By John Trumbo, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Jun. 24–The fall of the gavel and cry of “sold” will mark the end of a family history at the Sal-Jo Ranch in Kennewick this week.
The historic George Austin Jr. home overlooking the Tri-Cities is being offered to the highest bidder at an auction Thursday evening.
Bidding for the 2,963-square-foot brick and timber ranch house where Sallie McMillin and Joan Bell grew up on 17.2 acres will begin at $100,000 but is expected to climb to many times that.
“The nice thing about an auction is there is no ceiling,” said Scott Musser of Kennewick-based Musser Bros. Auction, which is handling the sale. He said the family decided an auction would be the best way to sell one of the most unique properties in the Tri-Cities because there is no easy way to estimate a selling price.
The house is being offered for sale for the first time since it was built on the banks of the Columbia River 75 years ago. As of Wednesday, it had attracted 58 potential buyers, Musser said.
The great flood of 1948 prompted Austin and his wife, Johanna, to move the home a few years later to its current perch above 45th Avenue at Ely Street. The seven-mile move cost $6,000, which was double what it cost to build the place in the mid-1930s.
The original home has been enlarged over the years to have four bedrooms, 3.75 baths, a large recreation room, a spacious living room with picturesque windows and a four-car garage. There’s also a swimming pool, a 10-stall horse barn and a wide-angle view that sweeps from the Blue Mountains on the east to the western horizon somewhere beyond the Hanford reservation.
McMillin told the Herald last year that the house hasn’t seen much activity since her mother, twice-widowed Johanna Colby, died in September 2006.
She’d like to see the property sell for a good price — $2 million would be nice — but tries not to think about what will happen to the house that has provided so many memories.
“With mom and dad gone, it’s not a home anymore. It’s just a house,” she said.
The accompanying 17 acres are prime real estate for development, so it wouldn’t surprise her to see the family home razed for new construction.
Musser said anyone interested in bidding should bring a $50,000 bank check.
Bidder registration for the auction will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday, with the sale to start at 7 p.m.
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