Simply moving

More than a century ago the Northwest lured thousands of men and women who crossed the nation to work in the mines of North Idaho and forests of Washington.

The 21st century version of that migration has less to do with making a fortune than rebuilding a lifestyle.

In the past year, it has involved couples like Teri and Craig Grubbs from San Diego, and Collin and Amy Klamper from Washington, D.C. Both couples left behind good jobs – not to mention cultural amenities and intensely urban environments – to move to the Inland Northwest.

Their arrivals, as well as those of other recent transplants to Spokane and Kootenai counties, confirm a long-standing claim by area boosters – that high quality of life will attract a healthy stream of talented and industrious newcomers.

Exact data to support that perception is hard to find. But recent Census figures verify that both Kootenai County and Spokane are seeing steady gains in the number of residents moving here.

In the past, retirees and young people leaving rural areas for the city have made up the bulk of newcomers, but this new in-migration has a different wrinkle, said Avista Corp. Chief Economist Randy Barcus. These people are in the midst of their careers and are willing to earn less as a trade-off for lifestyle, in what some have called the “Spokane discount.”

The Klampers, for example, bought a home on Spokane’s South Hill this past year after deciding they wanted to raise their first child in a community with good schools and an affordable lifestyle.

The Grubbses chose Coeur d’Alene over San Diego last fall in search of a simpler community with a smiling face.

Though both couples will make far less money here, they’re not complaining.

“Moving is the best decision we’ve ever made,” Teri Grubbs said. “It was worth any of the stress or worrying we had, preparing to leave California.”

Check it out, friend advised

The Grubbses made their first visit to Coeur d’Alene in February 2004, after a friend drove through North Idaho and suggested they check it out.

Craig Grubbs, 48, grew up in Texas, served in the Marine Corps and ended up starting a family in San Diego. His wife, Terri, 45, spent most of her life in California. Neither had ever spent any time in the Northwest.

“We wanted to come when it was coldest, to see it at the worst,” said Teri. Their first impression: People actually talked to each other in grocery stores. “In California, everyone is in a hurry. We wanted a place where you can talk with your neighbors,” she said.

They decided to sell their home and quit their jobs as letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service. Their 10-year-old daughter, Rachel, opposed the move, knowing she couldn’t wear flip-flops year-round in North Idaho.

They arrived in late 2004. Because of their work in the postal business, they invested their savings to open a Coeur d’Alene franchise of PostNet, a shipping and office-supply company.

The Grubbses together earned about $80,000 last year in California. This year, as they develop their business, neither expects to report any earnings.

But North Idaho feels slower, safer and more neighborly than their former home, they say. They know it’s not paradise. After the Groene family murders this past summer, Craig purchased a set of sturdy window locks for their home.

They also catch the occasional whiff of anti-California sentiment.

“We saw a bumper sticker that sums up our feelings. It said, ‘Not a native but I got here as quick as I could,’ ” Teri said.

From eating out to sack lunches

Amy and Collin Klamper spent the past six years living in the nation’s capital, earning more than $150,000 a year between them.

“We never cooked at home unless there was a special reason,” said Amy, 35.

She was a journalist covering the Pentagon for the National Journal. Collin, 34, was head of the graphics department for a major health care consulting firm.

They didn’t own a home and paid $2,000 a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the fashionable Dupont Circle neighborhood.

Amy became pregnant early in 2005 and the Klampers rethought the idea of raising a child in Washington. They decided they needed to find a city where one income would be enough to provide a decent standard of living.

They looked at Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham, N.C., but decided none of those cities had the right feeling.

Both have family members living in the Northwest: Collin’s stepfather and mother live in Spokane Valley. Amy’s relatives live in Boise, Portland and Seattle.

In June, the Klampers flew to Spokane to attend a relative’s wedding. The more they looked around, the more they started doing the math: good schools, affordable homes and a growing economy all told them they might consider living in Spokane.

After the wedding, they made a few visits to look at houses here. On their last day before leaving, a real estate agent asked them to meet her to see a three-bedroom bungalow in the Cannon Hill area of Spokane.

Said Amy: “The moment we turned down the street and saw the neighborhood, we thought there must have been a mistake. We said, ‘No way, we can’t afford a house in this neighborhood.’ “

But the price was less than $300,000, a bargain compared with real estate prices in Washington, D.C. They bought the house without knowing what they’d do once they arrived. In August, with Amy six months pregnant, they packed their things into a U-Haul.

By October, Collin landed the position of art director at the Pacific Northwest Inlander newspaper. His salary, plus part-time freelance work Amy plans to do, will net about $60,000 per year.

Their first child, Eva, was born a month ago. The new child and a reduced income mean the Klampers seldom go out for dinner in Spokane.

Said Amy: “I now make lunch for Collin. The sandwiches are whatever meat I get on sale from Rosauers. I pack the sandwich with a Coke, a hardboiled egg and a granola bar. I cut out coupons from the paper.”

