First time posting on /trv/. Please forgive me if this is too off subject.
Hubby and I are wanting to eventually end up somewhere in Oregon or Washington (most likely Oregon near Portland or right on the coast).
We currently live in Tennessee, at least 2500 miles away from where we'd want to move to. I wanted to know if anyone had any long-distance moving advice, or any advice on living in Oregon or Washington. Are they not nearly as nice to live in as they seem (we haven't seen either in person yet)? What are the best suburbs to live in? We're not having children, so schools aren't an issue.
This would be years in the future, so we have time to prepare. We would most likely visit the area first before we moved.
Thank you for any help.
>>1134781
Heya, my wife and I moved from Canada to Texas last year. In our case it lead to us tripling our annual income, allowed us to buy a house, and got us away from shit tier winters.
Stuff to look at, in order:
>why do you want to move?
More money? Better work-life balance? Have you been there before so you know you'll actually like it? Is there another place closer by that would give you similar benefits?
>Yes I want to move, how do the financials look?
Will both of you be able to find jobs in your field right away? Will you make more or less, what kind of place will you be able to afford? Run a few different scenarios, from best to absolute worst case (both of you on minimum wage jobs) and see if you are happy with the result.
>Look ahead 5 and 10 years
Think a bit about your long term goals. Do you want kids? Are you ok with the grandparents only being around a handful of times a year? Are you in an area that has good schools and good opportunities for your kid? This might be overkill, but moving is such a pain in the ass that my wife and I only wanted to do it once, so we put a lot of thought into this one.
>Start the planning
Now that you know that moving is in your best interest, time to set a date. My wife and I settled on one year due to immigration hoops, yours will probably be faster. Y'all said that it would be "a few years", just pick a date and make it happen!
>sell your shit
Start downsizing. Donate or sell extra clothes, furniture, and items you aren't fond off. If you have more than one car, it's probably easier to sell one than driving both across the country, but run the numbers for yourself to be sure. Hold off on buying anything that would be a pain in the ass to move
>get a job lined up.
Start looking a month or so before your move date. Apply to everything possible and ask about relocation in your interviews, but don't press it. Take your time and hold out for the best position possible. Once the offer is signed, pull the trigger.
>>1134781
I live in washington, albeit not on the coast.
I take most of my vacations going to either Portland or down the Oregon coast somewhere. Its all super beautiful, and if you love clam chowder and other seafood thats fresh, even better.
Really the western sides of both the states are basically the same, rainy, trees, beaches, Mountains, liberals, hipsters, etc. So where you want to move will not be as dificult as where you can get a job doing what ever it is you do.
The eastern sides while great for many reasons, besides being biased because im living here. Its more conservative, its a more dry and hot climate, lots of farms, so its almost a whole different place onces you cross the mountains. However we have rivers and lakes and everyone is equally into the outdoors. Thats truely what both these states are about.
Portland to seattle is just a few hours. If you live in either of the states and you want to go vacation, go snowboarding, hiking, camping, fishing. Litterly nothing is very much more than 4-6 hours away from you.
Oregon
>No sales tax, the price you see is what you pay
WA
>No state income tax
>better gun laws
TLDR; This list could go on and on for both, so figure out what you want out of life, what your jobs dictate needing as far as city size or location, and then narrow down the list
>>1135309
I'm in a similar situation to yours. So, I'm thinking of doing the "best of both worlds" -- live in southern WA (no state income tax) and do grocery shopping, etc. in OR (no sales tax). Any anons familiar with Vancouver, WA as a place to live?
Fuck off, the Northwest is full. Please no more transplants.
^ real edgy bro
>>1135340
its not edgy for him to be tired of everything getting more expensive
>>1135324
Im not familiar with Vancouver other than driving through it. I live more in the South eastern part, Richland specifically. Its 45 min away from Oregon so i always head down there if i wanna do any larger shopping trips. It really does save alot of money, also WA has a shit load of alcohol taxes now, so buying Booze in oregon is usually the way to go aswell now so i bang that out on trips down there too.
The Tri Cities (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco)where i live is in my opinions one of the best places to live. We experienced no economic downturn durring the 07-08 Financial collapse. We have millions of government dollars being funneled through this area due to Hanford. The area is booming, it has changed so much over the last 10 years and is constantly expanding, housing cant keep up with demand, and jobs are everywhere for nearly everything. Especially anything STEM, or enviornmental related that can be used through the Hanford cleanup.
Any other questions ill check back and answer im
>>1135062
>>1135610
Thanks for the response. I've been to Seattle several times (parents used to live there), and of course up and down the OR and WA coasts. I like both states quite a lot and am OK with the weather. I thought Vancouver looked good (never been there, though) because it's so close to Portland, but I'm 100% OK with somewhere else. I work from home so access to jobs isn't important for me. What's ideal is reasonably close to a large city+ reasonably close to the coast+good access to a variety of food (wife really likes to cook)+reasonable cost of living. If not Vancouver, is there anywhere else in SE or SW WA that you can recommend?
>>1135714
not really, based on that Vancouver probably will work out the best for you.
>>1135327
I was born and raised in Oregon and I hate all the arrogant jackasses like yourself who think the PNW is some magical wonderland and everyone outside of it sucks. News flash bruh, you suck, the PNW sucks (except during the summer and early/mid fall) and your garbage attitude about "muh city, no outsiders allowed" taints the place into a shithole.
After I graduated college, I left for Arizona and it's 100x better than the PNW for the sole reason that people like you aren't there. You're jackass faggots who think they're more cultured, tolerant, progressive, blah blah blah than the rest of the US.
To OP:
>we havent seen either in person yet?
Visit the cities you want to live in. Try to visit for atleast a week during each season. When I went to Arizona, everybody was like "I love the rain!" but they fail to realize that Washington and Oregon are gloomy, dreary, rainy and depressing for 6-8 months of the fucking year. Seasonal depression is real and it'll hit you harder than you think. Don't make 1 or 2 trips when it'll be beautiful and give you a skewed opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous in the summertime, but that's my memory of growing up in the summers when my friends and I wandered in the forest and didn't need to account for having jobs or finding things to do aside from literally smoking weed and wandering around in the forest.
>cost of living
Way too high. Some of the highest in the country. It's not even because of out of state transplants, it's because of the shitty state and local elected officials pissing away funds on bullshit and coming up short when money is actually needed. The river that runs through Portland? Would never touch it with a 10 foot pole. Industrial chemical dumping, sewage runs into it, it's literally shit.
I'm not trying to keep you out of Oregon or Washington, but when I left it was the happiest day of my life. Fuck that place.
