Any long term readers may know that I've considered buying my own place off and on for several years now. I read an article in yesterday's Seattle Times that said that in all of King County there are only 9 areas where a middle income family can buy a home. In Seattle, there's 1 place. Not good news, especially as I am far below what the state considers to be middle income. I've been looking at homes recently in Bremerton. I could afford to buy a house in Bremerton. A house. With more than 1 bedroom. And the ones I've seen online are all cute. So I'm making a pro and con list to help me think this further.
Pro: I could buy a house with a yard at less than I'm paying currently in rent. According to a coworker who lives there now, Bremerton is working very hard on cuteing themselves up and making the area more attractive to people as a place to move to so if I were to get in now the potential is there for this to be a very good buy. There is still public transportation out there so I may still be able to avoid car ownership.
Con: 1 hour ferry ride every day to go to work and back. I'd be much farther away from my friends than I currently am and this, I suspect, would start to limit my social activities on the weekends. Oh and did I mention the 1 hour ferry ride to work and 1 hour home? That would require me to catch the ferry at 6:20 AM to get to Seattle by 7:20 and then catch the bus up the hill. I just don't know about that. (Even if I owned a car the ferry ride would be necessary because the only other way would be to drive down south by Tacoma and drive back up) There is a Kitsap fast ferry that would only be 40 minutes and it leaves at a good time for me, but if I were to miss that one... I'd be stuck and late for work. I just don't know. Also the ferry is expensive (less expensive than owning a car but still over 100 bucks/mo in transportation costs, although I just checked at public safety and I can get a reduced ferry pass through the U and keep my regular bus pass so it is a slightly less con).
What do you think? I may need to change my upcoming Sunday adventure to a field trip to Bremerton so that I can really see what it is like out there and how the walking distances are.
5 comments:
You should definitely go check it out there. Also, you should do a test run of the commute on a normal weekday.
I'm sorry, I got stuck on "cuteing" and haven't yet moved past.
Michelle's advice is good. I'd really consider the social life aspect too.
I would definitely check it out...you never know.
I think you should check it out. Owning your own home is the best thing you can do for your finances. I have read several books about investing in real estate (can't wait to practice it all) and the best one I have read so far that clearly explains everything is The Automatic Millionair Homeowner. Plus it will tell you how to get a great mortage. It made me realize I could own a home in 6 mos to a year instead of 2-3years like I thought it was going to take.
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