Retiring and buying $450k house possible? (Seattle, Spokane: how much, new home, employment)
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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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After spending about $100 on plants in Portland, we had a nice lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Beaverton. Then we took a different route home to avoid the nasty Portland freeway traffic, and discovered Longview, WA which might be a good place for the OP to look at. Longview is about 45 miles north of Vancouver, where the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers meet. The median home price is just $378,359.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Nearby Kelso and Kalama may be a better choice than Longview for the 'crime concerns' of OP (Who doesn't want a small town...).
I really like the Carroll area (between the two), but it is rural. (Not desired by OP, but might be fine for the next reader.)
I'd wait for the current economic adjustment to filter out. I would not want to be stuck with a home in Longview, if I were in a situation of housing downturn. A friend who was doing private lending in 2008 ended up with a lot of defaults on new houses in Longview. He probably still has several for sale.
There are options (Look for an area near urban / medical which has good transportation and low traffic.)
Woodland (Cowlitz County side) might be worth a look if lower housing costs is the deciding factor, vs full urban.
If full urban living is desired, reduce housing needs and find a spot near your favorite escapes. (i.e open space, shopping, medical, foodie access, transportation hubs, art / market hubs). If I lived urban, I would be near a big park and community gardens where I could volunteer in outdoor activities. And probably live in a smaller home, or a MIL cottage / apartment adjoining a private home. Ideally, with retirees that travel a lot (similar to us 50%+ of the time). "Equity Share" would really interest me (not a popular concept in USA, but there are a few in Portland metro)
My last rate in WA was 1.475% on 200+% TMV. My income is too high to get senior deferral,(over $35k due to Roth Rolls) No veteran status which is a BIG thing in Texas. (A recent Texas transplant to WA on C-D quickly fled back to TX over the property tax situation.)
Just be wise and do your homework.
Oh, I am. I was expecting that the tax would most likely be based on the actual market value of the house. That would be OK since the rate is so much less than I pay in Texas. But if the valuation is way too high compared to market value that is a problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texasdiver
When we moved from Waco TX to Camas WA the value of our home nearly doubled for what was essentially a comparable home in a comparable neighborhood. However our property tax bill was almost identical. In other words, the higher property values and lower tax rates in WA essentially canceled out the lower property values and higher tax rates in TX and it all came out in the wash.
That is just a sample size of one. But roughly speaking I would guess that is going to be the experience. You will pay more for a comparable home in WA but your property taxes will be about equivalent to what they were in TX for a comparable home.
I could probably live with that. I just got my new appraisal from the county. The market value was up 16% this year but even that market value is way below the actual market value. The appraised value is even lower as that is capped at 10%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
Nearby Kelso and Kalama may be a better choice than Longview for the 'crime concerns' of OP (Who doesn't want a small town...).
I really like the Carroll area (between the two), but it is rural. (Not desired by OP, but might be fine for the next reader.)
......
If full urban living is desired, reduce housing needs and find a spot near your favorite escapes. (i.e open space, shopping, medical, foodie access, transportation hubs, art / market hubs).
I would say what I really like is suburban living that is close to amenities (day to day shopping, basic restaurants, needed services). But, I am OK with having to drive a bit to get to more specialized shopping that I don't often do. And, since we are older, I would not consider any place not within half an hour of an OK hospital (with a really good one within an hour).
Currently, we live in an area where all of that is within 15 minutes. I have multiple grocery stores less than 10 minutes away. The Amazon store is "far" away at 15 minutes. There are a few stores that I spend 30 or 45 minutes going to but not many. But -- we pay a lot for the privilege of that location.
Our house before this one was about an hour outside of Houston. The closest grocery store was 20 minutes. Closest major shopping was 45 minutes. (There was a good hospital within 30 minutes though). I hated the remoteness of it. I will never go back to it.
But I don't have to be as close in as I am where I am now.
I do like the Vancouver area for various reasons. I like the weather (rain is not a big issue for me). I like the natural beauty of the area. Most of the taxes are acceptable to me (although I have a bit of a concern about property tax increases over time). And, I want to live in a blue state.
There are a couple of negatives. We have also considered the Las Vegas area. Yes, I know it is quite different from Vancouver but it has a different mix of pros and cons. I am concerned about the earthquake risk in Vancouver. I am not so worried about dying in an earthquake which I think is a very low risk. I am more worried about the potential high cost of earthquake coverage and the high deductibles in terms of financial risk. So, lots of factors to weigh.
