[M & M]

As long as you are looking you might want to visit Long Beach area of Washington. It is on the very South end of Washington coast, minutes from the Oregon boarder.

I have only been there twice, but do have a friend that have bought a small house and goes there every weekend for the past year or two. Often times when it is raining here in Portland it is nice there.

This part of the country is very crazy with the weather. There are certain areas that will get lots of rain and others that don't that only a few miles apart. For instance I race at Woodburn dragstrip which is about 15 miles south of Portland and the rainfall is much less than Portland. Often times it is dry there and pooring in Portland. The town of McMinnville is the same way, way lower rainfall than Portland which is 45 minutes away, toward the coast. The same happens along the coast. I believe it is because of the mountain patterns here in the state.

I am sure if rain would be an issue (some people do not mind it) you could consult an annual rainfall statistic chart.

Anway my other reason for mentioning Long Beach is that while there I went a visited a new development, which when done will be bigger than the town of Ilwaco. Ilwaco is 2 miles from Long Beach, right on the mouth of the Columbia river. The lots are very cool, the development sits right above the north jetty, up on a hill with a view of the columbia river and/or northwest shore of Washington beaches. I believe they run about $125k for an acre, not sure of the utilities, i think they have power and water. The total development when done I believe is about 350 acres. Actually, I thought it was sad to see this beautiful land developed but that's life I guess.

If this sounds interesting I can make some connections for you to research that development and get better details.

There are many people that retire from Oregon and move to Washington because of no property tax. They do have sales tax which we do not have in Oregon. Also the license and title fees along with the sales tax for autos is bigger.

Walt, what what's your take on this having moved from Washington to Oregon?

The other idea that comes to mind is that there are always lots of beach homes that are not very well maintained. Being a builder you could "steal" one of these and fix it up.

Good Luck,
Mike