Living in big cities ‘very complicated’

The attraction that cities like Spokane and Coeur d’Alene have is due in large part to the changes taking place in the nation’s largest cities, said Avista Corp.’s Barcus.

The recent transplants have concluded, in most cases, that life in the large modern American metropolis is “very complicated,” he said.

Access to information on the Internet makes searching for a new home easier. “I recently talked to a couple who did a Web search for a place to live, who came up with five locations. They checked out all five and ended up moving here (to Spokane),” Barcus said.

Most people leaving large metros for midsize cities look for the social benefits of a tight-knit community or recreational enjoyment, he added. But some, like the Klampers, are doing the math and figuring it’s financially simpler to live in a smaller city.

“When you accept a lower income stream in a lower-cost area, you can find yourself living just as well as you were before in a larger, more expensive place,” he said.

Census numbers show a national trend toward midsized American cities starting in the late 1970s, said Washington State University sociology professor Annabel Kirschner.

She and other sociologists point to six natural amenities that lure transplants: warm winters, winter sun, low summer humidity, topographic variation, temperate summers and access to water.

The Inland Northwest scores high on four of the six, but low on warm winters and moderate on winter sun, said Kirschner.

But regions still need an economy that produces enough jobs to attract newcomers, she said. Spokane and Coeur d’Alene have been successful in that respect for the past three years.

“Unless you have a likelihood of finding work there, people won’t move from Washington, D.C., to Spokane,” she said.

Some of those surveyed for this story said quality of life was a strong reason but not the sole motivation for moving to the Pacific Northwest.

In late December 2004, Codi Traver decided to leave a successful company she helped start in Boston to take a job in Spokane.

The 46-year-old CEO accepted a job as an information technology director for Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories. She was earning, with bonuses, more than $200,000 in Boston. Here, she earns about half that managing and developing PAML’s technology network.

“It’s a trade-off,” Traver said. “The house I bought in Spokane for $300,000 would have cost a million dollars back in Boston.”

Before choosing Spokane, Traver had job offers from companies in Seattle, New York and San Francisco. She wasn’t unfamiliar with Spokane, having received her master’s degree in education from Gonzaga University.

Her decision came down to deciding PAML was the best company to work for, she said. She finds PAML a unique operation – progressive and employee-focused, but also one that believes in social compassion and community prosperity.

Quality of life in Eastern Washington was the second factor for the choice, she added.

“I’m comfortable here with the traffic and the natural beauty,” she said. If Spokane lacks a variety of cultural activities, Traver said she goes to Seattle and “what I miss here I can get there.”

Technology makes relocating easier

Barcus said many people choose cities like Spokane because technology makes it easy for them to work anywhere.

Alison Zecha, the 45-year-old owner of a communications consulting company called CoachAZ in Hawaii, decided two years ago she wanted to move her company to the mainland.

Having lived in New York and San Francisco, her first inclination was to choose a large city.

Before leaving, however, she met Tom Hawley, who teaches government at Eastern Washington University. A relationship between the two developed.

He invited her to visit Spokane. She had no idea where it was, she said.

After a few more visits to Spokane, Zecha realized her job could be done here as well as in a larger city. About a fourth of her work time requires traveling to customers in Canada, Hawaii or New York, working with corporate managers to develop communication and team skills.

By mid-2004, Zecha agreed to move to Spokane. She now thinks it’s made her a happier person, even though she earns far less. Her company generated a six-figure income her last year in Hawaii. This year, Zecha expects she’ll earn 60 percent of that.

In May 2005, Zecha and Hawley were married. The 35-year-old Hawley has helped her learn how to ski. They spend weekends taking hikes and remodeling their turn-of-the-century Spokane home.

“I knew I would earn less by coming there. But I gained a lot more than I’ve given up,” she said. “It’s relaxed here. I feel accepted.”

Can’t find a job

Spokane transplant Rebecka Eggers knows not every uprooting produces a happy outcome.

The 32-year-old tax attorney moved to Spokane in May. A graduate of the University of Texas, over the past nine years Eggers worked for high-powered firms in Portland, Houston and St. Louis.

She had friends who’d moved to the Spokane area and who told her they liked it. As a single mother of a 6-year-old daughter, Eggers was looking to simplify her life. Spokane gave Eggers and her daughter, Ashton, chances to walk along the Spokane River, climb Mount Spokane and watch birds from their backyard.

But after eight months in Spokane, she still hasn’t found a job and has begun looking elsewhere. “There just aren’t enough law firms here that do the work I do,” she said. She’s applied for jobs outside the legal field but hasn’t been hired. “I’m overqualified. One company felt they didn’t know why I was applying (for a managerial position at that company in the employment services area). They thought I’d master the job and soon want to move on,” Eggers said.

“For now I’m looking at being here as a challenge,” she added. “If it works out here, fine. If not, it’s OK. I’ll find the right thing eventually.”