Help me Find a place to live (Seattle, Bellingham: rentals, low crime)

[newadventures1]

HI ALL,
I am 30 year old single mother of two with a limited income from my secretarial job in a hospital. I am currently residing in Orange County, CA and am looking to relocate my kids and I (Orange county is too fast paced for my kids to grow up in, along with many other reasons).

Here is a list of things I am looking for:
1. West Coast Area, upper California, Oregon or Washington, near beaches, mountains/ lakes (love the nature, lots of trees & green)
2. Family friendly location
3. Small old town area/rural
4. Near schools with good ratings
5. Next job does not need to be in hospital, I’m open to new job opportunities
6. Quiet area (no planes, no freeways, near no major road ways)
7. Lower cost of living
8. Less traffic
9. Low crime


Hope, this helps narrow it down.
Can you help me find a new place to live?

Thanks

[LMB]

We've lived in oldtown Poulsbo, WA, for almost two years and really enjoy it here. Our neighborhood is a great mix of ages from young families to retirees, all types of architecture and a variety of home prices & sizes. Something quite unique we've recently noticed is that most people who move away around here stay within the neighborhood and move just down the street, or within a block or two. Once people have lived here they don't seem to want to leave. We're walking distance to the quaint downtown area, restaurants, bakeries, shops, Liberty Bay waterfront, parks, walking/biking trails, library, medical services and schools, but rural & wooded areas are only a mile or so away. We don't have school-age children, so I can't tell you much about the test scores of the schools here, but that info is easy to find online. Our neighbors have been very friendly and welcoming to us. There are block parties and neighborhood potluck picnics in the summer, and smaller dinner/brunch get-togethers with neighbors during the winter. We got to meet several new neighbors this past December when there was a real snow of several inches that didn't melt immediately--the large hill across the street is evidently "the place to be" for in-town sledding! These are some of my impressions of our small town after two years. This is just one of many towns around here that might suit your family and needs, but it's the one I know best. A few other affordable small towns (with employment opportunities) that we like are Gig Harbor, Mount Vernon, and Anacortes. Other posters here will have good suggestions too. You need to visit as many towns as possible and try them on. Town shopping took us several visits from FL but was so worth it! Best of luck with your search!

Lynn

[kanhawk]

A couple of small towns that get little attention that I like meet some of your criteria. Check out Kingston and Montesano. You said you want to be near beaches so I'll leave out eastern Washington towns I like.

[StealthRabbit]

Silverdale / North Bremerton might have the stuff you need at a price you can afford and be close enough to other stuff to not run a single mom ragged.

I would take a close look at Bellingham, and also Camas, WA. (If you can stand being 1 hr from the beach, but within 10 min of the Columbia Gorge (really nice vista's hiking pics, wind surfing)). 1 hr to Mt Hood or Mt St Helens too. 30 min to downtown Portland, but 15 min to tax free shopping.

For 'non-beach', look at Wenatchee, WA (Does have a BIG river)

[newadventures1]

Thank you so much LMB, kanhawk, janb for all your suggestions, you have helped me to narrow my search down. I will take a look at thease places online and, I will try to go see some of thease places in June when I come to Washington for a visit.

Much Appreciated :-)

PS are there any local town newsletters you would recommed that i can sign up for in those areas?
Im thinking this might help me to find job and places to rent listings.

[StealthRabbit]

Craigslist may be most helpful with Rentals and job.

You can set up an RSS feed for various regions on CrazedlistDOTorg

You might also set up an RSS for local 'rags', but they often don't draw the ads anymore. (expense)

I would get some referrals for good potential places to work and diligently watch them. When posting make it to worksource (unemployment office) there is stiff competition.

usajobs.com would be good, but it takes forever to get a Gov job. The census Bureau is hiring a herd for the next 2 yrs, which might give you some breathing room to 'find your permanent spot'.

One of the most recommended hospital jobs in SW WA / PDX area is with Adventist Medical Center. I have several friends who really enjoy working there, and the level of care is pretty impressive as a patient. Unfortunately they have a 9% OR income tax obligation. (even if living in WA...)

[LMB]

I agree with janb that Craigslist is a good resource for jobs & rentals. As far as checking out the local newspapers for this area, Google the names of Kitsap Sun and North Kitsap Herald. They don't have much in the way of job or rental listings, but you'll start to get a sense of community and see what's happening of importance locally. I read both of these papers online for months before moving here and they helped me become familiar with local issues and news stories. There can be other inadvertent benefits as well. From reading those papers regularly before we moved, I found out about a local issue of a new environmental law involving the creek that runs through our property and managed to get the email addresses of a couple of our soon-to-be neighbors to stay in contact about city council decisions. From this contact, we already had neighbor friends by the time we moved in months later!

Lynn

[Dendrite]

There are probably a hundred or more smaller towns within the defined territory of CA, OR and WA that meet your criteria. So I suspect your decision will ultimately come down to living where you can land the best job.

My thought will take a different tack here: you mentioned "lots of trees and green". That typically is accompanied by lots of rain and grey weather, e.g. very different from what you have year round in Orange County. If abundant or consistent sunshine is important to you, you may want to focus more in eastern WA or eastern OR.

Good luck!

[Karen Balkin]

Come to the Seattle area!

There are so many wonderful communities here and most offer hiking trails and more foresty parks than can be counted. School systems are strong and the Seattle area is very casual and friendly. We have clean air, no smog, lots of clean water, mountains, islands, lakes, the list goes on and on.

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