What is the best area to live in the state of Washington?

Question

I don't like expensive homes, or traffic. But yet I do want to be at least within 15 minutes of a mall! Where do you recommend?

Answer 1

Bellingham, WA sounds about perfect for you.

It is located about 75 miles north of the Seattle area, and 45 miles south of Vancouver, B.C. and is a small city of around 100,000 total area population.

Housing in Bellingham runs about 60-70% of the costs in the Seattle metro area, and commute is a breeze in comparison. There is a decent mall, the Bellis Fair Mall; a good downtown area, and most of the big box stores are within a few block section near the mall.

Bellingham has a lot of cultural and community events and organizations, is a half hour drive to Mt. Baker, has all kinds of water sports, access to winter sports, and is a nature lovers dream.

http://www.bellingham.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham,_Washington
http://www.cob.org/index.htm
http://www.bellingham.org/content/content.asp?ContentId=143
http://www.wunderground.com/US/WA/Bellingham.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Bellingham-Washington.html

Answer 2

LOL, I think you'll find expensive homes in every corner of
this state and everywhere else. Property is as high as I think it
should be going. Even the pre WWII homes are going for
exhorbant prices now. But aside from that, I think you'd be very happy in our little corner of the state. We're in Vancouver
which is at the Oregon/Washington border. Some consider
our town to be a bedroom community to Portland, Oregon.
Just across the river. There's more of a rural feel to this area.
And yet we can hop across the bridge to Portland for the
feel of 'big city'. It's there, you'll find the traffic. But over here,
we are spoiled. No traffic jams over here. The streets are
always freely flowing. You'll find one large mall, at Vancouver,
Mall, and there are countless smaller centers around for
theatres and major chain restaurants, book stores and pet
centers.
And the few things you might not be able to find, you're
bound to just across the river in Portland. They do have a few
areas known for their antique shops, there's a large zoo,
and OMZI the science center, and an even larger mall than Vancouver has. But we have everything right here in our little
corner of the state. And it suits us just fine!

Answer 3

If you don't like expensive homes stay away from western Washington. If the only thing of interest to you is the mall, Spokane sounds perfect.

Answer 4

Seattle. You can try the Northgate area, but Expensive homes will all depend on where you are from. If you are comming from New York City, or San Francisco then everything in Seattle will sound fairly reasonable.

Answer 5

everett washington. Its 20 minutes from seattle washington and there is the everett mall right by it.

Answer 6

not seattle.
you'll never get a home from cheap here.
try the south sound.

Answer 7

DownTown !