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THE NEW NORTH FORK: SENIORS

 

Still smitten

Seniors find a way to keep calling the North Fork home
BY ELLEN MITCHELL
Special to Newsday

August 12, 2006

In July, the Southold High School Class of '56 held its 50th reunion. Of the graduating class of 36, 31 are alive and half of them still call Southold home.

Among them is Fran Blakely, 67, who coordinated the reunion. She was born and bred in Southold, moved to Manhattan for many years, but kept a summer home in Southold. She and her husband, John, retired here full time 17 years ago.

"My husband and I actually thought about moving south and getting more for our money. The problem is, we love our home so much, and we love it out here," Blakely said. They intend to stay put.

Like many in her age group, however, Blakely worries that a lack of affordable housing and a dearth of high-paying jobs are forcing out those young people who cannot handle the escalating price of everything from real estate to designer vegetables at local farm stands.

"My generation and the boomer generation behind me already have carved out our niche here," said John Nickles, 67, a real estate agent in the area who grew up on the North Fork. "We're established." Some 23 percent of the population of the town of Southold is older that 65, a percentage that is more than twice Suffolk County as a whole and almost twice all of Long Island, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Throughout Southold Town, where many a modest farmhouse or beachfront cottage is giving way to a McMansion with "a view," the older, longtime population is concerned that everything costs more. But, they point out, rising costs are hardly unique to the North Fork. Rather, they say, they are learning to share the space they cherish with comparatively well-heeled newcomers, many of them younger families moving to the area full-time.

Some are even finding that modern-day changes to their landscape, such as senior-only condominiums, are the reason they can continue to live comfortably on the North Fork. They say there is no mass exodus of people older than 55.

Despite the rise in prices, Nickles said, the region continues to attract both seniors who can afford weekend or second homes and those who come here as full-time retirees, much the same as those who have always come. The median price range of a home on the North Fork was about $500,000 at the end of 2005, and less-expensive houses can still be found amid the pricey residences now being built.

What Nickles does see as a trend is a marked increase in young families with the means choosing to make the North Fork their primary residence. The computer, he said, has enabled many to work at home. City couples who used to buy weekend homes here are now moving out permanently.

Such younger families have become a large part of the population influx, while in years past it was more seniors. And, longtime observers of the North Fork say, the type of retirees coming there has shifted subtly but significantly from more middle class to more well-to-do and professional people.

A younger face

David Kapell, 57, the mayor of Greenport and a real estate agent as well, agreed. "Greenport has a much younger face than it did 20 years ago," he said.

Kapell said seniors cashing in on their homes continue to be "a significant and ongoing trend," even though prices and sales this year have leveled off.

At Peconic Landing, a lifecare, retirement community in Greenport, a group of residents was asked recently if any of them had "made a killing" on selling their previous homes in Southold Town. Almost every hand in the room shot up.

The group sat around a conference table and discussed how rising prices and ever-increasing congestion on the North Fork are affecting their lives. Almost all could see a larger picture, having lived long years in primary or weekend homes in the area before moving to Peconic Landing.

They agreed that while the North Fork may not be as "small and friendly" as it used to be, it's still "a blessing," including for older residents. And they agreed that none of them would be forced out by prices.

Asked if old friends had moved away because they could no longer afford the North Fork, the group knew of few, if any. They said those who had moved did so for family reasons or to seek warmer climates -- and some came back.

After they sell, some seniors downsize in the area, turning over the profits from their larger home for a smaller house. But for seniors who want to rent, unfortunately, there is little available other than some places in Greenport.

Karen McLaughlin, Southold's director of human services and director of the town's senior center, said some seniors have the problem of being "house rich and cash poor."

"They have lovely homes with a great value, and yet their monthly income is not that great," said McLaughlin. "To stay in their home becomes a real challenge." Asked if she's heard of many who are being forced to move because they can no longer afford living here, McLaughlin said, "No, the only ones I know who've moved have done so to be closer to family. But people are proud," she said, and reluctant to discuss financial hardship.

