Considering a Washington Move in 2020 to Escape Silicon Valley...Good Places? (Seattle: transplants, real estate)

[WeezulMaster]

My girlfriend and I are looking to escape Silicon Valley's high housing cost & horrible traffic. We took a short trip to Washington state in April and really liked it. However, we're not sure which areas would suit us best. I've seen various threads recommending (or recommending against) almost every major city. So I thought I'd lay out what we're looking for and see if anyone could share their own feedback.

Right now I live in Fremont, California. It does have some nice things going for it:
* Safe(r) area
* 200K people in 87 square miles - not huge, but not crowded
* Healthy business environment; it's not dependent on a single major company or industry.
* Tech-friendly

I'd love to find a place in Washington that's similar.

Additionally:
* Not Seattle proper (too crowded/pricy) or Spokane (too hot/too far east)
* We are fine with rain. Not so much with heat.
* I may be able to telecommute to my existing job. But if not, I'll need to find a new one (I work in content marketing/management), so the area should have a good business climate.
* I'm a techie, so some high-tech industry presence is a must.
* Must be a Kaiser facility nearby (girlfriend is diabetic).
* We like Renaissance/Fantasy/Steampunk events!
* Good real estate prices! I plan to buy a duplex - one unit for myself & GF, the other for her retired parents.
* We plan to move in 2020. I'm open to buying the duplex beforehand if that would mean a better price/mortgage.
* Not opposed to OR suburbs or ID towns too, if they're a better fit.

Hopefully I haven't gone information-overload on you! Based on all this...where would you recommend we look to move? Thanks.

[StealthRabbit]

SWWA ticks your boxes... (Vancouver, WA and Camas / Washougal) especially with Portland 10 minutes away
We like Renaissance/Fantasy/Steampunk events!

Also you can ESCAPE to NZ and Australia during PNW winter and enjoy MORE
..Renaissance/Fantasy/Steampunk events!
https://www.steampunknz.co.nz/

And in the midst of summer (for 2 great weekends) you can get REAL Steam!
Steam-Up

Using PDX as EZ access for winter ESCAPE is a primary benefit

I am in Fremont and Bay area many times / yr. ($49) especially during the we_t winters!

[Seacove]

Not understanding why Spokane is too far east but Idaho towns would be acceptable?

[Angry-Koala]

Originally Posted by WeezulMaster

* We are fine with rain. Not so much with heat.
* I may be able to telecommute to my existing job. But if not, I'll need to find a new one (I work in content marketing/management), so the area should have a good business climate.
* I'm a techie, so some high-tech industry presence is a must.
* Must be a Kaiser facility nearby (girlfriend is diabetic).
* We like Renaissance/Fantasy/Steampunk events!
* Good real estate prices! I plan to buy a duplex - one unit for myself & GF, the other for her retired parents.

Check out the areas surrounding Portland, especially to the west, – the Silicon Forest, and also south along the I-5 corridor. There's lots of tech in the area. Also, it's home to Kaiser Permanente, so you'll find more of their facilities there than anywhere else. Here's a locator for them: https://locations.kaiserpermanentejobs.org

Renaissance/Fantasy/Steampunk is popular there.

The real estate prices are relatively high but may not seem that shocking to you, coming from Freemont. You'll probably feel the same with the traffic.

Portland is a bit less rainy than western Washington and a bit warmer.

For Washington you could start with the Kaiser Permanente map to narrow things down. Olympia has several Kaiser facilities but it lacks the tech. The same with Tacoma, but a commute from either of those places to the Seattle area is hell. People traveling to Seattle from Olympia leave early in the morning to avoid the worst of the traffic but still find themselves spending two to three hours on what should be a one hour trip.

You'll find the most steampunk in the Seattle area and Olympia. There's probably towns further north where it's popular but I'm unfamiliar with anything further north than Seattle, so someone else will have to chime in.

