What's Aberdeen truly like? (Seattle, Bellingham: rental, crime, hotels)

[CrouchTigerHiddenDog]

Prices and locale look good, so what's the catch?

Some nice, "cottages" there and around that area (mountains, beach, etc.).

[Fat Freddy]

Other than being generally considered the ugliest, most run down, depressed and poorest city in the state, it's a pretty nice place to live.

There is even a Walmart and a Safeway, not much else though.

[allforcats]

Aberdeen used to be a logging town until very recently, and most of the logging went away. Personally, I would choose many towns in eastern Washington as the "ugliest" towns in Washington, hands down. And some folks who say that about Aberdeen are actually thinking of Hoquiam, next door.

If the "cottages" you're seeing are what I'm thinking about, they might -- might -- be involved with absentee landlords. It would really be worth your time to go to Aberdeen and look around. Some neighborhoods are a bit rundown; others up on the hill are quite beautiful and even elegant.

Aberdeen has two McDonalds, other small restaurants, a few hotels, and a ton of small shops and businesses. Make sure to check the stats on City-Data.com, especially climate, average income, etc. It's at the edge of the world's largest temperate rain forest, so Aberdeen does get quite a bit of rain, over 80 inches per year (Seattle gets about 36 inches). In terms of work, Aberdeen is pretty far from any large center of employment, such as Olympia, so you'd be looking at a serious commute.

Aberdeen has no "beach" as in ocean beach; you have to drive west to Ocean Shores, etc. However, Aberdeen is on the Chehalis River. A few miles west of Hoquiam (next town to the west) is Gray's Harbor, including a large wildfowl reserve with hidden paths and views of the ocean. The forests around Aberdeen are rather thick so you can't see the mountains from many places in Aberdeen, but the magnificent fragrance of Western Red Cedar fills the air most of the time.

Here are useful comments from many posters, and the thread includes a sample of even more threads about Aberdeen.
aberdeen friendly?

[CrouchTigerHiddenDog]

Originally Posted by CrouchTigerHiddenDog

Prices and locale look good, so what's the catch?

Some nice, "cottages" there and around that area (mountains, beach, etc.).

Bellingham is sounding better (again) all of the time

[Fat Freddy]

Originally Posted by CrouchTigerHiddenDog

Bellingham is sounding better (again) all of the time

There is no way you can compare Aberdeen and Bellingham.
Even though they both are towns in Washington, they really exist in different worlds.

[mitsuturbo]

Aberdeen reminds me of whatever city/town was depicted in the movie My Cousin Vinny. No way in hell would i want to live there. Bellingham would be MUCH better, in my opinion!

[Singlemom3]

I was wonderingn about Aberden myself. I have done lots of research about it. So far, I have found that the most major crime is thefts and violence. I have heard fifty/fifty on Aberdeen. You either hate it, or love it. Then, again my city has a high theft rate also.

I have googled pics on the area, and have seen some beutiful sites. I have also seen runned downed areas. Hum...sounds like every city in the USA. Really, is there anytown that is perfect?

I would like a small town with older houses. My most concern is the job market. But I am hoping with my nursing background, this wont be much of a problem. My problem is prices. I cant afford places like Bellingham or Olympia. Rental prices in these areas are more than my monthly income.

[Singlemom3]

[quote=Fat Freddy;6472478]Other than being generally considered the ugliest, most run down, depressed and poorest city in the state, it's a pretty nice place to live.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Truly Heartless]

Bellingham's prices rose back around six years ago because of a national news article. Since then, a lot of Californians have dumped their homes and moved up. Problem is, some six years later they want to dump their Bellingham homes due to rain. They were use to sunshine most of the time and after a few years of high percentage of rainfall they are suffering!

I'm (as well as the locals/I was one in 1985) hoping some will return to their native state! Maybe then we can start buying again!

Aberdeen just seems like a cheap alternative.

[Dendrite]

It's not quite apples to apples to compare Bellingham to Aberdeen. Bellingham with about 75 or 80 thousand people and Aberdeen with what, I'm guessing a population of about 16 or 18 thousand-

Aberdeen traditionally has supported itself with fishing and timber industries, both of which have been hammered over the past decades. The town has rebuilt itself to a degree over the past several years primarily via tourism, with attempts to re-vitalize the downtown shopping area and so forth.

The job market is flat there (like many places) hence the median income has sagged and people aren't rushing out to upgrade their homes.

Despite this, there are still "nice" parts of Aberdeen and well, "less than nice" parts of town. I think the better parts of Aberdeen are the "hills" (Arnold, Scammel, Broadway etc.) The homes there tend to be nicer and more well kept and they can provide views of the river and valley below.

IMO, one of the reasons Aberdeen can appear "run down" is due to its weather. Don't underestimate the 80+ inches of gray and near constant wet/rainfall that Allforcats mentioned. That pounding takes it's toll on the paint and cedar siding of just about every home there. This also means that one only has a 2 or 3 month "window" (summer) to get out and paint your house, re-roof it etc. without dealing with the rain.

They had a major storm last winter that did a fair bit of structural damage to many homes. I was in Aberdeen this past weekend and it was looking better due to all of the new roofs and newly painted siding that had been replaced from that storm!