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?
I will say this specific area is pretty rural and red
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.
Michigan definitely gets cold if you’re north. Places like Holland, MI seem a bit warmer
Give it 10 years. With climate change we may be in the 50s and 60s all winter long.
North of Sacramento? Not cold at all, and there are lots of great places to get out in nature. I can’t speak to Seattle much, it will get colder than Sacramento but the nature is probably even better. Summer near Sac can be very warm and get over 100, but that’s becoming more common more places
