Bellingham Real Estate Blog

The Darby Estates Condo's are probably Bellingham's largest garden style condominium project. There are 228 1,2, & 3 bedroom units of high quality

The Darby Estates Condo's are probaly Bellingham's largest garden style condominium project. There are 228 1,2, & 3 bedroom units of high quality construction. They consiost of 5 three story buildings on 13 plus acres of ground. They have a beautiful clubhouse complete with fitness center. They are a short walk to Whatcom Community College, the new Bakerview Square shopping center, the Bellis Fair mall, the new Community Food Co-op that is now under construction. The Cordata area's business and medical park is also very close by. The units are all very spacious with 9 foot ceilings, large patios and decks, maple cabinets, high tech wiring.

If you would like any more information about Darby Estates or any other information about Bellingham Real Estate give me a call at 360-739-6981.

The Cypress Place Condo's are truly affordable living in Bellingham's popular south side There are 144 units which consists of studio, 1 & 2 bedroom condominiums.

They are close to Fairhaven, WWU, Lake Padden, Galbreath Mountain, Sehome Arboretum, I-5 and all services.

Being close to WWU they are a great alternative to renting apartments for students at Western Washington University. The units are all beautifully finished with loads of amenities. Each unit has a private deck, the windows are all wrapped with wood, they have maple cabinets, stacked washers and dryers, efficient on demand electric space heaters. There is a fitness center in the facility and they have bike storage lockers available to purchase.

If you would like any more information about Cypress Place or any other information about Bellingham Real Estate give me a call at 360-739-6981.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversighthas issued it's latest report for the end of 2007. They have confirmed what I have been saying all along. Things are good in Bellingham, and you can clearly see that Real Estate is very local.

The report which runs 88 pages states that Bellingham home prices have risen 4.55% the year, and 83.27% for the past 5 years. They rank Bellingham as the 55th on their list of appreciation for metropolitan areas. Wenatchee, WA was #1  on the list with an amazing 13.67% increase for the year 2007, while a good part of the nation saw home prices decline. Their numbers include home purchases and appraisals for refinancing mortgages.

Overall in the U.S.,  housing prices appreciated .8 percent this year.

The national appreciation was 41.4 percent over the past five-years. Utah had the highest year-over-year price appreciation, followed by Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Alaska and Washington.

If your interested in investing in Bellingham Real Estate, give me a call at 360-739-6981

I have been looking forward to taking my son to the Western Washington University Planetarium this week. Thursday Feb 28 6:00PM & 7:30PM they will be having a public showing.

They will be telling the story of Orion, always one of my favorite of the night sky as it brings in lots of the other constellations into it's story.

Western's planetarium has a state-of-the-art projector, called Mediaglobe, it can show more than 6,000 stars and space objects instantaneously. It also has a full-color digital projection system and Dolby Surround Sound. What an incredible resource we have right here in Bellingham that is not very well known. Check out the Planetariums website at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/skywise/ for some interesting links about the night sky, and another great resource for the community, Public Night Sky Observingusing WWU's 12 inch telescope, most Wednesday nights when the sky is clear at 7pm or twilight which ever is later.

Thank you WWU Physics & Astronomy Department.

Photo Courtesy  of Flickr.com by Dan Hershman

One of Bellingham's newest condominiums is The Drake at Barkley Village, It has been designed by award-winning architects. The Drake is Barkley Village's first residential development.

There 36-units in the Drake consists of studios, one bedroom, and one bedroom plus den units. The Barkley's owners are saying that this will be the first of many residential buildings in the area.

Barkley Village is a 250-acre site with a mixed use facilities including residential, retail, and office spaces. The Barkley area is now comprised of several medical and professional buildings as well as a retail center anchored by Haggen's a local grocery store.

There is a nice bandstand in the area and hiking trails as well.

If you would like any more information about The Drake or any other information about Bellingham Real Estate give me a call at 360-739-6981.

Boulevard Park is slated to have a new pavillion, stage, bandstandporch. The park has a great summer concert series which for years has been using a temporary stage that has to be put up and taken down each time it is needed.

The Porch as it is being called will be made of materials that will be naturally beautiful and long lasting: recycled timbers, crafted stone, and hand-forged iron work, among others.

The porch will be a memorial to Mark Witter's life in craft and music. He was  resident of the Columbia neighborhood, coach & friend to many, a blues musician who
performed in Bellingham, and an important figure in the timber frame community who died recently unexpectedly.  Inspired by Mark's life, Cascade Joinery, a timber framing company where Mark worked, has proposed to the project suitable for musical performances, weddings, and other ceremonies that bring
the community together.

