Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

Vancouver, BC - If you’re still dreaming of going to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., here are the most recent updates on what options are available for last minute travelers.

Accommodations: Most of the larger hotels & motels in and around downtown Vancouver are booked solid during the Feb. 12-28 Winter Games, as are those nearby in suburban areas like Richmond, Surrey and even Abbostsford. The Whistler area, where alpine and cross-country skiing and other events will be held, has been sold out for months now.

Some of the smaller Vancouver hotels have some vacancies, including some downtown locations, even on the opening weekend of the Games. The reason they still have rooms available is because they usually don’t show up on sites like Travelocity, Priceline and Hotels.com. However rates start at around $600 a night and have minimum stays.

I would suggest you start out by calling some of the smaller motels and if they don’t have anything available, find out if they know of anything that might be available or other options. The people in the hotel & motel business usually know who & where there might be some rooms available…that’s their business, to accommodate guests.

You can search by date and location on the official Olympics accommodations site, http://www.2010destinationplanner.com/. Keep checking as room inventory changes frequently, and prices/minimum stays may lessen as the Games draw closer. Finding rooms in the Whistler area may prove to be very difficult with tens of thousands of athletes, officials and fans flooding the ski resort during the Olympics.

The Web site also has links to other accommodation options in Vancouver, including B&Bs, homes for rent, homeowners that are renting out rooms locally, and even beachfront sites in a city park for RV camping.

One might try looking just over the border in Whatcom County for vacancies in local motels, Bed & Breakfasts, and homes for rent in the Bellingham, Washington area for something a little more affordable. Bellingham is less than an hours drive to downtown Vancouver as long as you don’t have too long of a wait at the border. I recently checked rates at motels in the Bellingham area and they are actually charging from $250.00 and up per nite during the games. A big percentage of the motels were already sold out during the Feb 12-28 games in Whatcom County.

If you have an RV, try one of the many local RV parks in Whatcom & Skagit County. Tow a car alone with you or rent one, once your in the area and then make the short trek into Vancouver to enjoy the Olympics this way.

Bellingham Craigslist Vacation Rentals has several new ads daily for Whatcom County area homeowners that are renting homes, condos & rooms during the Olympics as well. I have had a lot of emails and phone calls over the last several weeks and month from homeowners as well that want to rent rooms, condos and homes…so I know there are lots of local accommodations out there if one looked hard enough. Here is another site that offers accommodations for the Winter Olympics with lots of different situations you might want to consider. 

However, be careful of Olympic rental scams out there…I’m sure there will be a few trying to take advantage of this big event.

Well good luck finding a place to stay and enjoy the Winter Olympics. It should be pretty exciting once they get going just over the border from here.

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

The Building Industry Association of Whatcom County honored several of its members for their contributions to Whatcom County and the local building industry at the Annual Installation Banquet on Wednesday, Dec. 16.

Builder of the Year: Gary Honcoop of Roosendaal-Honcoop Construction was awarded the 2009 builder of the year. Gary and his Partner Roger Roosendaal have been building new homes in Whatcom County for over 30 years and have been members of the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County since 1991.

They are currently building new homes in Liberty Park, located in Ferndale Washington’s east side. They currently have three brand new homes under construction and one pre-sale as well. All three homes are one story becuase of the shortage in the new homes market for one story homes currently. Stop by and see what’s going on in their North Bellingham (Ferndale WA) location.

Some of the other awards handed out at this years Annual Installation Banquet also include the following:

Built Green Builder of the Year: Csaba Horvath of Astal Construction. Horvath has served as an active participant in Built Green since 2006, winning the 2008 Built Green Washington, Western Washington Custom Home of the Year award, a statewide honor based on resource efficiency, design, quality and craftsmanship.

Built Green Associate of the Year: Robert Stockmann, of Pinnacle Inspections for championing Built Green and Northwest EnergyStar as a verifier and advisor through his contributions to Built Green and the Program Development Committee.

Associate MRC Member of the Year: Scott Alderson of Nibs Construction for his contributions to the Master Remodeler’s Council and involvement with this summer’s MRC service projects.

Remodeler of the Year: Pat Rose of Rose Construction. Rose has been an active member of MRC and volunteered time working in the home show, participated in the 2009 service projects retrofitting access for a disabled community member, and in 2009 won three local Remodeling in Excellence awards.

Associate of the Year: Stephanie Artino, of Metcalf Hodges. A member of BIAWC since 2004, she was recently elected to the BIAWC board.

