suggest a small town (Seattle, Vancouver: public schools, bus, airport)

[509]

Originally Posted by rockyrus

Wet or dry - anything works
Race - Good balance of all
Age - Middle Ages will be great
Airport - International

Check Spokane.

It is NOT Sea-TAC, more like Portland.

Depends on where you need to fly. Spokane has good connections to California, Seattle and the Rockies.

If you need to fly international (outside of Canada) you will end up at LAX, SFO, or SEA.

On the diversity front...it doesn't work that way. Western Washington is Asian, with some black. Eastern Washington is primarily Latino with American Indian.

Both sides have 'other minorities" such as Russian, Urkrainians, etc. etc.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by rockyrus

Wet or dry - anything works
Race - Good balance of all
Age - Middle Ages will be great
Airport - International

From what you've said so far, its sounds like you want to be closer to Seattle or possibly Portland which both have international airports. They are on the west side of Cascades with far less snow and more rain.

I also recommend Clark County. The only gotcha is the real estate market which has been going crazy in the nicer suburbs with good schools, easy access to amenities like international airports, good WiFi, more diversity and safer, generally speaking. We got in a few years back when it was much easier to find a great place for a family under $600k. Now, that's a greater challenge.

I would take a look at Ridgefield, Vancouver and Camas. Here's an example which would be a good potential fit.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...23253893_zpid/

Derek

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by rockyrus

Bremerton schools are not encouraging.

Yeah, you may have to bend somewhere. $600k, diverse, only an hour from international airport and good schools is collectively an almost impossible combo. If you are open to a condo, it might create some possibilities.

[DevanXL]

OP, like some others have mentioned, I would recommended Clark County and specifically East Vancouver or Camas. Camas is getting pricey but you can still find value in the 600K range. Not extremely diverse, but close enough to portland were you can find communities. Portland International Airport is only 20 minutes away.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by rockyrus

to buy house
is safe and hav reasonably good schools
healthy diversity

Originally Posted by rockyrus

Thank you all for your thoughts, am very new to the forum and did not know how to find threads posted by me -

This is what i am seeking for:

Place to buy house (max of 600) and raise kids
Remote work so good internet connectivity
an hour to 1.5 hours from airport
good schools mostly elementary ,proximity to grocery stores
secured place
Diversity in terms of population

You can still find a very nice place in Tumwater, Olympia, Lacey for $600K.

Good cable internet available most places around here (except my house because of my long driveway!)
Airport is about 60 miles away... so can be 1-2 hours, depending on traffic.
Schools are pretty good. Full disclosure, I graduated from Tumwater.
All the major chain stores are in the area.

Its diversity matches the rest of the state.

All three towns (Oly, Lacey, Tumwater) are considered small towns by some but bigger than I like... so I moved out of town to a smaller one 10 miles south. If you want to live out of town, we have really little towns too.

The ONLY bummer about the area is that we're struggling with homeless camps. I think this is something the whole country is dealing with to some degree. I won't minimize it... it's an issue that I hate to see, and hope we find a better solution for it... but the issue is pretty much in particular areas, like alongside the freeway and a couple other particular locations, so it's something you really can avoid wading through in your travels and shouldn't necessarily be a reason to avoid the area. There are lots of good areas and good communities where you can find a nice safe pretty peaceful place in your budget.

[Glenview94602]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

There are so many variables that make a nice small town for one family vs. the next. It's really hard to say without more info and some serious ninja mind reading skills.

What does diversity look like to you? In many small WA towns, diversity is the size of wheels on your truck and length of your beard. Maybe there's an EV car in the driveway to balance out the monster trucks. Or, one family member is Libertarian. That's sorta diverse, right? lol

Housing budget or the skies the limit?

Age of kids and type of schools? Elementary, high school, college? All the above?

Need a job or bringing it with you (remote work)? Or maybe retired and not a concern, don't care?

Anything else important, perhaps?

Derek

It makes me laugh because when I drive into my tiny town, there's a sign of welcome for 'Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist', and some other Christian denominations which I can't remember. That's their version of diversity lol. Of course no one would hate an atheist here but I think it's funny since I used to live in much larger places.

[Glenview94602]

Originally Posted by rockyrus

Thank you all for your thoughts, am very new to the forum and did not know how to find threads posted by me -

This is what i am seeking for:

Place to buy house (max of 600) and raise kids
Remote work so good internet connectivity
an hour to 1.5 hours from airport
good schools mostly elementary ,proximity to grocery stores
secured place
Diversity in terms of population

I think you should consider the Tri Cities. You can still get houses with 2 or 3 bedrooms for 250k at the lowest, but if you start about 260k-350k there are still options to choose from that include 3 bedrooms for single family non manufactured home. Pasco has an airport that is serviced by Alaska Airlines and the Tri Cities is growing. There is also a branch campus of WSU located there. Amtrak also has a stop in Pasco, coming from Portland and heading east towards Spokane and places beyond. Tri Cities metro is about 300k in population and growing. Tri Cities gets some snow but is in a snow-hole where snow is much less frequent there than most anywhere else east of the cascades in WA.

If you want a little smaller, you might really like Walla Walla. For three bedroom you really need to start about 380-400k there. There you can get 2BD for 300k and up. Walla Walla itself has a population of about 30k and the area has about 60k. Lots of colleges there such as Walla Walla University, Whitman College, Walla Walla CC etc and it is well known for wine and onions. Walla Walla is also close to Oregon if you prefer to live or shop on that side. Lots of wine tourism in WW and Alaska flies there as well.

[MechAndy]

I agree “you might have to bend somewhere “.

If it was me I might bend with the education offered up in Bremerton and find something just a tad bit out of town.
If your kids don’t require special needs assistance it could work.
This might mean an after school homework/study regiment for you kids.
It could mean a private school as another option too.

I do believe with the employment that is available in the area it should be more diverse than most areas.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

....
I do believe with the employment that is available in the area it should be more diverse than most areas.

Rural Bremerton region is probably a good choice. Many different housing / neighborhoods / access to choose. Look to Port Orchard / Manchester area as well. (Ferry to Sea-Tac).

Vancouver / Camas is not very diverse, but you do have the option for Portland employment (for 9% income tax hit). Close to PDX airport is a plus.

[ejisme]

What about Camas or Washougal areas. Pretty rural out of the town areas. Fairly easy access to PDX for airport, still within an hour or two from Seattle if you have to commute once or twice a month.