Safety of neighborhoods in Vancouver area (Orchards, Salmon Creek: 2015, renter, crime)

[xrave3]

Hey everyone:

We're thinking about buying property in Vancouver WA area - to save on State taxes.

What do you recommend as the best tool / app for detecting if a neighborhood is safe or not?

A lot of apps (i.e. SpotCrime) come not so updated on crime alerts, etc

We're looking for some relatively quiet, newer, and SAFE neighborhoods for our senior family members :-)

Thanks so much!

[StealthRabbit]

Both Clark County Sheriff and Vancouver Police have current information.

If you want "newer" neighborhood, you are pretty safe.

Personally, I don't do 'newer', but if I did... (as a retiree / older...) I would consider my appointment / recreation locations for volunteering and shopping, THEN find a home location.

North (Mt Vista . near WSU, or Ridgefield, NW - Felida, East (= west Camas) will be quite safe and hopefully quiet. (Except for your neighbor's yappy dogs). Some people let their dogs outside at 8-9pm, and let them in at 8-9am and they bark all night (But the owners cannot hear them). 'Dogpatch' (Orchards region) has a lot of rentals / transient residents.

Vancouver areas I prefer are circled, non-preferred are 'X'. (These are existing, not new subdivisions)
https://www.city-data.com/forum/memb...hborhoods.html

If I were to live in town as a senior / non worker... I would rent from the Ft Vancouver Historical Reserve (Officer's Row) Walking distance to downtown, shopping, library, activity, transit center... park is busy (one) day / year.

https://www.cityofvancouver.us/messenger

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by xrave3

Hey everyone:

We're thinking about buying property in Vancouver WA area - to save on State taxes.

What do you recommend as the best tool / app for detecting if a neighborhood is safe or not?

A lot of apps (i.e. SpotCrime) come not so updated on crime alerts, etc

We're looking for some relatively quiet, newer, and SAFE neighborhoods for our senior family members :-)

Thanks so much!

There are lots of nice, safer neighborhoods. The problem of inventory right now. Will live in east Vancouver and feel it is vert safe. We're also in a new development with two other others just starting to be built. Check out the Si Ellen development. I guarantee the homes will sell fast and see some lots already reserved. Here's one link to the development. But there are multiple builders in there.

https://www.zillow.com/community/si-...29140145_plid/

There's also another one I don't know the name to which is just east of Si Ellen next to Velvet Acres.

I wouldn't completely disregard other neighborhoods that are a little older. Camas, Fishers Landing and parts of Washougal are very nice. The lakeshore homes off of Lacamas Lake are the high end where the rich and famous live along with some other places with great views. A lot depends on your budget and what you prefer. My favorite neighborhood is on the border of Camas and Washougal with amazing views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River. Finding a home there would be tough and you'd have to be lucky in terms of timing. Here's the general neighborhood, though not all homes are this large. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...1356870_zpid/?

Onn the westside, Felida and Salmon Creek are really nice. Another favorite is near the university up on the hill - Mt Vista. There are excellent views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens with some really scenic walking trails.


Derek

[texasdiver]

Vancouver is very much of a "what you see is what you get" sort of place. If a neighborhood looks nice and has well-maintained and well-groomed homes it very likely will be a nice safe neighborhood. If it looks sketchy, it probably is. Crime doesn't necessarily always follow demographics. But it tends to. Mostly because criminals and druggies tend to be poor and stupid and so end up concentrated in the parts of town that are the cheapest and least selective of tenants and such. See what parts of Vancouver are going to be most welcoming to you as a renter if you have a criminal record, horrible credit, and look like a meth dealer. Those are the parts to avoid.

Not every place in the country is like that. There are places like Houston, for example, where that isn't always the case and you can have a lot of problems spillover into nice areas and the character of neighborhoods can seem to change overnight with the lightning-fast pace of development.

On the other hand, even the nicest and most upscale neighborhoods get car prowls and other property crime because most criminals have wheels. But the actual streets and sidewalks are safe and friendly

[xrave3]

Thanks everyone for such help!

Curious- What about the neighborhoods in Pleasant Valley?

(This is located at the intersection of NE 72nd Ave. and NE 134th St. - it's the area just SE of Washington State University and NW of Curtain Creek Park)

Any insights would be appreciated!

cheers

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by xrave3

Thanks everyone for such help!

Curious- What about the neighborhoods in Pleasant Valley?

(This is located at the intersection of NE 72nd Ave. and NE 134th St. - it's the area just SE of Washington State University and NW of Curtain Creek Park)

Any insights would be appreciated!

cheers

It looks like they are doing a lot of new construction over there. It's generally a nice area especially as you get closer to the university and Salmon Creek. I would recommend driving any specific neighborhood you had in mind especially if its one of the new ones. Sometimes the homes can be pretty crammed together by builder design. They are trying to squeeze every penny out of every lot. And its more a matter of degrees in terms of what you like and can tolerate in being that close to your next door neighbor.

Derek

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by xrave3

...

Curious- What about the neighborhoods in Pleasant Valley?
...

I really like Pleasant Valley > Glenwood areas, and have friends living there (2) since the early 1980's.

Our neighbors (in the Colum. Gorge) lived in Pleasant Valley within sight of the school from 1970 - 2015.

Many of my fellow fruit farmers lived there too.

It's within 10 min to much of what you will ever need, has a variety of ages / properties and you are not forced into a subdivision situation. Soils (Sandy Loam) are great for gardening, and climate is much milder than east county. Try to stay out of a draw / lower elevation property (Colder). And as always, stay out of the trees and have BIG, SUNNY south side windows!!!

Try your different commutes, you should have several choices.

[trailtramp]

Anyone know the areas that are very prone to flooding? Somewaht challenging trying to get that info online. Will be there again within a week so thinking with the current storms happening we may stumble on areas we would want to avoid. Being by the river and anywhere with water and hiking trails are very desirable for us yet at same time sure don't want to be looking in areas that flood out.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by trailtramp

Anyone know the areas that are very prone to flooding? Somewaht challenging trying to get that info online. Will be there again within a week so thinking with the current storms happening we may stumble on areas we would want to avoid. Being by the river and anywhere with water and hiking trails are very desirable for us yet at same time sure don't want to be looking in areas that flood out.

Clark County Public Works Department web site has links to all the detailed flood maps for the county and all the information you would want to know. Including super detailed .pdf flood maps. Click the flooding link on the sidebar

https://clark.wa.gov/public-works

I don't think very much of Camas is in a flood zone except for some of the flat land just east of 192nd along Fisher Creek where you see flooding. But sometimes the streets in parts of downtown Camas flood during big fall rainstorms when leaves and debris clog the storm drains. That is an ongoing problem but not related to being in a flood zone per se.