Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

Ferndale WA - According to the Ferndale Record Journal the city of Ferndale has formed an adhoc Olympic Committee in an effort to identify marketing ideas to attract visitors during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The Winter Olympics will be held in British Columbia from February 12-28, 2010. Following the Winter Olympics will be the Vancouver Paralympic games from March 12-21, 2010.

Some members of the committee include, City of Ferndale Councilman Jim Elliott, Ferndale Chamber of Commerce Director Guy Occhiogrosso, and Planning Department administrative assistant Kathryn Morice. The group is looking for ideas from area citizens  and those with the best ideas will win a prize. If anyone has any ideas get ahold of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce with some ideas and attractions Ferndale might want to consider for February 2010.

Being that the event will be held during the winter, it’s probably going to be a tough go in attracting visitors to the city. The city should begin by working with the Department of Transportation and see if together they can finally clean up the mess of wild black berry bushes, and deciduous trees that grow wild on both sides of the freeway where I-5 and Main Street exit meet. In the real estate business…street appeal is everything. I can envision it all being cleaned up and of course keeping the Fir trees that are natural to the area, and adding in some nice landscaping. Otherwise Exit 262 at Ferndale will probably be just another exit to pass on the way to the games for most Winter Olympic travelers.

I would also add a nice sign saying “Welcome Olympic Traveler’s” and below “Ferndale, Washington” Put the sign along the freeway in a non obtrusive location…but well placed so people will see it. The City is going to have to come up with something exciting and enticing to make travelers want to stop and visit. The visionaries need to think in the way most travelers would be coming into hearing about Ferndale for the first time. Creating a web site now with the upcoming Olympics in mind would be my suggestion. I guess they could also utilize the city’s website or the Chambers by creating some new pages to those sites and optimizing those pages. Add information to attract Internet visitors looking for “things to do” in Whatcom County while they are here visiting.

Even if the city doesn’t have enough things to pull that many visitor’s off the travels to Vancouver, at least Ferndale could plant a seed in their thoughts for visiting during warmer weather or at a future date.

One Idea that I could imagine is that if the city would use both Pioneer park and Hovander park as a temporary spot where RV traveler’s could rent space and park their rigs during the month of February and March 2010. All those temporary visitors would probably end up spending time and money in the Ferndale area. It would just be a temporary thing and end with the conclusion of the games. I would also have a couple big tents on sight to promote local business’s, events, etc. and serve food as well. It would be better to rent those two spaces for that purpose instead of like Haggen’s parking lot…because with the influx of visitors to the area…stores would be busy and need all their spaces.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Ferndale WA 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

During the whole month of December we have been developing a brand new Whatcom County real estate web site in order to better serve our buyers and sellers for the Whatcom County area.  The site will also provide services to the Skagit County, Island County, and San Juan County real estate market as well.

Our new web site will provide extensive information about the Whatcom County area to better inform buyers relocating to our area. 

The search real estate capabilities will be built out over time and we have joined the REW web site capabilities on our WhatcomRealEstate.com site with our WhatcomHomeSearch.com to create a Dynamic web site of the future. The combination of these two sites together will serve our current clients and future clients needs in so many ways, that we feel we will be providing them with many advantages over the competition.  

 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 

 Coming this November in Ferndale Washington, the brand new Centennial Riverwalk Plaza project is expected to be completed next to the Nooksack River.  If you haven’t noticed it yet, go check it out.  It starts on the west side of the Main St bridge that crosses over the Nooksack River and then the Riverwalk heads south along the Nooksack River. The area once known as Front Street is being transformed into the Centennial Riverwalk.

 The official name for the city’s project will be the Centennial Riverwalk Plaza to commemorate Ferndale’s 100 year anniversary of officially incorporating as a city, celebrated back on March 19, 2007. The plaza will be an impressive addition to the city and should be something Ferndale will be able to utilize for years to come.

Locals and visitors alike will be able to stroll along the pedestrian walkway and promenade along the river, and enjoy the beautifully landscaped public spaces with views of the Nooksack River and Mount Baker. The City of Ferndale envisions people being able to enjoy street and craft fairs, public markets, small concerts, festivals, and a farmers’ market.  When no events are occurring, just pausing by the fountain, studying the hand-carved native totems, enjoying a nice lunch or a picnic will be fun things to do.

The park is themed towards recognition of local Native American history and the logjam that was significant to Ferndale’s early history. The park has a focus on native plant species, using “rain garden” infiltration for storm water management, and stands under the watchful eye of a magnificent Native American totem pole. The pole will honor the Salish Tribes of our area. The park provides a casual gathering place with benches, open lawn, and scattered picnic tables.

Opening day should be just around the corner and as we get into the spring I’m sure the Ferndale Riverwalk will be an area used quiet often for years to come. The work to build the Riverwalk is being done by Friberg Construction and the original contract for the project cost an estimated $1.2 million.

