Need relocation advice from Northwestern Washingtonians!

Shalom from Israel, everyone! Well, after nearly three wonderful years here, the crap has hit the fan in the life of DH and me. In short, after months of going through endless series of tests and examinations and physical therapy, DH was refused to be prescribed medical marijuana by the Israeli Health Ministry, despite being fully supported for it by his family doctor, a pain clinic, and three specialists. As he has Crohn's disease, he is unable to tolerate any kind of NSAID, painkiller, or other anti-inflamatory medication. Appeals to the board are not possible, and the decision is final. In other words, he's SOL. We don't understand why he was refused, but there seems to be no recourse at this point.

As such, barring some kind of a miracle turnaround (this being Israel, we won't entirely rule that out), we will be shortly moving back to America to Washington state, which has my (aging) family members living there, as well as legal marijuana. He will be able to be pain-free and be able to work full time--neither of which he is able to do now. My heart is breaking, but if we're going to be moving back, we're going to be going where he can get legal treatment and where we can be near my family.

So here's what I need: advice on choosing an AFFORDABLE community somewhere along the I-5 corridor, between North Seattle and up to, but not including, Bellingham, Washington. (Bellingham rents are already too pricey, it's too far away from Seattle, and doesn't offer enough work--my mother lives there and we've already checked it out thoroughly.) We will be bringing our telecommuting jobs with us from Israel, which will be enough to support us for awhile, but looking down the road, we need to be prepared to find physically-based work (i.e. office jobs) if necessary. So, isolated, rural communities too far (i.e. more than a 20 minute highway drive) from an employment hub (e.g. Everett) are out. Ideally, we'd also like to be in a town that either has, or is not too far from, a synagogue. When we lived in rural Nevada, we had to commute 75 miles one way to go to shul, and that's just not acceptable anymore. We want to be able to be involved in our temple's community life on a regular basis, so they need to be only a town or two away.

We will probably rent a very temporary, month-to-month place at first, so we have somewhere to land with our two Israeli cats (!), then search for a longer-term rental. We're hoping to be able to rent a 3 bed, 2 bath house, at around $1,000 USD a month or less.

We are very fixed on being in this geographical area, as I have my stepmother in north Seattle, and my mother and stepfather in Bellingham. They are all getting older and do not feel comfortable driving in Seattle traffic into the center of the city, much less further south. We very much want to be close to them and make it easy for everyone to visit each other--not just us always doing the driving. :treadmill:

I was born in Seattle, Washington, but have never lived there since I left it at age three. My experience of the area I am talking about is really limited to just driving back and forth between Bellingham and north Seattle, never really stopping except for gas or meals. So my impressions consist of: Airport, Space Needle, U District, Shoreline, Burger King, senior citizen home, Everett, bridge, flat, tulips, casino, outlet mall, nice rest stop where they sometimes give you free coffee, mountains, twisty roads, Bellingham., Canadian border, IKEA." That's it! :)

Any advice or suggestions you can give would be very much appreciated. I know we have a LOT of Washingtonians in this group, and even though it breaks my heart to be leaving Israel, there are far worse places we could be ending up than in beautiful Washington!

Have you looked at Sedro-Woolley? Its been a few years since I've been there but the last time I was there rents seemed cheaper there and super easy access.
So sorry that Israel isn't working out for you, hoping that WA is better for your needs.

I agree. Sedro-Wolley sounds good; especially, if you want to run up into the mountains to go hiking.

That stretch of I-5 has built up considerably, for some of the same reasons you state; i.e. too far north or south are too expensive. From Marysville to Mount Vernon has become much more suburban in the last decade. Checking craigslist for jobs usually pulls up a lot of casino stuff around Bow. Mt. Vernon has lots of convenience, and the stores to go with it.

It may be a bit out of your criteria, but Anacortes has recently revamped itself. It is much more than just a ferry terminal. Downtown is almost trendy. The big-box stores are kept in their own cluster (almost). There's an actual industry in the shipyards.

