Lifestyle Changes Fuel Housing Choices For Today’s Home Buyers

For quite a few years now, home buyers have sought out the largest homes they could possibly afford

In the great North West, Washington real estate is abundant. From real estate in Tacoma Washington to homes for sale in Seattle, if you love the great out doors, there is no better place to buy your new home then in Washington. <br><br>George Washington never visited the state that bears his name. Our first President died in 1799, about six years before Lewis & Clark briefly explored what is now the Columbia River along the southern boundary of Washington and only 24 years before the first Europeans set foot in what is now the Evergreen State.<br>Washington Real Estate Vast and Diverse<br><br>Washington covers more than 71,000 square miles of real estate in the extreme northwest corner of the continental U.S. From the Pacific Ocean on its western shore to its eastern boundary with Idaho, Washington stretches 360 miles. From Washington’s northern border with Canada south to the state line with Oregon is 240 miles.<br><br>Washington’s population is growing at a significant rate of 8.5 percent per year since 2006 and it is estimated that more than 6.4 million people are now residents of Washington state. The state population has nearly quadrupled since 1940, when 1.7 million people could call themselves Washingtonians (with the third syllable pronounced TONE).<br>Major Cities<br><br>Seattle: About half of Washington’s residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the largest city in the Great Northwest which lies along Puget Sound, a large bay along the Pacific coast that is popular for boaters. The Seattle metro area includes the large cities of Tacoma, Bellevue and Everett as well as dozens of additional suburban towns. Seattle, known as the Queen City, is famous for its fine coffee, its Space Needle, and for its important contributions to rock-and-roll music. Seattle is home to nearly 600,000 within the city limits and at least 3.2 million in the metro area.<br><br>Spokane, in eastern Washington only a few miles from the Idaho state line, is Washington’s second-largest city, with about 200,000 residents in the city and three times as many in a metropolitan area that crosses the border to include Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.<br><br>Tacoma, about 30 miles south of Seattle and 30 miles north of the state capital, Olympia, is the Washington’s third-largest city, about even with Spokane at around 200,000 residents.<br><br>Vancouver, Washington, in far southwestern Washington on the northern bank of the Columbia River, is the state’s fourth-largest city, with about 160,000 residents.<br><br>Bellevue, across Lake Washington from Seattle, ranks fifth in state population and is growing fast, with the latest estimate at 117,000 residents.<br><br>Everett, home of the Boeing 787 and about 25 miles north of Seattle, comes in sixth in state population with about 101,000 residents.<br>Washington History<br><br>Washington’s rugged Pacific coast was inhabited by Native Americans for many centuries before Don Bruno de Heceta claimed all the coastal lands including what is now Washington for Spain in 1775. Explorers and trappers from many nations began to descend on the area by the final decade of the 18th century. Lewis & Clark described their journey through Washington in late 1805. By 1819, Spain had turned over the territory to the U.S. The Oregon Trail opened the area to settlers, who began arriving by the mid-19th century. The population increased from 1,201 in 1850 to 357,000 by 1890. Washington became the 42nd state in 1889. By 1910, the state was home to 1.14 million people.<br><br>Agriculture and lumber have always been primary industries in Washington. The Yakima Valley became known for its apples and the rivers and oceans became important fisheries. The state produces 90 percent of the nation’s raspberries, 58 percent of its apples and nearly half of its cherries and pears. Washington’s agricultural products account for about $6 billion annually. Mining grew into a major industry. Heavy Pacific rains west of the Cascade created dense forests of pine and Douglas fir and timber companies expanded.<br><br>The damming of the Columbia and other Washington rivers created a hydroelectric power industry. Aircraft production, initially bolstered by the war effort, took off and became the state’s leading industry. High technology, spearheaded by Washington-based Microsoft, increased Washington’s worldwide visibility. West Coast veterans looking for an alternative to California landed in Seattle and created a series of cultural revolutions, especially in music.<br>Washington Landscape<br><br>The mighty Columbia River forms Washington’s southern border, but its tributaries run into Washington and carry the outflow of water from the mountain ranges of eastern Washington and beyond to the Rockies and into southwestern Canada.<br><br>The Cascade Mountains cross central Washington from north to south and include the famed peaks Mount Rainier (elevation: 14,410 feet, the highest point in the state) and Mount St. Helens (which began violent volcanic eruptions in 1980). West of the Cascades, a Pacific climate dominates, with the mild but wet winters Seattle is known for.<br><br>Rural southwestern Washington is timber country, with dense forests of pine in every direction. Eastern Washington is dryer and higher, with isolated desert areas. Near the eastern border with Idaho, a milder climate prevails. The Palouse region of southeastern Washington is mostly farms, but other parts of eastern Washington are mountains and forests.<br>Diversity in People<br><br>Washington’s Caucasian population of 88 percent is slightly above the national average and is made up primarily of people of German (19 percent), English (12 percent), Irish (11 percent) and Norwegian (6 percent) descent. Hispanics account fgor 7 percent of the overall population, while African Americans represent 4 percent, Asians 7 percent and American Indians 3 percent. Washington has the fifth-largest Asian population among all states. Nearly 6 percent of residents report Mexican ancestry and nearly 4 percent are Filipino.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com