Moving to Washington (The State)

I was thinking of moving with my wife to the Bremerton or surrounding areas there. Been finding a lot of nice prices on 2 or 3 bedroom apartments. I am curious if anyone knows anything about the area? Or lives there and can say if it's a horrible place to be or something?

Are the taxes outragous or anything? Because stuff seems to be fairly cheap, and I also like the idea of living near the ferry that goes to Seattle. Peuget sond is also a very nice place to be. Also, one of my good friends lives on the Navy base there and would be bale to hook me up with a place to work, and be able to look at places to live for me so I don't have to travel back and forth.

We plan on loading all our stuff in a trailer, attaching it to the Cr-v, and just moving. And of course selling the Beetle, and just buying her a new car when we get there.

Currently I am paying over $1900 a month for a 2 bedroom and one "office" with 1 and 1/2 bath, and then $400 on top of it with HOA's very some stupid gardeners that basically come around and run leafblowers for 3 hours during the day, and do nothing else, and it also keeps me from being able to wash my car in front of the apartment. I do however have a 2 car garage under the house, and I use comcast and electricity etc... so those bills...

But have been looking at the Washington scape and I can get the same thing, in a bay as well, but in a different state, for about $1,000 less a month. Or even a small house, I was not going to move into a house till we had kids, but it would not be out of a possibility.

California is just getting rediculous, house prices have gone way up. You can live in a 2 bedroom, one bath home, with only 1,000 square feet and expect to pay along $600,000. (for where I want to live, I like to be near the water so I don't feel like I'm trapped inland) Also, our sales tax has recently gone up to 8.40% or something like that, which gets rediculous, especially when buying expensive things, like cars, or TV's. Also, we can't modify our cars in any fun way legally here, and the smog laws are way too intense.

I'm also sick of the "brah" attitude around here, and we live nowhere near a surfing spot - nearest is Santa Cruise and that's 4 hours away.

i'm not from WA state but i do go down often and know people that lives down in WA.

if you look in bellingham wa., i believe prices are more reasonable. it's about 1.5 hr. from seattle.

oregon is also nice, but it would be quite a drive if you work in WA.
no taxes in oregon though. :D

i'm not from WA state but i do go down often and know people that lives down in WA.

if you look in bellingham wa., i believe prices are more reasonable. it's about 1.5 hr. from seattle.

oregon is also nice, but it would be quite a drive if you work in WA.
no taxes in oregon though. :D

I guess Oregon's all right, but my Brother moved there, and then moved back as he said it rained all the time and it was making him literally and physically depressed all the time.

i believe WA and OR get a lot of rain and some parts of WA get A lot of snow as well. :D
so if you do move up from CA, be prepared for the wet and cold weather. :D

i'm further up north and i know how it is when u get rain for over 6 months in the year. it can get depressing when you go to work early in the morning and it's still dark. you get off work around 5-6pm and it's dark also!
but... it's just a matter of getting used to it. :D

The other thing about Washington I think is the ease of visiting and/or running away to Canada. Only place I've ever been in Canada was Victoria, and just a couple miles of it close to the marina/inlet.

The other thing about Washington I think is the ease of visiting and/or running away to Canada. Only place I've ever been in Canada was Victoria, and just a couple miles of it close to the marina/inlet.

it's not so easy nowadays with the super long line-ups at the border and those border guards from both side with super sized ego.
they also changed the rules recently if you cross the border, need a passport - ID and drivers license wont cut it anymore.

victoria is definitely nice but really overpriced imo. where i live, it would cost me roughly C$90+.... almost C$100 for 4 people to take the ferry (back n forth) if i want to go to victoria from my area. add hotel, gas and food, i'm looking at close to C$500 for 2-3 day trip to victoria. if i go down south to WA or OR, i will spend around half of that amount for the same amount of days.

Currently I am paying over $1900 a month for a 2 bedroom and one "office" with 1 and 1/2 bath

Ouch! In NE Ohio, I pay just a little over half of that for a 1/3 acre lot and a 2100 sq ft home with a full basement and 2 car garage, and no HOA either.