At age 87, Edward Siegmann of Mattituck remains a feisty advocate for seniors, trying to effect legislation that would relieve the property tax burdens for retirees.

"It's the constant increase in the cost of living," Siegmann said. "We seniors on fixed incomes are not getting any increase." He and his wife must "scrimp along on many things."

"I had a little boat I used to go fishing in. I can't afford it anymore. I don't think we've been to a movie in years, except when the grandchildren come, and we hardly ever go to restaurants. We bought our home here 26 years ago and paid a total $65,000 to build on an acre. I guess today it's worth at least $400,000. But that means nothing to us," Siegmann said.

Does it mean he's moving off the North Fork? "We want and hope to live here until we pass away," he said.

Siegmann said he knows people who have taken out reverse mortgages in order to afford the upkeep of their homes. Reverse mortgages allow people to convert the equity in their home to cash or to tax-free income. Eventually, when the senior leaves the house, it becomes the property of the lender.

Downside of upscaling

"It's a shame," Siegmann said. "People worked all their life, bought a house and now have to return it just to live where they are."

But many other people over age 55 say the upscaling of the North Fork has meant you do what you have to do to adapt.

"There are always changes; we wouldn't be living here if there weren't changes," said Kay Aldinger, 78, a resident along with her husband, Jack, 78, of Founders Village, a senior condominium complex in Southold. The Aldingers and their neighbor Whitney Booth, 80, said the very fact that Southold Town permitted their condominium complex to be built, the first of its kind in the town 20 years ago, was cause for major controversy about cluster zoning.

As for day-to-day changes, Aldinger said the added traffic can be a bother, but she and her husband enjoy sitting at a curbside table at Bruce's, a popular cafe in Greenport, observing the passing scene.

Booth, who has lived on the North Fork all his life, said the costs at Founders Village are still a bargain.

"It was reasonable to start, and it's still reasonable," he said of Founders Village, where average prices in 1985 were $119,000 and are now $385,000.

Josephine Watkins-Johnson, 85, is a woman on a fixed income who moved to Greenport from Virginia at age 2. She was one of the first people to move into Peconic Landing, taking advantage of the original prices. She did so by using the equity on the Greenport home she'd lived in for many years.

In the year 2002, opening prices at Peconic Landing started at $200,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and rose to a maximum $738,000 for a two-bedroom deluxe cottage. Since then, prices have risen about 15 percent across the board.

Watkins-Johnson, who is black, is not leaving the area, and she does not see an exodus by other blacks. "There's always opportunities for employment," Watkins-Johnson said. "Housing is expensive, but you make your choices. It's up to the individual. It's what you do with what you have."

Bill Hands Jr., 66, a former pitcher with the Chicago Cubs, spent his childhood summers in Orient and moved here permanently in 1978. The Hands family owns and operates the Orient Service Center, where he can be found most mornings pumping gas.

"No question it's becoming more trendy out here, but it doesn't affect me. If I want to pay New York City prices once in a blue moon, I do that," Hands said, referring to the pricey restaurants now cropping up.

"Higher prices? Sure, everybody complains. It's just the way it is," said Hands.

But veteran local shopkeepers, including seniors, aren't complaining. Daytrippers bound for the wineries, the farm stands and the ferry, along with owners of weekend homes, have boosted business. Those who've owned shops here for years say they are seeing a greater number of buyers with more expendable income.

Judith Jacobs, 65, the owner of Jacobs Fashion Jewelry in Greenport, has upgraded and now sells primarily handmade, higher-priced merchandise. "We saw the handwriting on the wall," Jacobs said. "It's more fun to sell better things."

Down the street at Island Silk, a women's clothier, many of proprietor Mary Jane James' customers are second-home owners who come in year-round. James, herself over age 50, has lived in Cutchogue for 15 years. While the increasing popularity of the area has helped her business, she said it also has a "downside."

"You have mixed emotions. You want to see the people coming, you want the business, but you hate to lose the serenity that the area had," she said.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.