"This "thriving corner" is great for diversity, but not for average working people to try to live in."

A domestic variety

Wild house party in this neighborhood's fraternity of growth

Editor, The Times:

I must take issue with the obvious feel-good message aimed at the Professional Convention Managers Association ["Welcome to Seattle, the rain is no pain," Times editorial, Jan. 14]. This "thriving corner" is great for diversity, but not for average working people to try to live in.

Let's look at the flip side of our rapid growth due to our being such a great place to live — especially if you are moving here from somewhere else!

The downtown core, including Pioneer Square and Belltown, has become a plethora of $2 million-plus condos, forcing rents to skyrocket and leaving no affordable housing for the lower-income people who work in the service industry in the city. They are forced to find more-affordable housing in the far north or far south and take three buses to get to work.

Ballard seniors are being thrown out onto the streets by landlords who are building new condos or converting existing units that fixed-income seniors cannot afford. The single-family character of this neighborhood and many other communities is being impacted by out-of-place high-rises.

The Paul Allenization of downtown is paving the way for Big Business to the detriment of the blue-collar worker and low-income service worker. One has only to look at the menu prices of the many new restaurants and price tags of the boutiques to see who this development is aimed at.

Mayor Greg Nickels initially ran as a "neighborhood," aw-shucks kind of guy, but now he has caved to the big suits with the big bucks. The concessions to developers for low-income housing units are ridiculous.

Sometimes less is more. As a native of this city and a small-business owner trying to survive, I deplore the direction growth is taking us to the detriment of the average hard worker who toils at low wages to support the fat cats.

— Don Wilson, New Lesser Seattle

A prudent plug

I applaud The Seattle Times for "Relief for home buyers" [editorial, Jan. 10]. It is nice to see The Times engage in a discussion of the local opportunities for buyers and sellers that is sometimes lost in the sensational headlines used to describe our real-estate market.

There are two notions in the editorial, however, with which I disagree. The first is the idea that the sole function of homeownership is to provide shelter for a household. While homeownership provides shelter for millions of families, it also acts as an investment in assets that appreciate in value over time.

To suggest that purchasing a home should not also have an investment purpose is to deny reality. Homes are the largest investment for many American households. As homes appreciate, they provide valuable equity for other household expenses, including college tuition and retirement.

While rental units are an important part of the housing market, the American Dream is not to someday become a renter.

In addition, The Times' premise that "a drop in house prices is a good thing" as a means to bridge the housing affordability gap lacks any sense of logic. The likelihood is that house prices will continue to rise at a sustainable rate consistent with our post-World War II history.

The Times' wish that "prices rise gently" over time is consistent with the view of the real-estate industry. However, the road to housing affordability in our area should be through government policies that promote the wise use of existing land and that do not restrict the production of enough housing units to meet increasing consumer demand.

As inventory increases, so does the opportunity for greater affordability.

— Jason Watabe, president, Seattle King County Association of Realtors, Issaquah

Bubbles can mask punch

"Real-estate anxiety: What's next in '08?" [Real Estate, Dec. 30] states that "[w]hat looked like a surefire winner — homeownership in Seattle — has taken on a tinge of uncertainty" for a local man who bought his condo in December of 2004, and is now having trouble finding a buyer.

Did short-term real-estate investment really look like a "surefire winner" in 2004?

I remember a lot of talk about a potential "housing bubble" in 2004. In fact, a quick Google search reveals numerous articles discussing the housing bubble throughout 2004.

I can't help but feel that anyone who thought buying real estate in 2004 was a "surefire winner" as a short-term investment must have been willfully ignoring the opposite opinion, which was not hard to come across.

— Mike Matesky II, Bothell

Indulge in moderation

"Real-estate anxiety: What's next in '08?" was unfair to the many honest sellers in the King County region.

The condo unit being discussed did not sell in the initial rush from what I could get from the tax records. The tax records show that the seller purchased the unit in Feb. '07 for $545,000 and put it back on the market in about 60 days for $625,000; and foolish Mr. Paul Kelly bought it for $604,000, closing in April '07. Kelly then turned around and put the unit back on the market four months later with a new price of $659,000 — a $55,000 appreciation in only four months. I don't think so.

What's Mr. Kelly's big rush to get out of this lovely view condo in only four months, and what made him think this particular unit appreciated $55,000 in only four months?

His failed attempt to turn a quick profit should not be a reflection on our current real-estate market.

— Diana MacDonald, Redmond

You just fell off the welcome wagon

Hog-house prices are coming down? ['King County home prices slide below December '06," Local News, Jan. 8.]

You pay $400,000 for a home. Its value drops 25 percent.

You want to sell and bail out of a mortgage you took on three or four years ago. You try to Sell by Owner. No sale. You call a real-estate agent for help, and the agent reminds you your home value dropped one hundred grand, plus $40,000 to cover selling costs. In this deadfall, your agent knows, No sale.

Your pride will not allow you to go bankrupt; so you wait for the market to recover, to exhume you out of your debt. In the meantime, your warning label reads: Beware, you are living in Stucksville, USA, this year, next year and likely until buried for the last time.

— Noel Freedman, Stanwood