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Real Estate in Clark County

So what about buying your home and settling down in Clark County? There are many cities & towns, homes are expensive and you want to do it right the first time.

A quick overview of Amboy, Battle Ground, Brush Prairie, Camas / Washougal, La Center, Ridgefield ,Vancouver, Woodland and Yacolt is listed below to help start your home search.

First of all, if you're new to the area, your job location may play a very important decision in where to live. You may even work in Portland and live here taking advantage of the State Income Tax situation. If this is the case, then you may choose to live close to either I-5 or I-205 bridges which are the only local routes into Oregon. The rush hour traffic situation is clearly worse on I-5 during commute periods, but if your job is in the core of down town Portland, you're going to hit traffic either on I-5 or on I-84 heading into Portland.

If you are fortunate enough to not travel during the heavy commute periods or if it's just worth it to go further and get further away from it all, then the rural areas of North Clark County may be the place for you. Amboy & Yacolt are really away from it all and growth will not be as intense as areas along I-5. This is based on the way that most cities and towns develop around main tributaries such as interstates. What you will be giving up us the convenience of what suburbia has to offer in the way of shopping, restaurants, etc. What you will be gaining is you will be in the middle of the beauty of North Clark County.

For an in between, Battle Ground may be just the ticket. It sits virtually on the edge of the beauty of the outdoors in North Clark County with wonderful parks and outdoor adventures very near. Closer to the lakes and streams that attract most of us, even if we're not fisherman. Battle Ground is a very fast growing community that now has all the amenities of any Vancouver metro area with major department stores, plenty of restaurants and a couple of strip malls with a variety of different stores.

An area that is not yet well developed is Brush Prairie. I say yet, because it goes without saying that it most certainly will grow, being between eastern Vancouver and just south of Battle Ground. This area may be just the right spot for many people with the option of heading north or south for shopping and business needs.

Further North are Ridgefield, La Center and Woodland. Woodland is at the most northern tip of Clark County and in fact it splits into Cowlitz County as well. Located on I-5, access north and south is easily at hand. Working back south to La Center, it is not far off I-5 and is currently a small quiet "almost" rural location. It should be noted that a large Casino is planned fro the area that will have some impact on what happens here. Opinions on whether this is going to be good or bad is polar opposites. Finally there is Ridgefield which is not far off of I-5 only headed toward the Columbia River. A small quaint down town area the most compelling virtue seems to be the Columbia River. There is in fact boat launches here which are popular with the many boaters in our area.

To the east of Vancouver are Camas and Washougal. I suspect that the earlier growth in this area was mostly attributed to the Paper Mill that is still located and operating here. Be aware that many changes have been made to better filter the emissions that do accompany a Paper Mill, but it is still a somewhat noticeable factor. One of the real advantages is being close to the Columbia River and the absolutely beautiful scenery of the Columbia Gorge. The potential down side to this area is that the Columbia Gorge does produce considerable strong winds year around. With this wind is also the issue of cold weather that does take sometimes days longer to scourer out snow and ice conditions during winter months. To put this in a somewhat kinder frame the winters here are considerably milder than most parts of the US and years can go by without any snow whatsoever.
I would also say that downtown Camas has a very well developed down town area that is truly well done.

Vancouver is of course the primary City or core of Clark County. Not from a geographically centered perspective, but from where most of the population and Clark County Government is located. It's our Big City, not like the skyscrapers and intensity of Portland Oregon, but certainly more densely populated, many more businesses and more cultural activities as well. Living in Vancouver has it's own and growing amenities while being in some cases only a mile from Portland Oregon. Even living in say the Western part of Vancouver, you're still not far from a beautiful park at Vancouver Lake.