Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

 This morning The Good Morning America  show featured the gorgeous town of Leavenworth, Washington as part of it’s segment called “Good Morning America Lights Up The Holidays“. They did a live feed to begin the Good Morning America’s show in New York.

Leavenworth with it’s Bavarian village like town is celebrating the beginning of it’s Christmas time events. They were selected as one of the top 5 spots in the US for for the Christmas celebration.

Good Morning America host Sam Champion was live in Leavenworth.  To do the show though and have it live back in New York most of the people that wanted to be on the show had to arrive at 3am this morning and then taped it from 4am to 6am. the show was live here on the west coast at 7am this morning.

On Wednesday the Good Morning show visited Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for the first town in it’s Morning Holiday series.  From here until Christmas, the Good Morning Show will visit several other towns, but their locations are kept under tight wraps until the morning of the show. So I wonder where Sam is off to next…

Well…there goes my shot at buying a small chalet somewhere in that beautiful Leavenworth valley…(smiling). Actually in all fairness the Leavenworth WA real estate market has seen decent price appreciations over the last few years compared to the rest of Washington State.  Nearby Wenatchee had the highest home price appreciation rate in the nation, jumping 15.7 percent in the past 12 months.  But even with that said, it seems that home prices for Chelan County real estate seem to be pretty decent when compared to the average home prices in Western Washington.

Leavenworth really is a great little town to visit and with the Cascade mountains as a back drop, you really do feel like your in Bavaria.  If your planning to visit the area go to Leavenworth, WA - The Bavarian Village.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Northwest Living

 Mt. Baker Ski season is about to open with a 35 inch base and lots more snow on the way.  This allows the Mt. Baker Ski Area to open today, Thursday November 29, 2007 in full normal midweek operation out of the White Salmon Base Area. Chairs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 will be operating from 9:00am to 3:30 pm.

Forecasts are calling for increasing snow today, clearing for Friday and Saturday, then increasing snow again on Sunday. Freezing levels should continue to stay low through the weekend.

With this additional snowfall in the forecast it looks promising for Mt. Baker to be able to run all lifts and both base areas for this weekend! It is time to gear up and look forward to skiing on the mountain starting today!  Mt. Baker is considered one of the top ski areas in the country for snowboarding as well

With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics only two years away, My guess the Mt Baker ski area is going to be getting a lot of use this year and for years to come.  There’s even talk that Mt. Baker will be possibly used for practice runs a quiet a bit over the the next two years in the build up to the Vancouver 2010.  It’s said that the conditions on Mt. Baker are similar to the conditions that the Olympic skiers will experience at Whistler, BC.

Mt. Baker is well known for the record amounts of snow that usually falls each winter. This is not hype. Back in 1999, Mt. Baker set a new world record for a winter season’s snowfall of 1,140 inches.

The mountain offers all-day possibilities to skiers and snowboarders alike, with plenty of faces and woods that bring out the pioneer spirit. This is truly snowboarder heaven, where the hardcore insist “snowboarding was born.”

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham Real Estate

 Ferndale, Washington now has a real estate web site dedicated to the Ferndale area homes market. The new Ferndale real estate site is located on the web at FerndaleHomes.com. The site provides Ferndale area residents with links to searching Ferndale area homes for sale, Ferndale home alert system, free market analysis, and much more Ferndale WA Business  links and information.

The new Ferndale area web site was designed to serve the needs of Ferndale home sellers and Ferndale home buyers in the West Whatcom County area. The site also has information on local Ferndale Schools, shopping, parks, recreation, local events and so much more.  Because it is so close to Sandy Point, Lummi Island, Custer, and North Bellingham the site will also cover these areas as well. 

Addi tonally the site has a section that covers Ferndale WA relocation assistance whether your relocating to Ferndale or selling a home and moving out of the Ferndale WA area.

The most exciting part of the new Ferndale real estate web site are the property search capabilities built into the site.  Searching Ferndale real estate just got a whole lot easier with all the state of the art search functions packed in to the search page.  The quick search feature allows buyers to search by mls number, by address /or zip code, search homes for sale near a school, search by radius, by new listings, and a cool feature that you can draw a box around an area and search.  The site also has the full search capabilities to search all listings and then narrow the search parameters to fit your needs.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Ferndale WA Real Estate 

 I normally don’t like to post to many interest rate articles, but wow interest rates are down under 6% again and the trend is looking good for the foreseeable future.  That’s got to help our local Bellingham WA real estate market.  Here’s some stats I want to pass on. 

Long-term mortgage interest rates were down Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 3.83 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.82 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate fell to 5.4 percent. The 1-year adjustable held at 5.53 percent. The 30-year Treasury bond yield was down at 4.29 percent.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states. Points on these mortgages range from zero to 3.5.  But one still needs to check with one of our local banks or mortgage company’s here in Northwest Washington.

