An Early Real Estate Play in Pioneer Seattle
A listing from 1873 offers a glimpse into the housing market of the era, where two dwelling houses and a half-acre lot were marketed as a 'good investment' in the budding city.
FOR SALE AT A BARGAIN: Two lots back of the courthouse, with a good well, in hand and fronting on a good, dry location. There are two finished houses on the lot, for rent or for independent house renters, and one story and a half, a frame and plastered, containing 5 rooms and 2 closets, 1 pantry, etc. Apply to Eastwick, Morris & Co., Room 4, Burnett Building.
“There are two finished houses on the lot, for rent or for independent house renters.”
The practice of marketing homes as 'investments' rather than residences is a defining feature of the modern Seattle housing crisis. This 1873 ad, tucked among advertisements for cobblers and coal, shows that treating real estate as a speculative commodity is a structural legacy of the city's earliest days.
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