Bellingham Real Estate Blog

I my attempt to keep you readers informed of what'sgoing on in Bellingham, I ran across a Cheese and Wine Event.

Friday (6/29) and Saturday (6/30), come taste with the experts! Quel Formage, the premier shop for artisan cheese and all things cheese in the historic Fairhavendistrict, welcomes nationally recognized wine and cheese expert Max McCalman, author of The Cheese Plate and Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best. This memorable  evening will not only be enjoyable for the expert cheese lover, but also a chance for the novice to expand their knowledge of cheese types, texture and pairing wine with your cheese. Max will guide attendees through tasting of an awesome selection of cheeses from all around the world paired with red and white wines.

The evening will include sweets by Ashley E. Rodriguez, Pastry Chef for local Ciao Thyme Catering. Max will also be available to sign his book. The event starts at 7 PM, and the cost is $80 per person for the one-night class. Space is limited, so register early! Hope you get lots of Cheese.

The 23rd annual Lake Whatcom boat parade will take place on the Fourth of July.

The parade begins at 3 p.m. with the firing of a Civil War-era cannon. As many as 36 boats, including wooden classics, steam engine and ski boats, will participate. It begins at Strawberry Point and will follow the shoreline clockwise for about 90 minutes.

A few great spots to watch from are the dock area of Bloedel Donovan Park, the end of Cable Street and other street ends off North Shore Drive.

I've never seen it before but it sounds like something I will try and do this year.

It has happened again. Bellingham makes it onto yet another "Best Places" list.This time it is Mother Earth News naming Bellingham among the "Eight Great Places You've Never Heard Of."  That seems kind of odd to me considering Bellingham has been discovered and made so many "Best Places" lists the past few years. I guess Mother Earth News just hasn't been paying attention.

The list is all about the cities' dedication to renewable energy, local farmers and other "green" efforts. Dave Wann, who wrote the article, said that he has never been to Bellingham, but that he has heard great things about its citizen involvement, nonprofit organizations and popularity of hybrid vehicles. The story is due to hit the press in the magazine's August/September issue

Whatcom County is the 10th fastest-growing county in Washington State. Bellingham's growth was 44% of those new people. These stats came from  the Office of Financial Management. It is no wonder we are growing we keep ending up on everyone's  "Best Places to Live" list and prices are still relatively low by Seattle standards .

Whatcom County's fastest growing city this past year was its smallest, Nooksack gained 71 people, giving it a total of 1,075 people this year. That's a 7.1 percent increase over 2006.

The state office uses changes in school enrollment, housing, voter registrations, driver's license applications and other indicators to comne up with it's data. The U.S. Census Bureau will be releasing 2006 population numbers this week, using somewhat different techniques, it will be interesting to see what the differences are.

At the southern edge of Bellingham, the South Neighborhood is home to over 1,500 Bellingham residents. There are large areas of undeveloped property with significant natural features that help define the character of the neighborhood. The northern end of the Chuckanut Mountains are here rising out of Chuckanut Creek.
Chuckanut Bay is another significant area within the neighborhood. It is an historic site as well as a unique natural recreational resource. Hoag's Pond, Chuckanut Creek, and the marsh area along the interurban right-of-way are all part of this neighborhood. Chuckanut Village perhaps epitomizes the historical character of the area with the image of a small, secluded Puget Sound fishing village. Fairhaven Park is a city park within the South Neighborhood which is widely used by the residents of this and adjacent neighborhoods, as well as by citizens throughout Bellingham. The 17-acre park is located on Padden Creek.

Arroyo Park is another natural area city park located along Chuckanut Creek in the southern portion of the South Neighborhood. This 67 acre park is a steep ravine on either side of Chuckanut Creek. The Interurban Trail is a well used greenway and trail corridor that runs 7 miles from Fairhaven to Larrabee State Park, from this trail one can get to trails leading to lead to Fragrance Lake, Lost Lake, & Teddy Bear Cove.

The South Neighborhood borders Edgemore to its west and Fairhaven just north, convenient for shopping, restaurants and other activities in the Fairhaven historic district.

Edgemoor has some of the finest homes in Bellingham. It is located in the south of Bellingham in close proximity to Fairhaven and the South Neighborhood featuring Fairhaven Park and west of Chuckanut Drive. The views from some of the homes in this area are just magnificent ones of the Bay and Islands. Many of the homes are on large lots with mature landscaping and feature Bellingham's most prestigeous, well maintained homes.

Clark's Point, extends into Bellingham Bay, it is a large, steep, heavily wooded peninsula that is protected from further development with a conservation easement. The city greenway and tidelands provide public access to Chuckanut Bay. A short trip down Chuackanut Drive will take you to Larabee State Park which has loads of hiking trails, beach, boat launch, and one of Bellingham's closet camping areas.

Fairhaven Middle School is a prominant Landmark of the neighborhood sitting on 13 acres in the nothern part of Edgemoor, The Bayside Pool is another of the neighborhood assets, It is a private pool, with membership open to all.