Anyone that might be looking to lock in some decent rates and buy a home in this buyers market might have just gotten an early Christmas present with the new interest rate news.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham WA - Search Bellingham real estate

 As the cyclical real estate market takes a turn, and conditions in most parts of the country now favor the buyer. Often referred to as a “buyer’s market,” this means that the inventory of homes for sale exceeds the consumer demand. As a result, buyers can be more selective, and more conservative, with their offers. If you are trying to sell a property in a slower market sector, you might want to try some of the following advice to help your home go from “For Sale” to “Sold.”

Price your Home Right - The number one thing you can do to help your home sell in a buyer’s market is to price it right. A knowledgeable buyer, and an experienced real estate agent, will know value when they see it. If you price the property too high, you are unlikely to receive offers, since buyers know there are plenty of properties to choose from. Also, if you are forced to reduce the price bit by bit, buyers will not always revisit an old listing, especially if new offerings are continually being added to the MLS. If you are priced right, you can expect an offer within 10-15 showings from qualified buyers. Real estate agents that are just previewing your property don’t count.

Make it Show Ready - Make your property stand out from the rest. Do the required prep work, both inside and out, to give it the curb appeal, and charm, that will pique buyer interest. Follow the advice of your real estate agent, to help the home “show well.” Clean the clutter, shampoo the carpets, refinish the floors, paint the walls, etc. You, or your Realtor, should stage your home before each showing by turning on lights, opening blinds, clearing sidewalks of snow, and having heat on at a comfortable temperature. In a buyer’s market, you have to do everything you can to make your property rise above the rest.

Choose Wisely - Hire a real estate professional who has the experience, and network, to get your home sold. In a buyer’s market it is critical to have a professional who is working non-stop to set your home apart, and bring in potential buyers. A good Realtor will help you set the right price, tell you how to stage the home, market your property aggressively, and guide you through negotiations.

Marketing - Many Realtors you interview will tell you they have a real estate website. What you need to ask as a consumer is “How do you rank in Google, MSN and Yahoo”? If the real estate agents website your considering is not organically ranked in the first couple of pages, only consider one who does. Paid placement here today and gone tomorrow. Those sites may appear in the sponsored link section of your search results but can disappear latter that same day once the Realtor’s daily marketing budget has been met. 80% of the public uses the Internet to research and locate potential homes to buy. You need a top full time on-line marketing program not a part time one. People generally search by geographical location and the terms real estate, homes or homes for sale. 

BellinghamWAHomes.com is ranked consistently in organic search term results for Bellingham Real Estate, Bellingham WA Homes, Bellingham homes for sale, and Bellingham WA neighborhoods on Google. They also hold over 3 dozen top 5 positions in similar search terms in Google, MSN and Yahoo. Over an estimated 83% of the public uses Google as their search solution of choice. BellinghamWAHomes.com out ranks Realtor.com, trulia.com, Craigslist, and even most brokerage company’s in the Bellingham WA Market.

Bellingham Real Estate Agent

If you would like more information about the Bellingham Real Estate market as well as anywhere else in the Whatcom County Area contact us at 360-739-7779 today.

Jerry Campbell, is a full time real estate agent in Bellingham WA and prides himself on providing clients with professional guidance in all phases of residential sales, and especially in residential new construction, including market research, product development, consulting, marketing and advertising. His personal mission is to bring to you a level of knowledge, experience, commitment, high standards and results to answer your real estate needs. He believes, the most effective way to provide superior service is to build a strong working relationship with you. His system includes regular consultations and feedback, which is the best tool for identifying and clarifying your real estate objectives and help define strategic solutions.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham Real Estate

 Escaping for the weekend to the San Juan Islands after a short ferry ride from Anacortes, WA and arriving on Orcas Island to your home away from home.  Some call it their second home, but this can also be a great investment as well as a place to relax after a long work week back in the Puget Sound.

Homeowners, many of them baby boomers, who are realizing that just as a first home can be a tremendous wealth-generator, so can a second home. And equally important, it can provide something more valuable than mere money: A place to unwind with family and friends. A place to build fond memories. Whether your a current resident of Washington or planning to relocate  to Northwest WA, get out and explore the beautiful islands of the Puget Sound over a long weekend.

I can’t think of a better place to buy that second home than somewhere in the islands of Washington States San Juan County or Island County WA, to enjoy the serenity in life. When the weather is right there’s just no better place to be than on one of the islands like Orcas island, San Juan Island, Lopez Island, Whidbey Island and so many more destinations.  The San Juan Islands are a beautiful place to visit and would make a great investment for that perfect second home you might be looking for.

I have a client up in Anchorage, Alaska that has been watching the real estate market on Whidbey Island for over a year now.  When the right home and situation arises, he and his wife are going to buy a second home to enjoy for now, and once they retire, they plan to sell their Alaska property, relocate here, and enjoy their second home full time. 

