Northwest Living | Bellingham Real Estate Market

Last week with the bad news out of Seattle about the fires in the Street of Dreams development, one of my real estate web sites called StreetofDream.com experienced very high traffic for that news day. You’ll notice that my web site domain there is missing the s, unlike the original StreetofDreams site.

It was amazing how much traffic my real estate website got from all the national news. I assume they either clicked on my site because It came up in the results a few pages back or they might have typed in the domain name and forgot the s. I can only imagine what the popular StreetofDreams.com web site had received over the last week. Anyways…it never ceases to amaze me how far the Internet has come in the last ten years and just seems to be growing more and more every day. 

My little Northwest WA Real Estate site is just a five page site that shows property listings up in my Northwest corner of Washington State with homes listed from $500k and up. It usually averages about 100 visitors a day, but that one day was quite a spike in traffic. Not exactly the way I would want to receive traffic, but never the less…it was interesting to see such a huge spike up.

Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham WA

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.  

 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

 Whidbey Island could some day soon gain a new city with Freeland after some recent work by the Island County Planning Commission and residents of the Freeland area. 

After six hours of deliberation last Tuesday, the Island County Planning Commission recommended designating Freeland, WA a “non-municipal urban growth area,” effectively eliminating a formidable barrier in the local push for incorporation.

This is great news for the Freeland area of Whidbey Island becuase of all the housing growth in and around Holmes Harbor.  The formation of Freeland into an urban growth area will bring better comprehensive planning into how this area of Island County grows.  Freeland will have to start thinking forward with a 20 year plan on how and where they will want to grow into the future.

An Aug. 28 Island County planning commission meeting marked the first time the planning department and the public were given a chance to engage in a dialogue with the planning commission.

Extensive public comments were focused on how to improve the plan while none were received that outright opposed the designation of Freeland as an NMUGA.

Additional written input was submitted before the period closed Sept. 11. In the last one-and-a-half months, the all-volunteer planning commission has been inundated with written and oral testimony.

“The planning commission agreed to a marathon session,” said Planning Director Jeff Tate. “They looked at all the issues one by one. They really powered through them.”

Residents have focused primarily on amendments to Freeland’s subarea plan, which the planning commission also agreed Tuesday to incorporate into the county’s comprehensive plan. The proposed amendments generating the most debate revolved around density on pieces of property like Freeland Hill and semantic concerns.

“They voted to use ‘should’ and ‘may’ in the plan rather than ‘shall’ and ‘must,’” Tate said.

The Washington State Growth Management Act allows counties to designate areas of the county as non-municipal urban growth areas with urban services such as sewer and storm water infrastructure while requiring greater density and commercial development.

The study came about as a result of an order from the Growth Management Hearings Board, which required the county to look at both Clinton and Freeland as candidates for the NMUGA.

The planning commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Board of Island County Commissioners, who should ultimately render a decision in November.

“It’s a milestone to get to this point, but this is one event in a series of events,” Tate said of Tuesday’s approved motions. “It’s a very big part, but this hasn’t set up a situation where permits can be submitted. That’s still way down the road.” via whidbeynewstimes.

Washington state’s wine industry has exploded in the past two decades, from fewer than 20 wineries in 1981 to more than 360 today. Washington is home to more than 30,000 acres of wine grapes, and the industry is worth close to $3 billion to the state’s economy.

Pockets of the state have thrived on the growing industry, with fine restaurants, inns and brick-lined streets accompanying dozens of wineries. Many wineries have summer concert series or wine festivals to draw both music and wine lovers to their region.

Evening Magazine lists several great Washington wineries in its Back Roads page. 

The following is a list of more Washington State Winery:

• Washington Wine Country
• Wines Northwest - Gateway to the Pacific Northwest Wine country wines and wineries of OR, WA, Id and BC.
• Wine Yakima Valley - Washington’s premium wine region.
• Washington wines quick facts
• Washington Wine Commission
• Go Taste Washington Wines

If your looking for wineries for the Northwest corner of Washington State you’ll find the information below very useful for your wine tours.

Up here in Whatcom County we have a few local wineries producing some nice quality wine as well.  Try these for starters: Dakota Creek Winery, Samson Estate Wineries, and Mt. Baker Vineyards.  Goto this link with Taste of Whatcom for more Whatcom County Wineries.

Skagit County features Pasek Cellars, Carpenter Creek Winery, Challenger Ridge Vineyards, Eagle Haven Winery, Tulip Valley Vineyards, Glacier Peak Winery, Compass Wines, and Chuckanut Ridge Wine Co.  A great place to stay while touring the wineries of Skagit County would be to stay in beautiful LaConner, WA and then tour from there.  One of my favorite places in LaConner is a bed & breakfast called The Heron’s Nest.

When visiting Island County, WA here are some wineries Whidbey Island Winery, Blooms Winery, and Greenbank Farms on Whidbey Island.  While touring Whidbey Island look up The Country Cottage of Langley for a nice bed & breakfast stay on beautiful Whidbey Island.  That gorgeous photo to the right was featured on the Country Cottage web site. While your on their web site check out the list of 20 things to do on Whidbey Island and an additional 20 great links called Whidbey Island attractions.

Don’t forget that Camano Island, as well as Whidbey Island make up the county of Island County.  Good place to start touring these islands would be with Whidbey and Camano Island Tourism site for all the links you’ll ever imagine.  For all your Whidbey Island real estate needs contact Paullete Hill, Tara Properties, Coldwell Banker, in Freeland, WA.  She’s a great resource for information in the South Whidbey Island area, especially in the Freeland, Coupeville and Langley, WA areas.