Most Valuable Political Player: Charlie Hudson of Hudson Remodeling was chosen for his leadership with the Governmental Affairs Committee over the past several years, and specifically for research and contributions in Whatcom County’s ongoing dialogue regarding land rights and affordable housing. Hudson will serve as the 2010 President of the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Bellingham New Homes

Seattle WA - According to Forbes Magazine Seattle ranks 15 out of the top 100 metropolitan areas for the fastest-recovering cities from the current recession. That’s not to say they have recovered yet, but are poised to do so as we come out of the recession.

The top cities on this list have diversified industry’s and relatively stable housing fundamentals that have provided local residents with comparatively secure standards of living. Seattle was ranked 5th overall on the Forbes survey for retail sales, and ranked high on gross metropolitan product (GMP) growth in the past year, and a low home foreclosure rate. Add up these three measures alone and Seattle would have easily been one of the top 10 cities on the survey.

What’s more, Seattle area home prices never ascended to the unsustainable levels the rest of the country hit at the peak of the housing bubble. Thus, it didn’t crash as hard. These factors have toughened the local economy against a recession that is inextricably tied to real estate.

To form this list, Forbes Magazine ranked the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas — geographic entities that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines and uses in collecting statistics — in five categories: unemployment rate, GMP (a measure of the size of a city’s economy), foreclosures, home prices and sales rates.

Forbes ranked September unemployment rates (the most recent available by metro) using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the percentage of a metro’s homes in foreclosure with September data provided by RealtyTrac; and the change in GMP between the first and second quarter of 2009 from the Brookings Institution’s Metro Monitor. They also included the second-quarter 2009 year-over-year change in Freddie Mac’s Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index — a measure of housing price inflation — and the average days on the market for properties currently on sale, to measure sales rates. They then averaged the scores for each measure to arrive at an overall ranking.

The magazine stated that ”areas where home prices don’t fluctuate wildly are particularly well-positioned to ride out this recession, because they were spared the domino effect of foreclosures, lost jobs and lost productivity”.

Seattle was the number one city on the entire West Coast & in the Western Region as a whole. The next West Coast cities on the list were Silicon Valley’s San Jose, California in at number 56 and then Portland, Oregon right behind at 57.

There’s a lesson to be learned from the cities at the top of the list, some of which aren’t economically thriving, but all of which are well-equipped to emerge from the recession in a similar position to where they started. Rather than chasing rising home prices or apparently plentiful jobs in one-industry towns, families looking for long-term economic stability should seek spots where industry is diverse and housing price shifts are benign…like Seattle, Washington.

However, I believe that Western Washington has a lot more going for itself with it’s natural beauty and quality of life we share in this region vs most of the cities ahead of us on the survey list.

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

Bellingham WA - In the busy real estate markets between 2003 to 2005 the number of homes on the market was only a two-to-three month supply. In 2008 and 2009 the supply increased by more than three times to a 10 month supply of homes for sale. That means it’s currently going to take much longer to sell your Bellingham home. However, there are some ideas to help increase your chances in this tough Whatcom County real estate market.

In tough markets like this home sellers will sometimes request their real estate agent to perform marketing tasks that have proven to be very ineffective over time, but makes the seller feel better. I’d rather show them effective marketing tools and concentrate on the ones that bring the highest results instead of throwing money in a hole with very low return.

The internet is of course the number one marketing vehicle today. The real estate yard sign along with fliers are still very effective. Using today’s social media along with communicating with local Realtors is very effective as well. Holding a couple open houses is also a great tool to market your home.

I don’t do much advertising at all in the local newspaper, real estate books or magazines because of the shelf life. The internet is 24/7, much more effective and the cost is so much more affordable than the print media. The print media has more to do with satisfying a sellers emotional need than with the real world of marketing real estate today.

I have friends of mine in the Tacoma, WA real estate market that have had an open house every weekend for the last 4 months and every weekend they’re hoping this time will be the charm for their 4-bedroom house.

They remodeled the kitchen, painted the house, built a new deck and put on a new roof. But after more than six months on the market, they still don’t have a buyer.

Not to get their price or as much interest in their house was disheartening to them.

That’s a feeling shared by many homeowners these days - who not only find themselves in a buyer’s market - but a buyer’s market short on buyers, thanks to the credit crunch.

Lenders have really tightened up their lending requirements and this is where sellers have to become more imaginative and creative. Some new homes builders are offering appliance upgrades, fences, paying for closing costs, or a free vacation with the purchase of one of their homes.

As a professional Realtor, my advice is to skip the gimmicks. To really get a house sold today the most important thing is to make sure the price is right … right away. 

In a down market like this it’s very important to price at or just below the market as soon as the house goes up for sale. As a home seller, you don’t want to price above a market that is moving down, you’ll end up getting much less in the end. 

