Move to Washington ? (Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver: insurance, condominiums, home)

[CMKM-Miller]

My wife and I are considering a move to Washington. We have two young daughters and want to get out of California for numerous reasons. We currently live in Sacramento. Given my career path, I would be looking for either a job with the State or county gov't. My wife works in Communications/Marketing but could venture out. We've both been to Seattle numerous times and absolutely love it. I fear though, we may be priced out of Seattle. One state job I've looked at has a pay range of $3300-$4250/month. Given what we make in California, I currently make roughly 20% more than my wife. My question is, could a young family of 4 survive in Washington on this income with the typical bills (mortgage, insurance, childcare, food, etc). We currently own our home in California and may be able to put 10% on a home in Washington. If we are priced out of Seattle as I fear, what areas are similar. I had seen Vancouver, Longview, Olympia region, Tacoma, Bellingham, Mount Vernon, and Aberdeen on the map but didn't know much about these places. We wouldn't want to move to Eastern Washington as that region seems to dry and warm for our liking. If we're going to move, we don't want the same type of climate. Any advice and answers would be great.

[tallguy250]

My wife and I are also considering moving to Washington, possibly the Bellingham/Sudden Valley area - probably for similar reasons, although in our case it would be for retirement. My question to other ex-patriot Californians is how do you stand the winters there? We live in the San Bernardino mountains above 6000 feet and are used to storms dumping 1-3 feet of snow, followed by a couple of weeks of clear days until the next storm. MY understanding of winter in western Washington is day after day of dreary, endless overcast and light to moderate rain. I have no problem moving snow - what do you do about all the rain?

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by tallguy250

what do you do about all the rain?

We live our lives.
If you seriously don't like drizzle and clouds for 9 months, then you seriously need to consider living where you don't have drizzle and clouds for 9 months, don't you think?

[st33lcas3]

Originally Posted by tallguy250

MY understanding of winter in western Washington is day after day of dreary, endless overcast and light to moderate rain. I have no problem moving snow - what do you do about all the rain?

Overcast, yes; constant rain, no.

What do we do about it? You just live like it's any other day.

The ground around here is like a sponge, so flooding due to rain is rare.

You buy a good rainproof jacket if your going to be outside a lot. Hoods are OK, umbrellas will tell everyone your an outsider.

In the mornings you drink coffee, in the evenings you drink beer or wine from one of the many brewpubs and vineyards around the area.

Thanks to the rain, you can still get out and do things unlike being snowed in. You can go fishing, hiking, take road trips. You just live.

[mthomson]

To answer Mr. Millers' post, yes, you're probably priced out of Seattle. Govt. jobs would be around Olympia for state, and you could find some great housing in some great areas there that would be affordable. County jobs could be landed anywhere. In Pierce County, Puyallup or Tacoma would be places that come to mind, and housing there is very affordable as well.
For Kitsap County, Port Orchard or Silverdale would be options and again very affordable.
I'm not sure about the rest of the state.

[jamesandveybe]

Originally Posted by CMKM-Miller

One state job I've looked at has a pay range of $3300-$4250/month.

You can commute into Seattle from 60/90 minutes away and do just fine with that income. If you want to live in the city, though, your choices will be limited to condominiums.

Eastern WA is indeed hot and dry, similar to Sacramento weather but snow in the Winter. Western WA is expensive for lots of reasons, but one of them is the moderate, maritime climate that I love and moved here for.[/quote]

[CMKM-Miller]

James and Thomson, thanks for some of the help. I've done the commute deal for nearly 5yrs and I'm not doing that again. It takes way too much time and energy and with a young family, no more for me. I figured Seattle was out of our league. I am intrigued by the Olympia and Tacoma regions as they are somewhat close to Seattle. I hadn't really thought much of Port Orchard or Silverdale. Are they small or midsize communities ? I don't mind some snow but I don't want to do Sacramento-esque heat again in the summer. Been there and done that. Again, we would want a change in our move, not more of the same.

[Sandy Nelson]

CMKM-Miller,

Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater would be affordable places to live, with plenty of government jobs right in town. There are also great federal job opportunities at nearby Fort Lewis and McChord AFB. Check out www.usajobs.com.
The Olympia area offers good schools and lots of amenities for a young family.

Sandy

[mthomson]

Millers--
Port Orchard and Silverdale are small towns. Not tiny, but small. There is a mall in Silverdale, movie theaters and shopping in both, but they're not cities (smaller than Tacoma, Olympia, Seattle, etc). You're not going to get much snow in any of these places...we usually have a week where we'll get 2-4", then another few dustings throughout the year. In the summers we'll have a week or 2 where it'll hit low 90's, a few weeks of 80's, but most of the summer is 70's.
I lived in Tacoma for 4 years prior to moving to Gig Harbor (clearly my favorite place, but not a great option for govt jobs) and it's a pretty nice place. Bigger than I like, but I'm not used to cities at all. I've never lived in Olympia, but it really is a nice place...one of the nicer state capitols I've ever been to.

[CMKM-Miller]

Thank you Thomson, as for Gig Harbor, why do say not a great option for gov't jobs ? Is it because it's too expensive ? Is the traffic difficult between there and say Bremerton ? It looks close on the map. Because I did apply for a specific job in Bremerton, I would obviously want a community that is safe and can provide a good education for my kids.