At the southern edge of Bellingham, the South Neighborhood is home to over 1,500 Bellingham residents. There are large areas of undeveloped property with significant natural features that help define the character of the neighborhood. The northern end of the Chuckanut Mountains are here rising out of Chuckanut Creek.
Chuckanut Bay is another significant area within the neighborhood. It is an historic site as well as a unique natural recreational resource. Hoag's Pond, Chuckanut Creek, and the marsh area along the interurban right-of-way are all part of this neighooorhood. Chuckanut Village perhaps epitomizes the historical character of the area with the image of a small, secluded Puget Sound fishing village. Fairhaven Park is a city park within the South Neighborhood which iswidely used by the residents of this and adjacent neighborhoods, as well as by citizens throughout Bellingham. The 17-acre park is located on Padden Creek.

Arroyo Park is another natural area city park located along Chuckanut Creek in the southern portion of the South Neighborhood. This 67 acre park is a steep ravine on either side of Chuckanut Creek. The Interurban Trail is a well used greenway and trail corridor that runs 7 miles from Fairhaven to Larrabee State Park, from this trail one can get to trails leading to lead to Fragrance Lake, Lost Lake, & Teddy Bear Cove.

The South Neighborhood borders Edgemore to its west and Fairhaven just north, convenient for shopping, restaurants and other activities in the Fairhaven historic district.

The Bellingham Real Estate Investors Network(BREIN) will be presenting Dwan Bent-Twyford tonight June 27 6 p.m. at Fox Hall. She will be talking about short sales, hot topic of late due to all the national exposure of the subprime mortgage meltdown and foreclosures being at an all-time high

The Bellingham Real Estate Investors Network (BREIN) states:" Our Mission is to educate real estate investors and inspire them to ethically achieve success."

"We will provide networking opportunities to investors, prospective investors and to those who provide value and services to our members. The Bellingham Real Estate Investor Network meets the 4th Wednesday of the month at Fox Hall at the Hampton Inn. Admission is $10 ($5 with REAPS membership card.)"

So if you're interested in learning about investing or you are a seasoned investor already and you want to network with others, or educate yourself some more check out the Bellingham Real Estate Investors Network.

National Night Out Against Crime will be  held on - August 7, 2007. It is a time for communities to come together, build relationships and stand united against crime. Neighborhoods are encouraged to have an outside event planned for the evening. "A going away party for the criminals... if you will!" Check out what is going on in your town.

 The focus here in Bellingham is making our city a safer place to live.

The 23nd Annual National Night Out Against Crime was held on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006. It had participants from 10,000 communities. All 50 states, US Territories, Canadian cities, and military bases worldwide were involved. A record 35 million people including citizens, law enforcement agencies, community crime and drug prevention groups, businesses, Federal and state agencies, civic and youth organizations, and the military, participated in National Night Out Against Crime 2006.

In Bellingham-National Night Out Against Crime 2006, there were over 40 public events throughout 40 city neighborhoods, with attendance reaching 1343 citizens.

You Can Get Involved By:
Hosting an event in your neighborhood
Advertising the events in your business window
Turning on your porch light
Attend our Kickoff Event
3nd Annual Crime Prevention Information Fair:
July 21, 2007
Lowe's Parking Lot, Bellingham Washington
9:00AM - 2:00 PM
Sponsored by Bellingham Police and Whatcom County Sheriff's Office
Law Enforcement Displays
Free Balloons for the kids
Bike Safety Rodeo by Kiwanis
Numerous free give-away items
The 24rd Annual NNO will culminate on August 7, 2007.

The Bellingham Herald recently published an article about home prices in Bellingham being overvalued by 47% no less. This housing valuation analysis was done by Global Insight Inc. and National City Corp. who ranked the Bellingham area as the 20th most overvalued housing market out of 317 metro areas.

I would certainly take this study with a grain of salt. Are those who are putting out this study doing their research from a cubicle somewhere in the desert perhaps, or maybe a wheatfield in the middle of the country.

Bellingham real estate prices continue to slowly climb while much of the rest of the nation is going the other way. We live in a unique corner of the world. It is amazingly beautiful here and I appreciate it every day as I drive around town and see the beauty all around, the Bay, the island's, mount Baker, Chuckanut drive, green trees, clean air, and not much traffic. If you're into the outdoors you can hike, bike, kayak, canoe, waterski, fish, mountain bike, ski, climb mountains, sail, camp, go places and all kinds of boats, and anything else you'd like to do outside and it's all right here or very close by.

Presently Bellingham has three waterfront parks, Larrabee State Park on the Bay is not far away, Bloedel Donovan Park on Lake Whatcom, Lake Padden, Lake Samish. The city has an incredible opportunity to rebuild 139 acres of prime downtown real estate on the Bay, the former industrial site of Georgia-Pacific operations. We could end up with a world-class aquarium, more waterfront park space, and an awesome addition to to an already growing vibrant downtown.

Bellingham is still a relatively small town of about 70,000 people, it has been discovered, it has gotten top ratings year after year as a great place to live from places like AARP and Money magazine, Outdoor magazine, and a host of others. Bellingham, WA has gotten the number 2 spot as best place to live as ranked by Cities Ranked & Rated, I think with more and more people fleeing thecities of our nation Bellingham is certainly an attractive alternative.

Buyers seem to be willing to pay the price and after all that's what sets the market value not what somebody sitting at a desk in another part of the country with a lot of statistics in front of them.