Prices are changing quite rapidly and sellers think that their house is still worth what it was 3-4 years ago.

Beside price, the best way to sell your home in a down market is to:

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

Bellingham WA - Home buyers in the Bellingham area can now search weekend open houses by visiting BellinghamHomes.com and checking out the open house pages. The Bellingham open house site displays all area open houses that local Realtors advertise on the NWMLS site.

Open house seekers can go directly to the Whatcom open house page or the Skagit open house page to find a list of open houses for the upcoming weekend. Buyers no longer have to wait until the weekend or delivery of the Sunday morning paper because open houses are added every day of the week building up to the weekend. Instead of trying to read small ads in the newspaper, open house seekers can now view the listed property with all of it’s information and photos.

Jerry Campbell - The Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Bellingham WA Open Houses

Vancouver, BC - Today marks 100 days to the opening ceremonies of the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The 2010 Winter Games will officially open on February 12, 2010 and run through February 28th.

Universal Sports and NBC Olympics are set to bring full coverage of everything Vancouver related from now through the Games’ Closing Ceremony. NBC and Vancouver’s 11Alive have launched a local website called Olympic Zone. It will feature local content related to the Olympic Games. I’ve heard that parts of that coverage will include Whatcom County, Mt. Baker, Seattle & other stories of interest to a world wide audience.

In the Bellingham and Whatcom County area it feels like it has already gotten a lot busier on the roads with traffic. I would imagine as the games approach Whatcom County will be jammed with travelers on their way to the Olympics from all parts of the US.

We will try to post as much as possible about the Games from this side of the Border since we are less than one hour from Downtown Vancouver, BC. This should be an exciting time for all of us. Now if I could only get my hands on some tickets for the Olympic Hockey Finals… lol

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

WASHINGTON — Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers. 

The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time homebuyers but is set to expire at the end of November. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new homes sales fell 3.6 percent in September, and some industry representatives blamed uncertainty about the tax credit. 

Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. 

The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers. 

Senators were still negotiating the expansion of a separate tax credit that lets money-losing businesses get refunds for taxes paid in previous years, providing them with an immediate source of cash. 

Senators in both political parties were hoping to add both tax provisions to a bill that would give people running out of unemployment insurance benefits up to 20 more weeks of federal aid. The Senate could vote on the overall bill as early as Thursday, but lawmakers were still haggling over several unrelated amendments Wednesday evening. 

Popular bills like the one to extend unemployment benefits often attract amendments that would have a difficult time passing on their own. 

Republicans were demanding that they be given a chance to offer amendments to restrict federal aid to the beleaguered community activist group ACORN and on requiring that people receiving unemployment insurance be processed through E-Verify, an Internet-based system that employers use to check on the immigration status of new hires. 

Majority Democrats have refused to add the amendments. 

If the Senate passes the bill, it would go to the House, which passed a similar bill extending unemployment benefits last month. House leaders have also said they support extending the tax credit for homebuyers. 

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been negotiating for several weeks with Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to craft an extended tax credit for homebuyers that would pass the Senate. 

Lawmakers didn’t release a cost estimate for extending the tax credit, though similar proposals were projected to cost about $10 billion. 

Industry representatives said uncertainty about the tax credit is hurting new home sales. September’s decline was the first since March. 

It takes 45 days to 60 days to close on a house, making it unlikely a sale made today would be consummated by the end of November, said Lucien Salvant, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. 

“Buyers right now have an incentive to hold off, not knowing whether the credit will be extended,” Salvant said. 

About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit. 

The tax credit for money-losing businesses is a favorite among Republican lawmakers. Businesses could get tax refunds by using losses from 2008 and 2009 to offset taxable profits made in the previous five years. Under current law, they can only offset profits from the previous two years. 

The provision would help a variety of industries, including retailers, manufacturers and home builders, though it’s expensive. 

“It’s clearly a way to put cash in the hands of some major economic players,” said Clint Stretch, a tax policy expert at Deloitte Tax. 

A similar proposal that was ultimately dropped from the economic stimulus package enacted in February would have cost nearly $20 billion over 10 years. Lawmakers are working to reduce the price tag. 

“Because everybody is so cash strapped, this is a good way to get refund when businesses need it for operating expenses,” said Rachelle Bernstein, vice president and tax counsel for the National Retail Federation.

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

Lynden, WA - With the help of decent weather, this year’s raspberry crop turned out to be nearly a record-breaker for Whatcom County.

According to the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, county farmers harvested 58.5 million pounds of rasberries this past summer, an increase of 21.3 percent over last year. This year’s harvest nearly matched the record crop of 58.7 million pounds, set in 2005.

