Wisdom Through The Ages

Home is where the paycheck is

THE OTHER DAY I was talking to my kids on my favorite subject entitled "When I was younger." These are usually one-sided conversations where I talk and the kids try to look interested while thinking of some way to escape.

This particular conversation was about the price of homes around Seattle. I had just received my home appraisal from King County, and I said I was thankful we weren't shopping for a home now because we couldn't afford to buy one. "When your mother and I bought our first house," I told the glassy-eyed children, "they were less expensive than what I just paid for our new car."

"Oh, Dad," one of the children squealed, "you bought that house when you came to Seattle with the Donner party."

One thing you can say about the Johnston children is that they aren't historians, but they are amusing in their confusion. I was going to point out that the Donner party became trapped in the mountains near California in the 1800s and ate each other to survive. Apparently this child confused the Donner party with the Denny party, which came to Seattle in the 1800s and settled in. They later became stars of a television show called "Here Come The Brides." As far as anyone knows, the Denny party didn't eat anyone.

The point I was trying to make with the children was that it didn't always cost a half-million to buy a house in Seattle. My first house cost $26,000, and I didn't buy it in the 1880s or during the Depression. I bought the house in 1974. When I sold that house in 1980 for $85,000, I thought it was a fair price. I used the money to buy another Seattle fixer for $87,000. It had more bedrooms because the Truly Unpleasant Mrs. Johnston and I had doubled the size of our family from two children to four.

Now, that may be surprising to some people but here is something I would call really surprising. That $26,000 house just sold for $525,000! And it doesn't even have off-street parking. You parked on the street and walked up two flights of stairs to get to the front door. The other day, one of our old neighbors said he heard the house I bought for $85,000 was going on the market for $1 million. I would have done a double-take if someone told me that two years ago. Now I think the guy is asking too little. He could go for $1.25 million.

There are a couple things that are scary about today's home prices. First, the business market can turn bad quickly. No jobs means no money, and you can't carry $4,000-a-month house payments if you are collecting unemployment. When I came to Seattle in the late 1960s, Boeing had just laid off 100,000 or more workers, and people were walking away from their homes. The newspapers were filled with house ads, and, finally, the government had to sell these homes for whatever was owed on the mortgage. There were five-bedroom homes near Volunteer Park going for under $40,000. Some of my friends bought their homes for $30,000, raised their families and are ready to make a big chunk of change when they sell their homes.

I can't sell my home at the moment. I still have one kid in college and one is still living with us. At the price of homes around here, these kids will be living with us for years to come. One just graduated from college, and he is looking at jobs that pay under 10 bucks an hour. Maybe he can afford $700 a month for an apartment, but it will be years before he can afford a house.

Like most parents, I like to share the wisdom I have collected over the years. My father used to do the same thing when I was a kid. Of course, I ignored him. But years later, something my father told me would pop into my head, and it was always good advice. Maybe something I say now to my kids will pop into their heads 20 years from now.

I have told the kids that I am "land rich but cash poor." One day they will be paying their mortgage and they will call me. "Dad, do you remember when you told me that you were land rich?"

Steve Johnston is a retired Seattle Times reporter. His e-mail address is stevejonst@aol.com. Paul Schmid is a Seattle Times news artist.