I was in San Jose in 2000, and noticed it was extremely expensive. However, after speaking with some firefighters there, I learned they make over twice what they make here.

I'd recommend purchasing a home as it is a great time to do so. I got a 4.6 % interest rate when I moved in January.

I guess Oregon's all right, but my Brother moved there, and then moved back as he said it rained all the time and it was making him literally and physically depressed all the time.

If rain is a worry, don't move to WA. Actually, OR doesn't have alot of total rain fall (prox. 34" in Portland area, much less in the desert areas) but does have a lot of light rainy days. Go another 300 miles north and you will get alot wetter.

I don't mind a bit of rain, I mean, it barely ever rains here, which is bad, because it always feels so dry, so a change is not necessarily bad, I just don't want to go outside EVERYDAY to expect only to be wet. I'd have to buy a few more trenchcoats.

Yeah, the price here is high but we do get payed a bit more, I get 64k a year in my P.D. but the houses cost twice that much (technically) to rent or buy. That's why I'm in an apartment. Also, our minumum wage is $8.25 and if you work in San Francisco, the Minimum wage is $10.00 or so.

I don't mind the pay cut for cheaper housing, that doesn't bother me. I may be getting payed less, but I'm also paying less.

My understanding is that OR and WA are very similar to CA where east of the mountains it is basically a dessert. It might just rain a lot more often than in CA.

Having Pd experience you might want to line up a job so you do not have to commute as much. Typically there is less work east of the 1st shelf in elevation and most of those that live there commute distances to a job near or closer to the coast.

For climatological info just enter a zip code in:

http://www.weatherreports.com/United_States/NH/Nashua/averages.html

This one has more detail. There are better sites but I could not find it.

http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/data/usclimate/states.fast.html

I am retired (USAF and Raytheon) and live 20 miles north of Bremerton in the small town of Poulsbo. Most people living here think it is one of the best places to live in the US. The rain legend for the State is an attempt to keep the people thinking about moving here to a minimum. I would guess the cost of living is about average for most western states. Gas is a little higher ($2.88 for reg.) than the national average, but that could be due to the state gas tax. You may be aware that we have no state income tax and vehicle tabs are $35-$50 per year.

No sure what you do for a living, but like most areas jobs a limited these days. We have a large work force working for the Navy at the Sub Base at Bangor and at the Naval Ship Yard in Bremerton. Great Honda dealership in Bremerton (West Hills Honda). Since retiring I work part time at one of the best golf complexes in the Northwest (two 18 hole courses) which is owned by Bremerton. During my Air Force days I lived in many locations both in the US and Europe and this is the best!

Good luck with your journey!

I am retired (USAF and Raytheon) and live 20 miles north of Bremerton in the small town of Poulsbo. Most people living here think it is one of the best places to live in the US. The rain legend for the State is an attempt to keep the people thinking about moving here to a minimum. I would guess the cost of living is about average for most western states. Gas is a little higher ($2.88 for reg.) than the national average, but that could be due to the state gas tax. You may be aware that we have no state income tax and vehicle tabs are $35-$50 per year.

No sure what you do for a living, but like most areas jobs a limited these days. We have a large work force working for the Navy at the Sub Base at Bangor and at the Naval Ship Yard in Bremerton. Great Honda dealership in Bremerton (West Hills Honda). Since retiring I work part time at one of the best golf complexes in the Northwest (two 18 hole courses) which is owned by Bremerton. During my Air Force days I lived in many locations both in the US and Europe and this is the best!

Good luck with your journey!


ONLY $2.88 for GAS!?!?! we pay $3.50 and in maxes of $4.20 here. What do you mean that's high? That's low for me. I work in law enforcement, but i can consider other jobs. Right now, there's not a single place to work here. I can always work civi in the base or something if I'm really pressed for work.

Well, most everyone thinks that where they live is the best place to live. Just like their baseball team is the best, their football team... Even if they suck!

