Shelton - Need neighborhood advice (Olympia, Bremerton: for sale, houses, neighborhoods)

[gypsy88]

My husband and I are scoping out areas to move to in Shelton. Yes, yes, yes. I am waiting for the rants of "don't move here" and "it's a pit". I'm looking for useful information, we really don't have much a choice. I work near Belfair and my hubby works near Lacey. Shelton is the best of being in between without someone having an hour drive. We are older and don't have kids. Culture and nightlife are not a biggy for us. Excitement for us is going to the grocery store, maybe eating at a greasy spoon for lunch.

It's blue collar, there is crime. I get it. I grew up about 2 miles from Detroit. What I want to know are what are the more dangerous areas of Shelton. We are looking to buy a house long term so I really don't want to have to do this more than once. We currently live in Olympia. I'm just not familiar with Shelton. Yeah, I trust my Realtor but really want to hear from others too. Right now we have been taking more road trips up there on the weekends to drive around and walk through neighborhoods.

My vibe is that south of Railroad Ave. is a little more dicey, with a few exceptions. I'm attracted to older, salvageable houses, old neighborhoods (maybe more like the company housing bungalow type), not the new fancy subdivisions. I like up near the hospital and Callanan Park. There are also some older houses in the Northeast part of town where all the tree names are - Pine, Cedar...

Hubby is more of a city boy. I don't think he'd do well out in Lake Limerick or Fawn Lake.

Comments?

[kanhawk]

You are generally correct that the area south of Railroad Ave. especially the Hillcrest area is not desirable. There aren't a lot of older homes that are desirable in the downtown area and keep in mind the closer you are to downtown, the more you deal with the homeless population, which is quite large for such a small town and hangs around the downtown parks.
The area around Callanan Park isn't bad although you can have a fairly nice house right next to a meth house there so be careful choosing a house there. On the opposite side of the neighborhood over by the hospital there are a few nice houses there and the area is a little better over there.
One of the better neighborhoods is Terrace Heights, which is more consistently nice with less risk of druggies next door like so much of the rest of Shelton. It has some decent homes for sale. I looked up a couple and these two are pretty nice:

639 Holly Ct Shelton, WA 98584 For Sale - RE/MAX

http://seattlewa.prunwrealestate.inf...ndication=true

[gypsy88]

Thanks for the confirmation there kanhawk. I wanted to make sure my intuition was right. I'm going to take some drives around town this weekend, maybe even Saturday night and see where less desirable places are. I figure it's a holiday weekend and there may be a lot of parties if people didn't go out of town.

Appreciate the comments...

[stephiejns]

Hi Everyone,

I'm following up to see how things worked out for gypsy88? Can you (or anyone else) please tell me what you like and what you don't like about living in Shelton?

I'm a single woman who's retiring in 2017, and have narrowed my focus down to the Shelton and Olympia areas as I can't be too far from my beloved Trader Joes, but also enjoy riding my bike, going hiking, and occasionally navigating a rowboat around out on the water.

My sister, who lives in Bremerton, but used to live in Belfair, told me to stay away from Island Lake as it's party central out there, but she hasn't been out there in 20 years. Does anyone know if that's still true? My max budget for a home will be in the $200K range. I'm not looking for a mansion by any means. I've done minor renovations to several homes so something just needing updating, cleaning, painting, etc. doesn't put me off.

I'll be driving up that way this August to "neighborhood-hunt". Thank you for the advice re: the Hillcrest and downtown areas, but what about the SE Arcadia Road area?

Any other information and/or suggestions are gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

[stephiejns]

Hello Again Everyone,

Here's an update to my post of July 2016:

I finally sold my properties in so-Cal and have been staying with my sister up in Bremerton since the end of last month.

After traversing in, around and through several areas and properties, from Rainier out to Lake Limerick, I am pleased to say that I am closing escrow this week on a lovely place out on the Steamboat Peninsula in the Edgewater Beach community of Olympia.

The home is a semi fixer-upper but I feel blessed to have found something on a very quiet piece of property surrounded by old-growth forest with the beach literally steps away across the road. I can be in west Oly in 20 minutes where there's every kind of shopping imaginable. Location, location, location!

My sister and I have been exploring several parks, beaches, islands and cuisine throughout the Sound since my return. I am so thankful and feel blessed to be back in Washington state after residing in so-Cal for the last 43 years. Now I just need to be careful I don't stuff myself with too much smoked salmon.

[Diana Holbrook]

We love Character's Corner for the fried chicken and jos! Steamboat Island exit.

[stephiejns]

Yes, Characters Corner is still awesome and did a interior/exterior remodel just about two years ago.