To Washington from Virginia (Seattle, Quincy: sales, insurance, home)

[tewhann]

I will soon be moving from VA to WA. I just LOVE WA. It is a completely different pace of life......and in a way that suits me. All of the west is slower paced than the east (except maybe LA and a few other parts of CA and even they are completely different from east coast life).

If you're worried about allergies.....go to CO. Not much grows there that causes allergies!

[AlwaysSmiling]

I moved from NOVA to Whidbey Island, Washington two years ago. While I don't regret the move, since it enabled me to get closer to my family, I am now moving to the Central Coast of California. I just can't handle the weather in the winter, and the power outages, and the outrageous costs of groceries and homes. As much as Virginia has the humidity that I couldn't stand, I miss the crickets, the thunderstorms, the nearness of the nation's capitol. As I write this, I really am second guessing myself though. I'm sitting on my deck that overlooks the water, and the warm, warm, sun is glistening off like diamonds. Truly, I can't imagine a prettier place than this when it is sunny. It's just not sunny enough of the time for me. In a perfect world, I would live here July through October.
Please think long and hard about moving here. Come visit in the winter. Good luck!!

[RobE]

Washington is cheap compared to California. You can get a perfectly nice three bedroom house in Lacey and environs for about $250,000-300,000. In California, that is a tool shed in Needles.

The summers are very temperate, you might have a week total where it gets above 85 degrees. But it is cold and overcast most of the year, usually in the high 40's to high 50's. Winters in the south Puget Sound are very mild. Maybe one to two days of just enough snow to cover the ground and that is about it.

But as for mold (and mosses), yeah, they have that bigtime here. This state has kind of a dingy tinge to it.

The lack of state income taxes are made up for by high property and sales taxes, higher food and gas prices and water is just ridiculous.

There are evergreen trees everywhere and so hay fever could be a bit of a problem for you. But you will only have to cut your grass from about April to late September. It stays short after that. All the sports teams suck,though. And so does Comcast, the main cable provider.

[Anders15]

Also how much are the homes for sale there compared to richmond? You can get a fairly good 3 bedroom 1/2 bath here in Richmond for about $150,000.. How about there? How much is a good 3 bedroom house?

[gallo]

At least double that in the Seattle area -- anywhere from 350,000k – 600,000k +++.

The higher the price the better house and/or neighborhood, and vice versa.

[Anders15]

ok thanks i love all the help ive gotten, im trying to get as much info as i can to compare the two states.

[anpadas]

I'm originally from CA, but I've lived in both VA (Hampton Roads area) and WA (Puget Sound area).

What can I say? I'm a traveling fool.

Anyway, if given the choice, I'd move to WA in a heartbeat, like tomorrow if I had the money. I live in VA right now. I really, *really*, don't like it here. But, that's my own personal opinion.

To me, nothing compares to the beauty of the Northwest. I love it there. Truly loved it. If my second (now ex) husband hadn't dragged me back to VA, I'd be living there still.

I lived in Bremerton, so housing didn't cost that much, but I commuted to Seattle, so that was a bit of a drag. Seattle is great for a little big city... The people up there are friendly and the weather up there suits me just fine. I have allergies in both places, so moving to WA to get rid of allergies isn't the best thing to do. However, I will say this, I *never* had asthma until I moved to Virginia. And it didn't bother me *as bad* in WA.

I don't know much about what the job market is like up there now, but when I was up there, it was pretty good. I hear the colleges up there are good too. I never had much trouble making ends meet in WA.

But, what I really loved about WA was the atmosphere. Seattle has a beat all its own, as does the surrounding area. It just doesn't compare to VA. You either like it or you don't. I thrived there, and here in VA, I'm barely hanging on. Some people love it here, but that's what suits them. I prefer to be surrounded by mountains and trees and a sky I can see at night. I like snow in the winter instead of summer-like heat.

Ugh, I'm waxing nostalgic! Anyway, I hope you find some iota of helpfulness in my meandering message. It's been a long day and I think I'm too tired to think clearly. Now I'm gonna go to bed and dream of snow covered mountains. hahaha!

[Anders15]

lol i have asthma also. it does seem like a nice place i just got this HUGGEEE map of the city of Seattle and another of the state of Washington. Im starting to get to know the area a little more, i see you guys talk a lot about Vancover also so ill have to check that out. We are planning to visit for about a weekened somewhere for now.

[SeattleTaz]

Thank you, Bright Copper Kettles! Your post rings pretty true to me, too, a fifth generation Washingtonian married to an easterner with Virginian family. My husband loves it up here, though, and won't even consider moving back.

RonMaverick804, It's a pretty big, pretty diverse state so what's true in one county may not be at all similar in the next county over. There is a huge difference between Eastern and Western Washington. The allergy situation is much better in Eastern Washington, which does get hot and cold but is dry enough to be very comfortable.

There is no income tax, sales tax is 8.9% except on food (which is 0%). Property taxes vary from county to county. Homes vary from a low-end $1,000/sq ft condo in downtown Seattle to a low-end $100/sq ft house on a lot with dbl garage just two hours east over Snoqualmie Pass in Ellensburg, home of Central Washington University. Walla Walla (south central), where my mother lives, is a really wonderful place made less popular only by its lack of airport. I went to University in Pullman (southeast) and totally loved the area - the famous rolling Palouse wheat country, just to the east is the Snake River and the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho; amazing.

Rain, volcanoes, earthquakes. Well, yeah it's cool and wet in Western Washington from November through June. Earthquakes no one even thinks about, except the newspapers. The Nisqually quake in 2001 was literally nothing, but the TV news showed the same 6 sec of footage in which an old cornice of an old building in Pioneer Square "plunged" 17 feet to the alley below. It took one man 30 minutes to clean it up. Oh but the speculation went on and on and on! Dramatic footage: Voice over: "If Seattle's recent earthquake had been a big one, this is what it would look like" Dramatic footage: Voice over: "If Seattle ever gets hit by a big earthquake, this is what could happen (roll long list of terrible things)." Dramatic footage, frame-filling close-up of dumpster on fire, silhouette of person running past, voice-over "...looting and violence could run rampant..."

Volcanoes of course were what we school kids counted on to bale us out when we hadn't studied for a test. My grandmother did, my mother did, I did ,,, finally when Mt St Helens blew I was long out of school and living in Kansas City! At least I didn't have to put up with all of the ash; I guess that was the biggest problem and it mostly affected Eastern Washington and Canada. Fortunately there are still enough volcanoes left to give lazy school children hope for generations to come. My aunt died on the mountain, but she always wanted to anyway especially since my Uncle Lester died in the Cowlitz River. They were among the first Christmas Tree farmers ever. Think of them when you pass a Noble Fir.

Ciao!
The Tazster

[SeattleTaz]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSmiling

I just can't handle the weather in the winter, and the power outages, and the outrageous costs of groceries and homes.

Well that's more about Whidbey Island than Washington State. It's a pretty rarified atmosphere.