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A small quaint house sits on the edge of Dyes Inlet. Outside, perched up next to the door where a traditional open/closed sign should be, hangs a stoplight, the green light lit up. Inside sits Jeff Coombe, owner and sole propriator of JCM Property Management.
He wasn’t always a property manager. Coombe started his career as a beer truck driver. After he figured out that he knew more than his manager, he decided to try his luck at another field. He trained himself as an insurance agent for a few years until he moved to Silverdale to help a good friend with some land use and developmental work.
Ultimately, he began to manage his own accounts and eventually became a full-fledged property manager, starting his own company.
He has been working in the property management business for around 20 years now. He mainly manages properties such as The Silverdale Landing and the Clear Creek Office Plaza, and works on land use and development projects. “Land use” is a generic term that covers a wide variety of activities, but Coombe specializes in navigating the complex and time-consuming permitting process and dealing with zoning issues that allow clients to use a particular piece of land for a specific purpose.
In addition to his running JCM Property Management, Coombe is also the 2007 President of the Kitsap Homebuilder’s Association (HBA), and has been active in its Developers Council for a number of years.
“We all have a common goal,” said Coombe, who has been a member for about 15 years now.
Coombe was born and raised in East Bremerton. As a native, he has seen plenty of changes throughout the cities in Kitsap County. One of the most memorable changes he has experienced comes in the terms of property management.
“Developers didn’t always have rules,” he said. Buildings weren’t done properly in the 40s, 50s and 60s. “Now we’re smart,” he continued. “In the 80s and 90s there began to be regulations, well placed regulations.”
For example, “Storm water flow now has to be managed. We have to clean and detain it. Before, it was flowing into the rivers and inlets, and contaminating the water.”
Coombe enjoys the quiet of his small business. “I’m a one man show. I don’t have to deal with any employees. I’m very fortunate. I have good friends, good clients, and a good work load. It works good for me.”
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