Hey Washington, here we come! (Seattle, Bellingham: rental car, real estate, apartments)

[Polina Jean]

My husband and I are planning to move to Bellingham, WA from Atlanta, GA. And we've got some questions, so if anyone has and idea - you are very welcome to answer
We are trying to find right neighborhood (planning to rent for first year) similar to where we are living now (Dunwoody if someone knows), We want it to be upscale part of the city (suburb, whatever) with nice restaurants and shopping places, close to large hospitals (I am PCT) and good community colleges (planning to enroll into nursing program asap), with low criminal activity and far from poor parts of the city (read: ghetto, trailer parks). When i say close I mean within 5 miles.
Also If you have an idea about good public schools offering 2 year degrees - please let me know, internet is full of ads of private schools which I don't wanna deal with. Thank you.

[Wolf14016]

Hmm. There are a couple of upscale areas, although I was a college student when I lived in Bellingham, so didn't spend a lot of time there. I'd say the Bakerview neighborhood is a little nicer. Around downtown Fairhaven is also nice - it's a historic district, very popular with tourists, with lots of restaurants and shopping. Sudden Valley is also a bit more upscale - anywhere around Lake Whatcom will be high end, though I don't know about renting there.

I only lived there for 3 years, so I'm not a huge expert, but I'd say that while there are areas that might qualify as a little sketchy, there's nowhere I would feel unsafe walking around at night. If I were you, I'd be more concerned about areas around the college - parties full of drunk 20-30 year olds making noise. (I should know, I made a lot of that noise :P). Try to get as far away from WWU as you can if you don't want to deal with it.

The only hospital in Bellingham proper is St Joseph's. I never went there, so I don't know much about it. Here's the website: PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, WA (http://www.peacehealth.org/whatcom/ - broken link)

If you're interested in Fairhaven - it sounds like it might be what you're looking for - you can get more information here:

:: Seattlemaps | Fairhaven ::

Fairhaven in the Pacific Northwest


As to colleges, there's three public schools I know of: Western Washington University (the big college in town, 11,000 students), Bellingham Community College, and Bellingham Technical College.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

[Polina Jean]

Thanks a lot Wofl(numbers), I've checked the Hospital already - very similar to my home hospital, and had a few opening I'm interested in. So it sounds promising.
As for college I'm avoiding going for Bachelors right now, because I'm paying for my school out of my pocket and won't be able to afford first semester of outstate tuition in the university. But community college is fine for me. And yeah I'm trying to stay away from college student populated areas (too much drama). As for Lake Watcome - already checked, nothing to rent but 9 bedroom mansions. As for tourists areas - I think they are too crowded, so only couple options left, I'm gonna look into them.
Coming question: how long it take to become the resident of Washington state?

[Bill Loney]

Originally Posted by Wolf14016

Hmm. There are a couple of upscale areas, although I was a college student when I lived in Bellingham, so didn't spend a lot of time there. I'd say the Bakerview neighborhood is a little nicer. Around downtown Fairhaven is also nice - it's a historic district, very popular with tourists, with lots of restaurants and shopping. Sudden Valley is also a bit more upscale - anywhere around Lake Whatcom will be high end, though I don't know about renting there.

I only lived there for 3 years, so I'm not a huge expert, but I'd say that while there are areas that might qualify as a little sketchy, there's nowhere I would feel unsafe walking around at night. If I were you, I'd be more concerned about areas around the college - parties full of drunk 20-30 year olds making noise. (I should know, I made a lot of that noise :P). Try to get as far away from WWU as you can if you don't want to deal with it.

The only hospital in Bellingham proper is St Joseph's. I never went there, so I don't know much about it. Here's the website: PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, WA (http://www.peacehealth.org/whatcom/ - broken link)

If you're interested in Fairhaven - it sounds like it might be what you're looking for - you can get more information here:

:: Seattlemaps | Fairhaven ::

Fairhaven in the Pacific Northwest


As to colleges, there's three public schools I know of: Western Washington University (the big college in town, 11,000 students), Bellingham Community College, and Bellingham Technical College.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Let's clear a few things up here. Western WA University's enrollment is almost 15k, making it the 3rd largest University in the state.

Bakerview is not an upscale area. Unless you think apartments and condos are upscale.

There is no such thing as Bellingham Community College. There is however, Whatcom Community College.

You at least got Fairhaven right. It is an upscale area. A nice neighborhood that borders other nice neighborhoods as well. South Hill, slightly to the north of Fairhaven is teeming with old Victorian homes, many with beautiful views.

South Hill homes
http://photos1.zillow.com/is/image/i...ei=234&wid=316
http://www.cob.org/services/neighborhoods/historic/tour/images/05-large-alfred-black-house-recent.jpg (broken link)

More on the South Hill
South Hill Neighborhood - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=19&MMN_position=32:32 - broken link)

Edgemoor, just to the Southwest of Fairhaven, is an upscale community with a community Pool. Underground wiring and lots of expensive homes, some with killer views too.

