Relocating to WA need help with narrowing down areas (Spokane: rental, houses)

[Ecbd]

Hey everyone. My husband and I are going to be moving to WA from AZ soon and are trying to narrow down areas to help make the search for a home easier. We will be renting a house with a budget of up to around $1900 a month. We are in our 20s and own our own business so don't need to worry about finding jobs or anything like that. We do need areas that will have houses with large garages, place to put a large trailer and some space. We would like to be near a city but live more on the outskirts so we can have more space. We ride dirtbikes so somewhere that has a lot of places to ride is a must. We want to be in an area that has lots of chill, laid back people. Nowhere uptight! Any suggestions on some areas that should be on our list would be much appreciated! Thanks.

[Ruth4Truth]

You should be able to find something to fit the bill in Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula, or nearby Port Angeles. The fact that you don't need jobs really gives you a lot of flexibility in location, which can help make up for the small rental budget. I hope you don't mind small towns. Being near-ish a larger city could be tricky with that budget. Maybe someplace outside of Tacoma? I'll let others speak to that.

[CrazyDonkey]

Close to Vancouver and Portland:

114 Mission Rd, Kelso, WA 98626 | Zillow

3716 Columbia Heights Rd, Longview, WA 98632 | Zillow

1213 SW 25th Cir, Battle Ground, WA 98604 | Zillow

2202 NW 143rd Cir, Vancouver, WA 98685 | Zillow

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by Ecbd

Hey everyone. My husband and I are going to be moving to WA from AZ soon and are trying to narrow down areas to help make the search for a home easier. We will be renting a house with a budget of up to around $1900 a month. We are in our 20s and own our own business so don't need to worry about finding jobs or anything like that. We do need areas that will have houses with large garages, place to put a large trailer and some space. We would like to be near a city but live more on the outskirts so we can have more space. We ride dirtbikes so somewhere that has a lot of places to ride is a must. We want to be in an area that has lots of chill, laid back people. Nowhere uptight! Any suggestions on some areas that should be on our list would be much appreciated! Thanks.

You might like the countryside around Cheney (south and west of Spokane). Rural living with large lots in many places, can't possibly be too far from dirtbiking, close enough to Spokane to do any city stuff you might want. I'm guessing you could do it well within your budget. Another such area is Tri-Cities (Richland/Kennewick/Pasco); Burbank and West Richland and Finley (the fringes of the TC) all have plenty of space, and I seem to remember it has a dirtbike track. It'd probably be even cheaper than Spokane, and the TC have the basic citified stuff everyone needs now and then. Both areas are generally pretty chill, with not very many people who think your life is their business provided you aren't somehow causing them a problem.

Not all of Washington is western Washington.

[Ecbd]

Thanks for the responses! Do any of you have any experiences with Oak Harbor? We have found a ton of awesome places there and know that there is a dirtbike track there as well.

[fluffydelusions]

What about somewhere near Olympia? Tons of places to dirt bike in Capitol State Forest.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

Kitsap Peninsula...Poulsbo, Silverdale, parts of Bremerton, those are the towns but also lots of woods & water.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by Ecbd

Thanks for the responses! Do any of you have any experiences with Oak Harbor? We have found a ton of awesome places there and know that there is a dirtbike track there as well.

Heh. I do have experience, but you probably wouldn't believe the story. I didn't get a very good feel for Oak Harbor because I spent most of the weekend sneaking around pretending to be a bad guy. Looked like it might be a nice town in the daylight, but I never saw it in daylight. I was in a barn being taught to field-strip an AK-47.

It's a naval air station town, so I'd assume it's like most military base towns: lots of retired vets, fairly stable economy so long as the base stays open. Thirty years ago their police were pretty lousy at chasing fake insurgents around (based on an admittedly small sample base, heh), but I'd assume they have improved since those days. The Deception Pass area is special. I don't know if it has a dirtbike track, but my guess is that's unlikely. It's not a very big town and I'm not sure how big dirt biking is up there.

[pikabike]

Thurston County has a dirt bike and ATV park adjacent to Capitol's forest. I took a class there--it is a nice facility. You could live in one of the small cities west of Olympia and be near that.

Take a trip out here first to check things over. There are pockets that will definitely be uptight about dirt bikes, and the climate might be a poor fit if you love dirt biking. I hope you like riding on rooty trails with mud! Huge difference from anywhere in AZ.

[Ecbd]

Haha we aren't originally from AZ so we are used to rain, mud, snow all that good stuff! When it comes to dirtbike riding the muddier the better for me. Def. going to be coming out to look at houses just trying to narrow the list of places down before hand so that we aren't having to go to a million places. Main concern is finding a place that doesn't mind noise from bikes etc as we are always working on stuff in the garage and riding.