For all your Ferndale WA Real Estate needs call Jerry Campbell, Muljat Group Realtors

  The Liberty Park neighborhood located in the North Bellingham area of Ferndale, Washington has announced their Fall 2007 Ferndale open house schedule. The Ferndale community will have open houses every Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 5pm.  Liberty Park will have four brand new two story homes and two one story homes open to the public.

The new Ferndale homes are also open Monday thru Friday from 10am to 5pm during the week.  At the open houses buyers will be able to experience several finished homes by Roosendaal-Honcoop Const. and all the fine finishes the homes builder provides.  The Quality of an RH Home is unmatched in the price range that they compete against in the Ferndale and North Bellingham new homes market.

The Ferndale New Homes can also be found under the Bellingham Herald open house section of the Sunday newspaper. Go to the open house section and look under The Muljat Group ad for the Bellingham Herald.  The Bellingham Herald also has open house ads on-line by going to Bellingham Herald, then Real Estate, Open Houses and finally click on Home Finder.

Roosendaal-Honcoop Const. have been building fine homes since 1979 and have built close to 150 homes in the North Bellingham area alone.  Some of their finished communities include Bellaire Estates, W. 54th, Byers Lane, Myers Estates and many custom homes in this area of Ferndale, WA.

Stop by one of their open houses and pick up a Liberty Park Packet, home plans, plat map, and much more to help you in your new home buying descisions.  They encourage buyers in the new home market to compare their homes to the rest of the market and you’ll see why they are rated as one of the best builders in Whatcom County.

Brought to you by Jerry Campbell, Realtor - The Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225

  After 20 years of having the Bellingham Scottish Highland Games at Hovander Homestead Park, the games organizers decided to move the annual June event to Ferndale Pioneer Park for 2007. The Bellingham Scottish Highland Games will haul its bagpipes and toss its cabers to Pioneer Park in June, leaving behind the county park to save some money, but keep the event in Bellingham.

The Bellingham Highland Games, scheduled for June 2 and 3, will save thousands of dollars by moving operations from Hovander Homestead Park, said Glen Winchester, games president. The new location, across the Nooksack River at the Ferndale city park, will still have enough space for all the events and vendors, he said.  The event is always held the first Saturday in June.

“The size of the property is a little bit larger than what we were using at Hovander,” Winchester said. “It’ll be a whole new experience because things will be in a different place.”

In addition to Pioneer Park itself, Highland Games organizers are interested in using the adjacent sports fields. Those who camp at the games will be able to stay at Pioneer Park or nearby Vanderyacht Park, Winchester said.

Parking will probably be on a lot adjoining the park, he said. If that lot and nearby streets aren’t enough, organizers can arrange for parking at area Ferndale schools or even Hovander, he said, and shuttle people to Pioneer Park.

The Highland Games draw thousands of people to see bagpipe and highland dance performances, sports competitions, and include concerts, food booths and other vendors. But the games have lost money the last two years, Winchester said, since the organizers have had to pay more to hold them at the county park.

This year’s rental cost was going to be about $5,000, plus $15,000 for insurance, he said, while Pioneer Park will cost $200 to rent and requires an insurance policy that will cost $5,000.

“There’s no more beautiful venue for highland games than Hovander,” Winchester said. “It was a pretty sad day when we had to take the vote.” Winchester looked into moving the games to the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds or the Deming Logging Show Grounds, but games organizers worried that they wouldn’t be able to get the word out to those who have been coming to Ferndale from across the state and British Columbia for 20 years.

Keeping the festival in Ferndale “is probably the best we can hope for,” he said. “We just need a sign where the entrance of Hovander is, to go across the bridge and make a left turn.”  Via partially bellinghamherald

 The Liberty Park new homes community of 52 brand new homes is now underway in Ferndale, Washington.  Custom Home builder Roosendaal-Honcoop Construction has nine two story homes available to the public, ranging from 1,871 to 2,891 sqft homes.  They also are offering seven one story homes ranging from 1,607 to 2,060 sqft homes.

RH Const. has been building fine homes in Whatcom County since 1979.  They just completed the very successful Myers Estates project in Ferndale WA, consisting of 42 brand new homes. Prior to these two ferndale projects, they also built most of the homes in nearby Bellaire Estates community, home to 62 upscale homes.  They like to say, “we build communities one home at a time”.

They currently have one home already Sold and completed, two more pending and set to close in early January 2007 and have six homes under construction and listed for sale.  They have a complete web site full of information about Liberty Park Lots, Liberty Park Floor Plans, North Bellingham information, builder info, and lots of home photos.

Their 2007 Schedule of open house’s was just anounced at Liberty Park Open House Schedule.  They also recently released their welcome to Liberty Park announcement at Liberty Park News blog site. 

Brought to you by Jerry Campbell, Realtor - The Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225