Moving to Washington: What to Do 90 Days Before You Move

If you're moving to Washington, start planning 90 days before your move, and use that window for four things: pick your region, get your real number from a lender, decide on purpose whether you'll rent or buy first, and confirm the internet at the exact address you're considering. Ninety days out feels early. It isn't. It's the only point in a relocation where you get to make decisions instead of react to them, and the families I watch struggle later almost always skipped it.

I've helped families relocate into Western Washington for more than 25 years, across more than a thousand home sales. The thing that separates a smooth move from a miserable one has almost nothing to do with money. It's sequence: doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right order. This post is the first stop in that sequence.

Key Takeaways

• Ninety days out is the decision window. After that, the calendar starts making your choices for you.
• Pick a region before a house. Kitsap, Pierce, and Mason counties are three different lifestyles, and that one choice sets your commute, price point, and search radius.
• Talk to a lender before you fall for a listing. Get pre-qualified, pull your real credit report, and start your paperwork folder the same week.
• Rent first or buy first is a decision, not a default. Most people who end up renting never chose to. They just ran out of time.
• Check internet and cell service at the specific address. County-wide coverage claims don't guarantee your driveway, and a satellite connection can quietly break a remote job.

The Five Stops of a Washington Relocation

A move to Washington isn't one event. It's five stages, and each one depends on the one before it. This is the road map I walk every relocating client through, and it's the structure of my video series on the Beyond Seattle channel.

You can start wherever you actually are. If you're already at day 60, the four items below still apply. You'll just have less room to change your mind, so do them this week.

Why the order matters more than the budget

Every stage builds on the last. You can't run a sensible home search at day 60 if you don't know your region or your number. You can't book movers well if you don't know whether you're moving into a rental or a home you own. Skip a step and the next one gets harder, more expensive, or both.

Why 90 Days Out Isn't Too Early

Most people treat 90 days out as dreaming time. You're still deciding. You're still googling things like "is Kitsap County nice?" at 11 at night. You're half committed.

Here's the pattern I see over and over. The relocating buyers who struggle later show up at month two panicked about rates. They rent a place sight unseen because they ran out of time. They guess at a town because there wasn't runway left to actually pick one. Almost every one of them skipped this exact window.

The decisions don't get easier later, they get compressed

Waiting doesn't remove any of these decisions. It just stacks them on top of each other. The same four choices you could make calmly now will still need to be made at day 30, except then you'll also be giving notice at work, chasing movers, and packing a house.

That's the real cost of waiting. It isn't a fee you can see. It's a month of options you can't get back.

Step 1: Pick Your Region Before You Pick a House

A lot of people who reach out to me have picked Washington, but they haven't really picked Washington. That gap is bigger than it sounds. Western Washington alone holds several completely different ways to live, and I work three of them.

Kitsap, Pierce, and Mason are three different lifestyles

None of those is the right answer. They're trade-offs. How much commute will you accept in exchange for waterfront access and open space? How much built-up infrastructure do you want nearby? How much land do you actually want to maintain yourself?

If you're not sure where you land, my Find Your Town tool asks four questions about your commute and priorities, then gives you a shortlist of three Kitsap towns with the honest catch on each. For a deeper look at why so many relocators land here, read why buyers are picking Kitsap over the Eastside.

What your region quietly decides for you

At 90 days out, your job isn't to pick the street or even the town. It's to pick the region, because that one decision sets almost everything downstream:

• Your realistic commute math
• Your price point
• Which schools you'll be researching
• Your entire search radius at day 60

If you wait until day 30 to figure out whether you want the ferry lifestyle, or whether five acres sounds better in a video than it does in February rain, you've spent a month searching listings in the wrong place. The ferry question alone deserves real attention. My Kitsap to Seattle commute tests show door-to-desk times from under an hour to over 90 minutes depending on the route.

Start your research list now

Once you've narrowed it to a region, 90 days is exactly enough time to pull the boring but important facts. None of this needs a real estate agent yet:

• Which schools actually serve which addresses
• Where the nearest hospital or urgent care sits relative to each town
• The real drive time to a grocery store or ferry terminal on an ordinary weekday, not a map estimate

Start that list now, and at day 60 you'll tour homes with answers in hand. Skip it, and you might discover a 40-minute drive to healthcare after you've already signed something.

If you're weighing specific towns, start with my guides to Port Orchard, Bremerton, Silverdale, and Gig Harbor.