There's a lot more tech industry further north but prices and traffic are a problem there. You could telecommute from the western side of the sound. The traffic and housing prices are much better there and you could take the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the Hood Canal Bridge, or take one of the ferries (Expensive!) for those rare times when you're required to come into the office. There's still a couple of potential bottlenecks on the west side – the Bremmerton to Belfair area, the Hood Canal Bridge, the wait on the ferry, at certain times of the day, but they're nothing like the traffic jams one sees in the Los Angeles area.

Are you sure you're interested in Idaho? I don't see any Kaiser facilities there.

[WeezulMaster]

StealthRabbit: Nice! Never been to NZ, but it's on the bucket list. We have some friends from Australia who are huge into Steampunk. Good folks.

Seacove: It's my understanding that Spokane is warmer than Idaho, due to Idaho's geography. I could be wrong in this. Perhaps I'm wrong to consider Idaho at all. Washington is first & foremost.

Angry-Koala (for some reason I think that name is awesome): Do you happen to know if telecommuting is popular among WA tech companies? Here in Silicon Valley there's lots of interest due to traffic, but for whatever reason, companies have started to demand people come into the office again. Even through horrendous traffic. I'm hoping more northern tech companies are friendlier to the notion.

Appreciate the responses so far!

[Boxkicker]

---Boise's coldest month is January when the average temperature overnight is 23.6°F. In July, the warmest month, the average day time temperature rises to 89.2°F.

---Spokane's coldest month is December when the average temperature overnight is 21.6°F. In August, the warmest month, the average day time temperature rises to 82.6°F.

[Boxkicker]

Spokane isn't really that hot.....

It averages 16 days of 90 degrees or higher.

Today it is rainy and a high of 55.....

[StealthRabbit]

During your prime earning yrs... I would keep WA first and foremost (High wages and No state income tax in WA) (Tho if you own your own business and MUST have conservative politics, ID is more ideal)

Telecommute is normal / available in WA. / PNW. Not all places have HS internet (such as my place (dial-up ONLY), yet <16 miles to 1 million + people) 2 minutes away there is internet...

Plenty of Kaiser opportunities in Vancouver, WA and Portland (income tax = ~ 5% once diluted with Fed Tax obligation). + commute ...

I would got for the BEST location highest wages (and most # of jobs), lowest cost housing, best recreation, and best services (for you) + shortest commute)

[WeezulMaster]

So we've got votes for Vancouver; that's good. Had a prior recommendation for that area. Not crazy about Portland, but hey, Vancouver is not Portland.

Boxkicker: That's cool, good to know. I don't think I could sell the girlfriend on Spokane, but it helps to have tools in the toolbox just in case.

Are there any other places in WA we should consider? Tacoma area, Redmond, etc.? As StealthRabbit pointed out, must have good high-speed Internet! Cannot go back to dial-up, no way...

[509]

Originally Posted by WeezulMaster

So we've got votes for Vancouver; that's good. Had a prior recommendation for that area. Not crazy about Portland, but hey, Vancouver is not Portland.

Boxkicker: That's cool, good to know. I don't think I could sell the girlfriend on Spokane, but it helps to have tools in the toolbox just in case.

Are there any other places in WA we should consider? Tacoma area, Redmond, etc.? As StealthRabbit pointed out, must have good high-speed Internet! Cannot go back to dial-up, no way...

The high tech infrastructure is all in eastern Washington. If you want 1Gbps service you want to locate east of the Cascades in counties with public utility districts.

Be careful lots of western Washington is still dial up.

What do you like about Fremont?? The population density of Fremont is equal to that of Bangladesh!!! Fremont was a nice town before they took out the orchards.

The community is Washington state most like Fremont is Tri-Cities, but it is warm and dry located in the middle of the Colombian desert. But it does have the diversity, high-tech jobs, and educated workforce that you probably like about Fremont. Be sure to locate in Benton County since that is the county with the high speed internet.`

It also has newer suburban housing which I think is what your looking for...it is pretty much a new community with lots of newer housing and educated transplants from other areas.