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We currently live in San Diego and are looking to retire to a lower cost area. One option we are considering is the Vancouver, WA area. Questions we gave include: Is Vancouver area Gay friendly? What areas are best for us? Looking to purchase a single family home - where is best? How are the "allergies" in this area? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you, Glen10
As a whole, western WA is pretty gay friendly, I think we were the first state to vote for gay marriage.
I think the biggest problem might be adjusting to the weather, a lot of people think San Diego has near perfect weather, what is the time frame for retirement and moving, can you schedule a visit for our gloomy parts of the year? It's not just the extra low clouds that get to people, it's the pretty short winter days. Also, what is the housing budget, keeping in mind that you might want to be able to schedule sunny vacations during winter.
During housing inspection, I would include a mold test, but some people report their allergies get better and some report they get worse. I don't really have allergies, but I do know that when we get the occasional wind shift so that it's bringing wind from eastern WA, I suddenly need to go and get some Sudafed.
Look for StealthRabbit's posts, they've given a lot of great information about the region, including the best piece of advice, which is to avoid a house surrounded by trees. Windstorms were particularly bad this year and it's always nice to get some extra BTU's in the winter. My thermostat is set to usually around 65 and we hit 71 today, in the winter the sun can stretch over 20 feet across my living room and in the summer the overhang blocks most of the sun and it reaches less then a foot in. Along with location you want to think orientation, orientation, orientation.
Other than being gay what do you like to do? How will you spend your time? More info on what your looking for will be useful. I don't think being gay will be an issue.
I think you will be surprised at the current COL its been skyrocketing. There are plenty of places in CA that are affordable especially if your retired. If its taxable income then WA has a lot of options that are cheaper than Vancouver. Perigee is spot on, the weather can be a real bummer. Its nice to have options to get away from the darkness. However the spring is spectacular and its seems to last forever.
I think spring, summer, and fall are really great in Vancouver, southern Washington, and the greater Portland-metro area. True, December and January can be plagued with rain, wind, and colder evening temperatures. But once February rolls around, the days start getting longer and spring is close. This winter was an outlier; Pacific coast winters are very mild compared to most of the rest of the country (excepting the south, which stays warm).
I think Vancouver WA is a very accepting area. No one will care you are gay. Keep in mind we are super-close to Portland, just head over one of the bridges, a few minutes on the freeway (non-rush hour), and you're in downtown Portland, which is one of the most blue/green/progressive cities in the United States. I think Oregon's governor is LGBT, one of the first to be open about it in the United States.
Finally, yes, the cost of living is going up in Vancouver and the surrounding cities. But it's still significantly cheaper than San Diego, where everything is super-expensive. Housing here is much cheaper, as are water, electricity, gasoline, insurance, and most government fees and taxes. Also keep in mind there is no income tax in Washington, which is huge. Also, Oregon has no sales tax, so you can jet down and do some shopping and save quite a bit when paying zero in sales taxes.
I raise this as an example. Washington state has some of the cheapest electricity in the United States, at around 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour. San Diego, some of the highest rates; you guys are getting absolutely ripped off by SDG&E. I recall paying something like 33 cents per kilowatt hour in San Diego, and that wasn't even the highest tier, which is now close to a whopping 45 cents per kilowatt hour. My colleagues with big houses had electricity bills at $800 a month in the summer with AC, just crazy. So while super-cheap Washington electricity is one marked difference, across the cost of living spectrum you will find Washington simply has lower costs and fees across the cost-of-living spectrum. California is one hell of an expensive place to live, period.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by USDefault
I think spring, summer, and fall are really great in Vancouver, .... Also, Oregon has no sales tax, so you can jet down and do some shopping and save quite a bit when paying zero in sales taxes....
depending on your income stream... "Retirement" can cause no income tax to quickly loses it's advantage
Make a spreadsheet and run full blown scenarios of every location, including what will happen when you have to sell and liquidate your home / possessions. WA has a pretty aggressive inheritance tax. I had 7 potential destinations and most 'washed-out' on the total risk / lifelong plan. I had to add a couple investment properties to cover CASH for my WA property taxes. ($17,200 in 2017, up from $800/ yr). I will not be able to stay in WA during 'old-age'. Very tough to move a farm that you spent decades improving the soils / orchards / barns / fences / water systems, forestry... No time / energy to 'start-over'.
As did most of my CA co-workers who came to WA during 'earning yrs'... I would hang onto that Prop 13 benefit! Most returned for 'retirement', some will return when they get older. (currently enjoying windsurfing and skiing as Seniors!)
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 01-25-2017 at 01:05 AM..
We currently live in San Diego and are looking to retire to a lower cost area. One option we are considering is the Vancouver, WA area. Questions we gave include: Is Vancouver area Gay friendly? What areas are best for us? Looking to purchase a single family home - where is best? How are the "allergies" in this area? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you, Glen10
Vancouver is part of the Portland metro area so yes, it's going to be as gay friendly as any other major metro area on the west coast for the most part. But Vancouver is suburban so it's not going to be the Castro or West Hollywood. But this part of the country is very much live and let live.
As for housing? Totally depends on what kind of environment you want to live in. I assume if you are a retired gay couple then schools are not an issue as they are for many who post here. But still we need more specificity to help.
