About Whatcom County, WA

Ferndale home price statistics for 2011. Below are two tables. The first table covers Ferndale WA homes prices and the number of Ferndale WA homes for sale - listings. The second table covers Ferndale WA home prices and the number of homes that actually sold.

Area 870 – Ferndale WA Active Listings

Month of Dec New Listings – 18 units in ’11 vs 19 units in ’10 – Down 5.3%

YTD New Listings – 546 units in ’11 vs 599 units in ’10 – Down 8.8%

Month of Dec Total Active Listings – 157 units in ’11 vs 167 units in ’10 – Down 6.0%

Month of Dec Ave List Price - $355,196 in ’11 vs $339,529 in ’10 – Up 4.6%

The YTD Average List Price - $354,941 in ’11 vs $370,408 in ’10 – Down 4.2%

Month of Dec Median List Price - $285,000 in ’11 vs $295,000 in ’10 – Down 3.4%

The YTD Median List Price - $294,900 in ’11 vs $314,975 in ’10 – Down 6.4%

Average Days on Market - 134 days in ’11 vs 134 days in ’10. – No Change

As you can see asking prices dropped 4.2% for the year, however the inventory dropped 8.8%

Area 870 – Ferndale WA Sold Homes

Month of Dec # of homes sold – 28 units in ’11 vs 26 units in ’10 – Up 7.7%

YTD Number of Homes Sold – 270 units in ’11 vs 252 units in ’10 – Up 7.1%

Month of Dec Ave Sold Price - $258,766 in ’11 vs $265,850 in ’10 – Down 2.7%

YTD Average Sold Price - $262,906 in ’11 vs $268,283 in ’10 – Down 2.0%

Month of Dec Med. Sold Price - $242,500 in ’11 vs $238,300 in ’10 – Up 1.8%

YTD Med. Sold Price - $245,500 in ’11 vs $252,500 in ’10 – Down 2.8%

Market time with from 108 days in ’11 vs 98 days in ’10 – Up 10.2%

What interesting here is that the sales activity was up 7.1% for the year.

If you're like me and dreaming of birds chirping, flowers blooming and the sun shining, you'll understand where I'm coming from (and those of you below 40 degrees longitude... I covet your glorious and continual access to warmth!) For an Oregonian, Wisconsonite or Idahoan, we live for the moment the tulips bloom and day the sun warms our face when we walk to get our mail. Springtime is winter's mistress. We are desparate!

So capitolize on it!

Don't wait until every house out there is wearing her prettiest Easter dress or you'll be one among many lovelies for sale or rent! Who says you can't wear white shoes now? Do it! As another AR blogger, Steve Bachman, just wrote "we eat with our eyes first." Put those fresh flowers in a vase on the kitchen counter, by the driveway entrance and in a pot by the front door (even if they die in two weeks.) Wash those windows clean of winter's mess. Powerwash those pavers. Remove every last brown twig, leaf, dirt clump or debris that blew in over the past few months. Paint the window trim and front door when the first slightly warm day appears. Clean up your act! We want to believe that there's a sanctuary out there... just waiting for us. One that speaks nothing of all these layers of clothes and clogged gutters and muddy shoes and endless winter clean-up we dread. Please give it to us!

And when you're done making your home look like it's ahead of Mother Nature by 30 days, advertise the heck of it! Snap every flowery, clean photo you can and blast it through every online property advertising site you can think of for all the internet to see. In my daily life, I help landlords and property managers reach over 20 online syndications with a click of a button, all while automatically updating their online listings page. I wish I saw more flowers on those listings...

___________________________________________________________________________

Janell K. is a member of Rentec Direct, a web-based rental software program offering Landlords and Professional Managers tools for tracking income and expenses, payment processing, tenant screening and online advertising.

Everson area home price tables for 2011 are shown below. The first table shows Everson, Nooksack, Sumas are home data on active/listed properties. The second table shows what homes actually sold for in the Nooksack area.

Area 890 – Everson/Nooksack/Sumas Area Active Listings

Month of Dec New Listings – 2 units in ’11 vs 6 units in ’10 – Down 66.7%

YTD New Listings – 148 units in ’11 vs 173 units in ’10 – Down 14.5%

Month of Dec Total Active Listings – 41 units in ’11 vs 63 units in ’10 – Down 34.9%

Month of Dec Ave List Price - $288,706 in ’11 vs $265,928 in ’10 – Up 8.6%

The YTD Average List Price - $283,135 in ’11 vs $285,200 in ’10 – Down less than 1%

Month of Dec Median List Price - $249,500 in’11 vs $235,000 in’10 – Up 6.2%

The YTD Median List Price - $229,900 in ’11 vs $249,900 in ’10 – Down 8.0%

Average Days on Market - 151 days in ’11 vs 131 days in ’10. – Up 15.3%

As you can see asking prices dropped less than 1% in 2011 in the Nooksack area and inventories were down 14.5% for the year.

