Buyers and Investors Moving to "Distressed Cities."

We met Ira Glass from This American Life a few months back and had an opportunity to briefly speak with him about Tacoma, the image of Tacoma, and shadow cities. He grew up in Baltimore and people there spoke of moving to DC as if it were a sign of moving up. As we described living in Tacoma by choice when we could move to Seattle – our big city – he found an instant comparison. We talked about cheaper real estate, great architecture, and how Tacoma seemed much less crowded than Seattle. “I can park in front of my house here.” We talked about the emerging arts scene and the revitalization of downtown as it compared to Baltimore’s renaissance.

A few minutes into this conversation a woman and her daughter shimmied into our group and tried to take over the conversation. Ira asked if they were also from Tacoma. They answered that they were from Mercer Island. Then he asked if they were staying in Tacoma that evening. They looked shocked and answered that, “Nobody should stay in Tacoma over night.” Ira then turned and pointed to us and said, “These people stay here. They live here by choice.” He then turned back to us and our conversation continued.

Later that evening, when Ira was speaking at the Rialto to a sold out crowd, he started talking about Tacoma and how he saw comparisons to his experience in Baltimore. It was our conversation being replayed on stage.

That was a long intro for an article that was in the Seattle Times yesterday. It’s a story that originally ran in the Wall Street Journal about “distressed cities” attracting investors and home buyers. While I would never call Tacoma “distressed city”, the article is extremely relevant to our Seattle / Tacoma world and nearly all of the scenarios described match people we know.

Link: Affordable homes attract buyers, investors to distressed cities