About Whatcom County, WA

Cornwall Park Neighborhood is very well known and consists largely of single-family homes. At the heart of this neighborhood is Cornwall Park that hosts a large playground, a variety of trails, tennis courts, picnic areas, ball fields, etc all in wooded surroundings. The park is very well known and is centrally located within Bellingham city limits. Homes in Cornwall Park very in age from the early to mid 1900's. This Bellingham neighborhood has the character of an established neighborhood and has great access to I-5 as well as Bellingham's Bellis Fair Mall. As of early Oct 2011, homes for sale in this Bellingham neighborhood range from $145,000 to $635,000 with an average price of $323,639 and a median price of $325,000. Currently there are 9 homes for sale in this Bellingham Neighborhood.

Edgemoor Neighborhood is a much sought after neighborhood. In this area with you will find upscale homes with well maintained properties and parks. The Edgemoor Neighborhood/district sits just south of Fairhaven. Edgemoor is one of Bellingham's most sought after and prestigious areas, sloping up from the shores of Puget Sound a high percentage of the homes in Edgemoor have unobstructed saltwater views. Unlike many view and waterfront areas where the lots and narrow and deep to allow more homes/properties to be built, Edgemoor is full of large 1/2 acre +/- lots that are wide and allow for larger rambler/ranch style homes. Many of homes in Edgemoor have large waterview windows all along the entire west facing side of the home. As of Oct 2011, the starting price of homes for sale in Edgemoor is $450,000 and go up to $1,750,000 with an average of $978,927. The median price for an Edgemoor home is $800,000. Currently there are 15 homes for sale in Edgemoor.

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...

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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.