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I have been considering moving to Bellingham for atleast a couple of years, but after reading this thread, am having second thoughts. Has it really gotten that bad? Or is it still a livable small town within easy distance of Seattle and Vancouver, (my original attraction)...
I guess it depends on your current situation and feelings about change.
After reading the native Bellinghamsters lamenting all the change that has occurred in the area over the years, you might be led to think that the area is, indeed, "bad". Certainly the area is changed from what it used to be, perhaps (probably) permanently, and in some of the long-time residents' opinions not for the better. However, depending on your current situation, Bellingham may in your opinion turn out to be "better" than where you are right now. Upon further research, you may even find that Bellingham is "better than all other available alternatives" for the time being. That's exactly the thought process our family just went through, and the end result is that we are moving to Bellingham in August.
Regarding change, it seems to me that change for better or worse is almost inevitable in all the "desirable" places to live. I grew up in the SF Bay Area East Bay in the 60's and saw the area change from a sleepy agricultural and bedroom community to infilled suburban sprawl through the 90's. I moved to the Gulf Coast of Florida in the 90's and saw that area change from laid-back and uncrowded to housing-bubble explosive growth suburbia where the house I bought in 1997 (and since sold) is now worth in 2007 about FOUR times what I paid for it in only 10 years! So it seems like the pattern goes:
Nice place => More people move there => Housing prices up
and eventually, => "Overgrown" => Population equalizes => Prices stabilize
And then the same thing happens to the next "desirable" place...
The bottom line for me is that the "best place" concept is tenuous and varies with personal circumstances at the moment and how each place changes over time. As far as these threads go, it seems like the main objection to Bellingham is the cost of housing. Yes, it is incredibly expensive right now and it doesn't look like it will ever come back down, at least to the levels of five years ago. But that seems to be pretty much the norm for "desirable" places in my experience.
That having been said, in my opinion Bellingham looks to be, for our family, a perfect mix of family-oriented small-town atmosphere with a good helping of big-city cultural and infrastructural amenities. The recreational opportunites are outstanding, and the population's mindset seems to reflect an appreciation of the environmental bounty. We are looking forward to getting in tune with the local vibe and going with the flow...
And as far as being within easy distance of Seattle and Vancouver, the mileage hasn't changed.
I grew up in Bellingham and what I've seen happen here in the last twenty years breaks my heart. As Seattle becomes another LA, Bellingham is becoming another Seattle.
The Bellingham I knew as a child was a quiet, uncrowded town whose residents were mainly people who had spent most of their lives here. Unlike now, the town was not dominated by the university, which at that time was just a college, and had only about a third as many students as it does now. The general population was around half its present size, and the kind of traffic congestion that has become a daily event here was pretty hard to find anywhere north of Seattle. During my high school years I spent a lot of time downtown and never once saw a panhandler; now they're all over the place.
The population also was whiter then, and about the only people who despised persons who are "willful, fearful, racist, ultraconservative," or "judgemental" were those on the hippie fringe. Those folks are still around and they haven't changed their tune. I see them downtown with their long grey locks, driving their SUVs plastered with preachy bumper stickers. They and their kind seem to have become the norm here as the college has expanded, earlier generations have passed on, and Californians have moved north.
In Bellingham's future I see continued economic expansion and continued population growth, mostly from outsiders moving to the area. More steep rises in the cost of living are likely, as is increasing congestion. There will be further social and cultural disintegration as increasing diversity gives area residents less and less in common with one another. I guess you've got to decide if you can live with all that. I keep asking myself how much longer I can live with it. It's hard to leave your home, though--to leave the soil in which your ancestors are buried, the place where you've spent the best days of your life.
diversity ? i saw a tv show on white center in seattle area and theyre all of diferent nations but help each other -you sounds afraid
yet white center is bad and full of crime but is improving
the whole usa is going downhill or parts are
since bellingham people believe whasts on tv they go along with it
bellingham -its ok maybe, but day after day people just seem to rush around like crazy people in a hurry -well not all
i hate how they drive
i think id prefer the east coast maybe west virginia or ohio or north carolina-but thats just me
im sort of afraid of the volcanoes like mt baker and mt rainier -they could blow they say
Thank you DiscoDuck. That is the best overall post on this entire thread. My wife and I are planning a move to Bellingham - not because it ranked in any list, but because she has family in the San Juan Islands and we want to be close but have the amenities of a little larger place. We are currently in Michigan. I hear a lot of complaints about property taxes, but property taxes here can be monumental on a per-dollar basis. I know a professor at a local university pays property taxes of about $26.50 per thousand dollars on his house.
We have looked all over the country at dozens of cities, and I can tell you one decent city with reasonable home prices: Raleigh, NC. And they're going up there, too. And you'd better like humidity, a lot. Let's face it, if you want to live in a desirable place you will have to pay for it.
I also grew up in Livingston County, Michigan, which despite the economic problems the state faces is one of the top 10 fastest-growing counties in the U.S. Growth happens and a lot of people are going to be very unhappy about it. You have to take the good with the bad.
No place in the world is perfect.
We'll be moving in a year. I plan on coming to Bellingham with a positive attitude and the intention to be involved in making the city a better place for everyone. If people want to influence how their city grows, they need to get up and take action. Complaining on an Internet message board gets nothing done. To make things happen, you have to get up off your butt and act.
It's time for me and my wife to act, move where we want to be, and accept any challenges that come with it. I would encourage others to do the same. I'm looking forward to meeting people who want to make Bellingham a better place.
