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More than a few people called us crazy when we stumbled out on a limb, signed on the dotted line and bought our first home.
"That's way too much for that dump," a sage old-timer muttered. "Back when Morgan owned that shack, it went for ."
A slightly newer-timer offered a sour prediction, saying, "The market's going to crash any day. I've seen it happen before."
Even our mortgage lender tried to steer us clear of the $160,000 price tag.
"The days of the good deals are over," he said matter-of-factly. "I can get you the loan, but you're going to be paying for this place."
Luckily, we ignored the advice, muddled through the process, signed the papers and bought a sliver in the town of Crested Butte. All told, we got lucky, barely squeezing through the door in time. That fact became obvious when the price of rent cruised past our mortgage.
At about the same time, a letter dressed in high-grade stationary arrived at the P.O. The scented stock sported a local return address and opened with "Dear William." That's strange, I thought, the only people who know me as William are hungry credit card companies. Not even my most ancient of relatives have stooped to the proper name.
As I read on, the nature of the piece became obvious. A Realtor's fingers had been all over the county tax roll. She'd seen the name "William" attached to a small downtown home and saw an opportunity.
The letter explained in flowery language that the average in-town home sold for nearly $384,000 that year. With this in mind, she used gentle words and suggested that I take advantage of the boon, use her services and sell up. Needless to say, the letter rolled straight off to the landfill.
However, I did eventually sign "William" on the dotted line and turned that first "dump" into a "fixer-upper" in Durango. I signed again a couple years later and the fixed-up "fixer-upper" became a finished construction project in the Animas Valley.
Since that time, it's been easy to disregard every mention of a "seller's market," report of high median home prices and suggestion that we "capitalize on our wise investment." We're not selling off our hard work and good fortune. And if, in a moment of weakness, we did, our days of Durango ownership would be long gone. Our down payment would have to head toward the mesa or much farther down the road.
The price of local housing has shot through the ceiling in the past few years and shows no sign of coming back down. Consequently, no local of normal means can even contemplate owning a free-market home in town. That window has long since closed, and with a relative absence of real affordable housing efforts, rent remains the only real option for local wages.
The trouble is when a local house goes on the open market, it moves into hands that can afford the median price. That new homeowner may have upwards of $300,000, but may not make a commitment to live here full time. When they flip it a couple years later, the price will again jump by tens of thousands of dollars. During the same period, local wages may jump by tens of cents.
I've watched this same scene repeat itself in several of the places I've called home. That "dump" in Crested Butte is now barely recognizable, sports a front yard hot tub, an extra story and is inhabited during the sweet summer months by a bachelor from New Jersey.
Closer to home, the entire character of Telluride has flipped on its head. Only a handful of people have resisted climbing price tags, and they probably won't last long. Their view is of neighboring houses that sit empty for all but a few weeks of the year. They live alone in a place that once prided itself on community.
And here at home, I recognize that I did my part to escalate housing prices in Durango, when I sold our house in town for a profit. Luckily, Durango is still well behind the glitter ghettoes of Telluride, Aspen and Vail. I look around town and still see the faces of friends. I see some opportunities for working class people and finally some hope for a concerted push for affordable housing.
In the meantime, wealth continues to exert a fabulous pull. There continue to be some who say every man and woman has a price. But many things carry greater value than dollars. Keeping this community whole is certainly one of them.
- Will Sands
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