Bellingham Real Estate Blog

Friday, August 29, 7-9pm - free - Sycamore Square - 1200 Harris Ave., corner of Harris & 12th Street.
It's the last Friday of the month event, Sycamore Square business owners present lively entertainment--musicians, hula hoop and belly dancers, performances--on the landing outside of Coda Musical Instruments and the Archives. Tonight's show features Reid Kerr, Ms. B Hooping Allure, and other special guests.

 9pm  -  free  - Live Music at Skylark's:  Meredith Connie

Saturday, August 30,  8:00 pm:  the Firehouse: Julian MacDonough, Mike Allen & Sean Cronin in concert
A performance of interplay and swing with Julian MacDonough on drums, Mike Allen on tenor sax, and Sean Cronin on upright bass.

6 pm-sunset -free - Community Dance on Taylor Dock
The Bellingham Parks & Recreation will hosts this annual gathering for the community, music by Jon Parry and Joe Paquin (and Friends), with some "honkytonkcajunhipiebillyblues".

Saturday, August 30, 9pm-midnight  -  free - Acoustic Casual Jazz Night at Skylark's: The Rane Nogales Jazz Trio

7:00 pm  - Outdoor Cinema on the Village Green. - HORTON HEARS A WHO!
Music before the show by: Amber Darland

Have you taken a bus lately in Bellingham or Whatcom County?  A few of our local buses have been decorated by local art students. They are youngsters from our school system. The art was taken and blown up and placed on the outside of a bus. It's kind of surprising The Whatcom Transit Authority doesn't even have a mention of it in their web site. It must make a parent proud to see their children's art rolling around the streets of Bellingham for everyone to see.

And the 1st - According to recently released Federal Transit Administration statistics, ridership on Whatcom Transportation Authority buses has grown faster than in any other major U.S. city.

WTA is at the top of the list of the country's 150 largest transit agencies. Those 150 agencies represent 97 percent of the nation's transit ridership

Ridership incresaed 20.7 percent from July 2007 to June 2008, compared to the previous year. The 150 top agencies saw an increase of only 2.6 percent.

Can you say high gas prices. Also Western Washington University students have a new universal bus pass paid through student fees that went into effect nearly a year ago.

Increasd service has helped as several new GO lines have buses running every 15 minutes.

2515 Sylvan St, Bellingham,WA 98226

3 BR, 1 BA, 1/3 Acre

Birch Bay is the fastest growing area in Whatcom County. The bay itself has a huge tide flat of sand that is several square miles in size and bares itself at low tide. As the water returns to the tide flats over the hot sand it warms to bath water temperatures in the summer.

Birch Bay has one of the largest heron nesting rookeries in the state, and outstanding birding, especially for seabirds and shorebirds. It's classed by the Audubon Society as one of the 50 most Important Birding Areas in Washington State, along with nearby Blaine's Drayton Harbor.

The area was until recently a summer tourist destination but it's discovery has it rapidly becoming a year round town. A few popular activities include a sand castle contest in the summer and a well attended Polar Bear Swim every New Years Day.

Birch Bay State Park offers panoramic views of the Canadian Gulf Islands and the Cascade Mountains. The park has over a million visitors each year. The refurbished Birch Bay Water Slides are a big attraction to Whatcom County residents and visitors in the summer.

Birch Bay was one of the first places Europeans visited in the area, with a stop over by George Vancouver over two centuries ago.

The Birch Bay real estate market has a wide range of beautiful single family homes, some newly built in planned communities, luxury homes on wooded property with awesome ocean views, as well view condos.

Find your new Birch Bay Real Estate Here----------Home & Condo Search

image courtesy of flickr.com by BebeZ

The following is a quick analysis of the Blaine  real estate market for July 2008.