Seattle's housing bubble is bubbling. Something like half of the metro-Seattle houses sold at or above list price. I don't know if that's happening up the corridor (it isn't happening here on Whidbey) but it might be a reason to rent.

Tell us if we're helping!

http://www.johnlscott.com

There are lots of towns between Everett and Bellingham--none of which I know anything about. You might take a look at Bothell or Mt. Vernon. But I really think you can't go wrong, whatever you choose. Rent first and take time to explore.

Wow, thanks for the replies, everyone! I've never heard of some of these places, and we will definitely investigate them online right away! Thanks again, and any additional suggestions are also welcome, e.g. counties with good social services, or great community colleges, cool art scene. ..

I second Anacortes.

Whidbey Island's Oak Harbor may have some options, also, but it is just a bit further past Anacortes over the Deception Pass Bridge. Someone one on another message board I frequent lives on Whidbey Island and is also active within their Jewish community. It's a short beautiful drive from Anacortes to Oak Harbor.

I think you are going to have a hard time finding a 3br house in that area for under $1000. I just did a quick search on craigslist for Snohomish county 3brs in that price range and there are almost no listings. More listings if you go up to $1500, or drop down to 2br.

Monroe/Stanwood/Marysville/Arlington seem to have some options. This place looks kind of cute, though it is basically an apartment over a garage, rather than a proper house:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/apa/4598782156.html

They might be too small to have a significant Jewish community, though.

Sorry things have taken this turn but hope your return to the PNW is smooth and successful. Maybe I'll be following in your footsteps before too long -- still waiting to see what happens with my job situation and some other family-related issues that might make it possible for us to leave Beijing.

Rentals near Mt. Vernon:
http://skagit.craigslist.org/apa/

Don't have any suggestions, but want to let you know how sorry I am that your husband is suffering and that you will have to leave where you are not living. Wishing you all of the best.

Thanks, Tussiemussies, and everyone who responded! The links were very helpful, and we are doing some very deep thinking about the situation. We hope we will be able to stay here in Israel, but if not, we'll just have to look at it as one of those "Man plans, God laughs" situations, and make the best of it. To tell the truth, a working holiday away from the war here, and close to our families, might just be what the doctor ordered! :|(

By the way, just as an update, yesterday DH's doctor got to the bottom of why he was refused treatment by 'the committee,' which actually turned out to be just ONE doctor at the Ministry of Health. If you can believe this, the doctor "didn't like" the qualifications of the (highly specialized and legally permitted) doctor who gave her final approval for DH's application. DH's own doctor, who did the sleuthing to find out what had happened, was both dumbfounded and extremely angry. The clerk he spoke to on the phone, while DH was in his office for his appointment, was so rude that she refused to give DH's doctor the name of the Ministry of Health doctor who made the decision. "I don't give patients the name of the doctor who makes the decisions," she shouted at him. When DH's doctor explained to her that he was the patient's DOCTOR, not the patient himself, she only grudgingly and rudely finally revealed the man's name.

When DH's doctor demanded that she give him the phone number of the "decider" doctor, she refused to reveal it. When DH's doctor said, "fine, then you tell Dr. So and So to call me immediately at this number," she hung up on him! He has received no call yet--no surprise.

Holy crap, the mind boggles. It's Kafka-esque, truly. We worked SO hard and waited SO long to get here, and have put everything we have on the line to be here, and if this stupidity is what finally defeats us, it would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Sorry for the moaning here, but this is really a messed-up situation at the moment.

Why do you need 3 Bedrooms?

Good question! Both DH and I work for the same company, and we are often scheduled at the same time to do recorded voiceover narrations for news pieces. But sometimes, one of us is scheduled to work (at the same time) doing "moderation," which involves banging on the computer keyboard and making too much noise to be in the same room while the other is recording. Both of us often work very late-night shifts doing moderation or narration, which means it would keep the off-shift spouse awake, which precludes us from using the bedroom as an office. So, the setup we have now is, we have one bedroom for us to sleep in, a second bedroom we've made into an office (where both of us use our computers and keyboards), and a third bedroom as a recording studio.

