Lay-of-the-Land in the Tacoma Area

[Chris Williams]

Hey folks! 

I'm looking at one of two areas for a 2020 move - Vancouver and Tacoma. The former due to its growing nature & proximity to Portland; the latter due to the fact that it's not in Seattle!

The plan: I plan to buy a property for a house-hack, plus AirBNB if possible. This I'll leverage into some straight investment properties, possibly out of state.

I confess to having less information on the Tacoma area. As such, I'm doing some research before taking a trip up there to sniff around. That includes checking here on BP!

Since it's been a little quiet this month, let me kick-start some discussion with a few questions:

• What would you say is the Tacoma area's economic status?
• Is the local RE market as hair-on-fire crazy as Greater Seattle?
• I know Tacoma has some industrial areas...are the suburbs a better choice for investing?
• Any 'regional red flags' of which I should be aware?

Thanks!