This month marks my third anniversary at Stonehedge here in Wallingford, a place I researched and made accommodations for so I could retire here, near my daughter. She actually found the apartment, and I signed the lease that December, even though I wouldn’t move in until February. I had already sold my home in Glens Falls, New York, with the closing scheduled for February 6th, which meant moving out when there was snow on the ground! After more than 40 years living in the Northeast, I was used to cold weather, a stark contrast to the warm Florida winters of my first 24 years. But moving to Wallingford has reminded me how much your retirement spot shapes your daily rhythm and even how you feel about the climate.
Christmas in Florida was usually sunny and hot—when we went outside to play after Christmas morning, we wore shorts. I longed to see snow and experience a white Christmas, the kind you would see in movies or on TV. The first time I ever saw snow was at the University of Florida football stadium, called “the Swamp,” since our mascot was the Gators. It was a cold night game, and in the glow of the stadium lights, I saw my first real snow flurry. For a Florida kid, 30-degree weather felt almost exotic. Years later, living in the Northeast, I experienced the real thing—like the 26-inch blizzard of March 1993 that shut down the Capital region and required the National Guard to shovel out cars parked on the streets. No wonder so many New Yorkers head south when they retire.
In Florida, I watched northern “snowbirds” arrive each winter and flee home before the hot, humid summers. What was funny to us was seeing them on the beach in their shorts, and even swimming, when temperatures were in the 50s, which to us was really cold. Later, I spent a July on Cape Cod and realized that this felt like summer to them! Summer ocean temps in Florida are like bathwater, which I loved. Snowbirds who settled permanently had to adjust to our summer heat, and those who thought they’d save money by skipping winter heating bills quickly learned about Florida air-conditioning costs.
Many of my Glens Falls friends have moved away to escape the frigid winters and pay less in taxes. Even with New York’s tax breaks for retirees, the high cost of living—especially property taxes—pushes people to look elsewhere. States with no income tax become appealing when you’re on a fixed income. Most of these friends have stayed on the right coast: Florida, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, where there is no income tax and more pleasant summer weather than in the coastal regions. I find folks tend to follow others who have ventured out of state, which might mean you see your old neighbors in your new haunts. Maybe that is where you get the term “birds of a feather flock together.” In Florida, the divide between Atlantic and Gulf coast residents often comes down to highways: I-95 funnels Northeasterners down the east side, and I-75 brings Mid-Atlantic folks to the west.
As more New Yorkers leave, the state has become strict about the six-month residency rule. Stay even one day beyond the limit, and you’re considered a resident, taxed for the full year. They check everything to see if you are cheating, including E-ZPass to see when your car is in the state. A friend of mine had to prove through credit card receipts that he spent more time out of state when he was caring for a sick grandchild in New York. Southern states have the same issue with people claiming full-time residency for property-tax exemptions.
I’m the only one in my friend group to retire to the Northwest. I didn’t come for the weather or Washington’s lack of state income tax; I came for the same reason many retirees do—to be near my child, who has lived here for the past two decades. Since I had only visited her in November and December in the past, I was genuinely surprised by how glorious Pacific Northwest summers are. And I’ve accepted that I’ll never get a Hallmark-movie white Christmas here. But as a native Floridian who never mastered skiing, I only liked snow when it arrived politely on December 24th. I was better suited to water skiing and warm beaches anyway. Fortunately, Seattle’s short, cloudy winter days don’t affect my mood—they actually give me permission to read, watch British mysteries, volunteer at the Assistance League thrift store sorting donations, or write a Wallyhood article without guilt. I do wonder: when Seattle retirees head to Palm Springs for the winter, are they called “rainbirds”?
In looking into why retirees relocate, I expected weather to top the list. Instead, the cost of living, especially property taxes, is the main driver. In many Northeast states, retirees pay $15,000–$20,000 a year in property taxes on moderately priced homes, and even with increased federal deductions for state and local taxes, that burden is steep. Some states, like Florida, are considering eliminating property taxes for full-time residents altogether, on top of having no state income tax: one more reason people head south. But returning to Florida never appealed to me. I don’t miss the humidity or the bugs.
Wallingford has been a wonderful place to retire, and affordable too, as long as you’re willing to live simply. I have just one request to enhance the holiday spirit: adding sparkling lights along N 45th Street during the winter months to brighten our long nights, like they have in Fremont and downtown Seattle. I do like the lights at Stone’s Throw on the corner of N 45th Street and Stone Way N.
I’d love to hear your retirement plans—where you hope to be, and why—in the comments.
Editor’s note: see the other articles in Patti’s series “Retiring in Wallingford”:
- Book Review: Dancing with the Muse in Old Age by Priscilla Long
- Living Without a Car
- How Did I Collect All This “Stuff”?
