Jessie Bates stands in front of her uninhabitable home.
When newlyweds Jessie and John Bates bought their first home a year ago, they were the model of responsibility. They found a freshly remodeled manufactured home in Suquamish at an affordable $235,000, made a good down payment, and got into a reasonable mortgage. They paid for a standard home inspection before closing. When they moved into their new home, they had one car payment, no debt and a growing savings account.
Today, their savings are gone and they have $10,000 in credit card debt. They and their 8-year-old son, Tyler, live with Jessie’s mother on Bainbridge Island. They’re still paying the mortgage on the Suquamish house, along with rent on the storage unit where they keep most of their possessions. The family has endured serious health problems.
The Bates’s did not discover until too late that their dream home was once a meth lab. (more…)
Bainbridge Notebook 