All of the factors in a harvest worked out well this year, including the timing of the weather, said Henry Bierlink, the commission’s executive director. It was hot and dry during the pollination season last spring, so the bees were active, and the crucial harvest period in July and August generally saw warm days without wind or a freak hailstorm, allowing farmers to pick the berries without major problems.

“It was about as perfect a harvest as you could get, weather-wise,” Bierlink said. “There was also a significant reinvestment in raspberries because the prices were fairly good. Overall, the industry is very healthy.”

Ralph Minaker, a raspberry farmer near Everson, agreed, adding that there also were more plantings this year as farmers continued to rotate fields.

The price for raspberries also may have motivated farmers. When averaged to include all types of raspberry grades, county farmers received about $1 a pound this year. Last year, the price was closer to $1.75 a pound, a level local farmers had not seen before, Bierlink said.

“This year’s price is off from 2008, but it’s still a good price,” Bierlink said.

The commission will hold its annual meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Lynden fire station at 307 19th St. to look ahead to the 2010 season and make budget plans. The public is invited.

Whatcom County Raspberry Production since 2001:

2009: 58.5 million pounds

2008: 48.2 million pounds

2007: 47.8 million pounds

2006: 49.2 million pounds

2005: 58.7 million pounds

2004: 45.9 million pounds

2003: 54.5 million pounds

2002: 58.4 million pounds

2001: 57.5 million pounds

SOURCE: Washington Red Raspberry Commission

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

The U.S. housing market has started to recover from the most far-reaching crisis since the Great Depression, data released Thursday shows.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row in June, the National Association of Realtors reported. That hasn’t happened since early 2004, during the boom.

“The turnaround in the housing market appears finally to be here and indeed may be gaining some speed,” wrote Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc.

Stocks jumped on the news, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising above 9,000 for the first time since early January.

Home sales rose 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May. Sales were up in all four regions of the country.

It was the highest level of sales since last October and beat economists’ expectations. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 4.84 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.

In another encouraging sign, the share of foreclosures on the market is shrinking. About one out of three homes sold in June was foreclosure-related, down from nearly half earlier this year.

And the glut of homes up for sale dwindled to 3.8 million. That’s a 9.4-month supply at the current sales pace and another important sign of a recovery. When the market balances at a 7-month supply prices should begin to stabilize, the Realtors’s group said.

That probably won’t happen until next year because of a backlog of foreclosures that have yet to come on to the market. The median sales price was $181,800 in June, down 15 percent from year-ago levels but up slightly from $174,700 in May.

Nevertheless, prices have risen for three straight months in about half of the 55 major metropolitan areas tracked by the Associated Press-Re/Max Housing Report, also released Thursday.

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

Whatcom County - The Whatcom County Association of Realtors (WCAR) are promoting a huge County Wide weekend of open houses through out Whatcom County with well over 600 homes open to the public on both Saturday and Sunday.

One of the biggest open house events being held this weekend will be in the community of Liberty Park in the North Bellingham area of Ferndale, WA. Custom home builder Roosendaal-Honcoop Construction will have seven brand new homes open to the public and for sale. Besides the homes being open to the public R/H Construction will also be putting on a free barbecue for guests & offering some pretty nice door prizes to those who enter a ballot.

Mike Kent will be broadcasting Saturday with his “Radio Real Estate” show live from Liberty Park from 10 AM to 1 PM as well. Mike is also an experienced Realtor that works at the local Windermere Real Estate Company. With this event, the builder is expecting well over 200 people to attend the open house and visitors will be able to view seven of his quality built homes.

If your going to attend any of the open houses this weekend from the County Wide event around Bellingham or Whatcom County, I would definitely put this one on your list. In one stop you can view seven finished homes, enjoy a barbecue, and enter win some great prizes.

Peoples Bank will also be on site as well as Whatcom Land & Title. The builder will be on site to answer any questions about their new homes or if your considering having one built. I will also be at this event as well, because I’m proud to say I have represented Roosendaal-Honcoop Construction new home sales for the past 15 years.

Liberty Park is located just off of W. Smith Rd. between Northwest Rd. & I-5. For more Directions to Liberty Park & a quick Google map visit Liberty Park for Directions. The Liberty Park community is just inside the new city limits of Ferndale, WA.

Update Saturday April 18, 7PM: We had a huge turn out with between 300-350 people in attendance. Here is a link to the Podcast of Liberty Park’s open house on Mike Kent’s Radio Real Estate show conducted Saturday April 18th. Mike thanks for doing your Real Estate Radio show at our Liberty Park open house.

Jerry Campbell - The Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA New Homes