Gig Harbor vs. Port Orchard vs. Sequim (Seattle, Tacoma: homes, taxes)

[Tiger108]

Looking at homes that would first be a second home and then, in maybe 5-7 years, a retirement home, we have visited many parts of the country, including Portland. Most recently we looked at Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Kala Point. Returning in late October, we were first going to focus on Sequim, which we drove through and heard a lot about as a retirement community. My wife liked the fact that rainfall is less than the other areas, though it's also near scenic places such as Hurricane Ridge and Port Townsend. It is, we realize, somewhat more "remote" than the other places. Its popularity among retirees also seems to have driven up prices to at least as much as Gig Harbor and more than Port Orchard (Poulsbo currently not in the mix due to prices).

We still like Port Orchard, especially the McCormick Woods development, though the town itself is rather small and the rainfall, at least according to Weather.com, notably more than even Gig Harbor, and certainly a lot more than Sequim.

We just drove through Gig Harbor since we were only mildly interested in the area at the time, but now thinking its proximity to Tacoma and (relatively) to Seattle might increase a home's investment value. Neighboring Fox Island might be more tranquil, as more removed from busy traffic, though some parts appear to be within sight of the Tacoma Narrows bridge (mixed blessing?).

Any firsthand experiences living in any of these places?

By the way, work location is not a factor, as I'm retired and my wife, who currently works overseas, would not work in the area and within a few years will be retired, too.

[Hemlock140]

My elderly parents are in the Sequim area, their address is Port Angeles but they are between the two cities in unincorporated Clallam County. It's definitely less expensive to live outside the city limits (taxes) and in the area between Kitchen Dick Road and Deer Park Road is 10-20 minutes to either Sequim or Port Angeles. Above 101 at higher elevations they do get a little more snow in winter but at 500' they still don't get much but only 9-12" of rain, 1/4 of Seattle. The sun appears almost every day though sometimes only for an hour or two in the afternoon. Port Orchard is close enough to Bremerton and Silverdale for shopping/medical, as is Gig Harbor to Tacoma, but both are going to be wet. While the home prices in Sequim area will likely continue to increase as more retirees find it, the homes are still much less than the Seattle metro area. Their neighbor recently sold their home on 23 acres for just $300,000. It will never be as good an investment as Seattle and the eastside, though, because of the lack of jobs. Gig Harbor and Port Orchard are a bit far for people to commute, and with the wet weather I would not expect their prices to go up as fast. Gig Harbor is close but commuting over that bridge and onto I5 in Tacoma is a nightmare.