It is impossible to not notice the amazing amount of growth in our area. With all of these new houses, there have to be people to buy them, and this has often made me wonder about two things:

1. Where are they all coming from?
2. Where do they work?

The answer to number one is EVERYWHERE! but mostly California.

As for working, small businesses are the main source of employment. But even small businesses have to come from or start somewhere and there is a new source: BC.

Many Canadian companies see the value in an American address and presence and Whatcom County’s proximity to the border makes it ideal, particularly for Vancouver businesses. Other factors that make our area attractive to BC are labor-cost advantages, easy access to Seattle and cheaper/easier shipping to other areas in the States.

Rob Pochert of the Bellingham Whatcom Economic Development Council says that 98% of the inquiries he gets about expanding into the county are from Canadian companies.

So thank you to our Canuck neighbors for investing in our community!

The former Georgia-Pacific plant in Bellingham Bay has become a major topic of conversation and opinion. We’ll give you the facts, you give us your opinion!

The New Marina
It’s still in the early design stages, but here is what they’ve planned so far: 379 moorage slips with an average size of 50 feet, plus nine moorage slips over 70 feet for bigger boats. The port is working to match the size of slips to market demand and will have slips ranging from 25 feet to 100 feet.

Public Ownership of Waterfront in Bellingham Bay
The following ownership percentages apply to the waterfront from Fairhaven to Little Squalicum:
Port - 49.2%
State - 18.2%
City - 5.7%
County - 0.7%
Other Public - 0.7%
Private - 25.5%

That is a total of 74.5% public ownership. Once the county plans for parks, trails and roads are satisfied, some property may be sold or leased for a variety of uses.

Saving Red Bricks
The red brick buildings will be spared demolition in the first phase as port authorities look into restoration. The port will save the buildings that fit into the plan for new uses of the area while also preserving the industrial history.

Dredging Whatcom Creek
Part of the waterway cleanup will include dredging portions of Whatcom Waterway. Areas that have potential for long range use, such as for cargo and cruise ships, will be given priority. Roeder Avenue Bridge has been deemed an area valuable for salmon habitat so it will not be dredged.

NOAA Ship and Bay Clean Up
Public tours will be held on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Ranier on Saturday, October 29 from 9-11am and 1-4pm. Ranier is located at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal at 629 Roeder Ave. The Shipping Terminal also has an information display about the bay cleanup. For more info on the tour and display, call the port at 676-2500.

In Process! Several proposed Bellingham developments are at critical points in the permit process. Here are the highlights:

Location: Fairhaven, South of Harris Ave. between 8th and 9th streets
Building: Mixed use commercial and residential
Other: Jorge Vega, Bellingham Planning Director, approved use of the portion of the site which is between 100 and 200 feet from Padden Creek. A permit to build closer to the creek was approved previously, but has been appealed by opponents, so we are waiting to see how that plays out.

Location: 1129 Cornwall Ave (Cornwall Ave & Chestnut St)
Building: 11-story building with commercial space at street level, 90 condos upstairs and 2 levels of underground parking with a total of 155 spaces.
Total square feet: 240,000
Height: 110 feet
You say: Comments on the environmental impact of this building will be taken until Nov 3.

Location: 72 acres at the north end of Cordata Parkway, along Kline Road.
Building: 429 houses, a combination of detached houses, duplexes and triplexes.
You say: Tell the city planners what you think until Nov. 4, or go to the hearing that will be scheduled by Hearing Examiner Dawn Sturwold, 676-6982.

We are also interested in what you think about these developments. Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

I love this time of year!  The wet, drizzly days just make the glorious, crisp, sunny ones stand out more brightly.  And that is actually my topic today – change and contrast.

