Bellingham Real Estate Blog

Bellingham is on the national lists of "recession-proof" cities as compiled by JobBait.com.

Researchers looked at the current slowdown and the two previous recessions. Cities that sustained job growth during all three qualified as recession-resistant. Bellingham, Coeur d'Alene, Bend, Olympia,  and the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) made the list for the Northwest, published by the website JobBait.com.

Seattle is the only Northwest city on the top-ten list of "recession-proof" big cities named by Forbes magazine. Oklahoma City came in first.

Ski to Sea is coming soon and the festivities actually begin this weeketnd.

Lake Padden Park will be the site of this years' Sea Junior Race, Saturday at the Ski to .

This years race has five legs: running, a three-legged race, bicycling, soccer and an obstacle course.

Some other associated events are:

Ski to Sea Carnival at the Bellis Fair Mall parking lot through May 25.

May 16-Friday is the Ski to Sea Junior Parade at  6PM - Downtown Bellingham

May 18-Sunday Motorcycle Show ‘n Shine Bellingham Market Depot in Historic Downtown Bellingham

This  Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, Bellingham Technical College's Welding Technology Program will be hosting the 2008 Welding Rodeo Sculpture Competition

Friday will be the Amateur Competition and SAturday the Pro's will  take over. This sculpture competition will have 10 teams, (each consisting of 4 people)  selecting scrap metal, designing, and fabricating a finished sculpture in just 8 hours.

There will be individual and team prizes for contest winners, as well as an opportunity to exhibit on BTC's campus.

All sculptures will be available at a public auction, with the proceeds benefiting the BTC Welding Student Scholarship Fund, the Welding Rodeo, and participating artists.

I went to last years competition and was amazed at the beatiful pieces that were made.

The year's theme is Motion

$659,231 4 Bedrooms, 3.5  Baths, 3600 Sq Ft, 11.5 Acres

Large, spacious home with fantastic view of Mt. Baker on private 11.52 acres. Featuring huge mastersuite, Cathedral ceilings. All bedrooms are ample size, 1000_ sq. ft. deck, big country kitchen with large adjoining dining area. Great shop - barn combo. Long, private driveway to a secluded home with open, sunny views. Family room with fireplace and bonus room.

1 Bedroom, 1 Bath, .48 Acres - $225,000

It is my privilege to present you with the Activerain Week in Review for 5/4/08-5/11/08.

I would like to thank Neal "The Real Deal" Bloom for his recent post asking for help with this task.

I'm sure you have heard it before but it is truly amazing how many posts are put up here each week, I'm sure I missed a few good ones, but here are the ones I found to be worth revisiting.

Back to Basics - a Review on Short Sales by Richard Zaretsky, Esq.

A great read on Short Sales

Coming Up Short - A Brief Intro to the Short Sale by Gene Wunderlich

 Another interesting lesson on the Short Sale

A few "helps" if you're listing a Short Sale by Matthew Rathbun 

One more interesting Short Sale helper

When Sending Referrals, Do You Interview the Agent?! by Melissa Schnieders

Referrals Anyone?

9 Advantages of Working with A Real Estate Professional Who Blogs by Jeff Dowler

Ah the benefits of blogging to our clients

MySpace Marketing 101 by Lindsay Pendleton

Ever thought of getting a my space account, a great primer

Myspace and Facebook and Twitter O' My! by Justin Williams

Another good read about using those social networks

 Home Selling 101--Set the Stage for a Sale in a Buyer's Market by Teri Eckholm

Hmmm it's another 101 post, this time on getting your home sold

Wealth!! Money!! Riches!! by Elliot Caldwell

Did someone say Money!!!!

Designing a Note for Buyers by Russell Bean

Ever consider Seller Financing

NAR Applauds Fannie Mae's Latest Initiative by Jeremy Redlinger

Want to know what Fannie Mae is up to!

 Make the most of your camera! by Ernie & Barb Suto

A good tip I want to look into

Flim Flam by REO: part 2 by Mary Strang

The Realtor Wins! 

Little Did I Know How Little I Knew 22 Years Ago by KATHLEEN ELIM

Lifes Lessons

The Blog Post That Changed How I Do Business by Jason Todd

Some insights and observations from Seth Godin

Here's to you, Mr. Client Who Doesn't Have a Clue  by Jason Crouch

Have you met any of these guys or gals

It's been enlightening - Enjoy

There will be no recreations of any type regarding the titles or content of this group or Review without the permission and expressed written consent of the Groups founder-Copyright 2008

Another Bellingham foreclosure tale.

