Washington State relocation questions (Seattle, Bellevue: sale, foreclosed, crime rates)

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

In fact, some of those linked that seem like bargains will not finance in their current condition, they NEED to be renovated to qualify for a mortgage....

The thing one always has to worry about in Aberdeen and some of the other areas linked up there is neighborhood safety and flood zones.

For Aberdeen, I tried to avoid anything that looked like it needed renovation to be habitable (other than the "Bear Gulch" property, which is sitting on acreage) or looked like it was in the flood zone ("the Flats"). I grew up in Aberdeen (many moons ago), so know the general "lay" of the land there (but am not certain about the one Cosmopolis property, which is outside my usual "haunts" back then).

[CalWorth]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

For Aberdeen, I tried to avoid anything that looked like it needed renovation to be habitable (other than the "Bear Gulch" property, which is sitting on acreage) or looked like it was in the flood zone ("the Flats"). I grew up in Aberdeen (many moons ago), so know the general "lay" of the land there (but am not certain about the one Cosmopolis property, which is outside my usual "haunts" back then).

I have always liked the look of Aberdeen, there are some cool-looking houses there. I hope it stays affordable, but I know what those houses were valued at a few years ago. I guess I will always be sensitive to parasitic flippers. It happened in my pleasant, middle-class neighborhood in SoCal where I lived 20+ years, during the Crash, & changed my neighborhood forever. And it has happened where I live now. Greed is never good. I wish the OP luck in this ridiculously inflated market.

Edit: I decided to look up the sales history on the listings that CrazyDonkey provided. I do this with any real estate I look at, including where I live now & lived in the past. I don’t think anything can justify a 400% price increase in a house that was purchased just a few months before, but it happens…a lot. That is greed.

[rodentraiser]

Brinnon?!?

One of the things you might want to consider is your daughter going to a community college. I don't know about Shelton, but Bremerton Community College is too far for me just living in Belfair. And although they are trying to offer university classes, the closest actual university is in Seattle.

If you live anywhere this side of the Sound from Seattle, you're going to be spending money hand over fist every time you commute over there. The only consolation is if you live around places near Olympia, you'll have a long way to drive and you'll have traffic jams galore, but you won't have to fork over almost $40 each way each time you go to Seattle by ferry like you would if you lived in Bremerton. Even in Gig Harbor there's the bridge toll when you cross over to go to Seattle.

If you live in Bremerton and need to go to Seattle, you can use the ferry when they've got their act together or you can drive around, about 150 mile round trip.

And I say Seattle a lot because if you need to go to a hospital, or a concert, or anything fun, Seattle is pretty much where you end up. Even the libraries on this side of the water are not all that great.

Belfair has 2 Mexican restaurants, a library, 2 grocery stores, 4 pizza places, a bunch of expensive gas stations, some other various businesses, and 3 fast food places. And it gets worse the further out you go. I don't consider myself to be really rural, but the power has gone out here at least 4 times in the last couple of months, our road to Belfair was closed for 4 days entailing an 8 mile detour, the only internet up here in the hills is Starlink and it's $120 a month, and unless you eat fast food where you order it, you only get stuff to go that will reheat in the microwave or oven. And like I said, I don't consider myself that far out.

It takes me 20 minutes to get to Belfair, 35 minutes to get to Bremerton, 45 minutes to get to Silverdale, almost an hour to Poulsbo, and probably going the other way, at least an hour + to get to Brinnon if I start in Belfair. I haven't been to Olympia in so long I forget how long it takes to get there.

I have a friend who lived in Hood Canal once and just loved it. If it weren't for her job, she'd definitely live there again. So maybe Brinnon, a little up the road from Hood Canal, would be just your thing. One other thing you want to think about. If you are going to Seattle from Brinnon, it may be faster to go out the north way and go through Poulsbo and take the ferry from Bainbridge Island. That's still going to be some drive. But you'd be going over the Hood Canal bridge and they close that bridge if a 45mph wind blows longer than 15 minutes. Which is often during the winter and doesn't include the times they need to close it for a boat opening or repair work or just to annoy people who need to cross. You could make the drive up there from Brinnon and find yourself unable to go any further or worse, find yourself stuck on the other side and not able to get home.

I seriously would consider any areas around Olympia or possibly Shelton (don't locate yourself near a river or a flood zone) or even south and east of Tacoma (no one with sense lives in Tacoma or Lakewood). Even Bremerton has a few nice areas, as long as you don't go downtown at night and walk around.