The first of the baby boomers are starting to retire this year and I can see a wave of them over the next 10-15 years wanting to downsize and prepare for their retirement years.  Many of them in this area will be looking towards places like the San Juan Islands here in Washington State, or possibly relocation to islands with easier access like Whidbey Island, Camano Island, or maybe even Lummi Island, WA.

My family and I have taken several trips out to Orcas island and the surrounding islands in San Juan County, and its the magical allure that keeps us coming back. One of my favorite spots has to be on Orcas Island about 3/4 of the way up to the top of Mount Constitution.  There’s a great spot with a south west view, thats along the way to the top, where you can  stop and enjoy a view of most of the islands in this paradise.  You really feel like your in heaven sitting among the few clouds on a mostly clear day, an occasional plan flies by at eye level, a boat in the distance is in view with only its white wake to follow, and a Orcas Island resident bald eagle soars above. It’s an incredible experience that you want to bottle up and enjoy for the rest of your life. Yeah…I can see why some would want to consider the San Juan Islands for a second home or as their primary residence.

Second time home buyers are entering the real estate market more and more these days and buying up condos, small homes and yes…properties in the islands. The typical second home buyer tends to be in their 50s and 60s, more mature and financially stable, and have saved up for this option over time. Sometimes they recruit friends, thereby insuring a built-in social group in a new location.

There are many adventurous younger home buyers as well that are finding creative ways to get into that second home while still maintaining their current residence. Some great ways to make the purchase is to take out a line of credit for the down payment, find homes for sale offering seller financing, lease-option to buy, go in with a partner, or cash out other investments.

Mortgage interest rates have been coming down recently, hovering in the 6 percent range, and historically that is still considered low. Factor in the appreciation we’ve seen in real estate here in the Northwest, it’s very easy to take some equity out of the primary residence and use it as the down payment.

The real key to all of this is to take your time doing a lot of home work and researching the real estate market in the location your thinking of buying. When you find the location that works, find a real estate agent that knows that market and is willing to be patient, yet thorough in providing you the necessary details.  You’ll know when the right property comes along and everything usually falls in place. 

With real estate currently in a buyers market, It’s actually a great time to be looking in the San Juan Islands for a second home. Try searching for San Juan County homes for sale at San Juan County WA real estate. The San Juan County property search link site allows you to search all the islands within the San Juans and to save your favorites to private account.

For the high end buyers looking for a premium property in the San Juan Islands visit Street of Dream.  The site offers premier properties for the four counties in Northwest Washington. Check out San Juan County Luxury homes and Island County Luxury real estate.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham, WA 98225 (360)-739-7779

It seems like more and more these days I’m getting questions about buyers wanting to purchase foreclosure homes. So I did some research the other day and found a few web sites and blogs that had some very useful information on the subject of foreclosures.  One of the best sources I found was on the Austin real estate blog which had a lot of useful information.  Ki Gray is the owner of the site and he’s using a map that he found on the New York Times showing county by county where the highest percentage of the subprime loans were taken out.

click the map below to open a new window with the full interactive version and our Northwest viewers can checkout the areas in the Northwest with the highest subprime loans.  That will give one an idea where you could pretty much predict where one would expect to find loans going into foreclosure.

subprime mortgage map

The interactive map showed that for the Northwest corner of Washington State, Skagit County showed that 27% of all mortgages are in subprime lending, 19% in Whatcom County, 18% in Island County, and only 10% in San Juan County. As high as those numbers might seem at first glance, those numbers are not to bad when compared to many of the other counties in the State of Washington.  Most of the other counties range from 25% to 35% overall.

This map is a good indication why the Northwest has done so well versus the rest of the country.  The light shade areas are the areas in the US that have the lowest subprime loans per county, and the darker areas are the worse hit by these tough loans. Looking at that map it appears that many areas in the midwest and especially the south and southwest have really been the hardest hit.

Click that link above the map and you can really zoom in and get a good idea of whats going on across the united states.  I really think if buyers and sellers in the Northwest could see this scenario, it would give a much more positive attitude towards are market here.  Especially when one factors the low interest rates under 6%, low unemployment rates (down to 3.8% in Whatcom County), and pretty good retail numbers.  In Whatcom County we also have the benefit of having almost three million citizens of British Columbia just over our border and with the parity of the Dollar and the Looney, Canadians are shopping here more. 

