Moving to PT?

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

"No easy access to stores and businesses"? That sounds strange. Perhaps you meant: no easy access to big box stores, and corporate chain-type businesses. Pt T has stores and businesses, lol. Just clarifying, OP, in case you got the wrong impression.

Pika, I think, was a multiple-property owner and landlord, so the tax structure, combined with issues relating to recent home value/rent increases, didn't work for him/her. If you'd only be buying for yourself, that issue wouldn't loom as large.

Ruth, stick with the facts and speak for yourself!

We were never landlords nor did we own multiple properties. We owned ONE house that we lived in year round.

The tax burden and related issues do affect owners of single-family homes. Hugely. Scratch the smarmy PT “image” machine and dig deeper. That means reading both local newspapers with a healthy dose of skepticism (liberal propaganda peppers their “journalism” but there is also some useful info). Study the city ordinances and other restrictions, then compare with who actually gets away with what despite their so-called laws. Despite the egalitarian masquerade, the very wealthy get away with...maybe not murder...but throwing their financial weight around to an amazing degree, to other people’s detriment. It’s a town where if you are a bum you are excused almost anything and if you are filthy rich (or a “connected” family’s son) you ARE excused anything. Meanwhile, the middle class (like us owners of ONE home that we worked and saved for decades to afford) gets shaken down more and more.

OP is not going to get a quick and easy soundbite summary of a complex problem. Or rather, ONE of their complex problems.

And then consider that common sense is thrown under the train in favor of feel-good window-dressing, with a healthy dose of self-serving interests hidden under the hypocritical veneers. The politics of that town are like a bad caricature.

I saw a quote from someone who had lived in PT and moved away, something about never being happier than when seeing PT in their rear-view mirror. While I do not feel as much loathing as that person must have, I totally get it.

Don’t forget that entrenched culture of enabling substance abuse, either.

[wolfdog]

Thanks for the heads up on Ruth. Some of her posts have had me scratching my head.

[pnwforest]

PT, where the young people are depressed and the old people delusional. The city council believes they have a built a utopia, and from physical appearance, that appears to be true. So here's the good: music/art in the summer, puget sound location, fort warden, the locals in the bar/music scene are generally friendly and fairly talented, there's boat schools.

Here's the bad:
the paper mill consumes millions of gallons of water per day, while in a rain shadow, and has been shutdown due to drought in the past as it was impacting the city's water supply
it also inundates certain areas west of town fairly frequently with pollution, as does the dump, downtown gets it less
North Beach looks great until you look up a map and see where the sewage treatment outfall pumps out. so don't fish or swim there (WDFW has it closed for pollution anyways)
power outages are a yearly thing, and they can last anywhere from a quick blip to weeks, depending on where the issue is. this is remarked upon as "a thing that always happens around this time of year."
most of the people in charge bought a place in PT years ago, finally get to move back (or their kids takeover), and don't want anything to change from their vision of what it is, this leads to:
antiquated schools, transportation, utilities, housing, health care
depressed youth and increased drug/alcohol abuse

get use to hearing, "well the <noun> here is a little bit different" as a default excuse for cronyism

people love to champion how there are no large corporate shops in PT while forgetting about the McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks

[CapitalBat]

I don’t want to offer unwelcome suggestions, but if you’re looking for that quiet pace in life you might consider Coupeville? That’s where my family lives and they visit PT regularly by ferry walk-on, and even though Whidbey seems like nowhere to me, it has better amenities and direct connection to hospitals/highways/etc. than PT does, with the same artsy vibe and beautiful views. Do not know how property prices compare to what you’re looking at.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by pnwforest

PT, where the young people are depressed and the old people delusional. The city council believes they have a built a utopia, and from physical appearance, that appears to be true. So here's the good: music/art in the summer, puget sound location, fort warden, the locals in the bar/music scene are generally friendly and fairly talented, there's boat schools.

Here's the bad:
the paper mill consumes millions of gallons of water per day, while in a rain shadow, and has been shutdown due to drought in the past as it was impacting the city's water supply
it also inundates certain areas west of town fairly frequently with pollution, as does the dump, downtown gets it less
North Beach looks great until you look up a map and see where the sewage treatment outfall pumps out. so don't fish or swim there (WDFW has it closed for pollution anyways)
power outages are a yearly thing, and they can last anywhere from a quick blip to weeks, depending on where the issue is. this is remarked upon as "a thing that always happens around this time of year."
most of the people in charge bought a place in PT years ago, finally get to move back (or their kids takeover), and don't want anything to change from their vision of what it is, this leads to:
antiquated schools, transportation, utilities, housing, health care
depressed youth and increased drug/alcohol abuse

get use to hearing, "well the <noun> here is a little bit different" as a default excuse for cronyism

people love to champion how there are no large corporate shops in PT while forgetting about the McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks

North Beach was also fouled by incredibly heavy dog “use”, if you get my drift. So much poop just left there, on the beach and in the surrounding neighborhoods, never mind the stench of entrenched pee and poop even when picked up. The sheer volume of dog use ruined it for us. Of course, the kind, open-minded, dog-above-all-else crowd will gloat about driving away “people who aren’t like us.” Trust me on this: those who leave CELEBRATE leaving, despite appreciating what is good about PT. Nice place to visit, but...

Totally agree with the bolded statement. Different is merely different, not necessarily better.

[bgilman]

How are property taxed assessed. How ofter? Are they reset whenever a home is purchased?