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Living in Washington.


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I might have a career change to make and its a good opportunity. I had kind of been given a chance to move out of state in another Goodrich facility. My question is i have a few states i could shoot for and one of them is Washington. I was wondering what you good folks could tell me about the Spokane or Everett areas. Is housing and living expensive. What are the people like or the cost of living etc, etc. Any help or guidance would be great.

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I might have a career change to make and its a good opportunity. I had kind of been given a chance to move out of state in another Goodrich facility. My question is i have a few states i could shoot for and one of them is Washington. I was wondering what you good folks could tell me about the Spokane or Everett areas. Is housing and living expensive. What are the people like or the cost of living etc, etc. Any help or guidance would be great.

 

Well i live in Athol which is about 50 miles from spokane but we go there quite a bit. Housing is pretty cheap and stuff is pretty affordable though they do have some rediculous taxes on things. For instance if you do smoke now would be a good time to quit because they are about $8 a pack there, or at least come to idaho and buy them cheap LOL. overall its a pretty nice place to live and if you can get a good job here its worth going to.

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Washington would be a good choice..plenty of near rust free subaru's. The cities youve mentioned are on opposite sides of the state. The eastern half typically has hot summers and cold winters while the western half has moderate seasons and everything is green. Traffic really sucks along I-5 as far north as Everett and as far south as Tacoma. Id look closley at where you would be working vs living, you can easily tie up a couple hours of commute time a day under the best of traffic conditions.

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Spokane is an ok place to live.Things are moderately priced.There are parts of town you wouldna want to live in, but that's anywhere.The weather is as simple as anything to explain.4 seasons.about 50 lakes within 100 miles, 4 ski mountains within 100ish miles etc.lots of mountain roads,a couple of ORV parks, and alot of other outdoor activities.

no to much of a culture shock i am sure,more here than there for sure.

Spokane is not my favorite, but i live here and have been ok with it for a while i guess.

 

The housing market is not to bad here, although we are finally experienceing the recession job wise.Which would not matter to you i guess.

 

overall an OK place to live.If you want more culture, i would go to the WEt side of the state though.

cheers b

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Diversity in Spokane is .....well....there isn't any..there really isn't.

Diversity comes in the form of who will you see throwing a sign today, begging for money at a stop light and the age old question of, 'Is it a meth head or a crack head'?...

 

I cringe sometimes at the billboards advocating XYZ around here. I'm shocked easily by dogmatisim.

 

There is an arts scene but you've got to look for it....lot's of local artists and artisans (incl' wine/beer/cheeses etc).

 

A lot of people say there's nothing to do here but I've got IceSkating, Go Karting, wildwalls rock climbing, paintballing, independent cinema's, shooting/archery ranges, several concert and theater venues etc etc...and that's all before you take a look at any of the Parks within a short drive.

 

A local bar to me is a great bar but the next bar down the road everyone looks at you like they want to stab you and @$ your girl or stab your girl and...there's a lot of good and bad here.

 

I've heard people say Seattle has a much hipper vibe though. No doubt. But cost of living here does seem cheap.

 

We also have pull n save and a pick n pull.

 

Most of the restaruants I've been to seriously suck...but we have the Rocket bakery and coffee shops that are great.

We've an REI outdoor shop, awesome place....

More pawn shops than could ever make sense and a bikini expresso drive thru!!!

 

Cost of housing is even cheaper up in Deer Park.. an easy 20 min drive north of Spokane.

Edited by classicchic
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Diversity in Spokane is .....well....there isn't any..there really isn't.

Diversity comes in the form of who will you see throwing a sign today, begging for money at a stop light and the age old question of, 'Is it a meth head or a crack head'?...

LOL while were at it should we remind him which street the prostitutes hang out at in Spokane (Sprague) :lol:

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I live alslo 40 miles from spokane 3 bedroom house on 220 acres rent is 150; yes 150 , most would rent for 700 but my land lord is loaded..............also i talk to truck drivers who have driven all the states and they all say north Idaho, western Montana are the best places of all the states, but best of all LOTS of SUBARUS!!!!!!!!!!!!:clap::clap::clap:

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Im hearing lots of good and bad things. It might be where i go up there and if i get my fly in interview ill spend a day looking around and thinking about it. Me and my family have lived in the midwest our whole lives so a culture shock is sure to be expected.

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I live about as far out from Spokane as Brumby420, and it's not bad out here at

all, comparative to most places.

Idaho is pretty conservative on all fronts.

They're very lax here about a lot of stuff.

We're the last ones to get the new laws, last to get the minimum wage lifted,

last to get new taxes and are surrounded by mountains, lakes and trees.

I live about 20 minutes from a few thousand acres of national forest land.

Houses are becoming abundant because of foreclosures.

So, feel free to look around, and I highly recommend living in Idaho while

working in Washington.

You have to pay state taxes in ID, but the cost of living is much cheaper

compared to WA.