...So it seems like the pattern goes:
Nice place => More people move there => Housing prices up
and eventually, => "Overgrown" => Population equalizes => Prices stabilize
And then the same thing happens to the next "desirable" place...
Exactly. That's why 'economic growth' in a desirable small area is a mixed blessing at best: On the one hand it leads to more job opportunities and can increase income, on the other it attracts more people to the area, many of whom move there primarily for economic reasons (vs people who move to an area soley for the quality of life, regardless of the economic situation). Consequently, the area not only becomes crowded, but also changes in psychological/cultural ways that might or might not be desirable.
This happened in Seattle (where I live) beginning in the early 90s. Pre-90s Seattle was a more casual, relaxed city. That's not to say there weren't 'career-oriented' professionals, they just weren't as dominant as they are now. In the early 90s the tech-boom started - ever since then there was been a tremendous influx of new residents who moved primarily for well-paying jobs (microsoft, amazon, starbucks, etc). This influx has changed both the physical (crowding and sprawl) and psychological (the populace is now dominated by workaholic, materialistic professionals rather than laid-back working-class people). It has also inflated the cost of living so much that it's near the point where high-income professionals are the only people who can afford to live in the city).
It sounds like the same thing is happening in Bellingham. It's been considered 'desirable' as long as I've lived in Puget Sound (about 20 years), but until recently the limited work opportunities kept people from moving there. Now that the economy is growing and there are more jobs people are moving there in droves - and it seems the quality of life is diminishing as a result.
It seems very difficult to keep a ideal balance between livability and economic growth. Portland OR seems like the city that has done the best to acheive/maintain that balance - the area is growing, but there are strict regulations to prevent/minimize sprawl. Consequently, Portland remains more livable than many other areas.
Last edited by Apathizer; 07-03-2007 at 01:44 PM..
I am also looking at Bellingham. I live in the sierra foothills of Ca. We are looking at Bellingham and maybe the east side over in the Wenatchee area. (I have family there). I will tell ya this. Housing is waaay cheap there compaired to here. 1350 sq. feet starting at 400k here. We saw some pretty sweet deals in Bellingham and the surrounding areas. Wenatchee area is a little more than Bellingham. I will have 5 kids ranging from New to 13 yrs old so I am looking for a safe place with good schools and lots of access to outdoor activities, ie: riding, fishing, boating and a place that has really good sports programs. It will be a big deal of a move for the kids and my wife so it has to be right or, Well, lets put it this way, "If'n Mama aint happy, Ain' no one happy". We'll see. I am hoping to check it out in the 2 weeks.
Well .....I am sure glad you filled me in I was considering moving BACK to the area and now I wonder if it would be wise....? Perhaps you should look at your own life though and ask yourself if it really sucks that bad in Bellingham and your so negative on life maybe your relatives and you would both be better off if you were to relocate to an area that would make you happy....REMEMBER Life is short so ENJOY IT!
My story. I grew up in San Diego. The county population was 500,000 when I graduated from high school. No parking hassels at the beach, we had a horse, dunn buggy, motor cycles, lots of camping nearby. A house cost $14,000.00. After getting out of the service in 1976, three years after graduating from high school, houses had doubled in price. It took a year to find full time employment. Four years later, 1980, San Diego county had grown to well over a million and house prices had doubled again. I moved to Seattle where wages were higher and houses were cheaper. In 1986 I bought my first home. 21 years later, Seattle, King county has grown so much I've decided its time to leave. Traffic is gridlock. Its imposible to get out of the city and enjoy this state. So, my next move is to Bellingham, skiing at Baker, camping, hikes nearby, a college for my kids, healthier air, and we love to bike. We can walk to town from the house we bought. My brother bought the house in San Diego that we grew up in from my parents. At one time the house was surrounded by fields. Now it's surrounded by strip malls. We all have choices to make. I think Bellingham is GREAT!!!
OP mentioned in the first post the average price is 470k, yet i saw on MLS via ziprealty.com there are quite a selection between 250k-300k two story houses with respectable footage, admittedly they are not fancy, but still quite livable, is there anything wrong with these houses? or they are in less desirable neighborhoods?
Last edited by rainbow12345; 07-07-2007 at 04:05 PM..
OP mentioned in the first post the average price is 470k, yet i saw on MLS via ziprealty.com there are quite a selection between 250k-300k two story houses with respectable footage, admittedly they are not fancy, but still quite livable, is there anything wrong with these houses? or they are in less desirable neighborhoods?
Average prices are not the right prices to look at because a few very-expensive houses can pull the average deceivingly higher. You want to look at the median price of homes in an area to see what a usual price is for that area. Right now the average listing price for Bellingham is $416,000, but people are only getting an average sales price of $303,000. But again, these are averages. One thing we can get from this is that homes are selling for a lot less than people are putting them on the market for. Home prices are dropping in Bellingham.
However, though the average sales price is $303,000, the more useful median sales price is $271,000. This means that 1/2 the homes sold had a sales price over $271,000, but also that 1/2 the homes sold had a sales price less than $271,000. So the homes you are seeing for $250-300,000 are right around the normal median home price range and are likely fine homes.
The takeaway from the big gap in average listing price and average sales price, as discussed above, is that you can probably get away with low-bidding on the prices you see on the MLS. Check with your Realtor(R). I am not a Realtor(R) myself, though I used to work for a real estate marketing company. And remember they work on a percentage-based commission.
All of these numbers are for the quarter ending June 2007, so they are very recent.
Last edited by ElphinKnight; 07-09-2007 at 01:44 PM..
Reason: I can't type.
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