Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

Whatcom County, WA - The Olympic organizers in Vancouver, British Columbia are probably looking at the weather we just had over the last two weeks and would love to have more of the same sunshine for February 2010.  Over the last couple weeks it’s been sunny and mostly dry, which would certainly bode well for tourism if the Olympics would have the same experience.

Weather in the Northwest is really unpredictable, although during our winters here, we usually get most of our rain. On average we will also get about ten days with snow accumulations on the ground. When we do get snow, it usually only stays overnight or not much longer than a few days, because we are so close to sea level. If you go up into the Cascade mountains and near-by Mount Baker, that’s a totally different story.  Because we do get a lot of rain in the winter, our near-by mountains get a lot of snow and have set world records for accumulations over the winter.

February in 2008 has so far been pretty good to us. the best scenario for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games would be to have a lot of snow on the ground up near Whistler, BC  and temperatures from 32F to 40F, and Dry.  Well we can only hope and see what happens.

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

Ferndale WA - The brand new Ferndale branch for Whatcom Educational Credit Union had it’s grand opening today to celebrate the completion of It’s new building. The new Ferndale branch of WECU is located at 5659 Barrett Rd. where the Johnson’s Restaurant use to be years ago.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was held at 9:00 a.m. with over a hundred people in attendance for the grand opening.  Additionally Hundreds attended the Whatcom Educational Credit Union’s business after hours event this past Monday, which celebrated the establishment of this new branch

WECU will be seeking LEED silver certification on the new building for its environmentally friendly design standards. The construction of the building was by general contractor Pearson Construction.

The building is about 10,000 square feet and will be a full-service branch, including a real estate loan department and a four-lane drive-up area. The interior of the Ferndale, Wa branch is very inviting and has a huge lobby for it’s customers.

The building will have a community center for use by nonprofit organizations. The building has six teller windows and will have about 15 employees on staff. Customers have access to two computer terminals to do online banking, there is also a coin machine to count loose change making deposits of change easier.

The branch manager is Kimberly Cook, who also will be the on staff real estate loan officer. Stop by and see this wonderful new building today.

Jerry Campbell - The Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Ferndale WA Real Estate

Seattle WA - Cooking Light magazine named it’s top twenty cities in the country that provide the resources people need to live healthful lives, and topping that list was our own Seattle, Washington. The magazine ranked major metropolitan areas on 15 different criteria, including healthfulness and exercise data, restraurant ratings, farmers market listings, and parks and recreation data. The result of that study were the list of the top 20 American cities that best fit their philosophy to eat smart, be fit, and live well.

The magazine said with an abundance of fresh local foods, walker-friendly streets, and inclusive attitudes helps make Seattle America’s best city for healthy living. 

Whether seen from the vantage point of a peaceful kayak excursion on the waters of Puget Sound or a morning tour of bustling food lover’s mecca Pike Place Market, Seattle always appears to be a place where healthful living comes easily and naturally. In our year-long countdown of U.S. cities that epitomize the Cooking Light philosophy, Seattle ranked highest for dollars spent on parkland—$266 per person annually, according to the Trust for Public Land. The American Podiatric Medical Association ranked pedestrian-friendly Seattle a top spot for walking. Nearly 85 percent of city residents report exercising regularly and 89 percent say they are in good or better health, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. And when Seattleites are ready to indulge, they can do so in any of the city’s many top-rated restaurants—it’s home to both numerous James Beard Award-winning chefs and restaurants ranked “extraordinary to perfection” by culinary review, Zagat. If you love Cooking Light, we think you’ll love Seattle, too.

Portland, Oregon came in second on this list making the Pacific Northwest a must stop for travelor’s looking for quality light dining. Life is good in the second-ranked city, thanks to its seemingly endless supply of outdoor activities, cutting-edge restaurants, and vibrant environmental consciousness.

Portland is called the City of Roses for its proliferation of brightly hued blooms, but the color that best describes this city is green. Portland prides itself on being environmentally friendly, boasting an award-winning public transportation system, 277 miles of bike paths, and city planning that minimizes sprawl.

The soft seasonal drizzle that falls over the city (actually, there’s more annual rainfall in Atlanta) makes it literally green as well. Consequently, Portlanders enjoy 227 parks and 146 miles of lushly forested hiking trails, rain or shine. The climate also nurtures the fabulous food and wine produced here, helping make Portland fourth in the nation in per capita farmers’ markets and top for its number of organic restaurants.