Step 2: Get Your Real Number From a Lender

Once your region is roughly locked, the next mistake is an expensive one, and almost everybody makes it because it's the fun part. Someone falls for listing photos three states away before they've talked to a single lender. Then they find out what they actually qualify for, and the whole plan has to be rebuilt. Now they're under pressure at day 40 instead of calm at day 90.

Get pre-qualified, not locked

At 90 days out, call a lender. Not to lock a rate. Just to get pre-qualified and understand your real number.

Two groups should start even earlier:

• Self-employed buyers. Most lenders want two years of tax returns, and self-employment income takes longer to document and verify than a straightforward W-2.
• Out-of-state buyers. Ask specifically about remote closing and electronic notarization. Most lenders here can do it, but you want that confirmed now, not discovered in closing week.

For help choosing, see my guide to comparing mortgage rates from local lenders.

What your payment looks like at three price points

As of late September 2026, when I recorded the video, the 30-year fixed conventional rate was sitting around 6.95% to 7.15%. That number moves weekly, and lately sometimes daily, so treat it as a ballpark and pull the current rate the week you start looking seriously.

What matters more than the exact decimal is knowing your real payment at two or three price points. Here's principal and interest only, with 20% down.

• At 7.15%
• At 6.95%

$450,000 home

$2,431

$2,383

At 7.15% $2,431, At 6.95% $2,383

$580,000 home

$3,134

$3,071

At 7.15% $3,134, At 6.95% $3,071

$700,000 home

$3,782

$3,707

At 7.15% $3,782, At 6.95% $3,707

0$1,000$2,000$3,000$4,000

Source: 30-year fixed, 20% down. Principal and interest only; property tax, insurance, and any HOA come on top. $580,000 is the Kitsap County median sale price from the July 2026 NWMLS snapshot.

See the numbers

Monthly principal and interest at three price points

Item	At 7.15%	At 6.95%
$450,000 home	$2,431	$2,383
$580,000 home	$3,134	$3,071
$700,000 home	$3,782	$3,707

That chart is the whole argument for doing this early. The rate is mostly out of your hands. The price point is entirely in them, and it's the decision that decides your payment.

The families who move most smoothly are consistently the ones who know their real number before they know their neighborhood. For what it's worth, the buyers I represent get into contract at 95.48% of list price on average. The number that matters most is the one you settle on going in, not the one on the listing.

Two more things to do the same week

While you've got the lender on the phone:

1. Pull your own credit report. The real report, not a soft-check app estimate, so there are no surprises when the lender pulls it formally.
2. Start a paperwork folder, physical or digital, with what every lender will eventually ask for.

None of this takes long to gather at 90 days out. All of it takes forever at day 30, when you're also trying to coordinate movers. The hidden costs don't stop at the loan, either. I break down the rest in the costs to watch before you close in the Pacific Northwest.

Step 3: Decide Rent First or Buy First, on Purpose

Once your numbers are real, there's a decision most people don't realize they're making by accident. A lot of relocators default into renting first without ever deciding to. They just run out of time to buy before the job start date, so renting becomes the plan by default instead of by choice. It shows in every choice that follows.

Both paths work when you choose them

Renting first has real value if you've never set foot in Kitsap or Mason County outside of one weekend visit. Buying first works well if you already know the area, or if you're willing to fly out for one focused trip built around serious showings.

The mistake isn't picking either path. It's not picking at all, and ending up in a lease you didn't want, in a location you chose because you were out of time. If you're relocating on military orders, I cover this decision in detail in PCS to Naval Base Kitsap: watch this before you rent.

Your work timeline decides more than you think

Work timing is tangled up in this decision, so name it now instead of at day 30. Standard two weeks' notice at your current job is a very different runway than a remote role you're simply taking with you, or a job that's already given you a firm start date out here.

At 90 days, sketch out roughly when you'll give notice. That date, not the day you feel ready, is often what decides whether buying first is even realistic.

Step 4: Check Internet and Cell Service at the Exact Address

If you're leaning toward renting first, or you work remotely in any capacity, there's one thing almost nobody checks before they commit, and it can quietly break the whole plan.

Western Washington has a real connectivity split

The closer-in, more built-up areas generally have solid, reliable infrastructure. The further out you get, into rural Mason County or acreage properties anywhere in the region, the more internet access becomes a coin flip. Rural fiber is being built out across the region, but it isn't universal yet, and a map showing coverage for a general area doesn't guarantee your specific driveway.

