Olympia Area - Local Input

Hey all! We're planning our move to the Olympia, WA area the first part of next year. Lots to do before then...two houses to sell, move, buy, etc.

We're thinking just south or west of Olympia Proper at this point, and looking at more rural properties with .5 acre or more. We love the water and the woods, and have a serious dislike for those cookie cutter developments. Every area has its good and bad parts, and that's where those of you that live in the area come in...

What's a great area and areas to avoid? We have kids in their mid teens (13 & 16), so what high school should we look for or avoid? I currently work in IT (director level) for state gov't...any state/county/local agency to seek out or avoid?

TIA!

 

@TAF_Taco

 

Unless you're currently working or somehow attached to Olympia, you could also get into the North Bend area and you'll be closer to better schools and access to the Seattle IT job market.

 

Appreciate the info...we want to stay more west, and far away from Seattle. Bellingham area is option #2...

 

Imo, Bellingham is much nicer than Olympia. They have very different winter weather, so look into that too.

 

We have been in Oly since 88. We live out near Lake Saint Clair in an development called Eagle Crest. We have almost 1 acre and a nice detached garage. Our three boys all attended high school at RiverRidge. Some people say Olympia and Tumwater have the better schools. Our boys did just fine at RiverRidge. The Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater area all have some smaller lakes and a few larger ones that all have house around them. I guess your best bet would be to look in the Tumwater area which is more rural. West Olympia you may find something on the bay. Property moves pretty fast around here so good luck.

 

Appreciate the info, Ted...
We've been looking in the areas south and west of Olympia as well...Rochester and Shelton areas, specifically. Although we really like the Bellingham/Ferndale/Lynden area, it seems the job density for my career field is better in the Olympia area. Jobs at my level don't come around too often...

 

I've lived in Oly/Lacey and Bellingham/Ferndale areas. I find Oly and Bellingham pretty dang similar. Both very liberal communities with lots of arts and live music but out of control homeless problems and protest everything crowds. I really liked Lacey because it's a military community and I could relate with more people, as opposed to other parts of town where all the kids knew each other their whole lives. I still like Lacey but it lacks flavor since it's exploded and turned into an apartments and stamped in housing type community. I also like Tumwater. Rochester and Tenino are small town but ok, I'd suggest looking at their school ratings before committing. Chehalis and Centralia are up and coming and might be worth a look. Shelton..Shelton is and has always been a hole. It's a depressed community, skip it.

Bellingham/Ferndale are in Whatcom County. Whacom County is EXPENSIVE. Chinese money laundering thru realty in Vancouver British Columbia drove up house prices astronomically and made a lot of people instant millionaires. Those people sold their homes and are buying houses for cash just across the border in Whatcom. That coupled with out of staters retiring here (californians! and seattle area workers commuting from here) keeps our house prices pretty dang high. It's hard to beat Bellingham's access to the Puget Sound, North Cascades National Park, Mt Baker, Seattle, Vancouver and world class mountain biking but it's generally a little colder than Olympia and gray A LOT. It's a bit isolated when compared to the Olympia area as well. I like Ferndale because it's a more conservative little town but it's in close proximity to Bellingham and since the home prices are a little cheaper it's attracting folks from Bellingham so I expect the voting base to swing someday soon and then they too. IMO Ferndale is building too many apartment complexes for a city of it's size, if that's the density it's shooting for it will lose it's small town charm.

 

Outstanding...this is exactly the G2 I was looking for from boots on the ground. Liberal bastions are areas we'd like to avoid, hence staying away from Seattle altogether. We were also entertaining Vancouver, WA as we have friends there. I'm former military, so can appreciate those types of communities, but they have their own unique set of issues as well...definitely more relatable, though. I work in academia (IT Director), so I'm reasonably tolerant of the leftward slant, and job availability is the primary driver. Politics are something we tend to avoid, but there is no denying that it affects the identity and social climate of an area. Acreage is really what we're looking for...while we are social, we generally prefer to do our own thing with a close knit circle of friends. Compared to where we live in AZ, even Bellingham is significantly cheaper, both in housing and utility costs. And if I never see another stucco house again after we move, it will be too soon. Definitely a big decision for us, and I certainly appreciate the information and insight!

 

Vancouver isn't bad. I have some friends that police there and they enjoy it. Out towards yelm isn't bad for Olympia area either. Just know that Seattle votes control the state. What they want we all get and this is an initiative driven state.

 

Both Olympia and Bellingham are very liberal. Vancouver itself has nothing really going on, and is just a place for people who work in portland to live who don't want to pay income tax but shop tax free in portland.

 

Avoid down town Olympia when it comes to houses, it’s gone down hill severely over the last 10 years (riots,protests,stabbings) are all becoming more prevalent... Tumwater is really nice, and you can get out towards east Olympia and that’s where you can get into the more rural areas! I really like tenino, very rural but still uses the tumwater school district!

 

I grew up in La Center and live in Portland.. I spend 50+days a year in the Seattle area, Vancouver is much better, especially if you can find a job in Vancouver. Lots of 5 acre places just outside of town that are reasonably priced.

It's funny, I'm looking at moving to Flagstaff or Williams if i can find a job there.