Serj, Looks like an exploration trip is in order!

Trip! Trip! Trip! ... :)

Just beware it will be a sample of what it is like thru ought the year. Possibly at the best time of the year if you don't like cold. And that unlike in CA the weather will change.

-Rg

Yeah, it's almost never below 60 degrees here. It's okay during the winter, then in the summer it gets hiked up to 100 or so. Very unbearable and miserable.

We are planning on taking a drive up there to see, so it should be a fun little trip. We're already seeing some nice stuff online and having a friend scope it out, but we'll definitly go there first.

And on another note... our nearest baseball team sucks... real bad. The A's. I've seen a few of their games in the colliseum this year... and they lost every single time I went, and every time my brother went too. But, I guess there's always the Giants or something.

As for thinking where one lives is the best place to live, I can see that, but I can honestly say, living here is no cakewalk. Sure the scenery is nice and the town is full of hippie-pot-smoking-somethingorothers which can get irritating at times, but I'm paying almost my entire salary just to be in an appartment, and that's not cool. ANother nice feature is that crime here is almost non-exzistant, till you go to Vallejo, then it spikes way up. How is it out there? If anyone knows? I do not want to have to be freaked out every time I park my car on the street, and believe me, I am paranoid about our cars, and out general safety in a home as well.

Nashua NH was voted #1 in the country in the '80s, #2 once or twice since then and in the top 5 or 10 quite often. There is a big magazine that puts all this data in a computer and out spits the ratings I think. Actually I am not sure about that. The rating has to do with all the niceties such as employment, cost of living, crime, culture (Boston being nearby helps!) , taxes etc. I think NH along with Washington are the only two states with no state tax.

But it would probably be way too cold, too much snow and the winter too long for you Serj. And if you do not like rainy spells, sometimes that is our spring. In the last two weeks we have had only one or two really sunny days while the spring was unusually warm and dry instead. This period of rain is currently created by a Canadian LOW pressure system stuck and not moving. We might have one sunny day this 4th July weekend but they are not sure.

Correction @ 12:20 PM: The rainy pattern has been going on for the last 25 days according to the noon news! Due to several back to back Low pressure systems in Canada or just off the coast in the Atlantic. Things tend to average out. We are now paying for the nice May weather. Quack! quack!

I personally feel the best time here is in the end of Aug or early Sept when Canadian high pressure systems brings in cobalt blue skies, sun and very low humidity. Or when the leaves peak in October. The ocean fishing picks up in Sept since it has the warmest ocean temps. Spanish Mackerel, True Bonito (light flesh, Albacore like - not bloody), Blue fin Tuna, Swordfish, Stripped Bass and Blues are a few that peak in Sept after school starts. Bass and Blues peak again later when the Maine fish migrate south at which time if you time it just right the fish are in schools. The temps range in Sept from the 50's at night to the low 80's in the early afternoon. But it being dry is comfortable at 85F. By mid Sept that period has gone by and we are into getting ready for winter. I used to like winter but in my wheel chair now - YUK!

I would like to move to the mountains of NM but Honeydo will not go for a million buck.

Like you said Serj, you cannot have everything. You must pick and choose.

-Rg

how about south carolina? lol

I don't know about Tropical-ish places like SC, does it get hot there? I assume it would. But at least it's on the water.

SC is hot and very humid in the long summer. At least for me. If it was not I would move there myself. Maybe right on the water it might be tolerable if you can take the humidity. But it would be similar to CA if you wanted to buy property in a real nice location or anything near the water. A lot of people with money move there driving it up. I think reasonable property is a thing of the past. I do not know about rent. The locals might think otherwise.

SC is tied for the nations 3rd worst unemplyment rate!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_unemployment_rate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_unemployment_rate)

NH is tied for the 5th lowest unemployment rate with NM. But no ocean in NM. Interresting.

The SC and NC drawl on babes just melts my heart! :D
Actually my first girl friend was from NC.

-Rg