- Aging in Place in Your Family Home
- Navigating Volunteer Opportunities
- Retiring in Wallingford on a Budget
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I'm so with you on the need for lights on 45th! When I first moved to the neighborhood (18 years ago?!), there were lights along 45th, but I think the squirrels kept eating the cords. Then for a while they tried these sort of handmade, recycled ornaments, but those started looking pretty shabby pretty fast. It's so dark in the winter, some cheery lights make all the difference to making an area look welcoming. Thanks for this continuing series. I'm Seattle-born, but I'm still starting to think about aging in place…which is not happening in my 1921 Crafstman-esque home, I'm afraid!
Thank you for sharing that history of the lights! Yes, we need them and deserve them like Fremont and other places. The picture on the page is my old hometown, and I was part of a group bringing the lights to my old hometown. It made such a difference during the dark winter. Do not be afraid of finding the best place to age in. I am actually working on a piece for next year on Wallingford and the lack of senior housing options. I want this article to be well researched and get input from seniors in the area and what they want.
I think overall high housing demand is a big factor. Many existing senior housing options are very expensive, because housing is expensive. If you can collect high rent without much work, you'd only want to operate a much more complicated senior housing business with very very high rent.
Then there is an issue of neighborhood features. People who like walkability are not all the same. Walkable to light rail station or rapid bus line for easy commute is a must for some workers, but a don't care for others. Walkable to school is also obviously not an universal need. Some walk to parks everyday, while others walk to drink everyday. Wallingford neighborhood has a lot of features that's important for younger folks but not necessarily for seniors, so it'd naturally not be the most economical for seniors, meaning seniors are more likely to be paying the price for features not needed.
There are good reasons why Sequim, Gig Harbor, and Poulsbo type of places got more retirement homes.
Thanks for your input, I am sure some would like to be in those areas. I know Wallingford is full of seniors, most of them living in the single-family homes in all the neighborhoods and as you age you may not want to age in place especially if there are a lot of stairs. When you get older public transportation is also important since insurance companies treat folks over a certain age like a 16-year-old boy with the premiums becoming unaffordable on a fixed income. Areas like Fremont, Ballard and even the U-District have more senior housing than Wallingford. We only have one which is University House which is a bit pricey starting at $5,000 a month since it comes with meals and activities. I myself love my apartment building since I gave up my car when I moved here and walk and take public transportation. It was great on Sunday to catch the bus downtown and watch Elf at the 5th Ave Theatre. Seniors actually love being around young people and we have a wonderful senior center at the Good Shepard Center. I just think a few of these apartment buildings going up would also be great for seniors who may have raised a family here and have their friends here but also want to stay here a bit longer if they sell their home. What I do like about some of these new apartment buildings is they have designed a lot of social areas, gyms, rooftop living and kept the apartment space small and designed to encourage socializing in the general space. That is great for seniors who live alone to have that space to meet up and play a game, or cards or watch something together. This topic will be an ongoing topic since housing is important to everyone, and it is so important to meet the needs of different populations.
Wallingford was a community with reasonably-priced single-family houses that people on the salary level of teachers, nurses, Boeing union workers can afford. People who bought into the neighborhood decades ago can age in place without breaking the bank. Still, many of them don't, cashing in the high price, especially during those years when Amazon expansion was the craziest. Right now Wallingford housing are often priced for tech money, with its location very friendly to get to various tech company offices around Lake Union.
I think the best hope for not only seniors, but people with average paycheck, is that the tech growth slowed while many new apartments are still coming into the market around Seattle. Maybe that can help lower the price overall.
Agree, and I have seen prices going down and days on market with condos and even single-family homes. I still pay attention to trends in real estate even though I retired from it 3 years ago. I can only speak for myself renting in Wallingford for the last 3 years and my rent only went up $50, and I got my 6 months' notice for another year and that is $33 so I am not complaining. I think it took a while for the new apartments to get started and I am sure once they are all online in a year or two rents will continue to find their level and that may be lower. There are a lot of units on Stone Way being built. Supply and demand are basic econ 101. My 45 years watching real estate; I have seen markets go up and markets go down and after the 2008 melt down they just went flat after they went down for 5 years. My experience was in Upstate NY and not here.
LED lights changed and improved greatly these days, so it should be much cheaper and easier to maintain them now. Also with color changing capability, they can be used to signal different holidays. So maybe it can be tried again.
Agree! I hear the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce maybe coming back and that would be a wonderful project for the community and small businesses to work on together. Maybe, we could have an angel benefactor donate some money towards this or maybe even get a Seattle Spark grant to help Wallingford "Sparkle". I am sure if the community came together, it could be done like we did in Glens Falls. It became the light our community needed and after that the community could see anything was possible. The town went from depressed to success in a short amount of time after the lights and other arts projects.