Before the internet — specifically Craigslist — decimated classified advertising, newspapers (the Exponent included) were major sources of information about housing.
This issue featured more than a dozen pages of listings of houses for sale or rent, as well as apartment listings.
Numerous display advertisements touted the new subdivisions that were cropping up in the suburbs, with prices typically in the $40,000 and $50,000 range. Shag carpeting was a selling point in one ad.
And while the mortgage rates mentioned — generally in the 8 to 9 percent range — seem steep today, would-be homeowners were smart if they bought then. By 1981, interest rates averaged around 17 percent and neared 20 percent.
