Pros and cons to living in Washington state (Seattle, Vancouver: home, tornado)

[lady fern]

Originally Posted by Votre_Chef

Pros:

If you like the outdoors, it's an outdoors-lovers' paradise. You like skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, riding off-road vehicles, hiking, camping, fishing, biking, hunting, boating, diving, mountain climbing, or just viewing natural wonders and fantastic scenery, Washington is a good choice with an abundant variety of I want to say ecosystems, but I'm sure that's not the right word. Let me put it this way, it's hard to see the rocky canyons near Steptoe, the rolling hills of the Palouse, the beach at Ocean Shores, the San Juan Islands, the areas of the East that resemble the high plains, the beautiful scrub land of Wenas, with it's lovely yellow birches in autumn as you near Cow Valley, the gaping maw of Mt. St. Helens from Johnston Observatory, the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula and the sparsely populated west side of Hood Canal, the alpine meadows near Mt. Rainier, the ski resorts of the Cascades, the Enchantments, Leavenworth, the Seattle skyline and abandoned, decrepit 100-year old factories and warehouses in Tacoma, the Black Hills near Olympia, the Mima Mounds, Spokane along the riverfront, and so much more....and believe you been in the same state the entire time. So basically, there's the physical beauty and sheer variety of landscapes of it and abundant activities for the outdoors enthusiast.

If you dislike a state income tax and prefer a sales tax, that's Washington.

If your politics are more liberal, there's places like Seattle and Tacoma. If you're more conservative, you'll fit right in in Eastern Washington.

Washington has a fairly prestigious university system, with the University of Washington usually ranked very highly as a public institution of higher learning. Washington State university is one of the top schools for agricultural research in the nation. The K-12 system is good compared to the rest of the nation. Of course, your mileage may vary depending upon where you would live in Washington, some districts are very good, some are below average.

The greater Seattle area's weather is fairly temperate. Heat waves and large snow events are fairly uncommon. Although people may talk about the number of gray days the area has (and it has many) the summers are usually sunny and fairly dry. If it does get too hot, escape to the ocean beaches is always a possibility, where the temperatures are usually much cooler. The East has colder, harsher winters and hotter (but drier) summers.

Washington has crime rate lower than most other states. Not the lowest, but below the national average when it comes to most categories, especially violent crimes. So it's safer than most on average. Again, some areas are going to be safer than others (as in every other state), but like education, were I to be dropped in some random location within the state, I like my odds compared to other states.

Washington has a diversified economy with manufacturing, technology, service, agriculture (including forestry and fishing), government (example, defense, like military posts), transportation, energy and education sectors all being strong.

And there's more. Overall, I'd say it's a great place to live and would be a great place to raise a family, especially if you're the active type. However....


Cons:

Washington, especially the greater Seattle area, is expensive. Property taxes are high, the cost of living is higher than in other places and living in the downtown core of Seattle? Forget about it unless you have some real dough.

When it snows in the greater Seattle area, the whole place falls apart. This is somewhat due to topography (Western Washington is rather hilly).

Washington is in the process of beginning long overdue infrastructure improvements (transportation) that are going to be costly. Washington's population exploded during/after WW II (40% increase during the 1940s alone), especially from the 60s through the 80s and the state never really built the infrastructure to handle the immense growth, so there's been sprawl and now an attempt to fix the problem.

Although summers are lovely, it is gray in Western Washington most of the rest of the year. The rainfall totals aren't all that great (I think NYC gets more), it's just more of a regular drizzle and overcast skies. For the most part, Eastern Washington has 4 distinct seasons. Western Washington seems to just have two: Chilly and gray and then summer.

If you like thunderstorms, Washington doesn't get that many of them. Especially in Western Washington. Western Washington storms are more of the mid-latitude cyclonic variety, with low centers that can bring heavy rains and high winds, especially in autumn and spring.

Although Washington has an excellent network of universities, community colleges and technical colleges, inflation in education has hit them hard over the last few years and prices have gone up quite a bit. You might find a better bargain elsewhere.

Western Washington could suffer a devastating earthquake.

Mt. Rainier could erupt massively (devastating if you live in the valleys to the west due to mudflows, but the winds will probably carry the ash eastward, so Eastern Washington could be in big trouble if that happens too). Although a lateral blast like the 1980 St. Helens eruption, aimed in the right direction, could be terrible (doubtful it could hit Seattle or Tacoma, but could hit other places closer further to the south along I-5).

Your friends might think that if you move to Washington, you'll start wearing flannel and drink fancy coffee. You probably will, so deal with it.

Also, KING canceled Almost Live! and I'll never forgive them for that.

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are glaring omissions.