We could get by with two bedrooms if we moved our "office" into the living room--a drag, but it might have to be done. The most important thing is that we have at least one space where we can do our voiceover work in QUIET, which is ideally removed enough so that the one not narrating would be able to walk around the apartment (on tiptoe, of course), go to sleep. And a bedroom, of course.

I live in NW WA. Like others, I suggest Everett, Marysville, and Anacortes. Best places for jobs.

Sedro Woolley (sp?) is lovely but there's only low-paying jobs there. Same with Whatcom and Skagit counties.

If you have medical skills, Bellingham is good. They have a huge medical campus because Canadians in BC who do not want to wait for medical attention in socialized-medicine Canada get treated in Bham. There's also a university, community college, and tech college there. Public transportation is cheap.

I don't think you can rent a house for the price you want in a community that has job potential.

Take a look at CraigsList.org for both rentals and job offerings to get an idea of what's available.

Another great demographic research tool is ZipSkinny.com You enter a zip code and get buckets of info about population, industry types, etc.

There's jewish temples all over NW WA, especially in the larger towns I named.

Oak Harbor is too long a drive to Seattle, even if you take the ferry route. And the wives of navy guys fill the job market.

Very artsy Friday Harbor is a ferry ride from Anacortes. Plus you could take a ferry from Friday Harbor to Victoria, Canada for fun excursions.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Selah

Good question! Both DH and I work for the same company, and we are often scheduled at the same time to do recorded voiceover narrations for news pieces. But sometimes, one of us is scheduled to work (at the same time) doing "moderation," which involves banging on the computer keyboard and making too much noise to be in the same room while the other is recording. Both of us often work very late-night shifts doing moderation or narration, which means it would keep the off-shift spouse awake, which precludes us from using the bedroom as an office. So, the setup we have now is, we have one bedroom for us to sleep in, a second bedroom we've made into an office (where both of us use our computers and keyboards), and a third bedroom as a recording studio.

We could get by with two bedrooms if we moved our "office" into the living room--a drag, but it might have to be done. The most important thing is that we have at least one space where we can do our voiceover work in QUIET, which is ideally removed enough so that the one not narrating would be able to walk around the apartment (on tiptoe, of course), go to sleep. And a bedroom, of course.

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It sounds to me you have been spoiled a bit by comparatively low housing costs in Israel, which seem to get you a lot of bang for your buck. Given the extremely high cost of housing in the Seattle area, I think you may find it pays to think creatively about what kind of space would function appropriately for your work requirements. First of all, have you considered how your change of time zones is going to affect your work pattern? Presumably you don't work 24/7. Maybe with a move back to the US there will be less need for the late night work. Also, how does the scheduling work and do you have the ability to decline certain assignments if there is a conflict? If you have the ability to pick and choose, then maybe you can just refuse work that creates this kind of hassle. The difference in cost between a 2 or 3br and a 1br might make up for the loss in income.

At any rate, a 3br for two people seems excessive in this situation, and is going to be very costly anywhere within reasonable commuting distance of Seattle. Some other alternatives might be:

1) A place with an attic, basement, closed-in sun porch, outdoor shed or garage that could be fixed up a bit and used as a studio
2) A place with a large eat-in kitchen or a separate dining room that can be closed off and used either for moderation or voice over
3) A place with a large walk-in closet (with a door -- can be added if there isn't one already) that can be used for the voiceover work. You could then use master as main office space, and the other person can sleep in second bedroom if you have one or on the couch when needed if all you can afford is a one-bedroom
4) Earplugs. I'm actually not joking. This might be the most cost-effective solution of all.

Since the trend in what people are looking for in housing is now leaning firmly toward "open concept" you might want to focus your search on older houses/apartments that are more likely to have smaller, closed off spaces. Might help to bring prices down, too, if you are looking for something that others don't really want.

