Needing a Move Phoenix to Washington (Seattle, Spokane: sale, real estate, apartment)

[sickofheat7797]

My family and I are in need of a move. We are currently living in Phoenix and we are sick of the heat. The move wouldn't be for a year and a half, we would like to buy a home (if we can sell our current one) but have no ideas of school districts, community safety, and of course real estate prices to begin our process. Can anyone point me to a starting point.

[mthomson]

Gig Harbor is always going to get my vote! Not the cheapest place to live, but not the most expensive either. Great schools, great proximity to Seattle, Olympia, Portland, etc. One of the most beautiful places you'll ever find, too!

[Sandy Nelson]

Originally Posted by sickofheat7797

My family and I are in need of a move. We are currently living in Phoenix and we are sick of the heat. The move wouldn't be for a year and a half, we would like to buy a home (if we can sell our current one) but have no ideas of school districts, community safety, and of course real estate prices to begin our process. Can anyone point me to a starting point.

Sickofheat,
I just posted an article about Olympia, WA having been ranked number one nationwide as most secure mid-sized city.
https://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...umber-one.html

I'm partial, because I live in Olympia, and feel safe and comfortable here. If you want to check crime statistics and other useful information about towns, the city-data site offers a lot of information:
www.city-data.com/city/Washington.html

For more information on Olympia, check out the city's website:
Welcome to the City of Olympia

To check out Washington schools, you might find this site helpful:
Washington State Report Card

Once you've decided on a particular area to settle down, your Realtor will be a great resource for local school information and community resources.

Good luck with the sale of your home.

Sandy

[mrdavidscott]

Hi there. Moving from Phoenix to Washington, quite a journey, but well worth it in my opinion. Im not sure how you get along with big city living, but if it is your thing (as it is mine) I think it fair to warn you about the ridiculous high prices to buy (and rent) a home in the greater Seattle area. I say that because while big city living is something I miss tremendously, I couldnt afford to keep living in Portland, so I moved to Yakima. Seattle is even more expensive than Portland. I was paying $650.00 for a very small, dumpy one bedroom apartment on the outskirts of downtown Portland and that was the cheapest I could find. If youre ok with living in a mid-sized market, might i suggest Yakima (where I live) - compaired to Seattle or Spokane or Portland, we actually still get 4 seasons. (Yes, Seattle, in the summer we still can go swimming) - The summer months are from June through August and the hottest it has ecer gotten has been 110, but that only happened once since i have been here (3 years), the majority of the time Spring through Fall it is very comfortable short-wearing weather, but definately not near as hot as Phoenix. Also, the cost of living here is a ton lower than anything you will find in the aforementioned large cities. Yakima is up and coming, large business corporations are looking to Yakima County, Grant County, and Franklin County to move due to low electric bills, and the land is cheaper. Yakima has a ton of radio stations (if that is important to you), great portable high speed internet that you can access from anywhere, the Costco corportation has overgrown their call center in their home town, Kirkland so is expanding to the Yakima market, and the comittee for downtown yakima has hired the same marketing company as New York's Times Square. Yes, Yakima has had its share of poor thoughts from nearby large city citizens, but regardless of their thoughts about it being small, it HAS grown and is continuing to and will only get bigger and better. Please visit [url=http://www.downtownyakima.com/]Downtown Yakima, WA | Operation Downtown Renaissance[/url] for information about downtown Yakima, and Yakima Herald Republic Online - Yakima, Washington News, Classifieds, Information, Advertising (broken link) for opinions on how Yakima is growing and becoming Central Washington's premier location because of our proximities to Seattle, PDX and Spokane.

Hope this helps!

[Stevenml155]

not sure what type of area you are looking for, but the Tri-Cities area is high desert just east of Yakima by 80 miles. We have the Columbia River, Snake River and Yakima River as well as the fastest growing area in the state. The schools are top notch, education is a big priority with residents here as we have the 2nd highest number of PhD's outside of Los Alamos NM in the United States and the quality of living is top notch. You'll find well thought our neighborhoods, business districts and many new stores opening up. The per capita income here is some of the highest in the state as well, which bodes well for more new business ventures to come into town. Visit the Tri-City Regional Chabmer of Commerce for more info!