Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

Bellingham, WA - A local non-profit network of local, independently owned Whatcom  County businesses and supporters are going strong with the idea of Sustainable Connections.  The local group, in it’s fifth year of existence, promotes the idea of local consumers thinking local, buy local, and be local when it comes to buying decisions. It’s a great concept to support local community businesses and to strengthen the local Bellingham and Whatcom County communities as a whole.

The group of local businesses has coalesced under the banner of Sustainable Connections and put that idea to rest. Chris Webb of 2020 Engineering was one of the founders of the group about ten years ago.  Despite attracting 50-60 people to a number of events, the group lost momentum when some of its members had to put more energy into running their businesses.

Rick Dubrow of A-1 Builders met Michelle & Derek Long at a state forum on sustainable business practices.  They discovered a mutual interest in the environment, strong communities, and a “local living economy.”  Their discussions resulted in a renaissance for Sustainable Connections, an influx of new members, and a determination to keep the momentum going.  Sustainable Connections has a great article on their site written by Whatcom County Businesses Pulse, called Whatcom Group Makes Sustainable Connections that really gives an understanding of how this movement was developed.

I really hope someday that Whatcom County awards Rick Dubrow, A-1 Builders, the lifetime achievement award for all the valuable time he has donated to this county towards the green movement.  When I think about Green in Whatcom County, my first thought is Rick Dubrow.

Their membership currently stands at over 600 business, affiliate and supporter members. In the past five years they have had some heavy hitters join their ranks to include Brown & Cole’s Cost Cutter Foods, Barkley Company, People’s Bank, Samuel’s Furniture, Pioneer Ford, WECU, and so many more. Here’s a complete list of Sustainable Connections members.  Their list of local board members and advisers looks more like the who’s who of Whatcom County with the likes of: Pete Kremen, Whatcom County Executive; Dan Pike, Mayor of Bellingham; Craig Cole, CEO, Brown & Cole; Kelli Linville, State Representative, WA State; and Mark Asmundson, Director, Northwest Clean Air Agency.

To demonstrate how much their message has gotten out…after finishing some business with WECU yesterday, I was enjoying lunch at Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro and while reading Cascadia Weekly noticed the Sustainable Connections twelve page insert. I ended up taking both the Weekly and insert home with me.  On my way home I stopped in to Cost Cutter in Ferndale and got a few groceries.  I then noticed all the plastic bags were covered in Sustainable Connections information and the Buy Local logo.  All four businesses I dealt with in a span of two hours were current partners with Sustainable Connections.  Id say their getting the message out there pretty good.

The Green movement seems to have really taken off nationally in the past couple of years, but to veterans like Webb, Dubrow, and the Long’s, they have been practicing this movement way before the idea even had a name. The sustainable concept is a way of life for a lot of local Bellingham businesses and residents now, and has propelled Bellingham to the epic center of a new economic model for other areas to follow.

From their own mission statement, Sustainable Connections provides support to our local community of innovators in green building, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, supporting independent businesses in town centers, and mentoring a new breed of entrepreneurs that have designed their business with a sustainable vision.

Their goal is to educate local businesses and government entities and to help them participate in the opportunities of a sustainable economy. They try to Connect businesses to each other, and to the local marketplace so they can grow the local economy.

It’s a great concept that has really taken hold locally on a grassroots basis, and has so much to gain once more and more people are educated on how easy it is to participate.  I think the current popularity of the green movement will really help the project blossom over the coming years and hopefully it becomes a standard in the way we all live our lives.

 I encourage anyone that wants to learn about making a difference, where ever you happen to live, to visit the local Bellingham Sustainable Connections site and learn how you to can make a difference in your local community as well.

Brought to you by Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA - Northwest Living

 The two “R”s of green building are reuse and recycle. Reusing construction materials from old houses not only saves usable and often high-quality materials and architectural features, it also saves energy; every item reused means one that doesn’t have to be made fresh.

