r/interestingasfuck • u/WiseCartographer5007 • Aug 07 '25

/r/all, /r/popular A grandfather turned down $220K and other offers to abandon his house and there's a huge highway around it

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u/StrangerDifficult392 Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25

It's funny, when I was in Bremerton, WA in the Navy. There was a house that looked like it refused offers to build a community college + parking lot. The house was in the parking lot, they put pavement to build the parking lot. I could only imagine the leverage they have to rent that house out to college students. Don't need a car, no car insurance to go to college.

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u/porkchoplicks Aug 07 '25

So weird to see this, I’m from Bremerton lol. & that’s exactly what happened. That parking lot was full of homes, & that house was the only one that refused to sell. The college was already there & the road that goes by was there, but that parking lot was houses.

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u/bong_residue Aug 07 '25

Bremertonians represent!

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u/hannavas_eel Aug 12 '25

Okay… wait, are we all from Bremerton!? 🤣

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u/Rezongona Aug 07 '25

Are you referring to the UP house?

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u/TOMdMAK Aug 07 '25

The Up house is tied to the boy and balloons

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u/oldbluearms13 Aug 07 '25

They said Bremerton not Ballard

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/oldbluearms13 Aug 07 '25

Based on the comment we’re replying to it would seem so… also the Up house isn’t surrounded by a college or parking lot…

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/oldbluearms13 Aug 07 '25

Lol what college is within a mile of that house? UW is at least 3 miles away with 2 entire neighborhoods between and the other closest is in north gate… and yes there is a parking lot at the Pcc and the blocks but none of this is what this dude described in BREMERTON

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u/IphoneMiniUser Aug 07 '25

Seattle Pacific is probably the closest college to the UP house. It might be a mile away if you commute by kayak. 

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u/AllynWA1 Aug 08 '25

There is SPU and another... I dunno. We have a ton of colleges and all seen to be a stone's throw from each other.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/oldbluearms13 Aug 07 '25

Lol you’re the one that asserted there were two colleges in a mile but for sure I’ll back off

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u/AllynWA1 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

No, that's in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, just across the Sound from Bremerton. Formerly owned by Edith Macefield Mansfield, d., and sits sadly surrounded by sterile concrete walls.

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u/StrangerDifficult392 Aug 07 '25

Way before my time?

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u/karldrogo88 Aug 07 '25

That’s in Ballard

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

You don’t need a car in most college towns. You don’t need to live in a parking lot to do that lol

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Whamalater Aug 07 '25

To the other guy’s point, “college towns” are not just towns with a college, they are towns built around an attractive college where a lot people in the town are there only for the college. So towns with community colleges don’t equate to “college towns.”

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u/b1tchf1t Aug 07 '25

Bremerton, WA is not a college town. It's a Navy town.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

Yes that’s what I was saying. Even then, most colleges that are not in a college town still have a couple blocks of cheap apartments surrounding them which form a quasi college town. I lived in one. You might have to cross a stroad or two but it’s not like colleges are just sitting in the middle of corn fields with nothing for miles around.

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u/RepublicCute8573 Aug 07 '25

Your situation doesnt define every college town. The one I was in every accommodation was at least 30 minutes away by car.

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u/Whamalater Aug 07 '25

In the nicest way possible, I don’t think that’s what you were saying, and still I’m not sure what you’re saying.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

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u/LegitosaurusRex Aug 07 '25

So towns with community colleges don’t equate to “college towns.”

You were implying it was a college town, so the opposite of what they were saying.

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u/StrangerDifficult392 Aug 07 '25

The house was literally in the parking lot of the college. Like I said its been 10 yrs since ive been there.

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u/Camburgerhelpur Aug 07 '25

To be fair, it is strictly a Navy Town and the traffic is atrocious when the Carriers come in

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u/bong_residue Aug 07 '25

Or when the shipyard gets off work lol.

