Which of these locations in Washington do you like best? (Seattle: apartment, rentals)

[Sobefobik]

I have been wanting to move out of Tacoma/Seattle for some time now. I'm tired of the traffic and the area. I need to go to another place. I had made tentative plans to move to Minneapolis Minnesota, but because of my father's health problems I am not able to move that far away. I am able to move to another area in Washington.

I have chosen Spokane, Forks, or Wenatchee. Of course, if you have another suggestion of another place to consider, you are welcome to state that.

I really like the outdoors, and that is part of the reason that I have chosen these places. Forks has all of the beaches, the Hoh Rainforest, etc. Spokane and Wenatchee also have great places, too.

I am looking to spend no more jan $650 a month (either an apartment or house), and I have a home business so finding a job is no issue. The only necessary thing I need is reliable high-speed Internet access.

Out of these places, which do you like best? Please vote on it.

Thanks!

[j_k_k]

I think you're most likely to find the combination of reliable broadband net access and affordable housing in Spokane.

[allforcats]

Of the choices you provde, Spokane has a slightly larger population than Tacoma, Wenatchee's pop. is about 1/10th of either, and Forks' is just a bit over 3,000. Where you have population, you have broadband and choices of living places. Spokane has everything you're asking for.

There are basically no jobs in Forks so there are only a handful of places to rent. It's a tiny town that's not set up for outsiders. Unless you think that dark clouds and steady, daily drizzle for ten months of the year and white clouds and a bit of drizzle for the other two months are the best weather in the world, you don't want Forks.

If you must have reliable broadband access, you'll need Spokane. As a little town, Forks is not well serviced technologically and is subject to so many storms, and Wenatchee is subject to many other storms -- so the necessary systems can be considered iffy, thus unreliable.

Wenatchee is a sweet town, and you've got to love snow -- lots of snow, during long winters. Rentals in Wenatchee will be more available than in Forks but still limited, and since it's a tourist town I question how many rentals will be inexpensive.

So, Spokane it is! I wish you a happy new life!

[mthomson]

My vote is for Spokane, but I have to put a disclaimer...I haven't been to the other 2. I live in Gig Harbor, love it, and hope I never move. I used to go to Spokane for the state HS track meet each summer, and enjoyed it there. So by default, knowing little of Spokane but nothing of the other two, I choose Spokane. Plus, John Stockton's from there!

[chris]

Forks isn't really a place to consider for relocation, unless you consider living in the middle of nowhere with no amenities except for loneliness.

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by chris

Forks isn't really a place to consider for relocation, unless you consider living in the middle of nowhere with no amenities except for loneliness.

I happen to like Forks. If you consider a place with several beaches, a rain forest, and unlimited camping nearby as having no amenities, then we're not on the same boat. If you notice from the towns I have chosen, I'm not picking some huge area where I can get to everything I need within one spot. I'm trying to somewhat escape the huge amounts of people crammed into one area.

[Sobefobik]

Thanks Allforcats! I never even thought about the possiblity of storms affecting anything. That is definitely something to keep in mind.

[chris]

Originally Posted by Sobefobik

I happen to like Forks. If you consider a place with several beaches, a rain forest, and unlimited camping nearby as having no amenities, then we're not on the same boat. If you notice from the towns I have chosen, I'm not picking some huge area where I can get to everything I need within one spot. I'm trying to somewhat escape the huge amounts of people crammed into one area.

That's the entire peninsula basically. I'm just suggesting you should consider spending some time there if seriously considering it as a place to move...

I like the occasional visit to Forks, but if forced to live there, I'd need to be medicated.

[509]

Originally Posted by Sobefobik

I have been wanting to move out of Tacoma/Seattle for some time now. I'm tired of the traffic and the area. I need to go to another place. I had made tentative plans to move to Minneapolis Minnesota, but because of my father's health problems I am not able to move that far away. I am able to move to another area in Washington.

I have chosen Spokane, Forks, or Wenatchee. Of course, if you have another suggestion of another place to consider, you are welcome to state that.

I really like the outdoors, and that is part of the reason that I have chosen these places. Forks has all of the beaches, the Hoh Rainforest, etc. Spokane and Wenatchee also have great places, too.

I am looking to spend no more jan $650 a month (either an apartment or house), and I have a home business so finding a job is no issue. The only necessary thing I need is reliable high-speed Internet access.

Out of these places, which do you like best? Please vote on it.

Thanks!

I would pass on Forks. I am allergic to rain.

I have lived in both Spokane and Wenatchee.

For high tech services....Spokane is ok. Wenatchee is the place to be. 100% of the city is currently wired with fiber. Chelan County is 75% wired for fiber. You can chose from dozens of providers for HD TV, internet, phone, etc. etc. Central Washington is way ahead of Seattle and the other parts of the state is deployment of fiber. The Public Utility District has slowed the wiring the remaining 25% of the county that currently does not have fiber. All county residents will have fiber by 2013.

Spokane does have free wireless internet downtown which is nice. I don't know about fiber in Spokane. But since they do not have public utility district I suspect their fiber deployment is as slow as it is in Seattle and western Washington.

From the outdoors perspective I would pick Spokane over Wenatchee. Wenatchee has stuff close to town, but Spokane has much higher quality. Your two hours from BC, Montana, Oregon and 30 minutes from Idaho. If you head west your into the Columbia Basin. You can be in Glacier National Park in 4 hours or less.

The main disadvantage to Wenatchee is that your within 2.5 hours of the Seattle area. So your always sharing with 4 million people. If you go to trailheads outside of Spokane and find another vehicle the courtesy is to go find another trailhead. You cannot do that in the Wenatchee area.

It would be hard to find a decent place in Wenatchee for $650/month. I'm not sure about the rental market, but the housing market is expensive. All the Seattle refugees continue to drive up prices. It is not going down and with the layoffs in Seattle it will probably continue to rise.

You might consider Ephrata, Moses Lake, or Waterville. They all have good fiber connections and much, much cheaper housing. Ephrata would be my choice of the three. Nice community, lots of money in the community that shows in quality of schools and libraries with a cheap cost of living.

Lots more snow in Spokane than Wenatchee. Most winters Wenatchee does not have any signifcant snowfall.

[Sobefobik]

I would have never thought that Wenatchee had more fiber than Seattle. Where can you find that kind of information, like a fiber optic map? I've tried to find it but haven't.