PamelaOry

I live in Philomath Oregon and love it. We are an hour from the ocean, 2 hours from Portland, 2 hours from the mountains with Corvallis right next door. Our little area is progressive, however there are areas of Oregon that are not. I love the not to hot weather and all the green trees and vegetation that grows abundantly. We do get a lot of rain and a true Oregonian has no use for an umbrella and wears birkenstocks year round.

Almost forot the the most important thing to mention, our local quilt guild! It’s big and active with an extensive library. I’m planning to go to the next meeting and want to join them. They look like an amazing group

madamekelly

I am just 10 minutes down the road from PamelaOry, and think we live in the most beautiful place on earth. Pleasant weather, amazing scenery, wonderful kind people, and best of all, close access to any other climate I want to visit. (Oh and lots and lots local LQS and quilt guilds for every taste)

djmat

When we get orders to move the first thing I do is research the specific area online to make a fully informed decision.
Schools (when kids were still home); Insurance for auto, home, RV, etc.; Taxes city, county, state, plus grocery taxes; HOA costs if applicable; Gas price average; Average housing costs; desired amenities like hospitals, library, parks, airport, favorite kind of restaurants; Hazards like weather, volcanoes, tornadoes, nudist colony, wild life; etc.;

I hone in on an area & go there personally to scout it for a few days to make certain it fits our needs & that we will fit in. Then I call my real estate agent to buy or schedule to look at rentals if nothing is on the market that we want at the time. Then in break neck speed close down current house & move & set up housekeeping there. We've found that the transition is easier if we do it seamlessly especially when the kids were still home. I guess now we can really take our time but not sure how that would go.
We've vacationed in Washington many times. The base of Mt. Rainier has a lovely B&B, the Seattle libary rocks, wonderful churches there, clipper to Alaska, great food all over Seattle. Portland was a lot of fun, too. We fell in love with Olympia & the coast & Nat'l Forest. Our friends bought a winery in Bethel Heights. The dam lochs are interesting. The Columbia river & Mt Jefferson are astounding. Many wonderful memories of time spent in NW.
Hope this helps. Wishing all the best!
dj

quilt9226

Don't move here unless you move to counties other than Snohomish, King or Pierce. Tax payers in those counties are burdened with ST3 (Sound Transit train system). Our sales tax is anywhere from 10% to 10.8% and annual car licenses also increased. There was not accurate information provided in the voters pamphlet and the taxpayers were duped into voting for this debacle. Taxpayers in Snohomnish County are really pissed because we were promised service by 2025 but the northern routes have been usurped for Ballad (Seattle community) and the Eastside. Property taxes across the state have increased for education after a Supreme Court decision. The legislature has had 30 years to fix the problem. The cost of housing has skyrocketed. A newly built house in my neighborhood listed for $1.1 million and sold within a week. If you move to the City of Seattle, you will have to pay an additional tax per ounce on drinks with sugar, even your latte from Starbucks. The Seattle City Council is imposing a "head tax" on business which will be used to combat homelessness. The City has spent a billion dollars and it has nothing to show they did anything. I suspect that is one of the reasons Amazon is looking to other states for Headquarters 2. In fact, Amazon has slowed and delayed construction My city, Edmonds, has new businesses who left Seattle because it is not friendly to business. Traffic is horrible in the metropolitan area. I try to do my errands in the morning because by 11 AM traffic on Highway 99 is horrible. I never drive to downtown Seattle, the bus is faster and certainly cheaper $1 for seniors with an ORCA card. It's a beautiful state but if you want to go to a state park you can either by a yearly pass or pay $10. I think you can do better than Washington, to be honest.

quiltingcandy

I grew in Kent WA and Edmonds WA - I love Edmonds but they are right the taxes are high. Unfortunately I suffer from depression during the winter and spring. (When I lived there they didn't know the cause so put me on meds - I moved to So. Cal since my DH was in the Navy and never needed the medication.) Don't think of it all looking like the coastal area. East of the Mountains is like living in the mid-west. It's farm territory without the tornados. I love all the flowers - people grow flowers in their gardens - wild flowers are everywhere. I never thought the people were any friendlier in WA - but we moved there from Kansas and knew everyone when I was 8 and it was very hard to meet new folks. No one came over to introduce themselves. Now when we go to visit family and friends we are not as welcome by strangers because they view us as being from CA and they think we are going to move up there and buy up all their property.

