I'm working in Bremerton, spouse likely in Bellevue or Seattle. Where to live? (Tacoma: apartments, to rent)

[kj6246]

Hello.

I will be relocating to take a job in Bremerton early next year and my spouse will be joining me a few months later. Looking at employment opportunities, my spouse will likely end up working in Seattle or Bellevue.

It will just be the two of us, no kids in the picture now or later. I'd prefer a smaller but nice and active town. We will eventually buy, but will likely rent initially while we get a feel for the area. Ideally we would like a single family detached home with a yard.

I have volunteered to take the longer commute. I would prefer to drive, given that I will occasionally be working off-hours. I would like to keep the commute to no more than 1 hour, 15 minutes on a normal day.

Any recommendations on places to look at living?

Thank you for the help.

EDIT: For reference on our preferences, I plan to rent in Poulsbo until my spouse gets out to Washington.

[mhays25]

Life will be dramatically easier if you walk onto the ferry, rather than driving on. So live in Downtown Seattle or central Bremerton.

[kj6246]

I was unclear in my original post, but I'd rather not rely on the ferry. I was looking at living somewhere between Tacoma and Seattle/Bellevue.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by kj6246

I was unclear in my original post, but I'd rather not rely on the ferry. I was looking at living somewhere between Tacoma and Seattle/Bellevue.

Well, you can live in the Bremerton area, or swim...

The drive around to Seattle could be 2-3 hours during peak times. The ferry is about an hour. I'd nix the idea of you working in Bremerton and him working in Bellevue, unless you get separate apartments and visit on weekends.

Midway would be Tacoma, an hour to an hour and a half either way - would be equally bad for both of you.

[amaiunmei]

Originally Posted by kj6246

I have volunteered to take the longer commute. I would prefer to drive, given that I will occasionally be working off-hours. I would like to keep the commute to no more than 1 hour, 15 minutes on a normal day.

There are not a lot of great options here, and it leads me to believe that you may need to adjust your expectations in a major way.

The drive from Seattle to Bremerton, by land, takes 90 minutes on a traffic-free, everything's-going-my-way kind of drive. However, it should be noted that 90 minutes assumes that you won't hit traffic in Tacoma ... and that's a fool's bet. Traffic through Tacoma tends to be very bad.

You might want to split the difference; live in Tacoma and encourage your wife to find work in downtown Seattle so she can take the Sounder train.

Going any further east, north, or south of Tacoma lengthens your commute by 20 minutes, at least. It's not pretty. The downtown Tacoma traffic is no joke and you may want to keep that in mind as you look around.

[homesinseattle]

That's a tough one. Federal Way/Fife might be the best of a number of mostly poor options. Traffic is no joke around here. Just make sure you get through Tacoma before rush hour, same for her to Seattle or Bellevue.

[CrazyDonkey]

Other options could be:

Port Orchard, near the Southworth ferry. Your spouse would need to take the ferry to West Seattle, since you don't want to.

Bainbridge Island. The ferry to downtown Seattle takes about half an hour.

[carroll4628]

Originally Posted by amaiunmei

However, it should be noted that 90 minutes assumes that you won't hit traffic in Tacoma ... and that's a fool's bet. Traffic through Tacoma tends to be very bad.

With all the semi-truck traffic on I-5 near the Port of Tacoma, traffic is BAD most of the time. It's rare when you can just sail through Tacoma - any time of the day (o.k. 10p to 6am are generally pretty good, as is Sunday AM). On Tuesday night at 6:30 three lanes were closed due to an accident. Spend some time during the day looking at the Traffic Cams. https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/tac....aspx?cam=1397

Traveling north on 405 to Bellevue is no joke either. https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/default.aspx

Each of you should plan for 90 minutes of commuting time. I'd really rethink the ferry (and spouse finding a job in downtown Seattle).

[cmswazey]

I see many Bremerton ferry commuters downtown Seattle. It seems to work for them. If it were me, I'd live in the Bremerton area and have my spouse aim for a job in Seattle and do the walk on ferry commute. Then one of you has a great commute and the other has a middling commute rather than both of you having an abysmal commute.

[RustinginSeattle]

Wow! You need to pull out a map and look at where you're talking about living and commuting. Have you read any prior threads about traffic and commuting around here?

I used to live in Bremerton and walk on the ferry to Seattle for work. That commute was 3-4 hours per day (depending if I was on the faster foot ferry or the bigger car ferry). My step-father commuted (drove) from the south end of Port Orchard to the Duwamish area of Seattle (the south end - so not driving into the city proper) and his commute was 4-6 hours per day. The commute he did might be a bit faster now that they put in the very expensive toll bridge (is it $6?) between Tacoma and Gig Harbor.

There is also a HUGE price difference between living on the peninsula and on the Seattle side. You can buy a nice house on the peninsula for around $350K. That same house in Seattle might run you closer to $600-800K.

The cheapest way to do it is live in the Poulsbo area and have your spouse use the Bainbridge ferry (30 minute ride and much more reliable and consistently timed than the Bremerton Ferry). If your spouse takes a car on the ferry, be prepared for long wait times on either side of the ferry and much higher expense.

If you are willing to live on the Seattle side and let your spouse have the better commute, I would live near Seattle proper and have you take the ferry to Bremerton or drive 2-3 hours each way.

You might have more time together if you get a small apartment in each area and get together with your spouse on the weekends.

My husband drives 7 miles from Ballard (still in the city limits) into the city and that can be 30 minutes to an hour during peak travel times. Do not underestimate commuting in a place that requires bridge crossings and getting around massive bodies of water.