We have lived in Whatcom County for over 30 years, and perhaps I am simply noticing it more, but I do believe there has never been as much happening that will leave a permanent imprint on what this place will look like and live like in the future.  There are multiple meetings and hearings every week to inform about, plan & permit new building projects.  The Growth Management Board has sent the County back to the drawing board to look again at the development densities they have established.  Builders are talking about multiple 6 to 20 story buildings.  Fairhaven is building out in a manner that would probably warm the hearts of those earlier developers – Charles Larrabee and “Dirty” Dan Harris.  137 acres of waterfront in the midst of the city is available to do with as we will.  One of the largest building corporations in the country has applied to develop 429 houses at the north end of Cordata Parkway, and they have additional land under contract.  And all this is only a small part of the activity.

We are asked daily, “What’s driving these changes?”  “What impact are the large builders going to have on me, who build 4, 8, 10 houses a year?”  “If I buy this today, can I sell it for more money next year?”  “Who is buying these houses?  Where are they coming from?  Where do they work?”  “What is Whatcom County going to be like 20 years from now?  Will I want to live here?”

None of us have definitive answers to any of these questions.  Some are more quantifiable than others, and we have opinions based on our experiences in the marketplace.  But of all these questions, there is just one over which we have any control whatever, and that is the last.  We are the people who will determine what Whatcom County will be like 20 years from now, and if we do nothing toward the process, we will have only ourselves to blame if we no longer want to live here.  Perhaps the most important election of the last 30 years is almost upon us.  There is an enormous amount of information readily available about the candidates and the issues.  Decide how you want Whatcom County to be 20 years from now, and then vote your beliefs.  The choices are quite clear, and it is up to you.

Whatcom County Council was busy on Tuesday, October 25 dealing with the county’s biggest current issue: growth.

Two Birch Bay developments, Horizons at Semiahmoo and Horizon Village at Semiahmoo, were approved unnanimously. Horizons will feature 417 to 477 homes on 149 acres while Horizons Village will feature 170 homes and 80,000 square feet of commercial space.

At the same meeting, a building moratorium at Lake Whatcom was extended for an additional 6 months. The building moratorium was put in place while the county worked on a plan to clean up the lake which is the main source of drinking water fror Bellingham. Depending upon whose “science” one believes, the lake may or may not be polluted. Properties larger than 5 acres are exempt from the moratorium.

In light of these two rulings, perhaps the people of Whatcom County will solve the growth issue themselves by simply moving out of Bellingham and into other Whatcom communities….then again, maybe not.

In the last decade we have seen it happen multiple times: new technology versus old and established ways. In most cases, new start-up companies (often internet based) pop up to fill the void left by companies not willing to keep up with the times.

For example, look at the music industry. 5 years ago, Napster saw the need for digital music. The music industry was unwilling at that time to go online and insisted on sticking to CDs. Now, we can finally buy music online, one song at a time. The music industry is happy because there is less piracy, and consumers are happy that they can now purchase their favorite song from home, receive the song immediately, and are not required to get the rest of the albumn.

The Real Estate industry is seeing that same phenomenom. People are growing accustomed to having access to everything online and being able to store their documents in a digital format. Who wants to store a bunch of paper anymore?

We here at the Johnson Team are determined to be on the cutting edge of new technology and not be left behind. That is why we recently added a multi page scanner to our office which allows us to easily scan documents. This means that we can email you more of the information that you need than ever before!

So when it comes to your next Real Estate transaction, make sure that you work with a team that is on the cutting edge and can give you the digital info that you want and not a bunch of paper that you don’t need!

It isn’t until something unusual happens that I realize how much structure our chaotic lives have – how delicate a balance we actually maintain on a daily basis and how much of a rut I get into.

Our schedule is never the same from one day to the next because we are constantly scheduling around clients, all of whom are different.  We know we  work most days, we know we are usually in the office by 7:00 in the morning and out about 7:00 at night, but anything could happen in between.  That’s okay – it’s one of the reasons we like what we do.  But let something happen to change that basic structure and I must confess that it is not comfortable.  It is amazing how set I get in my habits.

