Looking for Our New Hometown in WA or OR (Seattle: living, estate)

[west seattle gal]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

What? Oh, good heavens: San Francisco is famous for its Victorians, and the city of Berkeley has entire neighborhoods full of them on the west side of town. It's like an art gallery of Victorians! And then there's Port Townsend. Orcas Island has a few, too.

Yeah, I forgot about SF. Of course, plenty there. Haven't seen many in WA, though. Definitely haven't seen towns with beautiful historical housing districts that are so plentiful on the East Coast.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Yeah, I forgot about SF. Of course, plenty there. Haven't seen many in WA, though. Definitely haven't seen towns with beautiful historical housing districts that are so plentiful on the East Coast.

Imagine a Victorian home area in Seattle with the sprawling large lawns popular in NE USA! "Goodness, we could build high density and house 500 people on that sized lot " (done deal, 40 yrs ago)

[akknag102]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Are you talking about Pt Townsend? I guess so; most are in the Uptown neighborhood, which is on a hill with a view of the water, and is one of the higher-end neighborhoods. But still, PT T. in general is a lot cheaper than Seattle, and for the time being--cheaper than Bellingham.

OP, you can check out real estate listings in Port Townsend. In winter there won't be as much inventory as in spring/summer, but you still might see a couple of Victorians, to get an idea.

Originally Posted by pikabike

A PT Victorian house will be very expensive unless it is a real fixer. There used to be instances of decrepit Victorians purchased inexpensively and fixed up (VERY expensive and can take many years). Can't think of any recent ones, though.

The town has some of the other things on your list, such as cute areas (parts of the town are definitely not cute) and walking trails on public land, not to mention several good beaches. Boating is obviously a popular activity.

However, other things you listed are marginal. Sea-Tac can sometimes be only a 2-hour drive away but often takes longer, thanks to horrible Seattle area traffic. The PT economy is not healthy, because it relies excessively on property and sales taxes plus tourism, which has a short high season. The people range from hostile to welcoming, like many places. Without knowing what you consider friendly, I can't rate that for you. From my own experience in living there, know that people will make lots of assumptions based on what they THINK where you moved from is like, and what they THINK your political leanings are based on very superficial things. Then shrug off those people and enjoy being with the ones who are truly open-minded. They do exist there...they just get drowned out by the perennially resentful. See through the hypocrisy and move ahead.

One thing that you can only do so much "adjusting" to is the town's location. Get used to relying on ferries and/or dealing with traffic if you want to travel by car outside of the Olympic Peninsula.

Port Townsend looks adorable. I love that they're considered a Victorian seaside village and it looks like they do have more Victorian homes than some other areas in WA. It reminds me of some of the waterfront villages I love so much in MA. As some have said, the steep prices may be too much for us but I'll keep checking the real estate listings to keep an eye on the prices!

[akknag102]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Well, unless I missed it, the OP never mentioned "affordability" or a budget. I guess Port Townsend would be too far away from a main airport, though the OP said they looked at San Juan Island, which also is far from an international airport and requires ferry travel. It still might be worth a look for them.

We're still working out our budget (this move would be about 5 years from now), but I would anticipate that we will be looking somewhere in the $300k-$400k range.

As for proximity to an airport, we currently live 1.5 hours from the nearest airport and it hasn't been an issue. While it would be nice to have a shorter drive to the airport, I think anywhere within 2 hours would be fine.

[akknag102]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Victorians: Astoria Oregon or the coast of Northern California, last few miles of the northern coast, Eureka or Arcata.

Other than that, Oregon tends to have Bungalow Craftsman cottages. Victorian construction was never popular.

Thank you!! A few more areas to add to our list

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by akknag102

We're still working out our budget (this move would be about 5 years from now), but I would anticipate that we will be looking somewhere in the $300k-$400k range.
.......

I think stating your budget earlier in the thread could have considerably narrowed it down.
$300-400k in a nice neighborhood, in a solid economy town sort of eliminates most of the west coast, especially if you are looking at a special type of house that is likely to cost a premium price.

Good luck! You have a challenge ahead.

[dtuba]

Tacoma might have a handful of Victorians. But I don't know if any of them are for sale or not. Plus Tacoma hardly qualifies as a small town these days.

[pikabike]

Eliminate the requirement for a Victorian house, and a purchase in the $300k-400k range is possible (in western WA).

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Thom52

I think stating your budget earlier in the thread could have considerably narrowed it down.
$300-400k in a nice neighborhood, in a solid economy town sort of eliminates most of the west coast, especially if you are looking at a special type of house that is likely to cost a premium price.

Good luck! You have a challenge ahead.

Yes, you won't be able to get a Victorian in Arcata within your budget, OP, and maybe not Eureka, either. Plus those are too far from an international airport, though there are local airports that connect to the Bay Area. You could try Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is know for its Victorians. It's about 2 hrs. from Albuquerque's airport, and has an old town with old Victorians that are affordable.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Eliminate the requirement for a Victorian house, and a purchase in the $300k-400k range is possible (in western WA).

Absolutely. Including in Pt Townsend.