Recycling, while consuming energy, keeps construction and demolition waste out of landfills, where it’s estimated to be a large component. Also, recycling fees tend to be lower than disposal fees.

Interest in reuse and recycling is strong in the Seattle area. And it’s not just being driven by tree-hugger idealism. Businesses are making money being green. Four offer a sampling of the depth and breadth of recycled and reused building materials available:

• Seattle’s Environmental Home Center is a major source for building materials made with recycled content, as well as nontoxic paint, insulation and sustainable wood products. Founded in 1992, the company acquired Oregon-based Environmental Building Supplies, giving it locations in Portland and Bend.

• The RE Store, with locations in Bellingham and Ballard, sells what it bills as high-quality building materials at discount prices. It offers pickup, salvage and whole-building deconstruction, providing recovered materials for sale to contractors and home-remodelers.

• Second Use Building Materials in South Seattle says it salvages about 100 tons of building materials a month that would otherwise go to the dump. Its products include doors, windows, masonry, lighting, plumbing fixtures and architectural details.

• Bedrock Industries in Interbay makes tiles using 100 percent recycled glass. It also uses 100 percent recycled materials for packaging and shipping.

Many more such businesses are featured in the Green Pages of the Northwest EcoBuilders Guild, and may be downloaded from www.ecobuilding.org.

“Salvage and reuse are not a new concept,” said Michael Armstrong, co-owner of Second Use Building Materials. “It’s only been in the last 50 or 60 years that we’ve been so wasteful. Now it’s self-correcting.”

For contractors and homeowners, reuse cuts two ways. If a house is being demolished, reusable items should be taken out with “tender loving care,” Armstrong said.

It’s more deconstruction than demolition. Companies such as Second Use remove and/or pick up materials from houses and other construction sites. The company claims more than 3,000 items in inventory.

Architects, interior designers and contractors who build green in turn seek out items to reuse. “Perfectly serviceable items go back into use so new materials don’t have to be produced,” Armstrong said. “If you’re looking for a 1920s-era window and you can get one out of the same-era house, why not use it?” The reused item may also cost less than a new one.

“Consumer awareness [about green building, recycling and reuse] has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year and a half, two years” said interior designer Sandy Campbell, who operates the One Earth One Design studio. She has spent 18 years as a designer, the past 10 specializing in sustainability. Last November, she opened a “sustainable lifestyle” retail store in north Seattle.

Still, Campbell said, consumers should be careful about some green claims.

“If someone is shopping for flooring or furniture, be sure to ask, ‘What is the source of the wood?’ ” she said. “Some companies are making tables out of reclaimed railroad ties. They’re full of creosote. If the reclaimed wood came from an old barn and it’s painted, you might want to test it for lead.”

Meanwhile, carpeting made of recycled plastic bottles may not address the backing, adhesives or finishes. Campbell urges people to look for natural products.

“Just because something is recycled doesn’t mean it’s healthy,” she said.

Reuse and recycling also get a big push from government. For example, King County’s GreenTools program provides assistance on deconstruction and recycling construction waste, as well as a host of other green building issues.

The county also has an online materials exchange (www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/exchange) with items ranging from doors and insulation to plumbing and floor coverings. Users can place materials for sale or purchase them.

Yet another area being studied is hybrid deconstruction, which seeks a balance between demolition and more labor intensive, and expensive, deconstruction. Increased labor costs and the time needed to deal with contaminated materials can be a disincentive to salvaging building materials.

Campbell sees the trend toward reuse and recycling only increasing. “I certainly hope so, for everyone’s sake. We have to change the way we do things.”

Second Use’s Armstrong said the green building movement is “akin to the organic food movement 20 years ago, and now you find organic food at Safeway.”  via partially seattle times.

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

Here’s a few of the article’s I read this week that I’m adding here for my viewers.  Each and every week when I’m posting to the blog, I read and review a lot of news articles and blogs.  It’s imperative that one studies this market constantly to be a well informed source when on the subjects I write about.  So here is my list of articles for the week of Oct. 01 to Oct. 07, 2007.

