
So does this mean Washington State or Whatcom Co. is gun country or anti-gun like California?
Anarchy preferred over bureaucratic red tape corrupt government or good old boys spoils system mentality?
Are you sure you aren't talkin about California specifically the SF Bay Area? Sales tax is 8.5% and most of homes in decent neighborhoods start at the $700,000 to over a Million. Plus you do pay more here EVERYTHING than you would anywhere else. i.e gasoline for super unleaded 91 octane fuel goes from $3.21 from Arco to 3.50+ a gal. for Chevron. Got taxes up the but and lots of that property tax pays for kids schools which isn't right especially if you don't have kids. Funds also go to projects that are no longer in existence or vacant hospitals.
Along with all this financial distress comes droves and droves of people, gridlock, crime rate, road rage. One doesn't want to even go out anymore. Most of the things you mention are in the SF Bay area but much worse.
"We got to get outta of this place even if it is the last thing we ever do".
Linson, I must inform you that having been raised in TX and having been to Corpus Christy, TX multiple times, there's a reason why nobody lives there. No jobs, nothing to do and just a backward place. Every time there is a hurricane you have to evacuate and homeowner's insurance in TX is the highest in the nation. The only part of Texas you would want to live in is Austin but there aren't any decent jobs there either. My uncle is working and living in California to pay for his house in Austin and pay his kid's college tuition.
Texas in general sucks. Being a "Native Texan" which is considered a badge of honor is really just Stockholm Syndrome for not being able to escape sooner.
Also, TX is a "right to work state" which means you can be fired for anything or not even given a reason. You also have to speak fluent Spanish to hold any job due to the illegal alien scourge all over the state. My kid's school doesn't even print out forms in English anymore!
Yes....there ARE many places in Washington where you can "escape" the rat race, live in seclusion or whatever?
Here in Whatcom Co. there are several areas I could suggest.....but depending on where you go....you WILL find others who sought the seclusion you do for reasons you would rather not wish to know. Many who choose to live in seclusion are those who are "up to something" and/or avoiding exposure to the public for reasons that could mean ???
This, of course is not always true and there are many like you you just want peace and quiet.....and privacy.....just be aware that there are those living privately up in the woods who choose to do so for a variety of reasons and you may or may NOT want them as your closest neighbor.
CUSTER.......not Custard.....is a fairly quiet, rural town.....but NOT necessarily as private as you may seek.....so, I have a couple other suggestions......
IF....you don't mind a fairly lengthy drive to get groceries or ?......there is TRUE peace and quiet to be found about a 45 min.-1 hour drive northeast of Bellingham around the VERY small towns of Maple Falls and/or Glacier......BOTH on the only road to Mt. Baker Ski area......very peaceful, quiet and heavily wooded......or the Cain Lake area just to the SE of Sudden Valley....SE of Bellingham.
I would suggest you look at Google Maps or Google Earth and search these locations.....or any others in the state.
Stehekin....in the North/Central Cascades IS about as remote as you can get, IMO......without being on one of the San Juan Islands. This place is sooooo remote on the north end of Lake Chelan.....you HAVE to either have a boat or a floatplane...since there are really NO roads in or out of it!
Good luck....hope I could help.
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Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Linson - fantasy in Corpus Christy, TX
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