Do you want an urban environment or more rural? None of Vancouver is really truly urban in the big city sense, it's mostly a big suburb. But the downtown area is more dense with apartments and restaurants. And the rural areas on the fringes of Clark County are pretty rural and where one goes if they want to shoot guns, keep livestock, ride ATVs, park RVs, and have big workshops.
Do you want an older house or fixer-upper in an older established neighborhood, or a turn-key newer or new construction home in a newer part of town?
Do you want close access to shopping and restaurants? Or do you want a more residential setting that will require longer drives for any errands?
Do you want easy access to Portland? Or is that immaterial? Everywhere in Vancouver has pretty easy access to Portland in the off-peak hours, it's only really a headache during commute times.
Do you have a price range?
As for allergies? It's mostly grass pollen in the late summer that gives folks hay fever around here. It can be bad but not as bad as further south of Portland in the Willamette Valley where I grew up.
As did most of my CA co-workers who came to WA during 'earning yrs'...
If you are at six figures and above, California income tax is beyond terrible. If you're a single filer at $51,530 (after deductions), you'll pay a whopping 9.3% in CA income tax. Same rate if you're married earning $103,060. CA income tax. And these salaries are not a lot of money for California, especially if you have kids.
It's a smart move to Washington if you are in the higher California tax brackets, and can earn the same wage in Washington. Avoiding California income tax -- you'll have that money forever, putting you well ahead of your California peers. You can invest it and it will be working for you day and night forever. Or it could easily fund a child's college education, or fund two 401ks to the max. Instead it goes up in smoke to cover California's pension crises. And because housing in Oregon and Washington is cheaper, as are most utilities, the benefits compound.
We moved our business up to Washington, the savings have been very significant when compared with California, and income tax is a big part of it (admittedly workers comp, health and other insurance, and other factors also are important). Same is true for our colleagues who moved their businesses to Texas.
If you're an earner, it matters. Pocket your loot first. Only after you're retired should you declare your domicile to be California. Concerning estate and inheritance, this I know nothing about. No kids for us, don't care. When we're done, we're done.
If you are at six figures and above, California income tax is beyond terrible. If you're a single filer at $51,530 (after deductions), you'll pay a whopping 9.3% in CA income tax. Same rate if you're married earning $103,060. CA income tax. And these salaries are not a lot of money for California, especially if you have kids.
It's a smart move to Washington if you are in the higher California tax brackets, and can earn the same wage in Washington. Avoiding California income tax -- you'll have that money forever, putting you well ahead of your California peers. You can invest it and it will be working for you day and night forever. Or it could easily fund a child's college education, or fund two 401ks to the max. Instead it goes up in smoke to cover California's pension crises. And because housing in Oregon and Washington is cheaper, as are most utilities, the benefits compound.
We moved our business up to Washington, the savings have been very significant when compared with California, and income tax is a big part of it (admittedly workers comp, health and other insurance, and other factors also are important). Same is true for our colleagues who moved their businesses to Texas.
If you're an earner, it matters. Pocket your loot first. Only after you're retired should you declare your domicile to be California. Concerning estate and inheritance, this I know nothing about. No kids for us, don't care. When we're done, we're done.
I did the math. My wife had job offers from the same organization at the same salary and benefits for positions in either Portland, Beaverton, or Vancouver. My salary would have been about the same working in education on either side of the river.
At our current combined salaries what we save in Oregon income tax by living and working on the WA side is almost exactly what we are paying to send our daughter to an out-of-state public university in the midwest. Almost exactly. Essentially our decision to live and work on the WA side of the river means free college tuition. With two more kids still to to that is a HUGE deal. And, of course WA has better public universities than OR should our other two decide to stay in-state.
Obviously we have sales tax on the WA side and our car registration fees and such are higher. But they don't come remotely close to matching what we would have owed in OR state income tax had we chosen to live and work on that side of the river.
Location: Vancouver, Wa. The beautiful Pacific Northwest
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Glen 10
We moved here from the Napa Valley in 2008, we love it here! We became accustomed to the weather pretty quickly. We thought it would be much worse then it actually is, the way everybody described it. Love the green here We live in Fisher's Landing, a 15 minute drive to PDX, add a few more minutes and we're in Portland eating awesome food! Hubby will be retiring in a few months and feel this is a great place to be. IMO it is still much cheaper then CA, and when people talk traffic, it's NOT CA traffic! I'm sure you can find a area to fit your needs. Good luck exploring!
We are same-sex couple who retired here from Alabama. We love it here. People are very friendly, even more so than in the South. As for your personal life, no one cares! That is the good thing about living in an area where religion is not that big of a deal. As for the weather, one of the main reasons for me was to escape the heat and humidity of the south. Overall, we love it but sinus pressure has been an issue. I don't know if it relates to the weather or not but probably so.
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We live in Fisher's Landing, a 15 minute drive to PDX, add a few more minutes and we're in Portland eating awesome food! Hubby will be retiring in a few months and feel this is a great place to be. IMO it is still much cheaper then CA, and when people talk traffic, it's NOT CA traffic! I'm sure you can find a area to fit your needs. Good luck exploring!