I've watched people fall for a beautiful five-acre property, sign the lease, and then discover their high-speed internet is a satellite connection that can't reliably hold a video call. That isn't a 30-day problem you can patch. It's a 90-day question you ask before you fall for the photos.

How to check a specific address

It takes about five minutes:

1. Call the providers that claim to serve the address and ask for real, verified speeds at that exact address, not the county-wide marketing answer.
2. Look up the parcel on the FCC National Broadband Map, which shows reported service at the address level.
3. Ask about cell coverage too. Plenty of properties have solid broadband and a dead zone for phone calls the moment you step off the porch. That matters more than people expect when a work call drops mid-sentence.

Those five minutes will tell you more than any listing description. For the full picture on rural connections, backup power, and what actually works out here, read remote work in the woods: can you get internet in Kitsap County?

The 90-Day Mover vs. the 30-Day Mover

I've watched this fork in the road play out probably a hundred times. There are two kinds of movers, and the difference isn't money and it isn't luck.

The 90-day people make exactly the same decisions as the 30-day people: region, budget, rent or buy, connectivity. The difference is that by the time they're touring homes or signing a lease at day 60, every hard call is already made, calmly, with time built in to reconsider if something felt wrong.

Why 90 Days, and Not 60 or 120?

Ninety days is, in my experience, roughly the shortest window where all four of these items still fit comfortably, with room to change your mind if something feels off. Maybe a lender you didn't love. Maybe a region that stopped feeling right once you looked closer.

Start at 60 and you're already trading calm decisions for fast ones. Start at 120 or earlier and it's easy to lose momentum, because nothing feels urgent yet. That lack of urgency is exactly the trap. Ninety days is the sweet spot between too far out to bother and too close to have options.

Write It Down: Your One-Page 90-Day Plan

Here's the one extra step almost nobody takes, and it might be the easiest thing in this whole post. Write your four answers down. Not in your head, on paper or in a note you can find again.

The people who write it down almost never slide back into panic decisions later, because they have something concrete to look at when day 30 gets loud and everything feels urgent at once.

How Far in Advance Should I Plan a Move to Washington?

Start planning at least 90 days before your move. That's roughly the shortest window that fits the four big decisions (your region, your budget, renting or buying, and internet access) with room to reconsider. Self-employed buyers should talk to a lender even earlier, because documenting self-employment income takes longer. If you're already inside 60 days, do all four this week.

Should I Rent or Buy First When Relocating to Washington?

Either works when you choose it on purpose. Renting first makes sense if you've never spent real time in the region and want to live there before committing. Buying first works if you already know the area or can make one focused search trip built around serious showings. The mistake is not choosing, and ending up in a 9- or 12-month lease you picked only because you ran out of time.

How Do I Check Internet Service at a Specific Address in Washington?

Call the providers that claim to serve the address and ask for verified speeds at that exact address, then look the parcel up on the FCC National Broadband Map. Don't rely on county-wide coverage claims, because rural fiber isn't universal yet and coverage for an area doesn't guarantee a specific driveway. Check cell coverage at the address too, especially if you work from home.

What Documents Do I Need to Get Pre-Qualified for a Mortgage?

Plan on two years of tax returns, recent pay stubs, and a couple of months of bank statements. Self-employed borrowers will also need business documentation, and should start the conversation earlier because that income takes longer to verify. Pull your own full credit report at the same time so there are no surprises when the lender pulls it formally.

Final Thoughts

Moving to Washington is a big decision, and the good news is that almost none of it has to be decided in a rush. Pick your region before your house. Get your real number before you fall for a listing. Decide rent or buy on purpose. Check connectivity before you sign anything. Then write all four answers down.

Do that at 90 days and the rest of the move becomes a series of calm next steps instead of a countdown clock. The next stop in the series is day 60: the actual home search, and locking in movers before the good ones book up.

Moving this year? Let's talk about your timeline.

If you already know you're moving to Western Washington this year, book a 30-minute call with me. Bring your real timeline and your real questions, and I'll give you straight answers from someone who works this market every day. No drip campaign, no pressure.

Would rather call? Reach me at (360) 777-7212. Still in research mode? Start with Find Your Town and see which Kitsap towns fit how you want to live.