Wenatchee versus Moses Lake (Seattle, Spokane: for sale, real estate, 2014)

[Illybeans]

I'm considering buying a home in the next few months and have narrowed it down to these two areas. Jobs and income will be the same in either place, so that is not an issue. Also, my kids are getting an alternative education, so the local schools do not matter. There are advantages/disadvantages to each town for me. Wenatchee, in my opinion, is prettier. There are also more shops and restaurants. The down side is it is a little more expensive (property prices at least) and the commute to work would be an extra hour a day. I haven't lived in Wenatchee so beyond those things, I'm pretty clueless.

I've lived in Moses Lake for a few months. It is friendly, less of a commute, and cheaper. The downside is there is near zero shopping so we find ourselves leaving town every other weekend. I have tried all the local restaurants but haven't found anything that I truly can't live without.

It might seem silly to buy a home at this point, but I have my reasons. I work from home so I spend A LOT of time in my house. I also need a large house that offers 4-5 bedrooms minimum. I have small children and want to live in a new construction/newer home that feels clean and safe. I also hate feeling like I'm living temporarily. I don't want to waste money on furniture or décor for a rental.

The other BIG issue is that we will most likely want to move within 5 years so resale is super important. In fact, being able to sell the house and not be underwater is probably the number 1 priority at this point when deciding on one town vs. the other.

I would appreciate opinions likes/dislikes of both towns. I want to get overall views of both places, but want to add that I can afford to live in the nicer parts of either place. That's not to say that crime doesn't bother me, but for the most part, I will move as far away from high crime areas as possible.

[Count David]

Why does Wenatchee include a 1 hour commute? Why not consider where you'd be working at (or is it Quincy?)?

[509]

We live in Wenatchee.

Remember Wenatchee is a metropolitan area and Moses Lake is still a small town. However, Grant County is booming and will probably continue to outpace growth in Washington state for at least the next two decades. Wenatchee is becoming a magnet for rich people from Seattle. It will never have the industrial growth that Grant County is/will be experiencing. The Europeans have discovered that Grant County is the greenest location on earth for manufacturing.

Home resale is much better in Wenatchee. We have lived here since 1985 and even in bottom of markets you could move your house. There is very little buildable land left in the valley and all builders are local that stop new constructiion whenever the housing market slows. Even in down markets home prices fall less than other locales. IF Boeing starts shutting down their activities in western Washington you will see Wenatchee home prices jump significantly.

Medical care is much better in Wenatchee. Though from Moses Lake you have the choice of Spokane or Wenatchee for specialist medical care.

Schools do matter. The local schools provide a support system for home schoolers and the ability to take selected classes at the high school or local community college. So the support for home schooling does make a difference for you. Also your kids can participate in school sports. Check with school district for attitudes towards home schooling.

The library system is a five county system that includes both Chelan and Grant Counties so it is the same in both communities.

Grant County has much higher electricity rates than either Chelan or Douglas County. Grant is at 4.5 cents a KWH, while Chelan is 2.7 cents a KWH and Douglas is 2.0 cents a KWH.

All three communities have fiber to the home for internet, phone and cable. Grant has the best system and I believe you can get 1Gbps service everywhere, while it is limited to certain parts of town in Chelan County. I suspect you saw that Ephrata has the fastest (average) internet in the United States at just over 100 Mbps.

Wenatchee has lots of cultural and entertainment events as well as hockey and baseball.

If your into the outdoors Wenatchee wins hands down. There is a downhill ski area with bus access, etc. There are very few cities with the number and diversity of outdoor activities within one hour drive of Wenatchee. Lots of stuff in and out of town. Grant County is not bad, but farther away from mountain based recreation.

If I lived in Grant County I would live in Ephrata. Why did you pick Moses Lake instead??

Hope this helps.

[Illybeans]

Thank you so much for the detailed info. My husband works in Ephrata so that is where the extra commute time would come from. For one way, it is 30 mins. to Moses Lake and 50 minutes to Wenatchee..or so we estimate. The main reason we haven't considered Ephrata is mainly lack of real estate options. Also, the homes that are on the Ephrata market have been sitting forever, which leads me to think we'd never be able to sell.

My husband and I have lived in major cities, small cities and rural areas. We like small cities the most, but the smallest city we've lived in had a population of about 300K. I know Wenatchee is smaller than that, but it seems to still offer some of the amenities we enjoy.

I've felt all along that we'd enjoy living in Wenatchee more than Moses Lake, but I still can't decide if the commute cost and time is worth it.