Depending on where you end up, you might also find it more cost effective to rent separate office space so that you can keep your living space private/quiet/separate. A separate office would be a clear business expense and deductible for tax purposes, whereas it is always a bit tricky to deduct a home office unless it is a 100% dedicated space.

Good points, Lhamo! The only thing I would disagree with you on about Israel is that we have low rents here--they are eye-wateringly high for this part of the world in general, and we do not have large salaries at all. We are paying more for our old, crappy, literally-falling-to-pieces, one-bathroom apartment, for example, than we were paying for a gated community apartment in Boca Raton, Florida, before we left. But you're right, Seattle rents are high, high, and we're going to have to compromise on all sorts of things: square footage, layout, amenities, location, etc. And you're right...we figured out that if we got an apartment that had a master suite with a walk-in closet, that could be our narration booth. Since we'd be working in the daytime, we'd both be awake! Hallelujah!

Fortunately, I've also been doing some research online about other general costs of living in the Seattle area (food, CSA's, the beauty that is Craig's List, utilities, car expenses, etc.), and, as they are MUCH lower than they are in Israel, it turns out we can afford around $1500 a month instead of $1,000 a month. That gives us a lot more wiggle-room. We've found a few houses for rent in the Mountlake Terrace area (which is our ideal spot, since it's where my stepmother lives), and around Lynnwood, that are nicely chopped up into smaller bedrooms, which might work, as you suggest. Truth be told, DH is far more fussy than me about this stuff--he demands comfort in his living space, period, so he's really going to have to have the final say.

Yes, if we move back, we'd love to benefit from the time zone difference: no more 2 a.m. shifts, and it would allow us to do something in the evenings besides work--like make friends and take classes! Right now we've become somewhat socially isolated, as many of our friends are retirees. They seem to plan events either when we're working, or when we're recuperating from late night shifts. The truth is, we don't (well, at least I don't) have a lot of time to socialize anyway, and since this is a very relaxed beach community, lots of get-togethers are planned at the last minute. Since we have to put in our availability to work a week in advance, it's only rarely that we happen to be off-shift when these little events happen.

Interesting idea about renting an office space. It might work, depending on the things you mentioned. Problem is, we both love working in our pajamas, and having the cats and the laundry and the kitchen right where we work! That's where we have definitely become spoiled--I never want to commute any further than a bike ride away to any job! :)

Thanks again for your thoughtful reply, Lhamo!

UPDATE: Well, things keeps changing again and again. DH left for America over two weeks ago to do a "reconnaissance mission" in NW Washington to check out communities in Seattle, Everett, and in-between. He was going to stay with my stepmother in Seattle when he first arrived, but she wasn't ready to receive him, as he'd arrived a few days earlier than expected. (He'd bought a car on eBay, flew to Chicago to pick it up, then drove it out to Washington.) So, he stayed with my mother and stepmother in Bellingham.

To my astonishment, he made the unilateral decision to not even look at communities that he'd agreed to investigate, but rather to pick Bellingham as a place to live. He also chose not to return to Israel, leaving me to sell everything, pack up, and close the place down. It has been a very stressful time and we have been fighting a lot about his "choices" and the fallout from them.

Not that Bellingham is a bad place--it's really come on a lot since my mother moved there over ten years ago. So it'll be OK. We found a two-bedroom apartment with a walk-in closet that we can use as a recording studio for $975 a month, in a great location very close to my mother and stepmother. Another great thing about it is that my stepsister and her partner are already living in the same apartment complex! So we'll be close to family, and if we want some big city entertainment we can always go to Vancouver or to Seattle.

So, now it's all systems go for getting this place closed down, over and out. Time to ditch the flip-flops and stock up on Gore-Tex!

Sorry it has been a stressful transition for you but I'm sure you'll love Bellingham! A bit far from family for us to consider it as a place to settle, but otherwise I'm sure I'd love it. Amazing mushroom hunting in the N. Cascade foothills, too. Jealous!