I couldn't rep you. I guess I have to spread it around more. This is a very well thought out list of pros and cons. I would stress the con about the pervasive sprawl. Sometimes I wondered if the city planners hated the forest. In an effort to control urban sprawl, there are now neighborhoods of McMansions where every tree has been ripped out and replaced with lanky young ornamental trees. Some of the most beautiful areas were torn up and in some cases the future neighborhood never came to fruition.

I would also add that there is a lack of feeling of connection with the political process. Not to say that plenty of people are not politically active, but unless you live in a really small town, elected officials seem unavailable and accomplishing anything such as the aforementioned property tax assessment appeal seems futile.

[Sonnenwende]

Pros are for me that it is far more progressive than the state I came from. The economy is better here (than where I came from at the time) and it is drop dead gorgeous basically anywhere you go in the state.

Cons are vice taxes are just incredibly high here. Just go try to buy some liquor anywhere. Housing is also extremely expensive, rent or buy, in the western half. I love it here, but I would never buy a home here because:

1) They cost way too much. I'm from the Midwest and I just can't fathom paying the usual asking prices for a house.
2) If there is an earthquake, I am screwed. I learned that most all earthquake policies have a FORTY PERCENT deductible. That's why most people don't have them apparently.
3) Property taxes are fairly high.

We're probably going to live here a few more years saving up a down payment to buy something back east.

[MaikeerinWA]

I don't think that percentage is anywhere near correct. Deductibles are high, and premiums are no doubt affected by where you live and also the type and age of construction. But I believe 10-20% is more typical for deductibles. Our is 10%.

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

2) If there is an earthquake, I am screwed. I learned that most all earthquake policies have a FORTY PERCENT deductible. That's why most people don't have them apparently.

[IDASpaceman]

Other than known Zombie and impending UFO attacks...this thread is depressing and most likely has scared folks away. Nice job, Washingtonites...LOL.

[windrunner4484]

Not me. Moving there this year. Sorry, it's a great place, from what I've seen.

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by ukiyo-e

However, that property tax is unusual, and it's not indicative of the entire state because of one odd outlier. If you search Stealth Rabbit's posts you can find many references to his property tax situation. It's not the norm. My property taxes are barely over $200 a month here, on a home with a value in the high $300K range.

Our sales taxes are rather high - in my county it's 9%. However, I would have to spend a majority of my income for the sales tax to equal the income tax savings I benefit from living here. And the state I moved from had very high state income tax rates as WELL as a 9% sales tax in my county.

??
Say $400K property and $2500 tax So 2500/400000= 0.0625 as a tax rate. I would take that.. You are lucky.

Really only 6.25% per 1000??

----------------------------

Our land outside the city limit of Port Townsend, is at a rate of 10.2% per thousand or x0.102.! Sounds like they shifted the tax burden away from town to rural land owners.. (Bummer, no wonder so many market farmers are moving out of the county down to Quilcene.)

To add insult to injury, they did not even use the purchase price of the land to calculate value... They used some other value which is 15% higher..

The land has to produce over $200 per acre just to pay taxes. That is literally a lot of cabbage...

Good thing I got "tough skin" coming from Wisconsin, where tax rates are even higher.
ouch..ouch...

[TrueTimbers]

duplicate post

[i_love_autumn]

PS90

There are really quite few areas in the country with die-hard fans despite having a losing team - Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and maybe a few others. It is fairly common for the fans to become more enthusiastic and turn-out to support their team when they are winning, and it's pretty ignorant to insinuate that Seattle is any different than any other place.

OMG~That's Cleveland,Ohio,too!Sorriest 3 pro sports teams,anywhere!

[i_love_autumn]

Originally Posted by 509

Having moved over from Idaho my biggest gripe is that Washington state is corporate owned. The latest Boeing "gift" from the taxpayers with another coming this fall is the classic example.

Writing the elected officials at the state and Federal level is an exercise in futility.

In Idaho, they not only read your letters but answered them. I once got a apology and a four page handwritten letter in response to my letter. The apology was for not typing it.

In Idaho, I felt like I was a citizen of the state. In Washington, I feel like serf.

Gee,Idaho sounds wonderful,may I ask why you left?

[Yakscsd]

Originally Posted by Creature of the Wheel

A major negative right now is dealing with all of the sudden Seahawks "fans" who have come out of the woodwork. Where were they in the previous seasons? Oh, that's right, they were rooting for one of their other "favorite" winning teams. *rolls eyes* The biggest crock of crap a Seahawks "fan" says is how they've been a fan since childhood. Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, right!

Yay for you. You are a better fan than me because of this? Who cares if they just jumped on the wagon or have been on from the start? I'm just glad they are on and glad the team won. I think its awesome to have so many people on board and excited for one common goal. very few things can bring that many people together like that and God knows we can use more harmony in our daily lives.