You mentioned that Wenatchee is running out of areas to build. Do you think this is why I'm having a difficult time finding new construction and new subdivisions when I do a property search?

[yip812]

Wenatchee is a nicer town than Moses Lake, but the commute in the winter can be dicey. There is this long steep curved hill called Trinidad. I have gotten stuck trying to get back to Ephrata from Wenatchee. The forecast said 1-3 inches, and it was 32-33 degrees. Instead, it dumped 10 inches on us in 2 hours. My car does suck in the snow though .

I would choose Moses Lake, the commute is easy.

I like Ephrata though, I grew up here, it's a nice, safe little town.

[509]

Wenatchee has never had the sub-divisions with flags flying, model homes, and sales people. It is hard to find large parcels that can be developed into large sub-divisions.

That said, there is a 36 unit development going in across the street from me. No homes, just lots. Should be for sale in the spring. There has been lots of traffic looking at the lots NOW. The lots are typical for Wenatchee....nothing special. It is in a nice neighborhood. It does give you an indication of how tight the Wenatchee housing market is at the higher end. The higher end moves slower, but I think it is because people come from other areas and expect much more for the price!! So it takes awhile for them to accept the higher prices and smaller lots.

We have used an excellent realtor in Wenatchee. She does not waste time showing you properties that do not meet your criteria. When we first moved to Wenatchee it was a very tight housing market....and she told us "that's it I have shown every house that meets your criteria". So I went into the multiple listing book and said..."how about this one and this one and this one". So she drove us to those houses. She was right they were awful. Great realtor, professional and fun to be around in what is by definition a stressful event.

I would do the drive from Wenatchee to Ephrata several times before deciding on moving. Wenatchee is a great city, but that commute for your husband would be awful. Look into car pools. Would he have the flexibility of working from home on bad weather days??

We looked at doing the commute when we first moved to Wenatchee. Decided it was not worth it. My wife turned down the job in Ephrata.

Almost forgot...for kids Wenatchee is a great place. All kinds of sports and arts activities. There is a traveling kids circus and even short Shakesperian's so if your eight year old wants to be a Shakesperian actor Wenatchee is the place.

[PS90]

Since we don't know where you are coming from, these things are all relative, but Wenatchee's real estate prices are absolutely ridiculous. Much of it goes back to what 509 was saying - both the lack of space and the influx of rich Seattlites have created an artificially elevated housing market - that seems to have weathered the recession better than many places. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on you point of view, I suppose.

I do know, however, that I am a middle-aged professional with a moderately-decent income, and the best I could have hoped to afford in Wenatchee was an older, 2-3 bedroom home in one of the "less high end" areas of town.

I remeber looking at a 5 acre piece of land, about 2 miles NW of town in the Sunnyslope area, with a dilapidated (a.k.a. almost condemned) single-wide mobile home. The owner was asking $395,000. On the other hand, we just bought a 20 acre piece of land where we live now in NE Washington for $60K.

Moses Lake's real estate prices are better than Wenatchee, but have still been influenced by the "Coastie effect" to some extent. There is much more space to build, and your husband's commute would be much, MUCH better.

Of course, YMMV and everyone's experiences differ. For example, you call a city with 300K people a "small city". In Washington, we only have 3 cities with that many people, and on the East side of the Cascades our biggest city is about that size.

[DanielSNYC2014]

The one thing about Moses Lake, Washington is gangs. The town is really rough with meth & gang related activities. Always something to take into consideration.

I follow iFiberOne News on Facebook, and last month a gang member Brandon Mende was shot and killed. There was TONS of posts with comments about what Moses Lake is like etc.

Just a bit of info!

[PS90]

Originally Posted by DanielSNYC2014

The one thing about Moses Lake, Washington is gangs. The town is really rough with meth & gang related activities. Always something to take into consideration.

I follow iFiberOne News on Facebook, and last month a gang member Brandon Mende was shot and killed. There was TONS of posts with comments about what Moses Lake is like etc.

Just a bit of info!

Although it may be slightly worse in Moses Lake than Wenatchee, both places certainly have their share of gang activity. Neither place is as bad (yet) as Yakima, for example, but I can remember at least three or four gang-related murders and/or drive-by shootings in Wenatchee in the years that I lived there from 2009-2012.

[Relocating 509]

We're looking to relocate to Wenatchee. How are the people, friendly, diverse, open minded, easy going, uptight??? Doess East Wenatchee or Wenatchee matter? What neighborhoods would you recommend for renting? Any property suggestions? Any input would be appreciated!