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.
You should definitely go check it out there. Also, you should do a test run of the commute on a normal weekday.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I got stuck on "cuteing" and haven't yet moved past.
ReplyDeleteMichelle's advice is good. I'd really consider the social life aspect too.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely check it out...you never know.
ReplyDeleteI 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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