Are you considering moving to Washington State? I'm going to go over the pros and cons of living in Washington State, in my opinion. The pros definitely outweigh the cons, but it is always good to know the good and the bad before making a big move. I was born and raised in Washington and I love it here. Western Washington and Eastern Washington are quite different. This video will focus on the Western part of Washington State. My name is Karen Jackson, which John L. Scott real estate, on this channel you will learn about tips and tricks on how to buy and sell homes in rent in Washington and the surrounding areas. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, go and hit the little subscribe button and the little bell for notifications, and you will be notified of any upcoming videos. I put videos out every week on Wednesdays. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment below and I will get back to you right away. So let's get started. The first con is the weather. Washington is known for its rainy and cloudy days. It is not always raining, but we do get more drizzle and grayer skies than most states. Our weather is a bit unpredictable, and so are our weather forecasts. We actually don't get a whole lot more rain than the average amounts across the United States, but we get drizzle many days. Whether on the bright side, without all the rain, we wouldn't get to see all the beautiful green and the beautiful flowers. And we typically don't get droughts. Every once in a while we will have one, but very rare. If I could change one thing, I would add a bit more sun and a bit more warmth, but I am a summer girl and love the heat. For those of you who like the cool mild weather, you will love it here. On number two, our traffic. Washington state is very populated. There are definitely some cities that are more rural and not as many people, but our bigger cities definitely have traffic. Seattle and Tacoma especially. Our freeways get very congested during peak travel times. Con number three, taxes. Our property taxes, gas tax and sales taxes quite high compared to many other states. There really is not a benefit in this that I can find to help ease this pain. The average income in Washington is higher though, to make up for some of the taxes, and home appreciation is higher than most states. Con number four, our homeless problem. There is definitely a large amount of homeless, especially in the city areas. Unfortunately, I think this is happening nationwide and is not segregated to just Washington. Con number five is the threat of an earthquake or volcano. We were very lucky here in Washington state to not have many natural disasters, but we do have the threat of the big earthquake. That's supposed to occur in the next 100 years or so. We also have some large mountains that have the threat of volcanic activity in the next 100 years or so. The last big one was in 1980 Mount St. Helens, but we don't know when it will happen again. Now it's time for the pros, the fun part. Pro number one, Washington is so beautiful. There is so much green due to the rain that we get. We have many different waterways, lakes, rivers, pudots, sound, there are gorgeous mountains, and then you add the blue sunny skies and it is breathtaking. Pro number two, most years we have all four seasons. We don't have two extreme weather during any one season. This is a cool chart I found on bestplaces.net and there's also a chart of our typical weather pattern from areavibes.com. I would have to disagree with this a little. We do get some 90 degree weather in July typically. Winter is when the skies are the greatest. Our spring though is so pretty. There are so many flowers at bloom. There's tulips, daffodils, apple blossoms, flowering plum trees, and so many more. With the spring comes a little more rain. April showers bring may flowers is definitely true in Washington. Some years we have a fabulous summer and some years not so great. We always wish summer was just a little bit longer around here and we love our Indian summers. We always have beautiful flowers though in the summer. There's definitely time for lots of barbecues, camping, and fun. Our fall is filled with many beautiful colors. Many of our trees turn to a beautiful mix of red, orange, yellows, and browns and then they lose their leaves. We also have lots of evergreen trees so you can see green all year long. Things can get a little bit breezy at times in the fall but we will have sunny days with brisk evening temperatures and some rainy days. Pro number three there are tons of outdoor activities. We have beautiful mountains for hiking and skiing and camping. There's lots of lakes and rivers and the budget sound for fishing and boating and water activities. We have lots of trails and parks, golf courses. Because our weather is so mild you can do most of these year round too if you're adventurous. Pro number four jobs. We have many large employers here at many tech companies. Boeing, Pat Carr, lots of medical, Amazon, Starbucks, Costco, Microsoft, Expedia, the seafood industry, Zillow, and Zoolily are to name a few. Pro number five there's lots of great landmarks, many cultures and diversity. Pike Place Market, Seattle Space Needle and Mount Rainier. There's Puget Sound and National Parks. There are so many fun things to do in CM Washington. If you would like some more specific suggestions, comment below and I'd be happy to help you. Or if you heard of any other pros and cons that I did not mention, if so be sure to mention them below. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time.