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Old 05-08-2019, 07:53 PM
 
Location: Shelton, WA
329 posts, read 470,010 times
Reputation: 449

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We moved to Shelton last year from California.. to us, there was WAY more homeless camps there compared to here in WA.
We spent a long time researching Oregon and Washington and spent two different vacations driving all over both..
We had a budget since we were retiring and a had a long list of wants..
We found the perfect beautiful home in Lake Limerick.. its outside the city limits ..
We have a creek in our back yard, a forest full of trails we can walk.. we have a lake for boating and kayaking and there is a golf course with cafe and restaurant..a great community, we got all that for 260K
We planned on Olympia but found our home in Shelton.. PLEASE don't let all the crap talk about this town turn you off.. I was hesitant but the people here are wonderful..
yes there are homeless downtown.. but Shelton is HUGE, and most of it is outside the city limits and beauty all around you, and the Puget Sound is right there..
This town is growing..
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Old 05-09-2019, 12:07 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,188 posts, read 107,790,902 times
Reputation: 116082
Quote:
Originally Posted by therese marie View Post
We moved to Shelton last year from California.. to us, there was WAY more homeless camps there compared to here in WA.
We spent a long time researching Oregon and Washington and spent two different vacations driving all over both..
We had a budget since we were retiring and a had a long list of wants..
We found the perfect beautiful home in Lake Limerick.. its outside the city limits ..
We have a creek in our back yard, a forest full of trails we can walk.. we have a lake for boating and kayaking and there is a golf course with cafe and restaurant..a great community, we got all that for 260K
We planned on Olympia but found our home in Shelton.. PLEASE don't let all the crap talk about this town turn you off.. I was hesitant but the people here are wonderful..
yes there are homeless downtown.. but Shelton is HUGE, and most of it is outside the city limits and beauty all around you, and the Puget Sound is right there..
This town is growing..
Wonderful post! I actually looked up Lake Limerick, after you first posted about it, I was so impressed with your post! It sounds like you found your slice of heaven!
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Old 05-31-2019, 04:26 PM
 
Location: Shelton, WA
329 posts, read 470,010 times
Reputation: 449
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
Wonderful post! I actually looked up Lake Limerick, after you first posted about it, I was so impressed with your post! It sounds like you found your slice of heaven!
Thanks Ruth. we are so happy here.. I hope others who are looking to move to Washington will at least check it out..
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Old 06-10-2019, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Florida
3,179 posts, read 2,126,009 times
Reputation: 7944
Quote:
Originally Posted by Searching-01 View Post
Hi All, continuing my search of the West for a place to call home that's in budget and good to live in (for me of course... everyone has different ideas).

Hit on Shelton and then Olympia in my Zillow Search...

Did the usual Wikipedia on it... (climate, geography, etc.)

Did Youtube on it... immediately "Homeless Camps" came up.

So not sure what to think.

Your opinions on the area?
I just read your post and hope you look carefully at the areas. There is no getting away from the homeless problem anywhere around the areas, they all have plenty of trash and homeless. I live outside of Olympia and you’d think that the more rural you get, the more seedy the area. Not true, I can’t see a difference in rural or town, tents and trash are abundant in both.

The scenic beauty is here, but spoiled by local government with lax policies on homeless, drugs and trash. I like Lacey best, it’s cleaner, newer, nicer in many areas. It’s best to stay north of Olympia, Centralia and Chehalis are meth towns, very depressing to look at.

Squatters are abundant too. In this neighborhood, a neighbor was telling me that a house close by us, was full of squatters until it recently sold. I drove by the place and saw a large bus parked on the side. The house shows a lot of neglect, hope the buyer will spend some money on it.

Anyway, Olympia has a lot of run down places, the further north you go, the nicer the area tends to get. Can’t say about Shelton. Good luck.
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Old 06-10-2019, 12:18 PM
 
Location: PNW
455 posts, read 597,946 times
Reputation: 1100
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taz22 View Post
It’s best to stay north of Olympia, Centralia and Chehalis are meth towns, very depressing to look at.
Walk through downtown Centralia then walk through downtown Oly and tell me which one looks better. It's not even a comparison. Oly's downtown looks like a s***hole compared with Centralia's downtown.

Lived here 21 years and have watched Olympia take a nosedive. Wife works in Centralia and we've watched it clean up immensely.
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Old 06-10-2019, 01:12 PM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
14,458 posts, read 12,081,453 times
Reputation: 38970
Quote:
Originally Posted by NWarty View Post
Lived here 21 years and have watched Olympia take a nosedive. Wife works in Centralia and we've watched it clean up immensely.

I think I would agree with this. Not that there aren't still sketchy areas in Centralia/Chehalis, but that it is improving. As prices have gone up in Olympia, Lewis county has grown... with a thriving little downtown area, nice unique restaurants and theaters, and nice shopping in the outlet areas by the freeway.
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Old 06-10-2019, 01:41 PM
 
Location: West Coast U.S.A.
2,910 posts, read 1,357,996 times
Reputation: 3978
Quote:
Originally Posted by NWarty View Post
Walk through downtown Centralia then walk through downtown Oly and tell me which one looks better. It's not even a comparison. Oly's downtown looks like a s***hole compared with Centralia's downtown.

