Alicia Greenwood

Ok, I'm wandering away from real estate for the moment to discuss the best weekend ever. That is, Whatcom County annual garage sale weekend! I left the house Saturday morning to buy my daily sugar-free red bull and a returned 4 hours later with a trove of great finds. I love the unique things that you can find at garage sales, my favorite item being artwork.

As a self proclaimed infomercial enthusiast, the annual countywide garage sale weekend is the next best thing to heaven. I finally got that Nicer Dicer that I've been wanting, and a really cool shell necklace. But, the best thing ever is my Bellingham Yellow Pages from 1958 in pristine condition!

In looking through all the classic retro advertising, I started to think about the real estate market in 1958. Was it as difficult to buy a home then as it is now? Well, let's see....

"The goal of owning a home seems to be getting beyond the reach of more and more Americans" -Business Week - 1969 (avg. sales price $28,000)

"Housing experts predict price rises in the future won't be that great....The median price of a home today is approaching $50,000." -National Business -1977

"The golden age of risk free run-ups in home prices is gone." -Money Magazine -1985

"A home is where the bad investment is." -San Francisco Examiner -1996

Hmm....does anyone else see a 10 year trend here? I sure wish that I had made a bad investment in San Francisco real estate in 1996. It would just be painful spending all of my millions today.

(BTW, I snagged these real estate quotes from a Brian Buffini presentation)