Moving to Bremerton (budget, area, place)

[Octobersmoon]

Originally Posted by prosin

From a personal POV, for an easier commute, look to points north of the shipyard. And pay attention to which schools have had the most recent levy and bond measures pass. That will give you a clue as to which school districts you will want your child to attend.

Could you elaborate? I am helping a friend who is currently in Shelton with potential employment at the shipyard. Husband is already commuting to shipyard. They have elementary kids and want to move closer and into a better school district/zone.

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by Octobersmoon

Could you elaborate? I am helping a friend who is currently in Shelton with potential employment at the shipyard. Husband is already commuting to shipyard. They have elementary kids and want to move closer and into a better school district/zone.

Central Kitsap and North Kitsap school districts are decent, IMO.

You could check out South Kitsap district as well.

[prosin]

Originally Posted by Returning2USA

Central Kitsap and North Kitsap school districts are decent, IMO.

You could check out South Kitsap district as well.

I agree with Returning regarding Central Kitsap and North Kitsap SDs. Bremerton SD is improving, too. (Not sure if anyone has mentioned living *in* Bremerton. Some regions outside the downtown core are pretty nice--Illahee, Tracyton, Brownsville, Manette, Fairgrounds/Pine Road, and Oyster Bay, for example, are not too far from the shipyard.)

I admit I don't know much regarding East Jefferson County schools (Chimacum/Port Townsend) across the Hood Canal Bridge from Kitsap. Commuting from Jefferson or Clallam Counties is possible through the Worker/Driver program, but the challenge is distance and bridge closures. The bridge closes (sometimes unexpectedly) for marine traffic, especially for submarines headed to Navy Base Kitsap--Bangor.

Yes, please check South Kitsap SD. It will be enlightening.

SKSD teachers, staff, and administrators are amazing front-line folks who are incredible in the classroom and with extracurriculars. They have to piecemeal a lot given how little they are given to work with.

However, the residents of SKSD have not passed a much-needed bond measure to build a new high school for decades. The overcrowding at SKHS (the largest high school in the state) has been much talked about locally. The last school in the district was built in 1982--40 years ago. Thankfully, recent levy measures have passed. But without major bond measures to build new schools or update schools, I would not encourage relocating to South Kitsap unless schools aren't an issue for buyers (e.g. no kids, kids in private schools, etc.)

[rodentraiser]

I'm not sure I'd want to live on the other side of the Hood Canal bridge. They close that bridge at the drop of a hat. In summer it's for maintenance and for raising the bridge. In winter the bridge will be closed if the wind is sustained at (I think) 45mph for 15 minutes or more. And in our winter storms up here, that could be pretty often.

I had a supervisor who lived in Port Ludlow and she was either missing work or having to leave early to be able to get across the bridge.

Somebody better tell the OP about the traffic mess out of the Navy yard at 5pm, too. You don't need a long commute to experience sitting in a car for long periods of time. Just get off work at the wrong time.

[preston39]

Originally Posted by rodentraiser

I'm not sure I'd want to live on the other side of the Hood Canal bridge. They close that bridge at the drop of a hat. In summer it's for maintenance and for raising the bridge. In winter the bridge will be closed if the wind is sustained at (I think) 45mph for 15 minutes or more. And in our winter storms up here, that could be pretty often.

I had a supervisor who lived in Port Ludlow and she was either missing work or having to leave early to be able to get across the bridge.

Somebody better tell the OP about the traffic mess out of the Navy yard at 5pm, too. You don't need a long commute to experience sitting in a car for long periods of time. Just get off work at the wrong time.

Thanks for the heads up. I definitely won’t be moving across the Hood Canal Bridge.

Unfortunately with the housing shortage, we might have to look on the other side of Gorst, possibly into Mason or Pierce Counties.

[rodentraiser]

Even Mason county is getting expensive. The word is out - this side of the water is a lot less expensive than anyplace in or around Seattle. But here's the lowdown on Mason county.

In 2018 I bought a 1 acre lot for $33,000. Now I had some specific requirements, like wanting water on the lot and being away from neighbors because I was going to live on it in my car or in a trailer and I didn't want trouble, plus it had to be within my price range. I looked in an area that ran from the Canadian border all the way down to Portland and from the foothills of the Cascades out to the coast.

I finally found a lot about 12 miles from Belfair - a 20 minute drive into town. Today I couldn't touch this lot for under $100,000 and while I have water and a driveway on it, I'm now paying off a loan for electricity and a septic system and I'm living in a large 5th wheel. No house yet.

