What's Aberdeen like? (Seattle, Bellingham, Olympia: sales, real estate, foreclosure)

[bentobox34]

So I may have an opportunity to take a job in Aberdeen: I have some questions about it:

- What is it like there?
- Is $45,000 enough for a family of three (wife not sure if she'll find work out there)? That is a big pay cut from my current job in the SF Bay Area but I gather the cost of living is lower.
- What should I expect to pay in rent for a 2 bedroom? How much do houses cost?
- Is Aberdeen a pretty liberal area, along the lines of Seattle/Olympia/Bellingham?
- What's the economy like? What are the main industries?
- Is it touristy?
- Is the downtown nice?
- How are the schools?
- Do people walk or ride bikes places or does everyone drive?
- Are there any farmers markets?
- Are there any food coops or good places to buy organic groceries?
- How does the weather compare to Seattle?

Thanks!

[MontanaGyrl]

It's economically depressed, gray, and rainy. It's blue-collar and began as a sawmill town, I believe. Not as liberal as Seattle. Some good stats here: Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Sorry I can't be more specific on the prices, schools, etc. Good luck.

[rainforest338]

- What is it like there?
Run down, depressed, high unemployment, high drug use--heroin mostly.

- Is $45,000 enough for a family of three (wife not sure if she'll find work out there)? That is a big pay cut from my current job in the SF Bay Area but I gather the cost of living is lower.
Depends on lifestyle, but yes it would be enough to live off of.

- What should I expect to pay in rent for a 2 bedroom? How much do houses cost?
The real estate sites can answer this better. You can view types of homes and correlate with price.
If looking at a place in Gray's Harbor...get a good look at neighbors. Lots of nicer looking places
that are owned by a retired person and have their least successful kid still at home--terrorizing the
neighborhood (mostly for drug money).

- Is Aberdeen a pretty liberal area, along the lines of Seattle/Olympia/Bellingham?
Not liberal. Quite conservative, actually some grudge towards liberals (like a lot of Western
Washington former logging towns). Liberals are the boogeyman--they were the tree huggers spiking
trees and closing down forests for spotted owls. (Seriously--this is the perception in former logging
towns.)

- What's the economy like? What are the main industries?
Not a wide, diverse economy. Commercial fishing from Westport--largest exporter on the west coast
outside of AK. Log yard exports. Some logging still in the area. Yacht manufacturing. Brush picking.
Drugs.

- Is it touristy?
Nope, but Ocean Shores is down the road and Olympic National Park isn't far, and those two are a bit
touristy.

- Is the downtown nice?
It's relative...but it looked like a large industrial part of town when I've been there.

- How are the schools?
Hit or miss like anyplace, but there has been a large influx of illegal aliens into the area for brush
picking. I've heard it is tough on the schools.

- Do people walk or ride bikes places or does everyone drive?
The residential areas tend to be compact enough that people walk to the quicky mart places and
downtown. But in W Washington, most drive....and most like to drive 1980's Toyota pickups that have
been lifted with big tires.

- Are there any farmers markets?
Some. You can also go buy direct from farms--especially eggs and berries.

- Are there any food coops or good places to buy organic groceries?
Not sure, but Olympia does have those places.

- How does the weather compare to Seattle?
Around town much wetter maybe 2x the rain. Up in the hills they get more (Wynoochee Valley up to
200 inches of rain annually).

Geographically/naturally the area is pretty nice. But the town has fallen upon hard times. Used to be quite a few mills, now one? left. Lots of folks turned to drugs...meth was big, but heroin moved in and is much cheaper so it is the biggie now. So, the scrapyard/recycle/cash-for-gold/pawn shop type businesses get a few customers. Last spring the junkies were disassembling bridges in the forest to sell to scrapyards. Also, lots of homeless moving into the towns on the OP (mainly Aberdeen and Port Angeles).
My view of Aberdeen may differ from many others, so hopefully you'll get a few more responses.
I think it might be a requirement to wear a hoodie nearly all the time.

[Botev1912]

I have been there a few times on my way to the coast. The place looks depressing and the weather is worse than Seattle.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=aberd...2,15.38,,0,6.1

[sequoias]

Aberdeen is economically depressing place but cheap to buy or rent homes there. East part of Aberdeen is safer than the North of downtown and West as well. The scenery is nice outside town, though. The population there has been around the same for a few decades.

[Hemlock140]

We have driven through it many times over the last 20 years, on the way to/from the Hoh Rainforest and/or Lake Quinault The Spotted owl protection shutting down the logging devastated that area, resulting in a very economically depressed area, with crime and drugs. Since then they have tried to attract business and tourism, and were achieving some limited success until about 2008 when the economy got bad all over and additional Weyerhauser plants closed. The Grays Harbor Biodiesel plant started in 2007 was supposed to be a big help but they have had massive layoffs and may not make it much longer. I can't say I kinow anything about the schools but can imagine that they would be pretty bad. Rain there is 3 times as much as Seattle, but on the good side, your salary there of
$45,000 will make you seem rich compared to most residents.

[fishbrains]

Rainforest is pretty much on the money.

Aberdeen is economically depressed with no short term prospect for turning it around. The county has the highest unemployment in WA state.

As a result of this, housing is cheap, cheap, cheap. Foreclosure sales of 3 bedroom houses in reasonable condition can be had for $50k.

Your nearest reasonable shopping venue for anything outside of Walmart is Olympia, which is an hour away.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

The Spotted owl protection shutting down the logging devastated that area, resulting in a very economically depressed area, with crime and drugs.

Just FYI, many blame the Spotted Owl, but the reality is that the Japanese Economy crashed right then. Washington and Oregon both exported 90%+ of their timber to Japan during that time. The Spotted Owl became an easy scape goat, spurred on by some of the big Timber companies who wanted to get into the more valuable Old Growth Forests.

Ironically, those very same regulations imposed by the US Forest Service and the EPA in forest management are wimpy compared to what the Timber Companies impose upon themselves these days in the pursuit of sustainable and manageable forests on their own private land. To the point that few of the timber companies even want to log public land any more because the timber is so poor quality.

[Sabinerose]

Despite the actual reason for the timber industry tanking in the Aberdeen area, it has - badly. I spent much of my childhood there (lived there for a few years and spent vacations and summers with friends who still reside there). Even back in the early / mid 80's, it was run down and smelled bad to me. I cannot imagine how bad it is now. I am still in touch with my childhood friends and they are suffering. Unemployment, crime, drugs, and desperation seem to be on every corner.

If you are seriously looking to move there (and the wage you mentioned would support you well in Aberdeen or Hoquiam)...make sure you do your homework. Make a trip there and look around. Where you rent and what school your children attend is going to make a huge difference in your happiness and security.

I don't mind the constant clouds and lots of rain, but I grew up in it. It may be hard to adjust to and depression (from the weather and from being surrounded by so much hopelessness) could be a real danger.

Take your safety seriously also. Crime is very high in Aberdeen and you may look like a good target (new to the area with a good paying job). Talk to realtors, teachers, and the police to get an idea of where (and where not) to house hunt.

[mkarch]

Think Kurt Cobain drinking malt liquor under a bridge with the homeless. And that was 25 years ago.