Iraxy

If you are planning on moving to the beautiful PNW, I suggest that you travel here in all the seasons, stay at a town you like for a few days and get the flavor of the town before you make such a monumental move. From where you are coming there are mountains between us and it becomes a HUGE move. We moved to southern Oregon from East Texas and have no regrets. We are in our 70's. The store folk are friendly, helpful and there are no taxes, yet...on groceries and many other items. The housing market is expensive. A house that we might have paid 100,000 or less for in East TX goes for over 250,000 here. Once here, please note that lots of people love the organic way of life. I have even taken to calling this place Oreganic because everywhere you go, it is touted to the rafters. Good thing too. People here like their food fresh and pesticide free as well as GMO free so get used to hearing all that talk. Healthy is actually revered here. No trash talk about healthy lunches here, those things are welcomed, The bicyclists are everywhere as are the walkers and they have priority over the road. We have a large mix of people here. There are many people here from all over the world including Mexico, China, Pacific Islands, India, Russia and wherever and we like it that way. It makes for interesting trips to the grocery store with all those exotic spices and foods. Let me reiterate, you will pay more for everything in the PNW but for some of us who have made the transition it has been a great move and we have no regrets. Since we have been here, our daughter moved to Oregon and she loves it here too, was able to find a job in her field and considers this her new forever home. Oh, let us not forget there is the marijuana issue. People here seem to like the recreational marijuana laws and many people grow their own where it is permitted, so check into that before you buy too. Good luck with your hunting. Welcome to the PNW should you decide to move here.

cashs_mom

I agree with researching the town and perhaps even visiting for an extended period. You have to make sure you fit in with the existing viewpoint.

glasqlts

We are in north central Idaho, wouldn't go back to CA for love or money! We live about 80 miles from a city of size but have gotten used to less frequent extensive shopping. you are further from specialty drs but our clinic drs are wonderful. Fancy restaurants are saved for our trips to the city, local cafes are clean and friendly, good food too. It is a culture shock at first but well worth the change. We have been here for 25 years since retirement and plan to stay as long as we have in this heaven on earth. we started looking 5 years before we retired, marking a map with different routes each year. when we drove into Idaho we knew we were home. Most expenses are lower but state income taxes were a little higher. Insurance, registration, utilities, are all less than what we were used to, so it was a win-win for us. We did get the local paper mailed to us so we could keep track of politics, prices and land. Good luck and I hope you can find your little piece of Heaven like we did.

KalamaQuilts

Oregon and Washington are 4 different states
There are two on the west side of the the Cascade mountain ranges.
two on the east side of the Cascades.

West side, temperate, 4 seansons, quite a bit of rain
East side, quite warm and dry, or cold cold and dry

All four sides are beautiful.

To avoid a nasty vehicle licensing surprise, read throught the USE TAX section
https://www.dmv.org/wa-washington/ca...-to-Washington

Our gas tax is a pretty high rate, making gassing up a vehcile pricy.
pollen allergies is an issue on the west sides, particularly in spring.

to the mods: USE TAX is capitalized on the web site, and is why I capitalized it. I'm shouting at no one. Regstering a vehicle in another state to avoid the sales tax comes with a huge fine. Sooner or later a neighbor will complain.

KalamaQuilts

Washington has a sales tax on all goods except groceries I think.
Oregon has income tax that comes out of your income, no sales tax on goods.

registering a vehicle in another state to avoid the sales tax comes with a huge fine, sooner or later a neighbor will complain.