This week has been a pretty windy and rainy week here in the Northwest.  Typically our Octobers are calm and our big storms start in Novemeber and can last into early March.

Here’s this weeks news that caught my attention and I thought would be worthy of passing on to my viewers. 

Five Ways to Boost Your Homes Value - via Newsweek Oct 3, 2007.  With an increasing number of properties hitting the market, you want to make sure that you’re doing all the right things to get top dollar for your property. The advice and list was put together by a top Appraiser. And while you cannot change your house’s location or size, there are a number of ways you can easily affect the value of your house.

Will Home Prices Rise? Look at Trends For Answer - via HeraldNet, Oct 7, 2007. Steve Tyler  thinks they’re going to stay flat for the next few years. I would have to agree with him.  Hot markets usually only last 2-3 years and are mostly followed by a buyer’s market, then a normal market lasting a total of 5-10 years.  We have been in a buyer’s market since Sept. 2005, and should ease into a more normal market in the next few years. Tyler calls this the stair-step pattern of the Puget Sound housing market. I agree very much with the author on this…I’ve been using that same stair-step pattern to help describe the local market to others for the last 20 years in the same way. 

How Can You Tell Whats Really Green? - via Seattle Times, Oct 2, 2007. Builders, real-estate agents and cities across the country want you to buy a green house, and with good reason: They’re much better for the environment.  The article says there are many, many shades of green and everyone has a different way of identifying it. It also explains those zing words we all see like Energy Star and LEED.

New local firms help consumers find environmentally friendly homes.  Kathryn Crawford’s concern for the environment influenced where she decided to work and what she does for a living.

It’s not surprising, then, that when Crawford decided to buy a home in Everett, she wanted a real estate agent who understood a “green” home means more than energy-efficient appliances and solar panels.

“I didn’t think a traditional agent would understand what I was looking for,” said Crawford, a community planner with a strong environmental ethos.

She became one of the first clients of a new Everett-based real estate brokerage focused on helping clients buy and sell properties built with green practices and products.

The business, Greening Properties, is the first of its kind in Everett. A handful of area agents at traditional brokerages specialize in green properties, and a company with similar aims, GreenWorks Realty, operates in Seattle.

Green agents aren’t the only sign the Northwest real estate industry is getting greener. The Northwest Multiple Listing Service recently added environmental check boxes to its listing forms, so homebuyers and agents can identify homes with certain features or third-party certifications. A homeowner can now tell, for instance, if a home offers Energy Star appliances, renewable bamboo floors or a drought-tolerant landscape.

Greening Properties operates like a regular brokerage, representing both buyers and sellers and providing standard services such as market analysis for sellers and presenting offers and negotiating on behalf of buyers.

What differs is knowledge of green practices and products, say owners Valerie Steel and Mary Ehrlich. Both have a history of community involvement, particularly on local environmental issues. Both were founding members of the Everett Shorelines Coalition, formed to protect shorelines, and Historic Everett, focused on preserving buildings with historic significance.

The term “green building” covers a lot of ground, including design, materials and building practices. One client may be interested in energy efficiency while another may be concerned about building materials that could exacerbate a child’s asthma.

Green encompasses a home that’s smaller and more energy-efficient, and it also can apply to older homes, since buying one doesn’t require the use of new resources. Sustainable homes also include touches a homeowner may never see, such as recycled materials, and paints and finishes that emit fewer toxic fumes. It may also mean the land was developed in a way that minimizes erosion, or workers recycled materials at the job site.

The specialty knowledge includes the ability to cut through what’s green and what’s marketing, Ehrlich said. The pair saw a recent listing where an agent misrepresented the greenness of a property, describing a home as green because it had a brick facade.

The company also differs from a traditional brokerage by providing clients with a livability checklist based on criteria by various green certification agencies such as Built Green and the American Green Building Council. For buyers, that checklist compares the features of properties they might wish to buy.

