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Commuters filling up new home developments in county

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published April 03, 2007

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Kandace Masters and her husband, Christopher, who is stationed at the post, were the first owners of a home at Edgewater.

Christopher Masters has been in the military six years. Before moving here, the couple looked for a home in DuPont, but found themselves quickly priced out of the market.

By buying a home in Thurston County, they saved up to $100,000, Kandace Masters said.

“We were looking for a new community,” she said. “It’s secluded but it has all the conveniences of a city.”

The single-family housing market has cooled a bit from its peak, but the median price of a Pierce County home still is about $20,000 more than one in Thurston County, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Other families stationed at Fort Lewis soon found their way to Edgewater, Masters said. Exact figures aren’t known, but she said 10 other homes near hers are owned by members of the military.

Not far from the Edgewater development is another community with a similar name: The Greens at Edgewater. So far, 85 out of 220 homes have been built and sold, Prudential real estate agent Dean Pierce said.

Like Edgewater, The Greens has had a diverse group of homebuyers, with more than 60 percent coming from outside Thurston County, Pierce said.

Homeowners Jim and Shannon Meldrum, who used to live near Vancouver, cited convenience and affordability as key reasons behind their decision to buy at The Greens.

Jim Meldrum, a pilot with Alaska Airlines, discovered the development on flights between Portland and Seattle.

“He flew over and saw the land cleared, and he liked that it was off the freeway,” Shannon Meldrum said.

They later took a closer look and fell in love with the floor plan of their new home, which would be a 40-minute commute from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

At first they had looked at living in Seattle, but found it crowded and too expensive. The same home in Seattle would have cost them an extra $100,000, Meldrum said.