Next week I’m going to post the sales numbers for the Whatcom County housing market and it will show that the Bellingham WA housing numbers for the first ten months of 2007 vs 2006 are actually up year over year. I have the total sales numbers for the last eight years on a monthly basis and I’m going to start sharing them here on my Northwest real estate blog.  Look for the stats next week. I tend to look at the number of sales instead of prices, because I feel its one part of statistics that can not be easily manipulated. Price increases only tell you about what properties are selling for, but what about the homes that tested the market and didn’t sell.  That’s why I look at sales numbers comparisons instead. Tells a more true story.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - 510 Lakeway Dr - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Northwest Living

 The popular online Craigslist, is being used more and more by Realtors and some for sale by owners alike as an effective tool for advertising homes for sale in Whatcom County.  The centralized network of online communities, featuring free classified advertising for most anything one can think of and yes even homes for sale. 

 The service was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. After incorporating as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of September 2007, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities in 50 countries. The Photo to the left is their actual offices in San Francisco.

Vancouver, Canada, was the first non U.S. city included. London, England was the first city outside North America. As of September 2007, 450 cities in 50 countries are represented.

The site serves over five billion page views per month, putting it in 51st place overall among web sites world wide, ninth place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on November 10, 2007), to ten million unique visitors. With over ten million new classified advertisements each month, Craigslist is the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over 500,000 new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world. The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements, to personal ads and even erotic services.

One nice thing about advertising on sites like Craigslist is that you don’t have to worry about abreviating as you do in the print media with local newspaper ads. You’re not posting in the newspaper anymore. Craigslist and other classified sites let you write as much info as you’d like. Use that ability. Everyone does not know what dw, cac, and other abbreviations mean.

First glance at the site and it’s hard to see how craigslist can be so popular.  Her case in point, don’t let the appearance fool you, these guys are giants in advertising in what ever city they set up in.  It seems like almost a weekly or daily experience where someone is telling me that they got a great response from just advertising a free ad on craigslist.

After posting this article in fact I’m actually heading over to my real estate web site to post some new listings on to…you guessed it… CraigsList. Search Bellingham real estate on CraigsList.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham WA - Bellingham Real Estate

 The United Health Foundation made public today their year long study on the health all 50 states in the Union.  Washington State claimed the twelfth spot on this years report.  Washington was also noted as oneof the five most improved states, having moved three spots in the overall rankings from fifteenth in 2006. 

This year’s healthiest state in the nation is vermont, and it is a story from which Washington State should take inspiration from.  In 1990, Vermont was 16th in state health rankings; by 2001, the state had moved up to 8th, and today Vermont is number one for over all health.

In 2003, Washington State the idea to form the Washington Health Foundation’s (WHF) Healthiest State in the nation campaign was born from the fact that our state had slipped to 17th in the national health rankings.  Shortly after this. WHF kicked off its healthiest state in the nation campaign to attention to areas in which Washington State needed to making improvements in it’s health systems.  Today, the Healthiest State Campaign is the largest civic engagement project for health in state history, now involving more thatn 35,000 individuals, 980 organizations and over 360 schools.

In the 2007 edition of America’s Health Rankings released today, two areas Washington State increased the most were in the following measures:

1. Child poverty rates continued to decrease, where Washinton’s rank improved from 21st to 4th best in the nation.
2. The percentage of Washington residents with health insurance continued to increase improving Washington’s rank from 23rd to 14th overall.

Vermont was ranked as the healthiest state in the nation, with Minnesota, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Connecticut rounding out the top five. Mississippi is the least-healthy state, with Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee completing the bottom five.

“We’re absolutely moving in the right direction,” said state Health Secretary Mary Selecky, who pointed to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s push to lower tobacco rates as a bedrock to the state’s low heart disease and cancer rates. She also credits the expansion of the state’s Child Profile Immunization Registry, where physicians can keep track of a child’s vaccine records, for improved rates, but admits the state has been slow to adopt the chickenpox vaccine and looks to improve on the immunizations.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham Real Estate

 Washington State will experience a cut of about $132 million from the states expected income due to the housing market slow down over the last two years.  The State of Washington actually had a surplus of $1.4 billion, so this actually just reduced the surplus instead of the state being short any funds.  Lawmakers in Olympia are currently preparing to update the state’s budget for the next fiscal year.

Washington States chief economist, ChangMook Sohn, said the drop in income was the first time in about five years that the state saw any setbacks in quarterly revenue projections. Still, Sohn called the lower income numbers “clearly a very minor fine-tuning, rather than a major change.”

Strong real estate and construction markets have pushed the state’s economic fortunes in recent years, and the state has been relatively insulated from national housing-market weaknesses that have stung mortgage lenders.

Most of the weakness in income numbers was due to the fact that we had less sales of homes in the state over the last two years.  When ever a home sells in the State of Washington, property owners have to pay the state an excise tax on the sale ranging from 1.25 to 1.80% of the property sale.  In Whatcom County the rate is 1.78% excise tax on the sale.  Here’s a link to find the Washington State real estate excise tax rates for each county in the state.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham WA Real Estate