 

Twitch

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Well, you're wanting to compare Spokane, and Everett. Apples and oranges really, as others have stated. I can't speak much on Spokane. Never lived there. Everett I can give you a better idea. Mt. Vernon may as well be part of Everett now with the I-5 corridors urban sprawl. If not, it will be in 4 years. Anyways, western Washington, your cost of living will be through the roof compared to what you're used to. Gasoline will average $0.30 a gallon more, and the ridiculous traffic will mean you'll need more of it. Rent will also be significantly more. A decent place in MV would be $800 a month, and that's not for any place I'd personally want to have a family, or work on a car. Read as: $800 a month isn't going to get you much of a yard, most likely a place with no yard that won't want you working on your car. You can watch and find a house for near that price, but, then you're getting in to neighborhood issues, house sizes, etc. Everything else here is also ridiculously priced. The essentials like milk, eggs, bread; they will all be more expensive than where you are. As stated, luxury items are also more expensive. Dining out, liquor (2nd or 3rd highest tax in the US), cigarettes, everything is more expensive. That stuff is all important to look at, and if the cost of living wage increase that comes with the move deosn't cover it, it's a bad idea.

 

Secondly is the weather. It rains. It rains the next day. then again the next day. FOR ABOUT 220 DAYS! if you can't handle it, don't come. Even if you think there's a chance you will get depressed, don't come. The rain is the toughest thing about being here. It can ruin whole months if you are task oriented, and don't have a reasonable place to do anything. This spring has been terrible. We finally reached 70* in Seattle the other day for the first time this year. It's been an exceptionally crappy Spring.

 

Everett isn't a terrible place. You couldn't pay me enough to live there, but, I hate cities. It's just another suburb though, it has its' crappy hoods, and its' good hoods. There are a fair amount of recreation opportunities, but, travel through traffic, and battling Canadians will be necessary if you desire leaving the city north bound. No way around it.

 

I gripe about living here. I think it sucks compared to 10 years ago, but, that can be said of most places. Still, all it takes to get you to love it is one nice July day. As much as I complain about it, and get ignored by the laws, Canadians driving over the pass, and ridiculous taxes/cost of living; a summer here always keeps me hooked.:)

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I can't seem to find a job here. If you leave, it will be a great time out west, but someday you will be back, family around here still? If you have parents around, coming back gets really expensive being so far away like that. I used to drive Denver to Iowa and back at least 4 times a year when i lived there, Turkey Day, summer, fall, spring.

 

I might add, it will not be worth moving any cars at all out there from here. Go out there with nothing for cars/vehicles.

 

Buy a few rust frees, for cheaps.

Edited by bheinen74
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I've grown up about 15 miles east of Spokane. My brother lives in North Dakota, not far east as you, but still midwest, and I can honestly say the only major differences I noticed when I stayed there for a month were the landscape and accent. :lol: I couldn't live that far in because I'd miss the ocean too much. I think Spokane is a nice location, it has all the things a city should offer, entertainment, lights, (perhaps lacking in a night life), food, shopping, music, good/bad parts of town, but it's not so overwhelmingly big that you don't know what to do with yourself. Yes it has the cons of a city, crime and tax and such, but good luck finding anywhere without that. If you want, there's plenty of surrounding small towns that are a hop skip and a jump to Spokane that offer a much more quiet setting, while only having to drive maybe 15-45 mins (depending) to get to work. I love how close you are to nothing - aka wilderness. Rivers, lakes, mountains, camping, boating, hiking, skiing... just tons of outdoors stuff close by.... oh and of course there's the insurmountable Subarus that stalk you everywhere you go... XD

Just my 2 pennies... :rolleyes:

Edited by GirlWithALegacy
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I do like Spokane, but like 'girlwal' and others say there are towns just over the border in Idaho like Post Falls and CDA that are easily accessible from Spokane. Tax, living space, and the cost of gas is at least 10c cheaper in North Idaho.

I make the drive from Spokane out to CDA every week in rush hour traffic and apart from the highway getting flooded 2 weeks ago it's an easy uncongested drive. Spokane is an easy place to commute around.

 

The options for outdoor pursuits here are incredible. I think that's been said a dozen times already.

 

Crime in Spk, is mostly petty drug related stuff, smash and grabs and small thefts etc. (I've seen stat's on it, but can't remember the address for the FBI (?) records site)

Violent crime isn't that high maybe because the CCW laws are fair and everyone here I know is armed!!

Your spoiled for hunting as well.

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Hey Ben, remember, even though you don't have blood relatives here, you've still got your Subaru Family here :)

And I bigger numbers than the Midwest, no offense to those that live out there.

Oh, and if you like Junkyard runs, you will love Pull and Save.

Cheapest Junkyard I've ever been to, and they usually have the most Older Subarus.

 

Twitch

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Im hearing lots of good and bad things. It might be where i go up there and if i get my fly in interview ill spend a day looking around and thinking about it. Me and my family have lived in the midwest our whole lives so a culture shock is sure to be expected.

