Camping for a house of their own: Families dream the affordable dream

Sipping Coors Light in a folding chair. Squeezing into a sleeping bag in the back seat of a minivan. Squinting to watch "Dr. Phil" on a tiny television.

This is what home buying has come to on the Eastside.

Since Sunday, a horde of young families has camped in RVs, vans and sedans outside a tiny sales office near Redmond. Their goal: to buy one of the last remaining new houses many would deem affordable east of Seattle.

The office will take names tomorrow morning for the three-bedroom houses available for as little as $235,000. No Port-a-Potty, cold-cut sandwich or leg cramp is going to get between these dreamers and that deal.

"It's like the gold rush of the 1800s," said James Unger, who arrived yesterday with his wife and two daughters. "You have to stake your claim. You have to show your commitment."

The horde's sacrifice probably shouldn't come as a surprise. Only 2 percent of new single-family homes on the Eastside sell for $280,000 or less. The 27 houses that Quadrant Homes is selling, each with about 1,400-1,600 square feet, are going for no more than $262,000 — and they'll go fast. Previous sales of similarly priced homes at the development attracted the same kind of crowds.

About 25 families were parked in the Redmond Ridge community by yesterday afternoon. Each one signed a piece of paper on the office door, cementing their place in line.

They had horror stories to tell of the market for first homes — of creaky shacks in so-so neighborhoods going for the high $200,000s, of life in an apartment with two kids and a yearning for some grass to cut.

"Everybody here feels like it's worth it," said Amy Spafford, 28, who, with her fiancé, was the first to set up camp. "Getting a new home for a price we can afford with our income is worth it. What's one week of your life for a home you can afford?"

The homes are being sold as part of the King County affordable-housing program. Households can make no more than $93,480 to qualify, which means most of the buyers in Redmond are young families looking for their first new homes.

Scott Sloane, 28, and his wife recently moved from Canada and can't wait to get out of their tiny place in Kirkland that's practically falling apart. An affordable, three-bedroom house would pay off right away.

"As soon as we buy the homes, they're going to be worth probably $25,000 more than we paid for them," he said. "It's a good investment."

Unger, who works as an information-technology developer in Seattle, said the houses have all the amenities for a family with kids: walking trails, a good school district, yards and plenty of other children to play with.

His wife and daughters will return to their Lynnwood apartment in the evenings this week while he takes a couple of days off work and sleeps alone in their blue minivan.

"We just made a decision that we had to do this for our family," he said. "I've got a nice, warm sleeping bag."

Like much of the surrounding area, the families are diverse. Couples from Russia, India and Korea are among those waiting for a chance at a new home. Redmond Ridge may be the most diverse community on the Eastside, with 36 languages spoken and residents from 19 countries.

Luciana Almeida and her husband, both from Brazil, were one of the first couples to arrive Sunday night. Yesterday, she read a book in a model home nearby while her 3-year-old daughter played with another girl.

She joked that she has to be nice to everyone she meets because she's probably talking to her future neighbors. Waiting isn't an issue, however, with such a payoff, she said.

"It's a great opportunity," she said. "It's going to be our first house."

Since Sunday, the families have relied on the honor system to enforce the camp-out. People can leave for an hour or so to shower or pick up food, but otherwise, at least one representative must wait for each family.

The number of cars does dwindle at night, some say, but nobody has cracked down too hard. The mood is festive, with sunny weather allowing people to chat outside or walk from car to car.

The days certainly haven't dampened spirits, said Cecilia Switzer, who's waiting with her husband. "If people can camp out for 'Star Wars' tickets, then why can't we do this?" she said.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com.