• There are currently 353 homes for sale.
• Homes are priced from $94,900 - $3,500,000
• Average Asking Price is $461,792
• Average Days on Market are 133 days
• Median Asking Price is $324,950
• Median Days on Market are 91 days
• 38 Homes sold in July
• Average Listing Price $289,257
• Average Sold Price $279,902
• Average Days on the Market 127
• Median Listing Price 249,450
• Median Sold Price $239,500
• Median Days on Market 78
• 8 Homes went Pending this week

As you can easily see there is quite a large discrepancy between the average price for a home presently on the market a $461,792 and the average sold price last month of $279,902. It looks like the $3,500,000 home is still skewing that average price quite a bit.

Buyers: Interest rates are still low making now is a good time to get in the market. There are 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.

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
• Hava 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 Blaine real estate or living in Blaine visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com or give me a call. 

Lynden Real Estate Market Report for July, 2008

The following is a quick analysis of the Lynden real estate market. 

• There are currently 155 homes for sale.
• Homes are priced from $179,000 - $1,440,000
• Average Asking Price is $402,104  Days on Market are 115 days 
• Median Asking Price is $359,000    Days on Market are 97 days
• Homes sold in July: 22
• Average Listing Price $339,795
• Average Sold Price $330,234        Days on the Market 151
• Median Listing Price $292,455
• Median Sold Price $290,000        Days on Market 103
• Homes Pending last week: 5

Condo Analysis for Lynden

• There are currently 32 condos for sale. 
• Condos are priced from $134,900 - $409,950
• Average List Price $234,259   Days on the Market:  152
• Median List Price $233,450     Days on the Market: 112
• Condos Sold in July: 7
• Average List Price: $218,071 
• Average Sales Price: $210,229  Days on the Market:  153 
• Median List Price: $219,900
• Median Sales Price: $207,500     Days on the Market: 119
• Pending Sales Last Week: 4

Buyers: Interest rates are still low making now  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 Lynden real estate or living in Lynden visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com or give me a call. 

Ferndale Real Estate Market Report for July, 2008

The following is a quick analysis of the Ferndale real estate market. 

• There are currently 248 homes for sale.
• Homes are priced from $112,500 - $1,950,000
• Average Asking Price is $432,966  Days on Market are 95 days (or about 3 months)
• Median Asking Price is $369,000   Days on Market are 72 days
• Homes Pending this week: 5
• Homes sold in July: 30
• Average Listing Price $302,861 
• Average Sold Price $296,995       Days on the Market 90
• Median Listing Price $284,950
• Median Sold Price $276,500       Days on Market 54

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.

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 Ferndale real estate or living in Lynden visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com or give me a call. 

Real Estate Market Report/Conditions for Sudden Valley, in Bellingham WA for July, 2008

The following is a quick analysis of the Residential Bellingham real estate market in Sudden Valley.

There are currently 146 homes for sale. Homes are priced from $139,000 - $1,299,000

• Average Asking Price is $352,122 
• Average Days on Market are 124 days
• Median Asking Price is $322,200
• Median Days on Market are 99 days
• 5 Homes went Pending this week
• 14 Homes sold in July
• Average Listing Price $275,032
• Average Sold Price $271,129
• Average Days on the Market 94
• Median Listing Price $284,925
• Median Sold Price $283,000
• Median Days on Market 54

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.

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 Sudden Valley real estate or living in Sudden Valley visit my website at BellinghamProperty.com or give me a call. 

Bellingham has just made it to yet another "best of" list.

National publications have praised Bellingham for being green, for being one of the best small places to start a business or retire, for being the best paddling town.

And now National Geographic Adventure has Bellingham on it's list of 50 best places to live & play. The magazine didn't rank the cities, they just picked the top 50.

National Geographic Adventure looked for cities with an ideal mix of terrain, activity and opportunity.

Viewing snow-capped Mt Baker from your kayak in Bellingham Bay can surely be just an awesome sight.

Canoeists and kayakers have access to Lake Whatcom as well as the stunning Bellingham Bay.

The article also praises our city for setting aside 15 percent of the cityfor parks, and it close proximity to Mt Baker's bountiful powder.

We sure are lucky to be living in this beautiful piece of paradise.

Mt Baker image courtesy flickr.com by Andre Charland