Homeowner finds reputation of city is hard to break

BY CHUCK TUCK | JOURNAL REPORTER No longer a ‘meth capitol’, house still waiting to be sold Homeowner Niles Allen is selling his home himself. It’s a nice home with a good sized parcel of land in Granite Falls.

Though houses aren’t selling as fast as they were, you’d think a good home, no matter what condition it’s in, would sell if priced right; how about less than $200,000?

Allen who put his house on the market in May says that his problem isn’t the house, but the lingering stigma and fabricated reputation Granite Falls has on outsider’s perceptions.

Anyone seeing last year’s Oprah show saw a young girl and her family’s intervention to help her overcome methamphetamine addiction in Granite Falls.

That compounded with the Rolling Stone article from several years ago, Allen feels has put Granite Falls at a disadvantage for anyone wanting to sell their home.

“I moved to Granite Falls in 2003. The cost of purchasing a home was quickly becoming unaffordable and the Granite Falls area offered homes in my price range,” Allen said.

He has been trying now to sell his home to be closer to his children who live 30 miles away. Wanting to take part in all the after-school sports activities his kids do, “In 2007 I decided I would try to move closer to my children,” Allen stated in a letter.

Through his efforts and patience, Allen thought his day had come when a couple of perspective buyers viewed his home.

“I was told the reason a buyer was unwilling to take the next step was because of the very popular meth reputation of the Granite Falls area, although the house was truly what they were looking for,” Allen stated.

He also wrote that the Oprah Winfrey show was referenced on more than a half dozen occasions as a reason for not pursuing a purchase agreement.

Lt. Eric Cole of the Granite Falls Fire Department is very active in the community and has said the GFFD has not been on a meth lab clean-up call in about 18 months, but they still see the end results of meth use.

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