Just my opinion.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by CalWorth

Edit: I decided to look up the sales history on the listings that CrazyDonkey provided. I do this with any real estate I look at, including where I live now & lived in the past. I don’t think anything can justify a 400% price increase in a house that was purchased just a few months before, but it happens…a lot. That is greed.

One is listed at a 650% increase over its $38,000 purchase price. One factor driving prices up, not just in Aberdeen, but across the state, is remote working, which, while it may slow down, isn't going away. It has created demand where previously there was very little, because the job base was low-paying and scant. Now, however, purchasers are bringing well-paying jobs with them. Grays Harbor County invested heavily in fiber to the Internet "backbone", which is now paying off. Plus, the miles and miles of ocean beaches are just a half-an-hour away.

Yeah, if you got in four or five years ago, you made out like a monkey on a banana farm.

[CrazyDonkey]

Here's one in Aberdeen priced a little above the OP's budget ($350k), but is out of the flood zone, close to Grays Harbor College, and very nicely renovated and landscaped:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...55051030_zpid/

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

BREMERTON is high-crime? What's that about? I've never heard that before.

On the City-data crime index it shows Bremerton at 262.1, compare to nearby Gig Harbor at 226.4, Poulsbo 128.1, Lacey WA 170.6. I have a co-worker living there and a former boss lived there, both avoided certain parts of town. I've always been sensitive to crime rates since living in Oakland CA years ago, here in Sammamish it's 44.6.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crim...ashington.html

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

On the City-data crime index it shows Bremerton at 262.1, compare to nearby Gig Harbor at 226.4, Poulsbo 128.1, Lacey WA 170.6. I have a co-worker living there and a former boss lived there, both avoided certain parts of town. I've always been sensitive to crime rates since living in Oakland CA years ago, here in Sammamish it's 44.6.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crim...ashington.html

What about nearby Port Orchard?

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by CalWorth

Edit: I decided to look up the sales history on the listings that CrazyDonkey provided. I do this with any real estate I look at, including where I live now & lived in the past. I don’t think anything can justify a 400% price increase in a house that was purchased just a few months before, but it happens…a lot. That is greed.

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

One is listed at a 650% increase over its $38,000 purchase price. One factor driving prices up, not just in Aberdeen, but across the state, is remote working, which, while it may slow down, isn't going away. It has created demand where previously there was very little, because the job base was low-paying and scant. Now, however, purchasers are bringing well-paying jobs with them. Grays Harbor County invested heavily in fiber to the Internet "backbone", which is now paying off. Plus, the miles and miles of ocean beaches are just a half-an-hour away.

Yeah, if you got in four or five years ago, you made out like a monkey on a banana farm.

The ones with that much of an increase have also likely been gutted and completely renovated, so it's not just greed, it's investment. Everything about them is new... New Roofing, new hardie plank siding, double pane windows, new HVAC, clean new kitchens, baths, electrical upgrade, new plumbing, new insulation, new walls, new floors. They've put at least $100K in them.

CrazyDonkey, I too watched a lot of people moving out from the cities during COVID, and I am curious to see how long they stay. Especially since many of those employers are calling them back to work in the office. I am sortof expecting the market in some of these rural areas to open up a bit in the near future as some of those new residents decide to move back to the city.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

The ones with that much of an increase have also likely been gutted and completely renovated, so it's not just greed, it's investment. Everything about them is new... New Roofing, new hardie plank siding, double pane windows, new HVAC, clean new kitchens, baths, electrical upgrade, new plumbing, new insulation, new walls, new floors. They've put at least $100K in them.

CrazyDonkey, I too watched a lot of people moving out from the cities during COVID, and I am curious to see how long they stay. Especially since many of those employers are calling them back to work in the office. I am sortof expecting the market in some of these rural areas to open up a bit in the near future as some of those new residents decide to move back to the city.

It could be that the original price was just the land. You have to look at the "roll value" and see when a structure was added to determine original assessed value of the home & land. 400% though, is not far off. My late grandmothers place was built new for $180K decks furniture and all, last assessed over $700K.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

CrazyDonkey, I too watched a lot of people moving out from the cities during COVID, and I am curious to see how long they stay. Especially since many of those employers are calling them back to work in the office. I am sortof expecting the market in some of these rural areas to open up a bit in the near future as some of those new residents decide to move back to the city.

Even Amazon is going to have trouble clawing back all of their "key" employees. They're partly doing it because they're sitting on "tons" of vacant office space, but may have to change their mind some due to having to compete with companies that realize the benefits of remote working (where the employee is willing to pay for their home office, gigabit internet, etc.).

My nephew took his IT job from Bellevue to Las Vegas, where he was able to buy a house, which he couldn't have done up here. His employer is perfectly fine with the arrangement.