The reason for these thoughts?  Rich came down with the flu last Friday and has yet to get back on his feet, although he is improving.  So, I am covering his appointments as well as mine and while it is not impossible or overwheming, it just isn’t as comfortable.  He says I’m cranky, but I’m sure that can’t be true.  He has promised to get a flu shot next year though.

Stay warm and healthy and call if we can help you.

The average sales price of a home continues to be at least 20 percent higher than a year ago in Whatcom County’s largest communities, but the number of houses on the market is rising.

For the first nine months of 2005, the average sales price of a home in Bellingham was $319,947, 23 percent higher than the same period in 2004 according to data compiled analyzing the two Multiple Listing Service organizations serving the county.

The average sales price for the first nine months of 2005 and the percentage increase over a year ago for other communities are: Lynden, $308,136, 22 percent; Ferndale, $286,628, 25 percent; Sudden Valley, $268,651, 22 percent; and Blaine/Birch Bay, $264,164, 16 percent.

The average number of days on the market before a house is sold ranges from 39 days in Bellingham to 57 days in Blaine/Birch Bay.

The number of homes on the market is dramatically higher in Bellingham. There were 433 Bellingham residences listed for sale on Sept. 30, 74 percent more than on Sept. 30, 2004. Ferndale (54 percent), Sudden Valley (48 percent) and Blaine/Birch Bay (33 percent) also have housing inventories much higher than a year ago, while Lynden’s actually decreased by 6 percent.

Increasing inventory is creating more negotiation between buyers and sellers as offers tend to come in below list price. Until all parties adjust their expectations to fit the market shift we expect to see the percentage of accepted offers decline.

Here at The Johnson Team we track all the numbers constantly, from both Multiple Listing systems. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, you need to know what the market is doing – we know, and we will share. Call us – we think you will be glad you did.

The average sales price of a home continues to be at least 20 percent higher than a year ago in Whatcom County’s largest communities, but the number of houses on the market is rising.

For the first nine months of 2005, the average sales price of a home in Bellingham was $319,947, 23 percent higher than the same period in 2004 according to data compiled analyzing the two Multiple Listing Service organizations serving the county.

The average sales price for the first nine months of 2005 and the percentage increase over a year ago for other communities are: Lynden, $308,136, 22 percent; Ferndale, $286,628, 25 percent; Sudden Valley, $268,651, 22 percent; and Blaine/Birch Bay, $264,164, 16 percent.

The average number of days on the market before a house is sold ranges from 39 days in Bellingham to 57 days in Blaine/Birch Bay.

The number of homes on the market is dramatically higher in Bellingham. There were 433 Bellingham residences listed for sale on Sept. 30, 74 percent more than on Sept. 30, 2004. Ferndale (54 percent), Sudden Valley (48 percent) and Blaine/Birch Bay (33 percent) also have housing inventories much higher than a year ago, while Lynden’s actually decreased by 6 percent.

Increasing inventory is creating more negotiation between buyers and sellers as offers tend to come in below list price.  Until all parties adjust their expectations to fit the market shift we expect to see the percentage of accepted offers decline.

Here at The Johnson Team we track all the numbers constantly, from both Multiple Listing systems.  Whether you are a buyer or a seller, you need to know what the market is doing – we know, and we will share.  Call us – we think you will be glad you did.

ReUse Works has opened up shop in Bellingham in the hopes of being part of the solution to several community issues. Their innovative strategy revolves around an unlikely source - broken appliances.

Declaring themselves the “Win, win, win situation,” ReUse Works focuses on helping the environment, low income families and those seeking employment. By re-routing some of the 27,000 appliances discarded in Whatcom County each year into their facility, ReUse Works is able to provide skills training in appliance repair. While not all appliances are repairable, many are restored to full working order and then made available to the public for purchase at reduced rates. Having appliances available at low prices is beneficial to the whole community, particularly those who have difficulty affording new ones. Tax deductible receipts are also available for those donating used appliances.

In our opinion, this is a wonderful concept on every level. Next time you are changing an appliance or need a replacement, check them out. It’s an easy way to benefit our community!