Relocating from CA to Kitsap County (Seattle, Auburn: apartment, rentals, house)

[leighandrandy]

Hello out there! I am looking for some help in looking for a place to live in the Seattle, WA area. My husband will be working in downtown Seattle with a 2 block walk from the ferry. For about a year or so, he will probably be commuting 4 days a week, however, as time passes and he becomes more established, he may be able to work from home and only have to commute 1 or 2 days a week. That being said, we are looking at Kitsap County because the other side of the equation (me) wants to eventually own a horse. I am not sure where the "horse people" are in the Kitsap county area - we are thinking of renting in Port Orchard or Poulsbo or even Bainbridge Island for several months while we look for a house. Our price range for a house is $400K.

Any thoughts, suggestions, advice??? Thanks in advance for your time and thoughtfulness.





note: I'm going to reword the title to this thread, leighandrandy, because WA has a Long Beach also and the title is a bit confusing because of that.

[LMB]

I think there are quite a few horse people in this area. Check with the Kitsap Saddle Club in Port Orchard, or the Bainbridge Island Saddle Club (just Google them). We love living on this side, but we're not commuting. Many people here do the daily commute into Seattle and seem to tolerate it, for a while anyway. Once or twice a week wouldn't be too bad.

Good luck!

Lynn

[sir2u]

We're moving to Port Orchard in Kitsap County shortly. My wife and I moved to Seattle from SoCal in the mid 90s and never looked back.

The commute to Seattle isn't too unbearable (nothing like L.A.) plus due to lots of rural zoning, you can practically have whatever pets you want. We have chickens and are looking to get some larger animals when we move.

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[CityGirl72]

Most people adore it here

I am from Calif too - what part are you coming from?

[vette-dude]

Kitsap county has some good property for horses, but like everywhere these days, prices are through the roof for some good property and a home...starting at $200K for a stick house......I grew up in Port Orchard and lived there 30+ years.....

[jinj]

You should do a dry run for the commute on the ferry system into Seattle, I thought about it, one trip was all that was needed to make me change my mind.

How many acres do you need for a horse? Look in the Maple Valley/ Auburn / Enumclaw/ Hobart/Duval /North Bend areas.

[FernCreek]

I've been doing the Bainbridge/Seattle ferry commute for 13 years now, and it's great. Much better than spending an hour in freeway traffic. The ferry is a good place to relax and unwind, and even possibly make new friends.

Any of the rural areas of North Kitsap are fine for keeping a horse. Check around the outskirts of Poulsbo (which has good bus service to the ferry). It's taking an increasing amount of time to travel through Poulsbo, so any locations west of town would really add to your commute time.

You could also look northward from the Agate Pass Bridge (which connects Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula) -- the Gunderson Road or Port Gamble/Suquamish Road areas have some nice flat land that would be good for a horse.

[ST CRoix To Seattle]

We moved to Kitsap recently and have been doing all three ferrys Bremerton Bainbridge and Vashion....by far the Bainbridge is the most reliable with zero delays that I have experienced...Bremerton and Vashion has frequent delays so take that into consideration...factor in the ferry costs when you use the 400k home price and the true number might be closer to 465k with monthly ferry costs included.
I get a lot of work done on the ferry and take great comfort knowing that a property exactly like ours in the east sound is 3 times as much...

[Hoosierette]

We relocated recently from the midwest and currently live in north Kitsap county. We are about five miles north of Poulsbo. My husband commutes to Seattle five days a week. He drives the car five miles to Poulsbo, uses a "park and ride" lot, then takes a bus to the Bainbridge Island ferry, which takes half an hour to cross Puget Sound to Seattle. He is able to walk to his job from the ferry terminal.

As we understand it, there are two choices here: you can spend your morning on the bus and the ferry, or you can spend your morning on the interstate sitting in traffic. Of these two, although it is a good hour and a half of commuting, he thinks he has the better deal. Gas here recently hit $4.45 a gallon, so any commute that minimizes the car is a good thing. The bus is $1.50 each way, and the ferry is $6.70 daily round trip (as a passenger only, if you take your car on the ferry, you're looking at $22.00 a day).

So, it's public transportation, ferry rides or sit on I-5. Take your pick. The ferry ride is much more scenic....you might even see a whale. lol.

Everyone here commutes, unless you want to live and work in downtown Seattle. And I guess there are people who do. And they are willing to pay $1500 a month for a studio apartment, have no pets, and oh yeah, no smoking. I would say about 75% of the rentals here will not consider you if you smoke.

We have had to make some adjustments, it is a different way of life, but we have no regrets moving here.

good luck.

[orangeblossom]

I grew up in P.O with horses and yes, you can find something nice for that price. Now I live in Seattle. I was more of a city person,but my friends still live in PO and have a nice place.