So the work I do is 100% remote now. I moved to Southern California because of an industry that has in part moved to remote work. My only requirements are a temperate climate, nature access and hopefully a blue-ish state. Is there a place out there that makes sense financially? I’m hoping to buy a house less then 500k. I don’t need access to large cities as I honestly don’t do anything. The only requirement I can think of is access to solid internet as I stream full screen video for what I do.
I’m currently looking at Michigan and Virginia as options.
South of Seattle (South King or North Pierce counties, or even further south, closer to Olympia) gets occasional snow in the winter, and occasional 100+ degree days in the summer. Summer is gorgeous FTMP, with temps around 75-80 most days. Oct-Mar can be rough if you’re prone to seasonal depression, from the lack of sunshine. Plan to vacation somewhere sunny for a week some time in January or February, and you’ll do better.
I will say this specific area is pretty rural and red, vs the city centers closer to Seattle and Tacoma.
Michigan gets frigid winters, doesn’t it?
Michigan definitely gets cold if you’re north. Places like Holland, MI seem a bit warmer
Shitload of snow too though, but that is all of Michigan
I don’t mind a bit of snow, especially considering I don’t commute or go anywhere
Lol it can be a lot some times but if you’re working from home you kinda get to choose to go out in it so not nearly as painful. Michigan is awesome.
If you don’t mind the snow, I can strongly recommend south east Michigan. I love it here. You could get a nice home with a large yard, especially if you go a little more rural. You are also likely going to be within an hour of DTW airport, which is a delta hub so you can fly to a lot of places direct.
Take a look at Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Ferndale.
Thanks! Really feeling Michigan as an option
Give it 10 years. With climate change we may be in the 50s and 60s all winter long.
Sad state of affairs for the world unfortunately have guided my choices in this matter
That’s really farther South or East, really. Olympia is largely “progressive” (of the rich, slightly out of touch, white liberal variety) and that attitude extends to the city suburbs. The only area where that might not be as true is Lacey, which has way more of the JBLM population living there.
Speaking of which, because of JBLM and basically daily accidents on I-5, going anywhere North from the Olympia area is a fucking crapshoot. An accident can shut down I-5 for hours and because of the nature of the area, there’s not a lot of side-roads to offload traffic onto, I-5 is really the main thoroughfare. It’s not as bad going south because there’s less traffic going south, so fewer accidents. But if you want to visit a friend on Tacoma, or catch a flight out of SeaTac, or see a show in Seattle… you pretty much have to add a guesstimated 2-3 hours of travel time depending on how far north you’re going based on how long traffic could be backed up if there’s a severe accident.
The frequency of accidents honestly keeps me off of I-5 because holy fucking shit. I don’t want one of those accidents to involve me. A lot of them are real bad.
Yeah, I was thinking of areas like Enumclaw, Bonney Lake, and Puyallup. You can definitely get a (smaller) house for under 500k in those areas, but I’m not sure if it quite fits OP’s political preference.
I’m not even sure you could peg a political line on this area other than “meth.” Also, for whatever reason, I always think of them as far southeast of Tacoma.
Although, it can be argued if you want the political climate of those areas to change, people with different politics need to move there.
However, I think that whole area is experiencing a huge influx of remote workers as well, as it is. Rents have been rising all over.