I think very few people in the Vancouver area have earthquake insurance, though I could be wrong. We do have earthquake insurance (I am from California originally), and I think it is $600/year.
I am sure there are nice areas of Longview. Just have not found them. Crime rate is reputedly high. It is probably more than an hour from major hospitals in Portland, but 30-40 minutes from hospitals in Clark County. We go through Longview to get to Oregon/Washington coast several times/year. Never have considered gOing there for a meal, although we sometimes go to Kalama or Castle Rock. As far as shopping, I think Longview has all the basic big box stores. There is a beautiful park around a lake in the center of LV. Property is cheaper in LV. Property overall,is cheaper in Cowlitz County than Clark County.
After spending about $100 on plants in Portland, we had a nice lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Beaverton. Then we took a different route home to avoid the nasty Portland freeway traffic, and discovered Longview, WA which might be a good place for the OP to look at. Longview is about 45 miles north of Vancouver, where the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers meet. The median home price is just $378,359.
If you are going to consider Longview then I would also consider Salem OR which is the same distance south of Portland as Longview is north. My parents retired there for 20 years before moving into an actual retirement community in Canby. Median home price is $424,000 which is cheaper than Vancouver's median home price of $505,633 and it is a FAR more attractive community than Longview for a whole lot of reasons. It is the state capital and has a university so there is more cultural happenings and it is more the size of Vancouver than Longview. The coast is just an hour away and the mountains are close. Salem is cheaper than anything in the Portland metro because it is just a bit too far outside reasonable commuting range.
You can find everything on your list in Salem, there's a good local hospital and with a metro population of 400,000 you have all the shopping you need.
You could pick up something like this in West Salem which would be 5 min from grocery shopping. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...48510661_zpid/ and less than 10 min from downtown Salem where there is lots of shopping and restaurants. Salem hospital is 9 min away. That particular precinct was +17 for Biden in the 2020 election so it is reasonably blue. The older more central parts of Salem on the other side of the river are quite a bit more blue, but you won't find houses under 30 years old over there.
This one is newer and within a couple blocks of grocery shopping: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...80479437_zpid/ That particular neighborhood was Biden +19 but it quickly turns red as you get further out into the countryside.
2022 property taxes are just over $4,000 for both of the above two houses.
Both of the above two Salem houses that I randomly picked are within 10 min of Salem Hospital which is a big 450 bed regional medical center: https://salemhealth.org/
This is your go-to resource for figuring out how red or blue a particular community is. You can drill down to the specific precinct for any address in America: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ction-map.html
Last edited by texasdiver; 04-26-2022 at 11:21 PM..
If you are going to consider Longview then I would also consider Salem OR which is the same distance south of Portland as Longview is north. My parents retired there for 20 years before moving into an actual retirement community in Canby. Median home price is $424,000 which is cheaper than Vancouver's median home price of $505,633 and it is a FAR more attractive community than Longview for a whole lot of reasons. It is the state capital and has a university so there is more cultural happenings and it is more the size of Vancouver than Longview. The coast is just an hour away and the mountains are close. Salem is cheaper than anything in the Portland metro because it is just a bit too far outside reasonable commuting range.
You can find everything on your list in Salem, there's a good local hospital and with a metro population of 400,000 you have all the shopping you need.
You could pick up something like this in West Salem which would be 5 min from grocery shopping. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...48510661_zpid/ and less than 10 min from downtown Salem where there is lots of shopping and restaurants. Salem hospital is 9 min away. That particular precinct was +17 for Biden in the 2020 election so it is reasonably blue. The older more central parts of Salem on the other side of the river are quite a bit more blue, but you won't find houses under 30 years old over there.
This one is newer and within a couple blocks of grocery shopping: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...80479437_zpid/ That particular neighborhood was Biden +19 but it quickly turns red as you get further out into the countryside.
2022 property taxes are just over $4,000 for both of the above two houses.
Both of the above two Salem houses that I randomly picked are within 10 min of Salem Hospital which is a big 450 bed regional medical center: https://salemhealth.org/
This is your go-to resource for figuring out how red or blue a particular community is. You can drill down to the specific precinct for any address in America: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ction-map.html
Gheesh, you're going to talk me into retiring in Salem some day! lol
Yeah, its way nicer than Longview. I wonder how Oregon treats retirees compared to Washington? I guess one has to pay state income tax. But maybe property tax is a little better? I'm sure that depends on many factors like the size of one's income, size and type of property, etc...