So sorry that something so dumb (the people at the Ministry of Health) is turning your whole lives upside down.

As far as Crohn's treatment--it's not simply a choice between anti-inflammatories and marijuana, you know. What about biologics? There are several indicated for Crohn's: Cimzia, Remicade, Tysabri all have indications for CD. Have you talked to your doctor about those?

Selah, apartment sounds ideal, and so close to family--that will be very nice.
I don't know much about medical marijuana but it sure seems easy to get in Washington state!

Medical marijuana has been readily available for a long time. WA also just legalized recreational marijuana; and Bellingham had more shops than Seattle for a while.

Selah - Congrats on the move even if DH's abrupt choice to not return to help pack up, and of his choice on a place to live, it's at least a great choice. Bellingham is one of my favorite town in WA and probably the place I would chose to live if I moved there. Love the drive along Chuckanut Drive to Laribee SP, the trails right in Bellingham. Lake Whatcom, the stunning views of both Mt Baker and the San Juan's (and the fact that you are close to Mt Baker and the San Juan's),U of W and the big arboretum and park, the cute downtown area, the closeness (and also the distance) to the 2 big cities, the college vibe with lots of interesting activities to do, Fairhaven District and park, the ferry terminal for a quick trip, even the weather seems less rainy there (maybe in a rain shadow or something). Just one of my favorite places. Good luck with your move!

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words of support, everyone! DH is having a wonderful time gathering, squirrel-like, things for our new place. After completely freaking me out by spending (without consulting me first) literally thousands of dollars on brand new stuff (bed, computer, television, linens) after I begged him to look on Craigs List first, he's finally calming down and has begun attending estate sales. Today, he got a nearly-brand-new, barely used upright vacuum cleaner (a Dyson knockoff) for $12! And he's been checking out the consignment stores for used furniture, and is in happy astonishment at the high quality and low prices of the goods. It's definitely a buyers' market at the moment. My mother has been going nuts in a good way, using this as an opportunity to downsize and declutter, and is giving us all sorts of cleaning supplies and home maintenance stuff.

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Originally Posted by Spartana

Selah -Bellingham is one of my favorite town in WA and probably the place I would chose to live if I moved there.

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Agreed. I wanted to see Bellingham for years after reading The Living, by Annie Dillard. Finally made it out there five years ago.
Selah, if you haven't read the book, I strongly recommend it.

This all sounds great, Selah. After reading this thread, I want to go out there. Glad to hear your husband found some good deals at estate sales. I'm looking forward to hearing how you like it once you arrive.

Update: The two cats and I made it. The airline left one of my two suitcases behind, which naturally contained my desktop computer I use for work. The apartment is nice...DH did a great job kitting it out. First meal in was at a Mexican restaurant, last night was at a Chinese buffet. Yum!

Wishing you the best time in your new location. It sounds ideal as a base to work from and live in. Having built-in family contacts is great.

Welcome to Washington! (It's better here, as I always tell out of state friends. :welcome:)

Thanks, Razz and JaneV2.0! Mt. Baker is completely covered in snow and the rivers are higher than I've ever seen them. And yet, our apartment is surrounded on four sides by other apartments and has great insulation, so we haven't even turned on the heat yet. It's so great to be physically comfortable in one's own place--a big change from winters in Israel! Everyone has been incredibly nice and welcoming, and very helpful and very polite, not to mention efficient. A soft landing after a hard journey, to be sure!

Welcome back to the States! I hope your transition goes smoothly, Selah!

Welcome back! and ditto good wishes for your transitioning.

That's good news, Selah. I'm glad to hear things are going so well, and that you made it. I lived in Seattle until I was six years old. I loved it. When we moved to CA, I cried everyday. I wanted to go back...we were in Laurelhurst.

Welcome to Washington from me as well! Hope you are enjoying our wonderful fall colors.