For sellers, the company rates sustainability of property and recommends how to make it more sustainable before it’s listed. For instance, if a client planned to spruce up his home with new paint and carpet before listing it, the agent might recommend using low-fume paint and a renewable flooring such as bamboo instead of carpet, Ehrlich said.

Demand for homes with green features is growing, and it can be difficult to find homes with certain green features, Steel said. Finding a home with Energy Star appliances is easier, while finding a home on land that hasn’t been “slashed and scraped” by developers is more difficult, she said.

Crawford, one of the company’s first clients, didn’t expect to find a green home ready for her to move in. Instead, she asked Steel to find an older home with “good bones” that she could remodel. She settled on a solid 2,220-square-foot home in the Port Gardner neighborhood, and she is already making plans to add solar roof tiles, replace windows and add bamboo floors. Via HeraldNet

If any of our viewers want more information on green homes visit Tree Hugger, these guys post an amazing 20-25 articles a day and have a ton of resources living green.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group Realtors - Bellingham WA -Bellingham Green Homes supporter

Here’s a few of the article’s I read this week that I’m adding here for my viewers.  Each and every week when I’m posting to the blog, I read and review a lot of news articles and blogs.  It’s imperative that one studies this market constantly to be a well informed source when on the subjects I write about.  So here is my list of articles for the week of Dec. 16 to Dec 22, 2006.

$14.5M slated for Bellingham Bay in States budget - Via Bellingham Herald - Dec 20, 2006.  The Port of Bellingham requested money from the state’s Model Toxics Control Act budget to help with cleaning up mercury in Whatcom Waterway. The Model Toxics Control Act is a voter-approved initiative adopted in 1989 to identify, investigate and clean up contaminated sites in Washington.  This is great news for Bellingham Bay and the cleanup efforts in the Whatcom Waterway in preparation for the New Whatcom project going forward.  This whole area in downtown Bellingham presents an exciting time for Bellingham residents and visitors to our great city.

Best and Worst Housing Markets in the U.S. - Via Real Estate Journal - Dec 20, 2006.    Tacoma area rated 3rd best market to outperform the rest of the western states and Seattle-Bellevue area were rated 4th. Portland, Oregon was rated the 5th best on the list.  There were a lot of cities in California that ranked pretty low, because they were overvalued in the survey.

Bellingham Boat Builder thrives in an ‘incredibly dynamic market’ - Via HeraldNet.com - Dec 18, 2006.  In the past four years, All American Marine has grown annually at a 30 percent clip. Matt Mullett CEO, says these days their in the enviable position of choosing what projects the company should go after. His only limitation is having enough qualified workers to do the job. 

Whidbey Island Takes Storm’s Biggest Punch - Via HeraldNet.com - Dec 16, 2006.   All of Whidbey Island lost power last Thursday night when Puget Sound Energy’s main transmission line to the island was taken out by falling trees.  Winds exceeded 90 mph on many parts of the island.  My father in-law Jack Hill, who lives on the western side of Whidbey Island and had spent 20 years in the Navy said, “It’s the worst storm that he’d seen since he got out of the navy 25 years ago”.

VANOC on track and on budget heading into 2007 - Via Vancouver 2010 - Dec 19, 2006.  VANOC and its partners are planning a number of exciting milestone events in February and March 2007 to celebrate the three-year countdown to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Details will be announced early in 2007.

Boston Ready to go Green - Via The Boston Globe - Dec 20, 2006.    Boston is expected to become the first major city in the nation to require private developers to adhere to a strict set of so-called green-building standards, officials said yesterday.  The goal is to make new buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, by promoting, for example, use of efficient heating and cooling systems, recycled building materials, and careful separation and disposal of waste.

There is an added cost for doing so, but I think the long term benefits of building with green standards will far out weigh the upfront cost of construction.  Infact I think the Bellingham area already has had some of the best examples of builders that have gone green already, especially Rick Dubrow of A-1 Builders in Bellingham, WA.  If Whatcom county ever took on the standards for building Green, Rick Dubrow should definetly be one of the advisors, if not running the committee.  A-1 Builders has literally been building Green for at least 10-15 years.  Good job Rick Dubrow!