The contractor bought up the other lots around me, put septic, electric, a driveway, and a manufactured home on each of these lots, and the cheapest one sold for $379,000 on an acre lot like mine.

Now I'm not saying you can't find a great lot or a great house out here, but you may need to pay a lot more than you want to. Still, if you look around, you may get a good deal. Here are a few things to consider, though:

Make sure if you buy land that you can put a well on it or that there is already a well and if there is, what the connection fee is. I paid an $800 connection fee, but I've seen fees as high as $15,000.

If you end up in the sticks, make sure you ask about the road - is it graded regularly or kept up? I looked at one place that took me over 20 minutes to get to and it was only 2 miles away. That's how bad the road was.

Ask about internet connection. Where I'm at, it's satellite only, there's only two companies offering it, and both of them are terrible and both cost an arm and a leg - with data caps. SpaceX is supposed to be coming out in July sometime, but I'll believe that when I see it. Besides, it's still a $500 deposit.

Watch out for HMOs. There seem to be a lot of lots and houses for sale around the lakes up here but almost all of them are run by HMOs. I got lucky. Where I'm at there aren't any HMOs but for a yearly fee, we have a road maintenance association that maintains our paved roads and plows them in winter (HUGE plus!). Other than that, there's no lot restrictions, which could be good or bad.

If you're on this side of the water and you want to take the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle every day, you have my sympathies. First of all, the ferry rates, especially for a car (and cars pay both ways across the water) are ridiculously high and will only go higher. Then you have to figure out where you are going to park once you get to the other side.

If you drive to Bremerton and park there and walk onto the ferry (much cheaper than bringing your car over) you will have parking fees that are a little cheaper, but then you have to figure out how you're going to get to your job once you get to Seattle. Walk, bus, or taxi?

Bremerton ferries are also the poor stepchild of the ferry system. Any time another route is down a ferry, they take one from the Bremerton run. That means a ferry maybe every 2 hours or so to and from Bremerton. Waiting around an extra hour for the ferry is not fun. Also, you have to be really early to catch the early ferries in Bremerton. Otherwise they fill up and you're left waiting for the next one.

Ferries aside, an hour to cross the Sound sounds nice, but it gets old fast. What's worse, though, is any extra commute time. If you're in Mason county, you can add an extra 30 to 60 minutes on to that hour. When I was living up here in 2003 and commuting to Seattle, my commute ended up being 3 hours. Each way. So 40 hours working and 30 hours commuting per week. I did it for a year before I called it quits and went to look for a job on this side of the water.

So wherever you look at a place to buy in Mason county, make sure you time your commute first.

I'm not trying to be negative, but these are some of the things you'll be facing living in and around Belfair.

[preston39]

Update: my spouse has found a better paying job, so our budget has increased as a result. Since our options have opened up a bit, I think we'll be centering our search around Bremerton proper while keeping an open mind toward other areas in central Kitsap (Silverdale, etc.) to maintain a manageable commute.

My job has also given me a more specific timeframe of August (or July, if we decide to get a head start). We're both excited to make the trip up there and experience the beautiful PNW for ourselves.

[rodentraiser]

Originally Posted by preston39

Update: my spouse has found a better paying job, so our budget has increased as a result. Since our options have opened up a bit, I think we'll be centering our search around Bremerton proper while keeping an open mind toward other areas in central Kitsap (Silverdale, etc.) to maintain a manageable commute.

My job has also given me a more specific timeframe of August (or July, if we decide to get a head start). We're both excited to make the trip up there and experience the beautiful PNW for ourselves.

If you end up in Silverdale, check out Round Table Pizza. Pricy, but the best pizza around. Also go up to Poulsbo and check out Central Market. Also pricy but they have a lot of stuff you can't find in other supermarkets.

[ForestImp]

So, Original Poster.....curious what the update on your move turned out to be! I realize it's been a while, but always curious to know how it worked out for folks transitioning!

[preston39]

Originally Posted by ForestImp

So, Original Poster.....curious what the update on your move turned out to be! I realize it's been a while, but always curious to know how it worked out for folks transitioning!

Hey, thanks for asking. It went well. We found a house in east Bremerton, and we’re liking the area so far. Downtown is definitely busier than the impression I got from other people, but that’s not a bad thing. The area is beautiful, especially when you get a clear view of the Olympics.

Thank you all for the help again.