This list of wineries would not be complete without naming some vineyards located in the beautiful areas of San Juan County.  San Juan Vineyards is the only commercial vineyard and winery on San Juan island. Started in 1996, had first harvest October 2000. They also have a great gift shop. Located on Roche Harbor Road.  Lopez Island features Lopez Island Vineyards, with their grapes grown organically on the estate vineyards.

Well enjoy your tours of the wine country and be safe in your travels here in the beautiful Northwest.  Here’s the advertisement part: Remember to visit our real estate site for all your Whatom County real estate needs here in the fourth corner of Washington state by visiting Northwest real estate.

Frontier Financial Corp. has acquired Whidbey Island Bank in a move to improve its position in the Northwest area of Washington State.  The deal to purchase Whidbey Island Bank will cost Frontier about $191.1 million.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Washington Banking join our organization,” stated John Dickson, Frontier Financial’s President and Chief Executive, in a prepared statement. ”Whidbey Island Bank is a high-quality organization that operates with a philosophy very similar to our own.”  He went on to say, “We believe this will be an outstanding combination of highly talented employees who bring with them a solid customer base, and we look forward to welcoming the Washington Banking team into the Frontier family.”

The holding company for Frontier Bank, Frontier Financial is headquartered in Western Washington. The terms of the agreement call for Frontier to pay approximately $21.40 per share to Washington Banking Co., the holding company of Whidbey Island Bank.

Frontier already owns 782,506 shares of Washington Banking common stock at a cost basis of $3.1 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Frontier operates 47 offices in Washington and plans to open its 48th location in October in Gig Harbor. Whidbey Island Bank has 20 branches in San Juan, Skagit, Island, Whatcom and Snohomish counties.

“The professionals on the Frontier team are amongst the finest bankers in the region, and I am confident that our organizations will both benefit from this combination,” said Michal Cann, chief executive of Washington Banking Co. “As we considered all of our strategic growth options, it became obvious that choosing to partner with Frontier would provide the greatest benefits and opportunities for our shareholders, employees, customers and the communities we serve.”

Following the merger, Cann will continue as senior vice president and regional manager. Additionally, one member of the Washington Banking board will be selected by Frontier to join the boards of Frontier.

Frontier previously announced a merger with the Bank of Salem that it is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007. Following the mergers with Bank of Salem and Washington Banking, Frontier’s total assets will be approximately $4.6 billion.

For all your Whatcom County real estate needs visit Bellingham WA Homes.

Music, food, wine tasting, arts and crafts fair and fun are all part of the annual Loganberry Festival July 29 and 30 at the Whidbey Island Greenbank Farm.  Located in the middle of Whidbey Island, the free summer celebration is held every year towards the end of July on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Conductor of Fun Jim Freeman has lined up a schedule of fabulous music co-sponsored by Whidbey Island Bank and Whidbey Telecom. There will be a break every two hours for a children’s pie-eating contest: loganberry pie, of course. The contest is open to children age 12 and under.

There is always some form of musical entertainment that begins on Saturday morning with some local vocalists and instrument artists as well. This year there will be the piano and harmonica rhythms of Natalie Schmidt.

The Washington Poets Association present poetry performances and an open mic on the stage by the Jim Davis House both Saturday and Sunday at the festival beginning at noon. The association presented the popular Burning Word Poetry Festival at the Greenbank Farm last April.

There will also be an opportunity for others to read some of their own poetry. The stage is co-sponsored by Porter Whidbey Insurance and Wallgren’s Les Schwab Tires. The stage is by the Jim Davis House.

The Whidbey Evangelical Free Church of Greenbank will again provide lots of special activities for children on the farm grounds both days. Tickets are a few cents to each carnival-like activity.

Winemakers from Whidbey and the greater Puget Sound area will be assembled under tent to talk about their wines. Wines will be available to taste and to purchase by the bottle or by the glass to enjoy with lunch. The Greenbank Farm’s favorite loganberry wine and its sister loganberry dessert wine will be poured by local volunteers. All proceeds from the wine tasting go to support Greenbank Farm.

Lunch fare is provided by local vendors including Jan Gunn’s Whidbey Pies and ice cream, Karin Coleman’s sausage dogs with her Scandinavian mustards, the Central Whidbey Lions Club’s traditional American hot dogs, Craig and Debbie Vrungos’s kettle corn, Island Chef Tim Groken’s chowder, crab cakes and seafood sauté, Nadya’s Greek cuisine by the wine tents, the Lariat Ladies from Lilliwaup barbecue and more. Mike Diamanti will be serving espresso delights from his Island Coffee booth and we will again have shaved ice concoctions.

Beautiful and useful arts and crafts will be available for sale from booths on site. There will be over 60 booths of great arts and crafts and a new area featuring home-based and commercial businesses. Shopkeepers at the farm will be open both days, including Artworks Art Gallery, I Remember When Antiques, Two Tacky Ladies, Greenbank Farms Cheese Shop, the Wine Shop and Whidbey Pies Cafe.

What are Loganberries? The loganberry is a cross between the blackberry and a raspberry. It was developed by James Harvey Logan in the 1980s. The Greenbank Farm was once the largest loganberry vineyard in the world, the farm was purchased by private and public entities in 1998 to serve as a tourist destination and a community resource. The loganberry fields were in disrepair by then. A newer smaller vineyard has been established and the farm is organically certified. The berries are available for harvest by early July. By the time of the festival there may still be loganberries for purchase from the U-pick patch both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will certainly be loganberry pie to purchase.

The farm grounds are a wonderful place to spend a day, offering room for the bustle of festival activities as well as trails to roam with pets on leash and grand sea and mountain vistas. The Greenbank Farm is just off Highway 525 and the Wonn Road in Greenbank. Island Transit is a free bus service Monday through Saturday; find schedules at www.islandtransit.org.

Utilize Whidbey Island Real Estate for all your Island County real estate needs.

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