I've been in Brazil and now I've been to Bremerton. This doesn't make me an expert on either place, but what a Brazilian business man told me about Brazil on the plane to Sao Paolo also appears to apply to Bremerton: "Brazil always had a future and always will."
While I visited Brazil as the "corporate taste bud" (branding czar) for TRW in 1984, my ferry trip to Bremerton last Saturday was part of a more modest mission. I was showing a home to a Brio-generated buyer lead. I agreed to do this for several reasons:
- I had been to many places of the Puget Sound islands and peninsulas but never to Bremerton.
- The home I was showing was built in 1900 and had been used as a Bed & Breakfast.
- The potential buyers sounded like nice people. And I was right.
- Taking the ferry is always a "photo-op." I was right on that one, too.
Not being a native I did my homework especially well. Visited the MLS, looked for comps (hardly any for a 1900 Victorian), did Google searches for historical and business facts. Checked the ferry schedule. Most importantly, I called a long-time local friend who will not readily admit that he spent his earlier years in Bremerton. He knew the building I was showing and a former owner - a local politician.
The ferry got me there quite a bit early, so I had time to explore. I had not had lunch. That always makes my driving style more aggressive. There was a sparsity of eating establishments so I ended up at the local Safeway. There were new condos going up near the ferry terminal and other signs of "up-and-coming." On the street where the listing was located were several homes that had been renovated. Others were undergoing the process.
I had plenty of time to pre-view the home - my photo above - before my clients got there. The listing agent, whom I had called the day before, was very helpful in explaining the ins and outs of the place. And there were several. Two separate parts of the house with two entrances, and as we discovered, an attractive attic space with stairs to connect them and a cottage-like structure in the back, fully equipped to live the country live.
My clients liked the place but it needed more work than they were willing to invest in time or money. (Some B&B buyers have romantic notions that are better developed than their wallets.) Being Kirklanders, they asked me about the "future" of Bremerton. I told them that Bremerton had been selected as the nation's "Most Livable City", by Money magazine.
That was 27 years ago, in 1990. Which is why Bremerton may be a bit like Brazil.
Note: this are my personal impressions of an afternoon. There are Kitsap County experts on ActiveRain better qualified than I whose opinions have been formed over a longer time period.
© 2007, Gerhard N. Ade
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