So, what is the American Dream? To me, one of the most important parts of achieving that dream is home ownership. I was able to buy our first home at the age of 22. Looking back, that truly was amazing.
At 80, I often begin my life story by saying I grew up in a tiny, nondescript town in the hills of northeast Iowa. If the Midwest had an Appalachia, this was it.
Most of Iowa is fertile and flat. My part of Iowa was anything but . . . steep hills, muddy roads, caves, spring-fed creeks, and deep hollows. It was a scenic area called the Driftless Area, which was untouched by the glaciers of the last ice age.
As the second oldest in an Irish Catholic family of 11 kids, life was hard. But at the time, it did not seem that way. We were pretty much average for that town and that era.
I was a Baby Boomer, and much of what I am writing about reflects the good fortune of that generation, especially the ability to buy a home at a young age. It is also about living through inflation that steadily increased the value of those homes and, over time, built real net worth.
Off to Western Iowa
At 18, I moved out a week after graduating from high school. I attended a 60-day journalism course at Iowa State and landed a job as a sports editor in a small town in western Iowa.
Later, after completing the equivalent of three years of college at a trimester school, I was married, a father of two, and the news editor in Harlan, Iowa. I could not legally buy a drink, but I was the local newspaper editor, figure that one out.
One day I was interviewing a man named Bruce Kilpatrick. He told me about a new Farmers Home Administration program for first-time home buyers who could not qualify for conventional financing.
I put down my pen. “Would I qualify?” I asked. My credit was not bad. I simply did not have any. We were living paycheck to paycheck. We had briefly lived in a mobile home and were now renting an old dilapidated house.
Yes, we qualified. Despite being almost penniless, I had a good job and no negative history.
So, in 1968, we got the loan and bought a small home at 1806 8th Street in Harlan for $11,500. It was 100 percent financed through FMHA, and the payments were low enough that we could make it work.
Next Stop: Wyoming
In 1970, at age 24, I accepted the publisher’s job in Lander. We sold our Iowa home for $15,500 and bought a brick house in Lander for the same price. It had never been owned and, frankly, looked like a wreck from a series of bad renters. But within a few years, Nancy’s magic turned it into a beautiful home.
By 1976, we wanted to move to the country. We bought a place on Squaw Creek from Don and Sharon Davis for $60,000 and sold our in-town home for $42,500, clearing a nice profit.
We lived on Squaw Creek for 20 years. Our kids grew up there, and we must have made 20,000 trips to town and back. We celebrated every time one of them got a driver’s license.
In 1998, we sold that home for $142,500 and bought a place on the edge of Lander for $330,000. Over the next 28 years, we bought additional property in that area, paying top prices. Thanks to inflation, my Baby Boomer luck was still holding.
Today, we still live there: 16 acres with river frontage, two creeks, four ponds, and probably 800 aspen trees. It is, by any measure, a wonderful place.
This story is about good timing. It is also about the ability to borrow from smart bankers (thanks, Bruce Kilpatrick and Lander banker Charlie Krebs).
But it is also about the American Dream. Our story has been duplicated millions of times among those 80 million Baby Boomers all across America over the past 50 years.
I left out a true “X” factor that was crucial to attaining that dream. Our generation were also hard workers. We were inspired by our parents to be frugal, honest, and loyal. We had grit and gumption. When I think about all my successful peer men and women, this is what comes to mind. They were all good dedicated workers.
Next Generations
Our friends and us all tried to pass along these values to our children and grandchildren. In our case, all four of our children own nice homes. Three of our oldest grandchildren do, too. All of them did it on their own, without any financial help from us.
These days, we hear that home ownership is out of reach for many young people. It may well be harder now than it was for my generation.
But I still believe it is possible. With hard work and the right opportunity, young families can experience the same sense of pride, stability, and long-term reward that comes with owning a home. Consistent inflation certainly helps, too.
For us, it all started with an enlightened government program. Let’s hope there are still paths like that available today.
Because for millions of Americans, that first home is where the dream really begins.
Bill can be reached at: Bill@cowboystatedaily.com