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

What’s In, What’s Out with Homebuyers in 2007 by Mark Nash is based on a survey of 923 real estate agents, managing brokers and association executives who responded to a survey request in Agent to Agent ezine, published by Mark Nash. Agent to Agent is distributed monthly to real estate professionals in all fifty states and Canada.

Housing Trends in for 2007

• The housing correction. My prediction in the 2006 “What’s In, What’s Out” I forecasted a soft decline in home prices in most markets. In 2007 project a 5-8% decline in prices on average between single-family and condominium homes.
• Homes that are priced right. It isn’t the boom market of 2005, look at only the sold comparable’s from the last six months. Forget the cocktail party chit-chat when all you heard was record prices in the shortest market times in U.S. real estate history.
• Online home valuation sites like Zillow.com. Mainly those that utilize up-to-date and reliable home sale data. Technology is great when it works, but tread carefully with online valuation web sites. Ask yourself how long does it take your recorder of deeds and real estate transactions to record them? If up-to-the-minute, okay, otherwise plan the lead time into the online valuation to spew out accurate information.
• Market timing. Many buyers and sellers were on their own timelines in 2006 and they missed opportunities that were created by not recognizing the real estate markets ebb and flow. Spring is high market, the most demand by the largest number of buyers. Summer is a good market, fall is fair, and winter is the remnant market, the left-over buyers and sellers from the high, good, and fair markets.
• Savvy buyers. With interest rates historically low and bent-up demand from a soft year in 2006, the deals and lack of frenzy won’t last long. “Deferred demand” from 2006 could ignite a mini-frenzy in some markets.
• Third places or officetels. Home offices are on the rise, though those who work from one, need more than a coffee shop or hotel lobby for business meetings. Look for alternative work spaces that bridge the home office with hourly rentals of conference room-type spaces that offer technology and privacy.
• Upscale garages. It’s no longer the out-of-sight-out-of-mind dumping ground. Today’s garage owners want them decked out with cabinet and storage systems, mini-refrigerators, insulation, heating and air conditioning and durable but residential-looking flooring.
• Caving. Man caves and Mom caves are coming out of the closet. Personal dedicated space for one person in a household can go and work on projects or “chill” without being disturbed and if so only in an emergency.
• Two home offices. Rising gas prices and commuting times have created more two-work-at-home families. Size matters, make sure each is at least ten-by-ten feet.
• Rejuvenation rooms. A one-stop space for exercising, meditation, yoga, sauna and fancy steam showers. Showers are going upscale too. Waterfall fixtures, programmable temperature and water flow are the next trend for “showerers”.
• Heated patios, walkways and driveways. Northern baby-boomers are tired of shoveling and are looking for ways to decrease winter maintenance, plus many have discovered how also heating the patio can add an extra couple of weeks enjoyment in spring and fall.
• Snoring rooms. Offered as options in new homes, adjacent, second bedrooms to the master, offer relief from the “buzz saw” and an alternative to the couch. A godsend for millions of relationships nationwide.
• Modular Housing. Many think of the out-dated double wide as the typical modular, but modular options and quality have exploded from the top end 11,000 square foot home, with every whistle and bell, complex finishing details, to the bread and butter 1200 square foot starter home. Low-cost, factory-built construction and quick conception to foundation times, make this the affordable wave of the future.
• Sustainable Design. Sustainable design is based on three areas; energy conservation, indoor air quality, and resource conservation. Viewed as new-age in construction circles, sustainable design looks at homes holistically, and not just a group of unrelated systems thrown together. Natural forms of energy, such as wind, solar, and geo-thermal if available on-site, are maximized.
• Structured wiring. Right up there with all the buzz about green homes is structured wiring, now entering the main stream must-have for technology based home buyers. Coaxial TV cable (RG-6), Category 5E voice and data lines, distributed radio, remote camera security are wired through out a home into multi-outlet boxes called in the trade, home network centers.
• Mixing finishes on kitchen base and wall cabinets. Matchy-matchy is out in kitchen design. The new look is to have stained-wood bases and painted wood upper cabinets. The old-europe-look rules, but with today’s appliances.