It must have been six months ago now that my clients put in an offer on a home that was listed as a short sale. The home was listed for $260,000, our offer of $250,000 was accepted by the seller and had to be approved by the lender. Well, after 2 1/2 months of waiting my clients decided to walk. After talking with the listing agent about this listing, I came to find out the same thing had occurred with two other offers.

Several months go by and I get a call for my client one day telling me that they have seen the home they tried to purchase on a foreclosure web site for $211,000. So I started to investigate, with the help of the original listing agent I found the lender who owned the property and without much trouble I was able to actually talk to a human being. Yes the home had been foreclosed on. No the home was not on the market yet and no price had been determined as of yet. Everything had been turned over to third party REO department of another company. After contacting them they had told me the name of the listing agent who would be dealing with the property. I contacted that listing agent who said they had not decided on a price yet and it would be on the market in a few weeks. I asked him to please contact me as soon as it was on the market as I had client ready to purchase the property.

Luckily for my client I was going through the hot sheets when I saw the property had comeback on the market at $225,000. We immediately wrote an offer that was excepted very quickly. Due to many circumstances the deal was not easy to close, but after several months it finally did. My client is now happy owner of home and they saved $25,000,

Here's the part I don't understand. Why he did the lender not accept our offer on the home for $25,000 more, when it was being sold under short sale. Instead they foreclosed on the property. They ruined the previous homeowners credit by foreclosing and they cost themselves $25,000 plus the holding costs of the property for at least a several months.

Does anybody have any ideas why lender's do this? It worked out great for my client but not for the people who lost their home or the lender for that matter, go figure.

The market is still correcting as they say here in the Whatcom County Residential Real Estate Market.

The average sales price is down 3.8% compared to last year, the median price went down .3% compared to last April. Both the averageand median down a bit from last month.

The number of sales is down considerably by 43 compared to last year and days on market average and median time on the market is a up bit.

For more information about Whatcom County Real Estate or Whatcom County Real Estate statistics visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com

Here is a graphic look at the Whatcom County Condo Market for April.

The average sales price is down 7.2% compared to last year, the median price went down 8.5% compared to last April. The average price is down 13.7% from March while the median is down 6.8% from March.

The number of sales is only down by 2 compared to last year and days on market is up  compared to last year.

For more information about Whatcom County Real Estate or Whatcom County Real Estate statistics visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com

Real Estate Market Report/Conditions for Whatcom County, WA for April, 2008

The following is a quick analysis of the Residential Whatcom County real estate market.

• Currently Active Listings: 1706  
• Average List Price $436,883   Days on the Market:  107
• Median List Price: $344,763 Days on the Market:   69 
• Sold in April: 174
• Average List Price: $330,724
• Average Sales Price: $322,037
• Ratio of List to Price: 97.3%    Days on the Market: 103
• Median ListPrice: $289,900
• Median Sales Price: $281,500   Days on the Market: 71
• Ratio of List to Price: 97.1%
• Pending Sales Last Week: 45

  Condo Analysis for Whatcom County

• Currently Active Listings: 520
• Average List Price $288,038    Days on the Market:  182
• Median List Price $216,400   Days on the Market:  104
• Sold in April: 45
• Average List Price: $202,162
• Average Sales Price: $196,571  Days on the Market: 195
• Ratio of List to Price: 97.2%
• Median List Price: $192,995
• Median Sales Price: $175,000  Days on the Market: 48
• Ratio of List to Price: 90.6%
• Pending Sales Last Week: 12

Buyers:Interest rates are still low making now is a good time to get in the market. There are still plenty of homes to choose from and lots have been on the market a long time so there are some motivated sellers out there who need to sell their homes. More homes will most likely be coming on the market in the coming months as spring and summer arrive.

Sellers: There is still a lot of competition right now and if you don't want your home to sit on the market without an offer here are a few bits of advise:

• The most important thing you can do is price your home right, have your real estate agent do a CMA and price your home aggressively, that is in the lower range of similar homes if you want a quick sale
• Have a pre-inspection done to your home and fix any problems
• Give your home curb appeal
• Offer a Home Warranty if it is an older home
• Get rid of clutter, start clearing out your things, even if you have to put them in storage.
• Think about staging your home, get advise from a staging professional or at least your agent.

If you would like some info about  Whatcom County or Bellingham real estate or living in Whatcom County or Bellingham visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com or give me a call.