Sequim (Seattle, Shoreline, Port Angeles: appointed, rent, credit)

[mgstone]

My husband is a worship pastor and we are considering applying for a position in Sequim. Can you please tell me about the cost of living, the availability of stores and the friendliness of the people there? also, i am attending classes online to get my teaching degree, do they have a good education program there?
Thanks for any help you can offer!

[allforcats]

I can respond to two of your questions.

I have found the folks in Sequim to be warm, friendly, just lovely. There's a version of the "small-town mentality" there, in my experience, that makes one feel quite welcome.

As for stores, there's every sort of product and service one might want. Sequim has a year-'round population of farmers, ranchers and artists along with those who service the tourists, on the one hand, and on the other hand retired people with some money -- so there appeared to me to be just about every sort of store one could need.

[Xenobion]

Small town, isolated, very receptive people, cheap housing, expensive groceries and the closest college I believe is a community college near Port Angeles. But if you are talking about teaching somewhere around there you have a choice from Port Angeles or Port Townsend areas.

[swsha4]

Originally Posted by mgstone

My husband is a worship pastor and we are considering applying for a position in Sequim. Can you please tell me about the cost of living, the availability of stores and the friendliness of the people there? also, i am attending classes online to get my teaching degree, do they have a good education program there?
Thanks for any help you can offer!

I agree with Allforcats. The people are fantastic. My husband and I are planning to move over there in the spring. We will rent for a year to see how we like it as a retirement destination. It is a very beautiful area with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. We liked the whole peninsula but will most likely settle near Sequim.

I found the groceries to be about the same as Seattle. There is a nice QFC there and there is plenty of shopping between the 3 main towns. Housing is much cheaper. Our rent will be a third to a half cheaper than in Seattle for comparable housing.

Being retired, I can't help you on the schools. Sorry.

[allforcats]

Mgstone, don't know where you're from, but Swsha4's reference to "QFC" means a supermarket -- which I have been in love with for a couple of decades because IMO they have the best-quality and freshest produce, seafoods, meats and baked goods of all the supermarkets in this area (except Whole Foods, of course). The initials stand for Quality Food Center, which they darned well are.

[sean98125]

QFC is owned by Kroger, along with another formerly-local discount department store called Fred Meyer. Sequim also has an outstanding produce/natural foods store - Sunshine Market, or something like that? It's a good store, but the Central Market an hour away in Poulsbo is the best supermarket on that side of Puget Sound.

The only brick-and-mortar school near Sequim is the community college in Port Angeles. You can finish up a bachelor's degree and some master's degrees through the distance learning program from Washington State University (Accredited, Affordable, World Class Online Education - Distance Degree Programs -). But the four year colleges and universities with graduate level courses are all on Seattle side of Puget Sound. Your educational opportunities in Sequim are fairly limited.

People are friendly.

[LMB]

Originally Posted by sean98125

...the Central Market an hour away in Poulsbo is the best supermarket on that side of Puget Sound.

I second that! Poulsbo's Central Market is less than a mile from us and it should have been the main selling point when we bought our house here. What an awesome place!

Back on topic, my husband and I looked at Sequim, among many other west WA communities a few years ago during one of our "community" exploration trips before relocating from Florida. It was during a heat wave in WA in July 2006 and the temp was 98 degrees the day we arrived in Sequim. Everything on the ground (that was un-irrigated) was completely brown and dried up. We were very disappointed. After flying in from hot central FL that day, it sure wasn't the cool, green Pacific Northwest we'd hoped for.

We probably should have given Sequim another look during the winter, but it was also farther from Seattle than we realized until visiting in person. By the way, the internet is helpful for relocation info, but a personal visit is imperative when shopping for a new community. There are way too many intangibles--photos online and others' opinions, though helpful, just don't give the whole story. It took many visits for us to find the right community, but it was well worth it.

Lynn

[swsha4]

Central Market is part of a small chain, called Town & Country, with most of their stores in WA. They have stores in the Shoreline, Ballard and Greenwood sections of Seattle and carry very high quality foods but their prices are a bit higher than other stores. Some of us think it's worth it though!

[Fat Freddy]

Originally Posted by LMB

...the temp was 98 degrees the day we arrived in Sequim. Everything on the ground...was completely brown and dried up...it sure wasn't the cool, green Pacific Northwest we'd hoped for.

Sequim has it's own micro-climate. It doesn't share the typical rain/fog patterns of the rest of the Olympic Peninsula and is the driest place west of Seattle. Local pilots call it the "Blue Hole" as you can always land there when everywhere else is covered in fog.

[Beloved7]

Hello-
I would like to know about mold in the area. I want to relocate from forest fire-ridden Montana to someplace moister but am allergic to mold. Sequim sounds just right and I hope to take an exploratory trip in April.
How close is the nearest lap pool?
Are there any meditation groups?
Thank you
Beloved7