Housing Trends Out in 2007

• “As is” in home sale marketing. Anything went in the boom market, but if you’re planning to use “as is” in 2007, forget it. The two letter-two word kiss of death, buyers see it as a red flag about the home and you the seller. You have too much competition to be chasing buyers away.
• Buyer incentives. Free cars don’t sell houses, realistic pricing does. Gimmicks only confuse and distract buyers. Cut to the chase and deduct the cost of your free-with-purchase from your current price and send the signal to buyers that you’re selling real property not personal property.
• Endless Open Houses. The open house pendulum has swung from ” the house sold in the first day” to “we need to have our house open every Sunday”. Desperation is when your home is open every Sunday. Buyers know and track it. Plan on every three weeks to have a public open house.
• Over-full-price offers. It was a strategy in the boom market to under-price a home and let the market set the selling price. Not today, one thing that won’t change in 2007 is that every buyer will want a deal, and walk from one if they don’t get one.
• Bedrooms not large enough for a bed. In the boom, rehabbers and developers learned the fastest way to profit was to increase the room count of a home of an existing home. Bedrooms shrunk to walk-in closet size when a four-room one-bedroom was gut-rehabbed into a four-room two-bedroom. Or, the doorways and windows eliminate required wall space. Savvy agents kept asking, can you fit a queen-size bed in either room? And the answer was usually, no.
• Loads of glass upper kitchen cabinet doors. Buyers say it looks great, but many who specified and experienced it, firsthand don’t have the time to keep their kitchen cabinets organized. Plus if you hate washing the windows, having more glass in a greasy room like a kitchen is high-maintenance.
• Bowl-shaped above-counter bathroom sinks. The splashing and over-all up-keep have earned these the reputation of nice to look at, but don’t want one.
• Any shiny metal finish. Brushed nickels and pewter’s are in and antiqued and polished brass is out.
• Stainless-steel refrigerators and dishwashers are a fading trend. The cold look and higher maintenance of steel is shifting buyers to specify warmer colors in kitchen appliances.
• Spiral staircases. Once the rage for mid-seventies make over’s, now death to a home seller. The boomers have aged, their kids don’t like them, unfriendly to pets and young children. Take yours out and put in a standard staircase (inside or out) before you sell.

Housing Trends on the way out.

• Bamboo floors. The first reviews are in on this popular eco-friendly flooring, and they’re not pretty. Easily dented and scratched, and prone to warping from variations in our climate and humidity levels.
• Hardwood laminate floors. The word is out that these noisy poor relatives of solid hardwood that don’t stand up to multiple sanding’s to change color or to remove stains.
• Home sellers who smoke in their home while it is being marketed. Buyers hate second-hand and stale smoke odors. Marketing your home is not the same as living in it. If you have to smoke go outside.

It’s very interesting to look thru the list that Mr. Nash came up with based on interviewing all those Realtors. Just the fact that he made it through the process of talking to 923 real estate agents is amazing on its own.  I do a lot of new construction sales and just like the fashion world, we have to stay on top of our market to make sure we are putting out the right product for home buyers.

This article is a no-cost run-at-will with permission from the author, Mark Nash.  Mark Nash is a real estate author, broker and syndicated columnist based in Chicago. The author of five books, his latest Real Estate A-Z for Buying & Selling a Home is available in December 2006.  The Library of Congress has invited Mark to Washington, D.C. to present his fourth book 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home on March 21, 2007. He contributes residential real estate analysis to Bloomberg TV, Business Week, CBS The Early Show, CNN, HGTV.com, Smart Money Magazine, The New York Times, The Today Show and USA Today. 

Thanks Mark, this is a perfect article for my Northwest reading audience.  I’m sure I can use some of these great tips in real estate discussions in Bellingham, WA during 2007.