Need advice-Looking to relocate to a small town in Washington

[SetSail]

I suggest looking at Port Townsend in Jefferson County- it is a very pretty little city. It's situated on the northeastern area of the Olympic Peninsula on the water. It has lovely, well-maintained Victorian buildings, a vibrant arts community, and is friendly and quiet.

[Idunn]

I'll just throw this out there, for what it is worth. A place that should be reliably cloudy and damp enough, also quite small, would be Quinault. Lots of rain, as well. Not sure about the crime, but would imagine negligible, as location kind of in the middle of nowhere. Although certainly a beautiful location, and with ready access to the southwest corner of Olympic National Park.

Services would be minimal, with a long drive south to the closest thing of size: Hoquiam/Aberdeen. Forks, to the north, is smaller with fewer services, and even a greater distance. Locally, there is the lovely Lake Quinault Lodge for a measure of civility.

It would not be the location for many, quite few in fact, but if seeking the lovely and remote, and wet . . .

[broker whidbeyhomes com]

Coupeville on Whidbey Island: small, mild weather, victorian homes, even our own Hospital, great library good people.

[rf80412]

I too am hoping to relocate to a small town in the Puget Sound area. I'm a young architect/draftsman looking for a more inspiring place to live and work than the crowded, generic, and very expensive suburbs of San Diego.

In addition to scenery - water, hills, boulders, and trees - I'm looking for an area with a lot of summer people (and their money) in and around it, because there I think I'll find plenty of architectural design work as well as be able to enjoy the quiet rural atmosphere the rest of the year. I've been to Ports Townsend and Angeles, though admittedly only for a day, and am fascinated by the San Juan islands. Kitsap County also looks promising, though I've read that Bainbridge Island is very suburban and expensive. I would not be adverse to living on the Pacific coast, or in the Cascades as long as it's not too hot in the summer (mid 70s).

I'm quiet and frugal and craving space and greenery and a slower pace of life. I enjoy cool cloudy weather, and am hoping to be more active outdoors than I am in SoCal.

[NW Crow]

If you anticipate working for an existing architectural firm (even as a temporary transition step to get local references) I'd guess they will probably be mostly in Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Silverdale and on Bainbridge Island.

If you don't mind commuting to those jobs or intend to pursue jobs independently and plan to find and go to the client more than them coming to you, then you might look at living in Port Hadlock / Chimacum for much lower home prices than Port Townsend and reasonable access to both the Olympic coast and the Kitsap and Bainbridge markets. Or maybe Port Gamble. Poulsbo and Port Ludlow are good locations too but with higher housing prices.

I think the Port Angeles market probably has the lowest % of upscale housing of the markets, Bainbridge the most. Port Townsend and Kitsap County are about the same on average housing prices. Port Townsend is older on average, with probably a higher % of current full-time retirees. Kitsap is younger on average with a higher current income than Port Townsend with more folks who commute to the Seattle job market or to Kitsap on weekends.

Where you would fit best may depend on what what type of client you prefer or have better success with.

If drive by visibility were an important part of getting clients, then you might prefer to be in Port Townsend or Poulsbo.

If you are fascinated with the San Juans, I guess you could try to go for it in Friday Harbor, or perhaps set up shop / home in Anacortes, LaConner or nearby and go for San Juan jobs and Whidbey & Camano Island jobs and Anacortes jobs and even Skagit and Whatcom and north Snohomish county jobs. Housing prices in Anacortes and LaConner are similar to Port Townsend and Poulsbo. Perhaps you could move out to the islands later if you have success getting clients there.

I can't speak to the amount or quality of competition in any of the places. Maybe someone else can. It may be high or very high; but there are different market segments and maybe more and less competition depending on the job volume and size of the payoff.

[nevaeh2morrow]

You should check out Sequim. I think you would like this small town and I think it has what you are looking for. Pronounced Skwim

[riknapora]

Sequim it is! We love it here...and we came from San Diego.

[inatrunk]

NW CROW

Your population figures are way off for the Aberdeen/Hoquiam area. The whole of Grays Harbor has little more than 70,000, and that figure seems to be dwindling yearly. I can totally sympathize with our friend about the hot weather down south. I'm from SoCal and came up to Hoquiam for the blessed relief from the heat. Here, the weather is mild, a couple days of snow in winter, but mostly in the high 40's to mid 50's degrees, and here it is July and we're looking for mid-to-high 70's for the 4th of July. I've been in love with this city from the time I first saw it. The only drawback is a lack of employment. We have a nice hospital on the hill overlooking Aberdeen, and medical resources throughout the Aberdeen/Hoquiam area. Elma is a beautiful little town which is more inland, and the county seat of Montesano is pastoral and all being right on the main highway. I love it here, and can't complain about the overcast days. Better to put on a sweater than bake in the sun.

[NW Crow]

inatrunk, the population figure I cited for the "Hoqium-Aberdeen area" was for the metro area which in this case is equal to Grays County. You agree with that population level for the county. I confirmed on the Census site today a population of almost 73.000 for both the metro and the county in 2010. (With actually an 8% increase in the last 10 years and small increases in every recent year). So my figures were not off. I was referring to the whole area to give a better sense of the size of the full community though I can see how one might interpret what I said differently than the way I meant it. You were probably thinking I meant those 2 towns by themselves. I meant the Hoqium-Aberdeen metro / the whole county.