Lived here 21 years and have watched Olympia take a nosedive. Wife works in Centralia and we've watched it clean up immensely.
Agreed. And........ there are a LOT more homeless here than most people realize because we have woods everywhere, thus most of the camps are out of sight. People drive by them all the time and don't realize it because of the woods.
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Old 06-10-2019, 04:48 PM
 
464 posts, read 286,574 times
Reputation: 808
Quote:
Originally Posted by Searching-01 View Post
Hi All, continuing my search of the West for a place to call home that's in budget and good to live in (for me of course... everyone has different ideas).

Hit on Shelton and then Olympia in my Zillow Search...

Did the usual Wikipedia on it... (climate, geography, etc.)

Did Youtube on it... immediately "Homeless Camps" came up.

So not sure what to think.

Your opinions on the area?

I would suggest doing what I used to do when I was homeless and scouting a town... use Google Earth.


Use the "street cam" function and walk around and see what it's like.


(At the time I actually used to look in the classified ads to find out where the "good" side of town was, we didn't have Google Earth.)


I look at towns now with the app. now though, scouting and sizing up as though I were still homeless, and I will always be interested in the homeless situation.


From homeless when I got to Seattle, to retired (several years ago) in my mid-50s with my own business.


I have an apartment in the city and a piece of retirement property paid off and a steadily growing nest egg, I have just about everything I need already paid for, have no debt and save more than half my income.


Now this was long before the "opioid crisis," (in fact... I thought we got over that in the 1970s... it really caught me unaware until that Philip Seymore Hoffman guy OD'd and we started hearing about Fentanyl...)


But we did have a thriving "crack" and "meth" problem at that time, still do I imagine.


The town I live in right now, I've been here 12 years, I'd say it was middle-class, and I don't see any people camping on the sidewalk.


We have one little place that I see kids sleeping in overnight, (without tents) maybe two or three kids, but I really don't see these sidewalk "tent cities," and my area is So. King County, it sure ain't no Bellevue...


But things are getting better here, they are clearing out the old and going upscale... (I look at rents at some of these places, and you know, I wouldn't say they are crazy high...)


This thread is about "Olympia, good or bad to live," and I don't really know about that town and have never even been there, but I can offer first-hand experience or opinions on homelessness in general if anyone is particularly interested there.


I have observations and maybe even a few insights, but I don't really have any good, comprehensive answers here.


Hiring the homeless to clean up the mess might be something to look at, I like, "win, win, win," "Best for all concerned" solutions.


I don't mean to stretch out the OP's topic, but it always seems to boil-down to the "homeless" thing nowadays...


Thx

Last edited by Thx-1138; 06-10-2019 at 05:12 PM..
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Old 06-10-2019, 06:43 PM
 
Location: Florida
3,179 posts, read 2,126,009 times
Reputation: 7944
Quote:
Originally Posted by NWarty View Post
Walk through downtown Centralia then walk through downtown Oly and tell me which one looks better. It's not even a comparison. Oly's downtown looks like a s***hole compared with Centralia's downtown.

Lived here 21 years and have watched Olympia take a nosedive. Wife works in Centralia and we've watched it clean up immensely.
Centralia has the outlet stores which improve things a lot, and I also got the best deal ever on a bag in the Coach store. The outlet stores are nice and kept up, and being right off I 5 makes them easy to get to. That outlet was a smart move for your town, but if you turn left and go under the overpass, things go downhill pretty quickly. I agree with Centralia being nicer, I stopped going to the bank in Chehalis because driving around that place is just awful. Other branches are further away, but in better locations.

After reading and hearing all the positive things about Olympia, it turned out to be a disappointment. I bet you have seen major changes in 21 years, parts of Olympia are real toilets. At least, Lacey is growing and has some prosperity.
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Old 06-10-2019, 08:03 PM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
14,458 posts, read 12,081,453 times
Reputation: 38970
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taz22 View Post
Centralia has the outlet stores which improve things a lot, and I also got the best deal ever on a bag in the Coach store. The outlet stores are nice and kept up, and being right off I 5 makes them easy to get to. That outlet was a smart move for your town, but if you turn left and go under the overpass, things go downhill pretty quickly.
Just as I was reading your post, Taz, we were exiting the freeway in Centralia and turning left to go under the overpass. The coincidence of that is amusing! :-). We are headed tonight to my husband’s orchestra concert at Centralia College.

As for going downhill… I don’t see that way. We drove down that main drag a bit until it was time to turn and go to the college. Centralia is an older city… and a middle class one for sure… built by and for loggers in flannel. Many of the little houses were probably built in the 20s, Some before! Many still have the old carriage house in the back. It has some grittiness that comes with age. Some of these old places are better kept than others. But it’s growing and people want to live here. The whole area is. Lots of good people are finding a home here in centralia who can’t afford Olympia anymore.

Anyway almost time to go in for the concert. I just thought the coincidence was amusing And couldn’t help but chime in

Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 06-10-2019 at 08:12 PM..
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