Sequim or Port Angeles? (Seattle, Tacoma: sales, real estate, rent)
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hi! I was told I should post this here instead of the Vancouver thread.
My wife and I are searching for a community where we can retire to. We are both in our mid 50's. our youngest will be off to college within 18 months. We are considering Sequim and Port Angeles.
After spending 40 + years in Southern California. we are ready for a change!
1. Traffic,,, we don't want any , but since we both are not going to be working other than volunteering or teaching/coaching, we do not anticipate having to commute, unless it is a golf cart path.
2. Housing, we would like a newish, ranch style 1800 sf.,under 300,000. 3 bdrm, 2 baths minimum. Our youngest may follow us and attend college here, so 4 br's would be worth looking into. A must is that we have more trees than neighbors, after 40 years of being 8 feet away from our neighbors kitchen window...privacy is a plus! We are ardent dog lovers and a large fenced yard is very desirable for our 3 pooches. Which town is more affordable? we are looking for trees! Do not need an ocean view!
3. Hiking/walking trails nearby.
4. Also are their reasonably priced golf courses ?
5. Convenient shopping/restaurants and Top notch medical care!
6. MODERATE climate, can't handle the heat anymore and I personally noticed that after 3 days of overcast I find myself getting gloomy. Need a temperate, mostly sunny area.
7. Property tax rates. what are they for the two towns?
9. Jobs, My two sons may follow us if they can find a job, we can help them with housing here, which we will not be able to in SO cal.
I do not want to buy a house and then find myself unable to afford the taxes.
You can get that for the price in either, currently in Sequim there are half acre lots with utilities in, going for $40k and a deal for a manufactured home under $200k installed. If you look around in either place $300k can get a nice house on acreage. The mountains and water cause a great variety of microclimates. My parents are in between the two cities, look up Blue Mountain Rd. Port Angeles on a map. They see the sun nearly every day, and get only 10" of rain a year, at 500' elevation, but it's a bit colder in winter being on the back side of the Olympics. On their road alone you can find everything from a $200k late model manufactured to a multi-million dollar mansion with views of the mountains, water, and Victoria BC.
Sequim is a little less sun and more rain but still drier than most of the Seattle area. Port Angeles, once you get to the city line, is wetter than Seattle and little sun except in July and August. Plenty of trees throughout, plus eagles, coyotes, deer and other wildlife in both, elk in Sequim.
The nearest "top notch" medical care is Seattle, though Bremerton's Harrison Hospital is good, but 1.5 hours away by car. Sequim is set up for retirement, with many senior facilities, but no real hospital, PA has one but it's not like a full big city facility.
after 3 days of overcast I find myself getting gloomy
Western Washington is not for you.
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can't handle the heat anymore
Eastern Washington is not for you, either.
Although I have heard about Port Angeles being generally drier than most of Western Washington, it's probably still just as cloudy. Just like the entire rain shadow upward from there and into the San Juan Islands. Drier overall, but still cloudy.
Most of Eastern Washington on the other hand is very dry, not as overcast overall, but with more seasonal extremes than the Western side. (In winter for much of the Eastern side, daytime highs average in the 30s with overnight lows in the 20s, and in summer daytime highs average in the 80s with overnight lows in the 60s. Compare that to Seattle, which is about 10 degrees warmer in winter, about 10 degrees cooler in summer, and much much wetter with a lot more overcast. The Olympic Peninsula is typically has a cooler summer even than Seattle, with a similar winter, some areas a little cooler, others a little warmer in winter. Still lots of rain and overcast though!).
Here's some data on Sequim. People think it's an exageration, but at my parents home it really only rains 10" a year and they see the sun for at least a couple of hours nearly every day. You can actually watch the clouds part when they hit Blue Mountain, leaving a big blue hole over the area.
hi! I was told I should post this here instead of the Vancouver thread.
If you haven't had the chance to do this yet, use the search engine here for Sequim and then Port Angeles. You'll find enough reading to keep you busy for a couple of days!
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Originally Posted by Smaht
My wife and I are searching for a community where we can retire to. We are both in our mid 50's. our youngest will be off to college within 18 months. We are considering Sequim and Port Angeles.
After spending 40 + years in Southern California. we are ready for a change!
Lots of retirees in the Sequim area, you'd be in good company.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
1. Traffic,,, we don't want any , but since we both are not going to be working other than volunteering or teaching/coaching, we do not anticipate having to commute, unless it is a golf cart path.
Not much traffic here in the So Cal sense of the word. There is really only one way in to this area, that being Hwy 101. So occasionally traffic will jam up if there's an accident or the likes on 101. Occasionally snow/ice will slow things down on 101 for a few to several hours during the winter. Something else to bear in mind is, how much would you be traveling by commercial plane? (to visit the family etc.) It's about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour jaunt over to SeaTac Int'l Airport from Sequim/PA.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
2. Housing, we would like a newish, ranch style 1800 sf.,under 300,000. 3 bdrm, 2 baths minimum. Our youngest may follow us and attend college here, so 4 br's would be worth looking into. A must is that we have more trees than neighbors, after 40 years of being 8 feet away from our neighbors kitchen window...privacy is a plus! We are ardent dog lovers and a large fenced yard is very desirable for our 3 pooches. Which town is more affordable? we are looking for trees! Do not need an ocean view!
