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Bill Duplain loved living in Kitsap County. In fact, he considered it one of the best places where he’s lived. But when the Poulsbo real estate broker got closer to retirement, he realized he would have to move. And not just away from Kitsap — out of Washington altogether.
“I loved Washington. But the cost of living — I just couldn’t do it,” he said. There would be no way he could live on social security income, his primary retirement source.
So, after about 13 years of calling Washington home, Duplain and his wife decided to sell their house and last May moved to Tennessee.
They used the money from the house sale to buy a 1950s brick house, paying $110,000 in cash for the 2,000 square foot home. The taxes on the property are about $600 per year. They pay about 37 cents less per gallon of gas.
The couple looked at five different areas, and considered Kentucky and Arkansas for their move, wanting a nice area with a good standard of living. Now, they are enjoying the Southern hospitality and making new friends.
The Duplains are far from being alone. Many longtime residents are pulling up their stakes and retiring to better and sunnier pastures — some moving as far away as Mexico. Although Washington isn’t considered among the most expensive areas with regards to the cost of living, it certainly isn’t the cheapest, particularly when it comes to taxation. An analysis by Kiplinger’s ranked the state 28th based on income, property and sales tax and property prices (Delaware, Alaska and Kentucky were the top three states that were found to take the smallest “retirement tax bite.”)
Fred Ramsdell lived in Washington for 70 years — born and raised on the Key Peninsula, where he and his wife, Mary, lived until about two years ago. A well-known couple active in the local community, the two had a tough choice to make. The Hawaiian sun beckoned to them, but the taxes were the real deal maker. They built a home in Hawaii, and according to Fred Ramsdell, they pay about a third of the property taxes they did in Washington. In fact, at age 60, a property owner gets a $60,000 exemption on property taxes, and more later.
“The older you are, the bigger your exemption gets,” he said. There are no levies either. Gas is about the same. True, electricity is much more expensive — but with no heating needed, why worry?
The Ramsdells moved to a rural, sparsely populated area away from the Big Island. They say the people are very friendly, there are no tourist crowds, and they can garden year-round (except now they can grow bananas and pineapples, among other things). “My lawn has lettuce now,” Ramsdell said, explaining that a strong wind scattered the lettuce seeds after he planted them.
It didn’t take the couple long to be back to their active schedule. Ramsdell listed various organizations where the two of them volunteer — much in the same fashion as they did on the Key Peninsula, where for more than three decades they transformed into Santa and Mrs. Santa at Christmas to deliver candy and cheer around the local neighborhoods, and where they were involved in a long list of community activities.
“I had some trepidation at first (about the move) and hoped we were doing the right thing,” he said. “It’s been everything we thought, and then some.”
The Duplains are sharing those sentiments. While they do miss a variety of aspects — from the view of Mt. Rainier and the Hood Canal to the local seafood and shopping at Central Market — they have found other things to fall in love with. Like that famous Southern hospitality.
Duplain said from the moment they arrived at their home, word traveled and neighbors started to drop by bringing them dinners. “There are a lot of things here that make up for the loss of the things we loved,” he said.
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