I know you love Camas and we enjoy Vancouver. But all these things have to be taken into consideration depending on one's retirement goals, finances and preferences.
There's some other really nice outskirt towns in Oregon such as Newberg. We loved Corvallis and almost moved there. But prices have really shot up in the past few years just like here.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140
After spending about $100 on plants in Portland, we had a nice lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Beaverton. Then we took a different route home to avoid the nasty Portland freeway traffic, and discovered Longview, WA which might be a good place for the OP to look at. Longview is about 45 miles north of Vancouver, where the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers meet. The median home price is just $378,359.
If I had known that you were going to Portland, I would have asked to you buy for me a toto bidet seat.
However, wife, couldn't wait any longer (our previous unit is getting flakey). DS didn't stop in Portland after climbing Mt Hood last weekend. Yesterday 50 year family friend in Beaverton, made a surprised visit yesterday, and didn't tell us.
DW, gave up, and today bought a bidet seat at Costco. I would've chipped in for your trip gas or charging, that is unless you are going to take a PU, then all offers are off
OP: Being close to Oregon is nice, to avoid paying Washington's sales tax. Vancouver's 8.5%; Redmond's 10.1%, Seattle's 10.1% .
Vote for no stairs, if possible. If stairs, a stairlift, is really very worthwhile. My father had one. Not that expensive.
I lived in Salem for 64 years. West Salem for 54yrs. I commuted to Portland, Beaverton, Columbia Blvd. I spent more time on the road than I spent with DS when he was growing up.
I wouldn't give up on Vancouver so quickly. It's always better to buy in the nicest area you can afford even if a bit smaller place than something bigger in a less desirable area. That's especially important in retirement when you don't want to have to drive an hour+ to get decent medical services and other amenities.
Longview is not in the mix at all. It is too small and remote for me.
MtnSurfer -- Haven't given up on Vancouver and if I do it really won't be due to thinking I can't find a place. I do there are options there. Just lots of factors to deciding where we think we will enjoy living the most.
Texasdiver -- I actually spent a lot of time considering Salem. It had a lot of advantages. Big enough to be able to deal with day to day amenities there and not that far from the big city when needed.
Tax issues for Oregon aren't terrible. SS income is not taxed which is good but IRA withdrawals are. The bigger issue for me, though, is the paltry asset protection for you homestead in Oregon. I am perhaps spoiled by Texas where the homestead is completely protected. I recognize that most states don't have that kind of protection. Of the states we've seriously looked at, Oregon has by far the worse protection. I am risk averse so that really bothers me.
Longview is not in the mix at all. It is too small and remote for me.
MtnSurfer -- Haven't given up on Vancouver and if I do it really won't be due to thinking I can't find a place. I do there are options there. Just lots of factors to deciding where we think we will enjoy living the most.
Texasdiver -- I actually spent a lot of time considering Salem. It had a lot of advantages. Big enough to be able to deal with day to day amenities there and not that far from the big city when needed.
Tax issues for Oregon aren't terrible. SS income is not taxed which is good but IRA withdrawals are. The bigger issue for me, though, is the paltry asset protection for you homestead in Oregon. I am perhaps spoiled by Texas where the homestead is completely protected. I recognize that most states don't have that kind of protection. Of the states we've seriously looked at, Oregon has by far the worse protection. I am risk averse so that really bothers me.
Get yourself an umbrella policy. They are cheap and you should have one anyway. Then live wherever you want to live.
As for OR? I have an enormous extended family and probably have over a dozen elderly relatives retired and living in OR and some in WA. Honestly neither taxes nor homestead protection has ever been mentioned in my memory as reasons to live one place or the other.
I'm not claiming Salem is the best place to live in the PNW. But it is one of the better bargains in the greater extended Portland metro area. When we had the opportunity to pretty much live wherever we wanted we chose Camas and we are happy with our choice. But housing prices have certainly skyrocketed here in the past 5 years. Our home value according to Zillow has almost doubled compared to what we paid in 2016. Ridiculous.
We are almost certainly going to retire in place. With the recent runup in home prices and mortgage rates, moving would be a financially ridiculous decision at this point. I don't envy those who are trying to move here now. I thought prices were already high back in 2016.
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