How are you defining "neat," DCJ?

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Olivia Rose is a seriously pretty name.

It truly is. I've been walking around the house just saying it to myself. I love it. I'm also having a huge I-hate-internet-long-distance-friendships moment. Cashmere's the kind of friend where I'd normally call the hospital tomorrow and ask if I coudl bring her some real breakfast, and come see the baby. Stupid states between here and there.

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LA metro has changed so much, I think. I don't know about its interior, but Valencia has gotten much bigger, Palmdale has gone from all military to suburb city. There's actual TRAFFIC north of 134/405 junction. People are commuting from INSANE distances. They're doing it up here, too. That's another reason why I'm for reclaiming the urban areas. No more boarded up ghost property. Developers have totally messed up the very beautiful rolling hills you used to see when turning off of I-5 and onto the 580. There's so much sprawl everywhere.

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Yeah, but PDX and Seattle have very similar climates, so why Portland is always so high on the list and Seattle so low is beyond me.

On a lot of the quizes I did, Seattle was listed right there with Portland. Little differences of course but quite similar. What are housing costs in Seattle like?

Of course I have absolutely no cites for the other searchy things because once I had made up my mind I deleted all of my bookmarks.

Sigh... I knew cleaning was a bad thing.

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Little differences of course but quite similar. What are housing costs in Seattle like?

High, considering wages. We were named most overpriced, after all.

It may *sound* reasonable to those in California, but for us to move to a decent 'hood close-in in a house at the same level of crap as ours would be about $375k. (A year ago, it was $325k. The places we want to live have jumped in price at least $50k, while during the same period, the amount we could get for our place only went up about $15k, which should seem like a lot, drat it.)

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It may *sound* reasonable to those in California, but for us to move to a decent 'hood close-in in a house at the same level of crap as ours would be about $375k.

$375k in my neighborhood would almost buy a studio apartment.

(Not trying to one-up, just boggling at how many lotteries I'd have to win before even thinking about home ownership.)

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Ah. So about half of where I live now and a little less than twice where I hope to be living soon. Sheesh, it's insanity. The numbers don't even look real to me.

I probably was scored for Portland more than Seattle because I placed home ownership costs as pretty damn important. Which is just as well because I don't think Seattle would work for me right now for personal reasons. But I am thrilled that I could be close enough to visit soon.

$375k in my neighborhood would almost buy a studio apartment.

We ran out of those about three or four years ago. And it isn't oneupmanship, it is just that I boggle when people don't understand why leaving California might seem real shiny.

My sister paid a lot for a cookie cutter falling apart tract house that gives her a two-hour commute each way to work. And with all of that, she can't be putting much away for the nephlet's college. California might be great in some ways but the toll it takes is high as well.

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How are you defining "neat," DCJ?

I'm not coming up with a reliable easy answer. Definitely a rustic feel, not suburban, not rural, partially small town-ish, but maybe with a more "bohemian"/alternative feel. Not stereotypically so, but definite vibes of residual 60's influence.

Topanga the town was even moreso.

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$375k in my neighborhood would almost buy a studio apartment.

See, I wouldn't MIND the cost of housing if the wages here reflected them, but they kinda don't. Thus the overpriced accusation from, IIRC, Forbes.

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a rustic feel, not suburban, not rural, partially small town-ish, but maybe with a more "bohemian"/alternative feel

Yeah, probably pricy. But not my cup of tea, so it's not like I've been paying attention.

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