In 1969, Joanne and her husband bought a house in San Jose, CA, in a housing development that had recently replaced an orchard. She and her husband chose an Eichler-designed ranch house, even though its cheap materials and unique floor plan made it a fire hazard. They paid $25,000 for it.

By 1978, the little fire hazard was worth $50,000. Though Joanne was glad to see the value of her house rise, she fretted over paying more property tax for it. So she helped to pass Prop 13, which capped her property tax. This kept Joanne in her house, but did nothing to address the housing shortage that had raised values in the first place. In fact, it gave cities a tax motive to zone for more commercial and office construction instead.

In the 1980's, Joanne replaced her clapboard closets with modern plywood, as befits a fire hazard worth $200,000. She also preserved local character by helping her neighbors block the development of an apartment complex. Her son, priced out of the neighborhood he grew up in, rented a house all the way out in Fremont.

In 2012, the housing bubble crashed and Joanne's fire hazard bottomed out at $500,000. Joanne bemoaned the loss of value. Her son, still unable to afford a house within an hour's commute in the Bay Area, moved to Texas.

In 2015, Joanne had some health issues and moved to a nursing home. She sold her fire hazard for $750,000. Though she had paid off her mortgage decades earlier, 30% of the profit was swallowed by California's high capital gains taxes.

In 2017, Joanne's nursing home closed because the owner found it more profitable to redevelop the land as office space. Now she has moved in with her son, who was able to buy a large home in Texas. She blames the tech workers.

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