As featured in the Port Townsend Leader on June 24, 2026

There is a light bulb in my client’s kitchen that has been burned out for months.

She knows it. It bothers her every morning when she makes coffee. But the fixture is above the cabinets, and she was 71 the last time she climbed a stepladder; she is now 76. The ladder has become the enemy. The light bulb stays dark, and she has learned to work around it. Every now and then she thinks: Is this what it’s going to be like?

That question — quiet, practical, a bit frightening — is one I hear often, not ‘what is my house worth’ or ‘is now a good time to sell.’ It arrives sideways, usually about something else. The roof needs repair; the garden, once a joy, is now a source of guilt. The stairs that never crossed anyone’s mind are crossed, carefully, every single day. Suddenly we are talking about whether it makes sense to keep the house at all.

Port Townsend is a town that rewards the decision to stay. We have built a remarkable life here — the water, the community, the unhurried pace that still has an actual downtown. And we have a housing stock that, for all its Victorian charm, was not designed with aging in mind: steep stairs, drafty windows, clawfoot tubs that require a degree of athleticism to exit safely. The bones are beautiful. The knees are not always cooperative.

HELP THAT’S ALREADY HERE

Before we talk about leaving, let’s talk about what’s available to help you stay.

The Olympic Area Agency on Aging (O3A) at 2500 W. Sims Way, Suite 203, is a single-entry point for case management, caregiver support, in-home care, health insurance counseling and more. You do not need to be in crisis to call 360-385-2552.

The Port Townsend Senior Association at 620 Tyler Street has served this community for over thirty years with meals, exercise and support groups. Connect at 360.385.9007.

WHAT DOWNSIZING LOOKS LIKE

Downsizing is one of those words that sounds simple and turns out to be enormous.

On paper it means a smaller space; in practice it means deciding which objects that constitute forty years of a life are coming with you, leaving the garden where you buried the dog, and telling the truth about what the house has become. That emotional weight deserves acknowledgment. Grief about leaving a home is legitimate and treating it as a logistical problem will leave you stalled.

The practical options in Jefferson County are more varied than most people realize: from condominiums where someone else handles the roof and gutters and you get that time back; to ADUs offering proximity without cohabitation (and Washington State has made them significantly easier to build); to relocating toward medical care, family or a more walkable community. That last option is not defeat. Port Townsend will still be here. You can visit.

SELLING THE HOUSE

Starting early matters. Beginning conversations with a real estate professional 6 to 12 months before you intend to list gives you time to address deferred maintenance, price strategically and avoid compressed decision-making. People who begin the process before necessity forces their hand tend to have more time, more options and more say in what comes next.

KNOWING WHEN IT’S TIME

No one can answer this question for you.

When the deferred maintenance list grows faster than you can address — not because you lack the will, but because the will has met the body and the body is winning — that is information. When driving to appointments has become a source of anxiety rather than independence, and when the house you loved has become a source of daily low-level stress rather than a haven — these are not signs of failure. They are signs of honesty.

The bravest version of aging well is not going it alone in the big house until something gives. It is making a clear-eyed assessment of what you need, asking for it, and choosing, while you still have full choice, what comes next.

Stephanie DeWitt is a former financial advisor and now a realtor at The Agency Port Townsend.