What To Look For In A PNW Home
Let’s talk a little bit about what to look for in a home in the Pacific Northwest. This should hopefully help answer some common questions if you’re coming to Washington from another part of the country like California, which is where I came from. So let’s dig in.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
First off, in the homes up here it’s all about the light. People from California will often come to me and say, “I want ceiling fans everywhere,” to which I reply, “No, girl. You really want recessed lighting everywhere.” We’ve got lots of mature, beautiful trees and we want to look at how the house is positioned on the lot so that you can get as much light as possible. Plus it’s cloudier here than in other parts of the country, so we want lots of windows. Ideally, if you’re really into natural light, you want western exposure, which will give you an awesome setting in your backyard for a garden somewhere on your lot. Western exposure is also going to give you views of the Olympic Mountains and all those beautiful sunsets. In the summer here the days are incredibly long and amazing and gorgeous, so if you have that western exposure, you’re going to have more light in your house for longer. Now if you really want views of Mount Rainier you’re looking at a southeastern exposure. This will give you gorgeous sunrises, but you’ll lose light a little bit earlier in the day. A northern exposure is definitely going to feel a lot darker in your house, which some of my clients from Arizona want. They’re tired of always being hot, so they want to bring on the shade. So those are two different ways to look at exposure, whether it’s the view you’re going for or just how your house is positioned on the lot.
A DRAIN FOR THE RAIN
Another thing you want to look for is really good drainage. Up here we don’t get the sideways rain like people think, and it doesn’t rain all year long, but we do have wet seasons. It’s misty and it doesn’t always get super dry, so you want to look at the drainage around your house. Winter is a great time to buy a house because you can check out your crawl space in the wettest time of the year. Obviously we can test that in the summer too, but if you’re buying a house in the winter, you can see how well the water drains around your house. So we’re going to want to look at the sloping of your house and make sure that all of that water drains around it.
Air Conditioning
Air conditioning is not as common up here, although it’s becoming more popular, partly because of the change in weather patterns. You’ll find that about 50% of houses have air conditioning, but if they don’t and the house is prewired for it you can always put it in. My house wasn’t even prewired, but it’s an easy add-on to any house with central air.
TREES
As I said earlier, there are lots of mature trees up here, so you want to look at the trees that are on your lot. Are they too much for you? If you are a tree lover, keep them (and enjoy all the wildlife!). But if you are not a huge tree lover, then you can either limb them to bring in more light, pull them away from your house, and increase your views, or you could take them out (if you have an HOA, check first if you need permission from them). Trimming or removing trees will also help with maintaining your roof and your gutter system.
SEPTIC & WELLS
In the Gig Harbor market we have the city of Gig Harbor and the unincorporated part of Gig Harbor. The city includes downtown Gig Harbor and uptown, which is the area off of Olympic Drive. This is all on sewer and public water. If you go further out where it’s a little more rural, you’re in unincorporated Gig Harbor and you’ll be looking at having septic systems, possibly even wells (larger acreage lots usually have an individual or a shared well). Both are very common here, and we as agents will guide you on the different inspections you might want to have on your septic and well systems.
Trees Mean Wood And Wood Means Termites?
A lot of questions I get from our California friends, which is a huge market that’s coming into the Oregon and Washington markets, are about termite inspections. We don’t really have termites here, so you don’t see termite inspections or radon inspections. We do look for wood destroying organisms, though. They are more likely to be in damp, wet areas, so for example moisture ants will go after wet wood. But as long as you dry up that wood, those moisture ants will leave—you don’t even have to kill them. We will also look for furry critters, such as rats and mice, in your crawl space. We’ll check to see that a little rat fraternity party is not happening, and if it is, we’ll make sure the crawl space is cleaned out for you, as well as your attic.
THAT’S A WRAP
That just about sums it up for all of those major box-checking items that we look at in homes when we’re working with somebody that’s new to the area. If you want to learn more about Gig Harbor neighborhoods and how to get us on your team, visit askpaigeschulte.com or neighborhoodexpertswa.com.