Moving to Olympia, seeking neighborhood and rental advice (Lacey, Tumwater: appointed, apartments)

[Fionanana]

My partner and I are moving to Olympia from Boston, MA in February or March. We are planning to visit in January to find a place to live. I would love some input on neighborhoods since we have only visited once in the past. What are different areas like? How are the East and West sides different? what about the smaller neighborhoods?

I’m also curious what rent range we should expect for a 2-3 bedroom house or apartment (house strongly preferred). We would like to be in Olympia rather than neighboring towns like Tumwater and Lacey.

In Boston I usually find apartments on craigslist, however I have been disappointed with what’s posted in Olympia on craigslist. How do people usually go about finding a rental in Olympia? Is there another website folks use? newspaper? realtors?

Any wisdom for moving to Olympia and finding a rental outside of what I asked is of course very welcome.


edit:
in reviewing some past posts about moving to Olympia, I think there’s some things I should mention
We have no kids or intention of kids so we don’t need to live near other kids.
The thought of living in a cookie cutter new development disgusts us.
We like nature and will mostly be walking, biking, and taking the bus.
We intend to shop at the co-op, so having easy access (one bus route) to either location would be swell.

[fishbrains]

Oly is much smaller than Boston, so the differences in east-side vs west -side are not as significant as they would be on Boston.

The neighborhood around the west side coop would probably work for you in terms of architecture. It is composed of older pre-cookie cutter houses that you might like.

Here is one link that I have seen for rentals: http://hometownpm.com/rentals.html

[Sandy Nelson]

Fiona,

As the previous poster pointed out, the neighborhoods near the West-side CoOp are mostly an organic mix of older homes.
Here are some links to local rental websites:

www.rants-group.com
www.olyrents.com
www.hometownpm.com
www.cpihomes4rent.com

You may also check the local newspaper classifieds: www.theolympian.com


Best of luck with your move.

Sandy

[Fionanana]

Thanks for the info Sandy and fishbrains! I really appreciate it.

Sounds like Northwest is winning. I remember there being more trees in that area too.