Tacoma advice please (Seattle, Steilacoom, Fircrest: sales, real estate, condo)

[jharleyhammond]

My wife and I are considering a move to Tacoma(ish.) we are both retired, but remain fairly active with workouts at the YMCA, gardening, RVing, day hikes, etc. Our budget is not unlimited, so please don't recommend a pricey neighborhood (our limit is about $425,000.00.)
Priorities include, but not limited to:
strong sense of community / community support / friendly neighbors
access to public transportation, especially light rail to Seatac & Seattle
access to an active senior citizens center or network
backyard chicken friendly
good walk scores, especially to parks, groceries, pharmacy, dining
safe streets for when we walk the dog in the morning and evening
stand alone house rather than a condo
nearby farmers market
diverse neighborhood

If suggesting Tacoma, please tell us which neighborhood. TIA.

[mogon]

Suggest you check out Fircrest.

[thatguy950]

Strong sense of community and friendly neighbors, as well as good dining definitely eliminate WA, safe streets definitely eliminate Tacoma

[CrazyDonkey]

Are you going to need to park an RV? That can conflict with denser neighborhoods with "good walk scores, especially to parks, groceries, pharmacy, dining".

You can keep up to six chickens in Tacoma. See:

https://cms.cityoftacoma.org/citycle...Sanitation.PDF

[Farmer15]

I like the Old Town/Ruston area of Tacoma -- nice views, walk to restaurants, old style homes. It's gotten pricey, though. I second the Fircrest recommendation, though it doesn't meet all your criteria.

Move to Tacoma – Explore Neighborhoods

[WestGuest]

If you're retired - do you need a more expensive city such as Tacoma or Seattle? There are beautiful, cheap places in SW Washington. Skamokawa - Tokeland - so many. No traffic.

[blaserbrad]

I'd suggest looking somewhere in the Northend of Tacoma. The closer you get to downtown (North or East), the cheaper it is (generally). As far as I know Hilltop is still relatively affordable, but moving there means you're contributing to the displacement of local people of color. Maybe somewhere off of 6th ave, like a few blocks south would meet your criteria. It's walkable, has good transit (especially 6th ave), access to lots of local shops and restaurants, kind of in the middle of it all, so easier access to other neighborhoods too. As far as a sense of community, I think it's strong in the Northend of Tacoma in general. There are a lot of bars and clubs on 6th ave though, so if you're not up for some rowdiness, maybe not the right fit. I'd also suggest Ruston, or close to Point Defiance park. Might be slightly more affordable, but the transit and walkability are worse than somewhere more centrally located. However, a new district is in the process of being built, called Point Ruston, which is right next to Ruston. It's very walkable and there's a good amount of shops and restaurants there already. It's also contributing to the neighborhoods cost of living going up.

[jharleyhammond]

Any info on Steilacoom?

[Angry-Koala]

Originally Posted by jharleyhammond

Any info on Steilacoom?

Just stopping in here quick to say that Steilacoom is a nice little town that should fit your requirements for strong sense of community / community support / friendly neighbors, good walk scores, especially to parks, groceries, pharmacy, dining, safe streets for when we walk the dog in the morning and evening and stand-alone housing. There are few roads coming in because of the terrain, the nearby fort, Chambers Creek, and the bay in front, so it feels like you're far away from the big city, though it's close by. There's golf nearby, plus that wonderful bay view.

I don't know how well it scores on the other items on your list, so maybe somebody else could chime in here. There is the ferry, but I don't think that will get you to Seattle.

[rkcarguy]

I'm at a loss why so many people want to retire here. Most of the west side of the state is doing it's best to catch up with California real estate prices and taxes. What you'll save in no income tax you'll pay in bloated property taxes, around 10% sales tax, as well as we have the 3rd highest gas taxes in the country around 68-73 cents per gallon state and federal. Our larger cities are swarming with homeless and even where I live in a smaller town of ~90K people we had a man get stabbed to death right behind my office on the jogging trail.