Both places are about the same real estate price wise, it depends more upon where in Sequim or PA you're talking about. Water front, ocean view etc. will of course fetch higher prices. It sounds like you're wanting a little space around you so you probably woudn't want the typical Sequim/PA subdivision home on a city lot. You may be able to find something at the 300K price point (4 bedroom with acreage) but likely not for a lot less than that. Fortunately, just like everywhere else in the US right now, real estate prices here have really sagged, so you could potentially get a nice deal on what you're looking for in a home.
Sequim area is generally more, for lack of a better word, prairie like- e.g. flatter, farm land, pasture looking IMO (there are exceptions of course). PA OTOH is a town built on a hillside so it tends (again as a generalization) to have rolling landscape with more trees (a lot of the trees in Sequim were cleared back when to make more farm land). Again there are parts of Sequim that are quite forested, so take this for what it is- a generalization.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
3. Hiking/walking trails nearby.
The Olympic Discovery Trail is right here at your doorstep as is the National Park (Olympic). Great hiking/climbing all over this region.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
4. Also are their reasonably priced golf courses?
A couple of smaller, reasonably priced courses in the area (not in the same league as Torrey Pines though! )
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Originally Posted by Smaht
5. Convenient shopping/restaurants and Top notch medical care!
Sequim has turned in to a big box store shopping meca- Costco, Home Depot, Super Walmart, Petco etc. A Ross is in the works. We have a decent smattering of restaurants here. Olympic Medical Center (hospital) is in PA. Most specialty medical care would be obtained in Seattle (Tacoma, Olympia). Seattle, as you might expect, provides world class medical care for just about any disease you might imagine.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
6. MODERATE climate, can't handle the heat anymore and I personally noticed that after 3 days of overcast I find myself getting gloomy. Need a temperate, mostly sunny area.
Oops... We may have just hit a roadblock.... Moderate climate? Check. You feel gloomy after 3 days of overcast? Uh Oh... Ummm... How are you going to feel after 3 weeks (or 3 months) of overcast winter weather? Remember the City Data caveat: when one is talking about western WA, less rain does not mean more sunshine. Our winter months here can be fairly gray and damp/cold. Sure, we have little peeks of sun here and there throughout the winter months to break up the gray skies but if you are that sensitive to gloomy/gray weather, be very, very cautious about moving anywhere west of the Cascades.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
7. Property tax rates. what are they for the two towns?
Similar for both and higher than most of us here would like. Factor in our sales tax rates as well. Also keep in mind that WA state currently has about a 5.7 billion dollar budget deficit. Yup, that billion with a capital B. This is close to your CA sized budget problem. That money is going to need to come from somewhere to even begin to balance our state budget, so we're probably looking at a combination of increased taxes and severe reductions in state subsidized services. Upside here? WA does not have a state income tax (yet...)
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Originally Posted by Smaht
9. Jobs, My two sons may follow us if they can find a job, we can help them with housing here, which we will not be able to in SO cal.
Job market here is, well honestly, not that great. Your sons would likely be looking at service sector jobs (Safeway, Walmart, Taco Bell). Depending upon training and skill set, perhaps something in the business sector (banking, insurance etc.). Keep in mind the traditional jobs in this area were/are: logging, commerical fishing and farming.
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Originally Posted by Smaht
I do not want to buy a house and then find myself unable to afford the taxes.
The Clallam County Assessors Office can give you a feel for current tax rates on various types of properties.
Last edited by Dendrite; 02-16-2011 at 10:18 AM..
Reason: Mis-spelled word
If you are interested in organic farming/farmers market and more of a community feel I would follow the rest o f the "Californians" to Sequim.. I say that because there is an enormous transplant population in Sequim.. The hippies from the 60-s all the way to present. I was raised in Sequim and prefer it to Port Angeles.. You will have close to zero commute. Most houses, even in the tract neighborhoods are on large sites- and outside the city limit most houses are on 1/2 acre+...Anywhere you choose on the Peninsula you will have outdoor activities.. hiking/biking etc..
It took some of my friends from San Diego a couple of years to adjust to the weather- but it really does rain less in Sequim.. You will often find a hole in the sky around the city.. Good luck!
I just got back from my parents on Blue Mountain. We had a little drizzle in the morning but sunny all afternoon yesterday. This morning it was overcast all over and all the way back. Things I noticed:
The speedway is closed up for good, no more summer weekend evening roar of engines with racing and demo derbies.
The new Super Walmart in PA is much better than any others I have seen.
At their home, I saw quail, Mallards, Deer, a bald eagle, assorted birds.
Gas is running 20 cents more than the Seattle area, $3.75-80 for name brands.
Lots of chain saw and gun noise Saturday.
The guy selling half acre view lots along 101 that started at $125,000, then dropped them to $74,000 and now $57,000 has still not sold one
after about 3 years.
Not only is it grey in the winter but it also is during the spring and fall. I invite you to look at the sunshine graph for sequim. Really nice (sunny) weather starts in july and ends in September. The ranchers don't hay until July 4 for fear of rain. Last June was damn gray. Yes it varies from year to year but overall this is a VERY gray place compared to California.
It's all relative, but Sequim IS the driest and sunniest area of Western Washington. Not sure what part of SoCA you are coming from, but many coastal areas of CA also experience the "June Gloom", which really means overcast for most of the day from May through early July, with an occasional afternoon let-up. Same in most of W. WA.
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