There will be fundraiser to help pay for The Porch at Boulevard Park on Sunday Feb 24 at the UpFront Theatre,

If you are interested in anything else going on in Bellingham, visit my website for Bellingham Real Estate

Bellingham's RE Storeis a treasure for those do-it-yourselfer's around town. Since 1993 the RE Store has made used building materials available to anyone looking to save a few dollars and include some charm from the past into their building projects.

If you are looking for doors or windows, cabinets or sinks, hinges or doorknobs, paint or just about anything related to the building process, stop by to see what kind of treasures you can find.

I shopped at the RE Store often when I was building my own home years ago and got some great treasures there.

The store not only makes materials available to builders and homeowners but it helps save money on disposal costs and helps reducing waste and saving resources all while helping the  local economy by creating jobs and generating local tax dollars, A true winning situation for all involved.

They have a crew that can salvage materials from homes that are being torn down and save a lot of material that would otherwise be destroyed and taken to the dump. I know ion the past they have even helped demolish some old schools and gotten some beautiful old material out of them. They also recycle electronics for a small fee and make sure they get handled in a responsible manner. They can help save beautiful old plants that might normally get destroyed in the demolition of an old home as well. They accept donations of materials to be recycled in the community.

They also sponsor workshops on working with used building materials, green building, & energy efficiency, They also have a store in Seattle. 

Thanks to Broker Bryant post about buying foreclosures. It got me thinking I should tell this tale.

I recently sold a  Bank owned foreclosure property. 

It was one of those that have their own many page addendum to the contract which was longer than the contract. It had the typical clause of $100 a day charge to the buyer if the contract went past the original closing date. It also had a clause stating that the seller can cancel the contract at any time for any reason and the buyer would get their earnest money back.  I don't like this clause but they wouldn't remove it, it puts the buyer at risk of spending money on inspections and appraisals and then having them seller's turn around and cancel the contract without reimbursing the buyer's for these costs.

It was a good deal to the buyer was willing to take a chance.  We went through and had inspection and found a lot of things wrong, the seller's addendum also had an "as is" clause, once again the buyer was willing to carry on.  Next came the appraisal, this is where things started to get a little sticky.  The appraiser called for a new roof, and a few of the minor repairs.  The listing agent took care of the minor repairs, the seller wasn't going to put a new roof on the house. 

The listing agent and I came to an agreement with buyer's consent, that the buyer would pay for a new roof, and the seller was even willing to reduce the purchase price by the costs of the roof.  The only problem now was the clause that the seller can cancel any time, we tried to get them to take that clause of the contract at this point to protect the buyer's investment of the cost of a new roof.  They wouldn't do it.  The listing agent said the seller's lawyers would not let them delete that clause from contract.  We were now at an impasse. 

After a few days the seller finally agreed to pay for a new roof.  This was now early December and we were fast approaching the closing date.  The seller's agreed to extend the closing at no cost to the buyer.  Since the weather was pretty crummy in December and roofing company couldn't get their crew out there until January, we got another no cost extension.

The good news is the finally closed on the home, it had a new roof and no penalties to the buyer.

Foreclosures aren't always easy, but they can work out, and they can be a great deal.

I recently wrote a post about birdwatching in Bellingham. Well if you are a birdwatcher anywhere the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming to your neighborhood.

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts Friday February 15 and runs through and runs through Monday February 18.  Just keep track of the highest number of each bird species that you see at any one time (to avoid counting the same birds twice). You can count anywhere from your backyard to a park, from an apartment balcony, or wherever the birds are ,

You can count for as few as 15 minutes on one or more days of the count.

Enter your totals at http://www.birdcount.org/You can record video of birds during the count and upload them to YouTube with the tag "Great Backyard Bird Count." The best ones will go onto the bird count site. The site is has loads of info about past counts and birds in general.

photo courtesy of flickr.com  By law_keven

$169,500      Great classic Northwest log cabin with 4BRs, 1 3/4BAs, deck, fish pond, barbecue pit, circular driveway, fenced backyard, storage/tool shed and many improvements. Close to Mt. Baker, skiing, Canada and Bellingham. Access to many hiking and nature trails and walking distance to golf course and pool. Uniquely constructed of genuine Cedar logs. Not just a drive by!

If you would like any more information about this or any other property in Bellingham, Bellingham Real Estate or Real Estate statistics visit my website.