 

If you live in the eastern part of the PNW, there wont be any culture shock.

If you've lived in a small town most your life, you should fit right in there.

Everett on the other hand........

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We moved to the Seattle area from the east coast (grew up in NJ and lived in Wilmington, DE when we moved west) in 1988. Aside from leaving some relatives back east (a number moved west to follow us) the only thing I missed were the close circle of friends we had back there. You make new friends and we traded our rally friends (with Datsun 510 roots) for Subaru related friends and are getting back into rally again.

 

It was a good move for us. Our sons were in 2nd, 5th and 7th grade at the time and the Seattle (a suburb called Woodinville) area was a better place to raise our kids than back east (a suburb of Philadelphia). Weather is more moderate since it hardly ever gets much above 80 in the summer and even on the hottest days, it cools down when the sun sets so you can sleep comfortably without air conditioning. Winters are mostly rainy and it seldom gets below freezing. We have the ocean about a couple hours west (less depending on where you go), lots of water surrounding us (one of the reasons for the moderate temps), and mountains to the east and west for ski-ing (closest ski-ing is 60 minutes away), hiking, and camping. As you can tell from our posts, auto sport is alive and well out here; even if I have to go to the Portland area for a decent rallycross.

 

About the rain: average annual rainfall is 39 inches/year. Not really that much when you think about it; but it drizzles for about 8 months and then we usually have glorious sun for about 4 months. The grey skies can get to you and if you get it bad the west side of the state is not for you. I like it, but my wife doesn't care for it. But sunshine can be had driving about 2 hours west or east if you're desperate.

 

Cost of living here on the west side is higher than the midwest. In our case, it was lower than the east coast so the transition was easy for us. If you come out, hopefully Goodyear will adjust your salary accordingly, but look into it before you make the move. Look into the Chamber of Commerce figures on cost of living and compare it to your area.

 

I'm not a city kid, but I like Seattle a lot. Not to live but to work and enjoy cultural stuff. Without traffic, I can be in downtown in less than 25 minutes. With traffic if might take an hour. I've learned to take the backroads since most of the sheep take the highway and never learn that there are better ways to commute. Seattle has lots of night life (not high on my list of activities) and my wife and I can see a show, symphony, concert often enough to relieve the boredom of the TV. Speaking of traffic, I grew up in northern NJ near New York City....traffic here is a piece of cake. But coming from the midwest, you might not be crazy about it.

 

Spokane is quite different. You have 4 seasons instead of the two we have in the Seattle area. It will get much hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter. Any you'll see more snow on the ground than in Seattle. You'll still have lots of auto related activities; you'll just have to drive a little further to get there for the most part. Cost of living will be more like the midwest, but I think still be a little higher than you're used to. Again, check the C of C information for that. There'll be less cultural related stuff like symphony and concerts if that's what you like. Spokane has its traffic too, but it'll be concentrated in the urban areas. Again, the back roads are your friends.

 

Lastly, let's talk about natural disasters. Washington doesn't have tornadoes; but we have windstorms, but not hurricanes; we do have the occasional earthquakes (Seattle, not Spokane) but a major, big-time earthquake is always a possibility since were on a major fault line. It happens about every 300 years and it's been about that long since the last one. Seattle seldom gets snow, but it can and when it happens paralyzes the city since very few out here know how to drive in snow. Spokane has been known to get snow like the midwest. Western Washington is prone to flooding in some areas so make sure you buy a house in a higher elevation and stay out of the known flood plains.

 

Politics: the Seattle area and the more populous counties are pretty liberal; the rest of the state and Spokane is pretty conservative. Pick your poison; or do as I do, and ignore it.

 

Lastly taxes: Washington has no state income tax, but we do have a pretty onerous sales tax. You can get around the sales tax by not buying a lot of stuff or going to a non sales tax state for the big purchases (Oregon comes to mind; I don't know about Idaho). Also if you itemize your federal income tax, state sales tax has been deductible (if you keep the receipts--bless my wife who does) for the past few years.

 

Best of luck with whatever choice you make.

Edited by edrach
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MAybe you can consider wisconsin. I say this because i moved here from indiana and do a lot better for myself since then. Midwest culture is what you would be used to, and more diversity/culture in the urban areas. I learned a lot and was exposed to a lot more in milwaukee, and i feel more worldly and open to different ideals compared to rural indiana.

 

The geography here is similar to where i am from, and the watehr is similar, but we actually get snow instead of ice storms in the winter, and the summer is as nice and as long, but not as hot and humid. The winters are not any colder.

 

If you are lust looking to get out of the flatlands, WI is next door, and seems to as a state, be more self reliant and sufficient.

 

I am suggesting wisconsin because it was good to me

 

edit: the subarus are definitely more plentiful here, at least cheap newer ones. there are still more ea82's around than i ever saw in indiana

Edited by MilesFox
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