From California to Denver to Seattle...what should I expect? (Vancouver: real estate, renting)

[bashleyf]

Hi everyone,
I'm originally from California, I grew up in the Bay Area. I moved to San Diego for 2 years. It was gorgeous there, but the people were a lot different and I never quite got out of the culture shock of moving there. I've now been living in a Denver suburb for about 2 years. It's great here, but I really miss the ocean, the fresh fish, and even the fog if you can believe that. I'm thinking of moving to Seattle in about a year because I think it offers what I want. Obviously it has the ocean and fresh fish. I need to be able to get away and go some place different, and with Seattle's proximity to Vancouver and Portland that seems doable. I'm obsessed with ferries and Seattle certainly has plenty. Anyway, I was wondering what kind of things I could expect from living in Seattle. I know the weather will be a lot different than in Denver, but since I'm from the San Francisco area I am used to fog and some rain so I think I could handle Seattle. I was looking more specifically at the Port Orchard/ Kitsap county area, so I was wondering what people think of that area. I don't know much about Seattle communities yet but I like that area because it's close to Seattle but seems like a laid back calm place to live. Thanks for any advice!

[Heiwos]

You may need to be more specific. Seattle is on Puget Sound; the waves are tiny except during storms. The real ocean is about 3 hours away. Kitsap county is nice but there's not many jobs there that can pay for the real estate. What made you think of Kitsap county? (To get a better idea of what you want.) There's Vancouver B.C. and Vancouver WA. It's always good to visit a place before you commit to moving. It would be good to have a job in hand too, if you need one. The main problems newcomers seem to have here are the high prices of housing/renting (still), the weather, and the "Seattle freeze" (see other thread).