Area 890 – Everson/Nooksack/Sumas

Month of Dec # of homes sold – 6 units in ’11 vs 7 units in ’10 – Down 14.3%

YTD Number of Homes Sold – 75 units in ’11 vs 70 units in ’10 – Up 7.1%

Month of Dec Ave Sold Price - $158,250 in ’11 vs $221,785 in ’10– Down 28.6%

YTD Average Sold Price - $210,658 in ’11 vs $236,651 in ’10 – Down 11.0%

Month of Dec Med. Sold Price - $166,000 in ’11 vs $220,000 in ’10 – Down 24.5%

YTD Med. Sold Price - $194,500 in ’11 vs $231,750 in ’10 – Down 16.1%

Market time with from 131 days in ’11 vs 142 days in ’10 – Down 7.7%

While asking prices remained the same, the sold prices dropped 11% in 2011 even though more homes sold int he Nooksack area in 2011 compared with 2010.

In an older home, the home inspector should attempt to determine if energized knob and tube wiring is present. It is not always possible to definitively make that determination, but often it is possible to do so. In fact, frequently it is fairly easy to state, no doubt about it, that there IS energized knob and tube wiring. It is more risky, and often harder to determine, that there is NO LIVE knob and tube wiring at an old home that was built in the era when knob and tube was the system of choice -- the era of Edison up into the 1950's.

Here I will take my readers behind the scenes at a recent inspection in Bellingham. The house is pre-1900's, so there was no question about it that knob and tube wiring had been present at some point. One of the likely locations to find the remnants of the old wiring, and to access it to check if it is hot or not, is up in the attic. The first scene was taken right after I popped the hatch cover. I am looking for signs of the wiring, figuring it would be there somewhere -- live or disconnected.

This second video was taken while I was traversing the attic and testing the circuits that I saw. This was an easy one because I knew right away that the wiring was live. For the record, the neutral side of the circuits will not test as live, but the other (hot) side will activate the voltage alert tester. When an inspector checks knob and tube circuits, it is important to make sure that both sides of the wiring are tested. Checking only the neutral, and stating the wiring was disconnected, can lead to big problems and misinformation.

There you go! Live knob and tube wiring. If you are interested in the history of, and the potential complications of knob and tube circuits in today's houses, please click on the video below.

Below is a summary of Lynden, Wa home prices and sales activity for 2011. The first table shows the what homes sellers in Lynden were asking for, list prices. The second table shows what they actually sold for.

Area 885 – Lynden Active Listings

Month of Dec New Listings – 8 units in ’11 vs 17 units in ’10 – Down 52.9 %

YTD New Listings – 365 units in ’11 vs 360 units in ’10 – Up 1.4%

Month of Dec Total Active Listings – 117 units in ’11 vs 120 units in ’10 – Down 2.5%

Month of Dec Ave List Price - $336,827 in ’11 vs $348,806 in ’10 – Down 3.4%

The YTD Average List Price - $333,080 in ’11vs $355,018 in ’10 – Down 6.2%

Month of Dec Median List Price - $300,000 in ’11 vs $288,900 in ’10 – Up 3.8%

The YTD Median List Price - $294,950 in ’11 vs $314,950 in ’10 – Down 6.4%

Average Days on Market - 130 days in ’11 vs 160 days in ’10. – Down 18.8%

As you can see while asking prices were down, so was the number of homes on the market.

Area 885 – Lynden Sold Homes

Month of Dec # of homes sold – 11 units in ’11 vs 7 units in ’10 – Up 57.1%

YTD Number of Homes Sold – 183 units in ’11 vs 180 units in ’10 – Up 1.7%

Month of Dec Ave Sold Price - $268,405 in ’11 vs $314,757 in ’10 – Down 14.7%

YTD Average Sold Price - $281,659 in ’11 vs $286,614 in ’10 – Down 1.7%

Month of Dec Med. Sold Price - $234,000 in ’11 vs $312,000 in ’10 – Down 25.0%

YTD Med. Sold Price - $258,900 in ’11 vs $265,750 in ’10 – Down 2.6%

Market time with from 105 days in ’11 vs 108 days in ’10 – Down 2.8%

By the end of the year, Lynden home prices only fell 1.7%. And interestingly, more homes sold in Lynden in 2011 compared to 2010.