Edgemoor Homes
http://www.bellingham.net/images/pagemaster/Edgemoor4.jpg (broken link)

More on Edgemoor
Edgemoor Neighborhood - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=67 - broken link)

Views like this...

http://www.bellingham.net/images/pagemaster/Chuckanut4.jpg (broken link)

South of Fairhaven on Highway 11, AKA the spectacular Chuckanut Drive. Many homes are perched on the hillside with million dollar views.

More on Chuckanut,

Chuckanut Drive - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=79&MMN_position=89:89 - broken link)

All of the above neighborhoods are served by the south end schools which are all excellent. But be prepared. Real Estate in BHam can be very pricey.

St Joe's is the only hospital in town and it's a very good one.

[Wolf14016]

Originally Posted by Bill Loney

Let's clear a few things up here. Western WA University's enrollment is almost 15k, making it the 3rd largest University in the state.

Bakerview is not an upscale area. Unless you think apartments and condos are upscale.

There is no such thing as Bellingham Community College. There is however, Whatcom Community College.

You at least got Fairhaven right. It is an upscale area. A nice neighborhood that borders other nice neighborhoods as well. South Hill, slightly to the north of Fairhaven is teeming with old Victorian homes, many with beautiful views.

South Hill homes



More on the South Hill
South Hill Neighborhood - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=19&MMN_position=32:32 - broken link)

Edgemoor, just to the Southwest of Fairhaven, is an upscale community with a community Pool. Underground wiring and lots of expensive homes, some with killer views too.

Edgemoor Homes


More on Edgemoor
Edgemoor Neighborhood - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=67 - broken link)

Views like this...



South of Fairhaven on Highway 11, AKA the spectacular Chuckanut Drive. Many homes are perched on the hillside with million dollar views.

More on Chuckanut,

Chuckanut Drive - Bellingham Washington - Bellingham.net (http://www.bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page &PAGE_id=79&MMN_position=89:89 - broken link)

All of the above neighborhoods are served by the south end schools which are all excellent. But be prepared. Real Estate in BHam can be very pricey.

St Joe's is the only hospital in town and it's a very good one.

Well my mistake. When I went to WWU, enrollment was a little lower.

I didn't mention Chuckanut because the poster said he/she wanted something closer to St. Joseph's, and that's a bit of a drive from S Bellingham.

I never went to the community college; I knew that there was a Bellingham technical, so I mixed them up.

As to the poster's question for how long it takes to become a resident of the state, all you need to do is get a WA driver's license.

Access Washington - Become a Washington State Resident

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Wolf14016

As to the poster's question for how long it takes to become a resident of the state, all you need to do is get a WA driver's license.

Access Washington - Become a Washington State Resident

... I believe the poster was speaking in terms of tuition rate status.

Normally, it'd be one full year of living here that would grant you the in-state status. But there may be a way to get around that-- you'd have to look into the school itself; I believe that most colleges if you take less than 6 credits, you would be paying in-state rate.

[scirocco22]

A daughter of a friend was enrolled in the nursing program at WCC and had high praise for it.

Whatcom Community College :: Nursing


To follow up on what Inkpoe said, here's the reference page also from WWC:

http://whatcom.ctc.edu/current-stude...-differential/

[Polina Jean]

You restored my hope to live in Bellingham instead of Seattle and also reduced our moving time due to prerequisites, which shorter for WCC rather then in my college now.

[Polina Jean]

Also a question to people who moved from state to state. How did you organize moving and leasing? Is there anyway to arrange and reserve an apartment or house via the phone? Cuz It bothers me, they ask for my current employer while I'm moving to state, hello, I don't have one right now, but i have savings to pay rent. Also any good web sources to look for a house or condo or an apartment. I would prefer private house for rent. I guess may be in Lynden or somewhere not farther then that. THNX

[soarswitheagles]

Polina Jean, we moved from Baltimore to Oregon. We used ABF U-Pack Moving where they drop off a truck trailer, you load it, they pick it up and deliver to your new place. I can't say enough nice things about this company. They were wonderful to deal with and reasonably priced. upack.com They also do full service moves but it is some much less expensive to do it yourself and we had almost zero breakage. A printer that we put in at the least minute fell but it still worked for a year so I'm can't complain.

Unless I owned a special car, I would not pay to transport a car across the country. I researched vehicle movers and finally chose one. They damaged my husband's car, delivered the car 45 days late and then tried to get out of paying for a rental car. I finally had to file a claim with my credit card company to get my money back. I would drive your best vehicle across country and if you have two, sell the other one and buy one when you're moved. Just not worth the hassle.

We bought something while I was still working online for a company back East so I didn't have trouble with getting financed. I think if your credit score is decent and you have down payments and such, you should be okay. I see a lot of rentals on craigslist.

Good Luck!