You might be wondering, why would we at InPeak Properties move our business and our home from Mercer Island, Washington in the middle of the thriving (and overheated) real estate market of Seattle and land in the relative quiet of the Kitsap Peninsula here in Poulsbo, Washington? (Or maybe you’re not wondering. But I’m going to tell you anyway).
Start with the Sailboat
It started back at the beginning of the year. We *ahem* may have been watching too many SV Delos and La Vegabonde videos on YouTube for the last few years. (Take a look and I promise you will be hooked ,too). We’d been toying with the idea of buying a boat “some day” and taking on some adventures of our own. The timing was right for giving it a try, so we made the leap and bought a beautiful 2010 Jeanneau 44i 45′ sailboat.
We got rid of 98% of everything we owned and moved onto the boat with our 2 boys, ages (nearly) 5 and 7. Getting rid of stuff actually felt really good, but that’s another topic for another post. One where we talk about de-cluttering your house before moving.
Getting Our Sea Legs
Needless to say, the first month was pretty disorienting. It felt a lot like bringing our first son home from the hospital. No idea why someone let us leave with this thing, unsure of what all those noises meant, and the strange smells. But we got it sorted out, and some things were actually easier to deal with than we thought. For me, cooking on the 2-burner stove and making pizza in the little boat oven was surprisingly easy. Even getting everything out of the boat fridge to get at something in the bottom was just one of those things we got used to. No big deal.
Docking, however, was another story altogether. That took some serious getting used to on a boat that big, especially docking in notoriously swirly, current-ridden Bremerton Marina. But we made it, and got settled in. The boys enjoyed watching sea creatures from the dock, getting out on the water a little, and hitting the local Navy museum and nearby parks. We even managed to scale back our Costco runs. But that boat can fit a surprising amount of stuff in the bilges!
When Boat Life Gets Real
That said, after we got the hang of living on the boat, things got real. We soon realized that we weren’t, as a family, ready for the cruising life. Real estate could be managed from a boat, if we didn’t have kids. (Getting into Seattle was easy. I just drove on the Bremerton ferry, which is right next to the marina. An hour later, I’d be in downtown Seattle, ready to get to wherever in the Seattle/Bellevue/Mercer Island area. Easy, and much more scenic than being stuck in traffic going from Mercer Island to Ballard or Issaquah.)
With the kids, we could live on the boat and do the cruising thing we wanted to do, if working wasn’t as important for us at this stage of life. But we do have a family, and we have a business we’re not ready to give up in favor of the vagabond boating life. What to do, then? Keep exploring on land and sea and start looking for a home that doesn’t float.
Plan B: A House on Land
It wasn’t easy, but eventually we came to the realization that we need to have a home base on land. We could still do the boating, but have a place to come back to. Someplace the boys could run around and be noisy without me having to sneak off to the car to make calls or check on real estate listings from the nearby Starbucks. So we started looking around for homes for sale in the surrounding areas: Port Orchard, Silverdale, Poulsbo, and Kingston.
Focused on Poulsbo
Pretty quickly, we realized we were drawn to the adorable town of Poulsbo on Liberty Bay. It started with the parks, namely Frank Raab park, affectionately nicknamed “digger park” by our boys. (It had one of those sandbox digger toys, of course). For me and Scott, the draw was the Anderson Waterfront Park, looking out over the boats moored in Liberty Bay. We also explored the Poulsbo Yacht Club and found a super-friendly and fun crew of boaters, both power and sail.
Then we discovered the picturesque and adorably quaint downtown, with all its boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops, and the famous Sluys’ Poulsbo Bakery. (Yes, that’s where Poulsbo Bread originated). The best Safeway we’ve ever been in and the HUGE Central Market helped the cause, too. I confess, I was super excited to find not only does the Central Market have the items I was missing most from the Bellevue Uwajimaya, but they also have a tremendous bulk section so I can get my tea for kombucha-brewing super-cheap! 🙂
Much like falling in love with a person, it didn’t take us too long to realize we’d fallen hard for Poulsbo. We quickly narrowed down our search to homes for sale in the city of Poulsbo, as close to downtown as we could be. It was an interesting process, searching for a home again but this time as both a real estate agent AND a home buyer. In the end, I really had to take my own advice and go check out a home I was not excited about by the pics.
If I Were My Home Buyer Client…
“What would I advise my home buyer clients?” I thought. Well, I would say “just go see it anyway, even if you think you don’t like it from the pictures.” Sure enough, that split level home with minimal curb appeal turned out to be just the right Poulsbo home for our family. It even came with a bonus mountain view AND two apple trees in the big backyard, perfectly spaced for our hammock to hang between them.
It’s been a couple months now, and we’re so glad to be here in Poulsbo! We love it more every day. The kids are making friends, they get to ride bikes and play in the yard. School is starting soon. We still have the boat, but she’s for sale now. That part is a little bittersweet, but ultimately we decided that if we aren’t living aboard, we don’t need quite so much boat. We’ll sell this one and find a boat that’s a bit smaller, and better suited for year-round adventures. (Scott’s pushing hard for a trawler and he may just win me over, even though it won’t be as quiet as sailing.)
That’s the short version of how we landed in lovely Poulsbo, Washington! What’s your story, Poulsbo neighbors? What do you love about Poulsbo and the Kitsap Peninsula?