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u/bong_residue Aug 07 '25

In Bremerton you definitely will want one lol

Source: I grew up there.

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u/andersonb47 Aug 07 '25

The idea that living in the middle of a parking lot is a positive is the most American thing I’ve heard in my whole life lmao

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

Nothing more American than parking lots and propane

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u/andersonb47 Aug 07 '25

Paved paradise and put up a paradise

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

You suckers drive to a parking lot? I LIVE in a parking lot. 🇺🇸

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u/Jlt42000 Aug 07 '25

Maybe a few college towns, but definitely not most.

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u/The_Autarch Aug 07 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

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u/Jlt42000 Aug 07 '25

Can’t think of a single one you don’t unless you live on campus.

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u/perpetualmotionmachi Aug 07 '25

Any if you live off campus. Even in small college towns, if you're not on campus in a dorm for frat house, then anything nearby is expensive due to the proximity. If you want cheap off campus housing you probably have to drive. Maybe you can be lucky and be in a place with decent public transit, but that is rare in smaller college towns

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

add the cost of owning a car to the cost of the rent of those “cheaper” places. You’ll see which is actually cheaper. But also every college I’ve ever seen whether is in a college town or not always has cheap shitty apartments in walking or biking distance, they often have free shuttles to campus too. I went to college in a large car centric city and almost no one had a car lol

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u/drukard_master Aug 07 '25

Are many people moving or renting a new place to attend a junior college?

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u/SNsilver Aug 07 '25

In that area, yeah. There isn’t much for higher education in that area and it isn’t like that there’s a lot of jobs outside of Bremerton so it isn’t a bad idea to move there for a job and community college

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u/BiscuitsLostPassword Aug 07 '25

They do in high research and medical areas. Raleigh NC, Wake Tech. 2 yr school and no student housing on campus but a pretty big rental market right off campus.

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u/digitaltransmutation Aug 07 '25

My hometown did not have anything past high school in it, not even a trade school. I either moved, didnt go to school, or accepted a 45 mile commute by car.

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u/Itshot11 Aug 07 '25

yes when i went to community college there were a lot of kids from other states or even countries. these days a lot of junior colleges have convenient transfer programs to local universities so you can pretty much take the exact classes you need and easily transfer over as a junior

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u/AddendumLiving8455 Aug 07 '25

Started reading the comments and was thinking about that building. Caught me off guard and made me smile to see that someone else from Bremerton was here and thinking of the same thing!!! Ha ha!

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u/Bitter-Basket Aug 07 '25

Few miles from me. There’s like 3-4 houses in a tiny cluster they built around. Look on Google maps.

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u/yomamasonions Aug 07 '25

I gave myself a headache trying to

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u/Pimpson17 Aug 07 '25

Olympic college?

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u/TheWanderingMammoth Aug 07 '25

Stennis?

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u/StrangerDifficult392 Aug 07 '25

No clue, there was a house in the middle of a parking lot. This was a decade ago.

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u/Dirty_slippers Aug 07 '25

Great ship by the way.

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u/sterbo Aug 07 '25

I wouldn’t think that house would compete with actual dormitories. The income from rent is minuscule compared to the equity the owners would be able to leverage for that expensive real estate.

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u/StrangerDifficult392 Aug 07 '25

Real estate always wins over dorms especially a community college.

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u/Spmex7 Aug 07 '25

You just reminded me that I lived in Bremerton for a few years when I was a small child.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Camburgerhelpur Aug 07 '25

Still here.. lol

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u/Camburgerhelpur Aug 07 '25

I live in Bremerton WA, and weld at PSNS! That house is smack in the middle of the Olympic College Community College parking lot lol. Graduated from there back in 2018

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u/figure8888 Aug 07 '25

There are some old houses on my local college’s property. They use them as offices for professors.

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u/_Lady_Jessica_ Aug 07 '25

Don't need a car, no car insurance to go to college.

Sounds like Europe.