By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Low home prices make area a good place to start out

What White Center has always been is a great place for people to get a startin life, Peggy Weiss says.

As a single woman looking to buy a house in or close to Seattle in 1987,Weiss says, she quickly realized she could afford homes only in Rainier Valleyand White Center. After looking around White Center, she liked the communityand bought a one-bedroom house for $45,500. She and her husband have sincepaid off their mortgage.

Although home prices have gone up, White Center is one of the last placesnear downtown Seattle where you can find a decent house for about $100,000.In the last six months, the median house price in White Center has hit about$111,000, far less than the 1996 median countywide house price of $140,100.

The news about White Center may be getting out. Real estate agent JenniferLarson says the White Center market is really hot, with multiple offers comingin on almost every sale.

Larson says she was a little apprehensive when she first moved to the area.That fear quickly dissipated.

"I have lovely neighbors," she says. "We watch out for each other and we allknow each other."

Continued:

• A community outgrows its wilder days
• White Center is undergoing a cultural revolution of its own
• Many came here looking for a second chance
• Reputation of wild and woolly past still lingers
• Looking for a few good community leaders