Relocating with family- Need advice (Anacortes or Bellingham??) (Seattle, Mount Vernon: sales, leasing)

[homesinseattle]

I wouldn't call Anacortes conservative although it certainly is more conservative than Bellingham. Anacortes is attractive to retirees, I imagine that skews the numbers toward the conservative side a bit. Also, Oak Harbor, with a large military presence, is not too far away. Nothing wrong with that, but collectively, they tend to lean conservative.

Bellingham, or "Bham" if you want to sound cool, is your place. Go down to the Fairhaven area of Bham. Walk around, you'll fall in love with it.

[PartIrish]

I've owned property in Bellingham since 2003, although I don't live there full time, and I've visited Anacortes. Since you have children and are looking for a progressive city, I think Bellingham has a lot more to offer your family. First, Bellingham is about 4x larger than Anacortes in population, and it has an excellent state university. It is just an hour to Vancouver, which is a world class city. It is a city that loves the arts, so there are arts programs for kids. There will be far more family activities in B'ham than Anacortes, and when your kids are of high school age, you will have some choices about the best school for them. Yes, it is more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

[perigee]

Bellingham is very family centered, large enough that it can provide plenty of activities, shopping and entertainment options, but you can also day trip down to Seattle or up to Vancouver. What is the housing budget and what area of employment are you looking for? To stretch the housing budget you can look at the little bedroom communities dotted throughout Whatcom county.

[waviking24]

When you say Bellingham, can you afford to live in Bellingham or are you talking the county?

[Macrina]

Originally Posted by Blindtom

Bellingham is a little less than a 2 hour drive to Seattle.

Looks like you drive faster than I do.

.

[Macrina]

Originally Posted by cdl123

Thank you for all of this information. It is helpful. We are liberal-minded, so I guess now I am wondering if the Anacortes area is more conservative? I am not sure how to sort that out. I wonder... is this a red or blue island...?

I will look at weather too. Hard choice. In a smaller town, it seems a good fit with the general community will be important.

Does anyone know about raising kids there? In Bellingham the city is big enough to have lots of activities for kids, but based on a quick look, it actually looks like there are several sports, etc in Anacortes as well.

As I read more of your comments, it seems like Bellingham would be a better fit. Just check out annual rainfall in both places, particularly if this would be an issue for you the the children.

If you haven't ever lived in the PNW, the rain/gray/drizzle days may or may not be an issue for you. It wasn't for me, but I'm aware that for some people, it IS an issue. I can't tell from where you are relocating, so perhaps this subject is already a non-starter.

.

[homesinseattle]

I live near Green Lake. When we blow out at non traffic hours headed for Canada, I'm to Everett in 25 minutes, Bellingham in 90ish minutes.

[xPlorer48]

Median price of a home in Bellingham is over $400k. Those under are starter homes or those needing a make over. The prices, from what I understand, are fueled by retirees, investors and Seattle parents using their equity to buy a home near WWU for their kids to live in. How do I know? My sister was beat several times by cash offers way above asking price this summer. If you can compete with cash buyers willing to out bid you, then go for it. She had between $350-$400k cash and couldn't find a home in that range that didn't need upgrades or foundation, roof, deck repair, etc. She ended up in Lynden, 20 miles away. Our home, on wooded acreage close to town, gained $10k last month.

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by clikrf8

Median price of a home in Bellingham is over $400k. Those under are starter homes or those needing a make over. The prices, from what I understand, are fueled by retirees, investors and Seattle parents using their equity to buy a home near WWU for their kids to live in. How do I know? My sister was beat several times by cash offers way above asking price this summer. If you can compete with cash buyers willing to out bid you, then go for it. She had between $350-$400k cash and couldn't find a home in that range that didn't need upgrades or foundation, roof, deck repair, etc. She ended up in Lynden, 20 miles away. Our home, on wooded acreage close to town, gained $10k last month.

They're hard to find, but there are a few occasional exceptions out there. The real problem is that there's no supply to keep up with the demand. Many different groups of people (as you mentioned- retirees, investors, kids with wealthy parents, as well as families in their 20's, 30's, and 40's looking for something affordable) are competing for the same smaller homes convenient to amenities, so with limited inventory anything under $400k is usually snapped up pretty quickly. FWIW, decent in-town homes can go for 2x the price per square foot compared to Sudden Valley or out in the county.

[cdl123]

Thanks all. That has been our experience in looking at Bellingham. Not just that it is more expensive, but that decent homes go really fast and there just arent many decent homes, if you want something in a good school district with a yard and not needing tons of work.

I look at Anacortes and see a nice town on the water that has a much more reasonable housing market and wonder if it is worth it so that we can have a nice home. Hard to know if it is a nice small town and would be good to raise kids, or if it would be hard to fit in and not necessarily family oriented. We have kids school age, so moving out and renting for a while to try it out isnt really a reasonable option. It is a leap of faith...

We also liked the look of Issaquah. That area is also really expensive, but at least for the price it seems you get a better house... Though there is no ocean nearby.

Not easy to move a family. Thanks everyone for your help!