Portland earned the second spot on the top 20 list of Cooking Light cities because it also ranked highly in the following categories: acres of parkland per capita; percent of population that reports to be in good or better health; percent of population that exercised in the last month; and its walkability. Read more about Portland, Oregon restaurants.

Jerry Campbell - The Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA - Whatcom County Real Estate

Seattle, WA - The Emerald city was recently rated one of the best place’s in the country to find a bargain on a home, according to a recent story by Forbes Magazine. The Seattle Port has profited from the weak dollar, but the housing price growth has slowed.

The best place to get a bargain on a home is an area where there is a healthy growth in a job market and there are more houses available on the market than people to buy them. Seattle is one of Those housing markets where you have high inventories but pliable borrowers, with lenders willing to deal.

According to the magazine, they went looking for markets where the damage from risky lending hasn’t been as dramatic as in some parts of the country and where employment growth will burn off an over-abundance of inventory quickly. Washington State ranked 49th in the number of foreclosers, which helps the state tremedously if home owners are not losing homes.  Seattle, WA fit that bill perfectly, making it one of the best bargain spots in the country to purchase a home.

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

Ever since the Canadian Dollar started to reach parity with the American Dollar, our Canadian neighbors have been buying more and more across the border. Just in the last year retail sales have seen an up tick in the local Whatcom County market. Most retail items in Canada, on par, are more expensive than in the states, so Canadians are shopping in Whatcom County and the Puget Sound region more often.

In the real estate market I’ve also experienced at least a third of all my business calls coming from across the border. Most of the Canadians that I’ve spoke to, have said that they can get much better deals on real estate by buying in Whatcom County and else where.  As long as the two currencies are relatively close in price, I think we’ll see more and more of our Canadian friends purchasing homes in Bellingham over the next few years.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Bellingham Homes For Sale

Just two years from today will be the opening of the 2008 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. The entire Northwest will have the spotlight of the world focused on the area and the events just north of the border. Tickets will actually go on sale starting in October 2008.

This week Canadians will kick off the two-year countdown. Opening ceremonies will start Feb. 12, 2010. That still seems like a long way off for people who want to attend, but for organizers this is a crucial time.

Loni Rahm, president and CEO of Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism, has been in regular contact with her British Columbia counterparts and described this stage as controlled chaos.

“It sounds like things are moving at a good pace, but they are very busy right now,” Rahm said.

Rahm’s agency is also getting busy. Along with a training company called Evergreen Team Concepts, they’ve organized a 2010 Service Initiative, a series of seminars to help local business owners prepare for the thousands of travelers expected to come through Whatcom County.

The Service Initiative will have an open house on Feb. 21, followed by its first seminar, called “Developing a Plan for Success,” starting March 26. Other seminars related to the Olympics will be held throughout the year.

Rahm said Whatcom County is already getting inquiries related to the 2010 Olympics. And the region is being visited by people who put together documentaries.

“They want winter footage now for documentaries they want to release in 2009,” Rahm said. “It looks like they are able to get some great footage with all the snow we’ve been getting in the mountains.”

Rahm also noted that as Vancouver, B.C., hotels start filling up for 2010, Whatcom County innkeepers need to start getting ready.

“Not only are local hotels starting to get inquiries from people who want to attend, but also from a variety of media outlets who are putting together stories that have hotel rates,” Rahm said. “Having a rate structure in place now is important, because publications from all over the world are already looking for that information.”

As Rahm sees it, this area is preparing to accommodate two very distinct groups in the next 24 months: One is the media, which will be hunting for stories about the Pacific Northwest. The other is the people attending the games.

“The first group is actually a much bigger market; what they end up reporting will go out all over the world,” Rahm said.

She said the best thing for businesses to start doing is making sure employees are familiar with the local resources and what makes this area special.

“Since we live here, it’s easy to forget about all the things that make this area special, and where people can find out more information.” Rahm said.

NORTHERN NEIGHBORS

The Canadian economy continues to show surprising strength even while the U.S. may be headed into a recession. Early last week the Canadian dollar dropped to about 98 cents compared to the U.S., as investors speculated that the U.S. economy would start dragging Canada down. On Friday the Canadian dollar jumped back up to parity after a report showed better than expected job growth. It’s been interesting watching their economy.

The theory used to be that when the U.S. economy sneezed, the rest of the world caught the cold. Several economists have speculated that the global economy has reached a point that a slowdown in the U.S. may not mean a recession elsewhere.

With it’s abundance of natural resources, including oil and timber, Canada is a good example to test that theory. Via BellinghamHerald

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham Real Estate