While Home Sales Drop, Prices Still Rise

Most would say that the home sales market is beginning to cool. That depends on where you live and how you define "cool". In the state of Washington, the median home price rose 7.4 percent, while the overall sales volume dropped 9.2 percent. That means demand for homes is still strong, and those that can afford a home are still buying; however, there are less people that can afford homes as reflected by the overall drop in volume of sales.

When compared to this same time in 2006, the median home price in the state of Washington is just over $300,000, and increase of nearly 7.5%. When compared with the national average of a decline of nearly 2%.

Washington state is a great place to live and the home prices are reflecting this idea. More and more people are moving here from other areas of the country where home prices are higher. These buyers can afford to pay and drive home prices up. Many of these buyers are retirees, semi-retirees, or baby boomers looking to re-invent there life.

Bellingham Wa is one of the most ideal location to live in Washington state because of its proximity to both the Seattle area, as well as Vancouver British Columbia in neighboring Canada. Bellingham also offers a small town atmosphere, with all the amenities for outdoor recreation and nearness to big cities.

Lynden Wa Has A New Children's Park

The Million Smiles Park located in Lynden, is the newest addition to the city park. At a cost of over $200,000, this park has been appropriately named! Your kids will think they are at Disneyland when they start playing on the wonderful slide, poles, bridges, and swings. No expense has been spared and hundreds of volunteers in Whatcom county made this possible...both by donating their time during assembly and in the form of financial gifts.

The park is located just south of Fishtrap Creek, near the Jim Kaemingk Sr Trail. You can view more information at their web site www.millionsmiles.net

When the Unexpected Hits

If you live in the Whatcom Area, you know what its like to have the unexpected hit. Why? Because you have just been unexpectedly hit with over a foot of snow at your doorstep in November!

Now, I'm new to this area (and old hat at snowy weather) but it would still seem to me that you folks aren't used to this kind of thing out of nowhere. I know I wasn't expecting it. After all, I moved here to get away from snow inundation. Now, what I've learned is that it makes sense to prepared no matter what your situation. And being prepared means being smart about what could reasonably happen. I thought to myself, when packing for my move, West Coast= very little snow=no need for my heavy coats or my snow boots that have seen me through 10 years of New England nasty blizzards and Nor'easters.
So, I found myself on Monday morning, hoofing it to work in 20$ Payless boots with a loose heel, 5 layers of clothes and a cheap pair of gloves bought at the grocery store. I also found myself sad for my boots that I threw away because they had a crack in the sole.

I bet your asking how I'm possibly going to connect this to Dale and Real Estate and or bellinghamselect.com, right?

Well, its actually deceptively simple. When you sell your house, you have two options. Hope for the best or plan for the worst. Just like me in the snowstorm, most people think they've done both when they start to look into things. BUT, just like me in the snowstorm, a lot of people get into the middle of things and THEN learn all the things they missed in their initial assessment of the situation.
Now, the way I see it, there's two types of folks in that situation. 1. The folks who decided to go it alone (read, not bring their mildly cumbersome and at one time costly pair of boots with them) and 2. The folks who decided to bring a realtor into the situation (those who realized they may not know everything about their new location who paid the $$ and got the boots, then brought them along).

Having a realtor is preparing for the worst. A realtor has the knowledge to know, not just the answers to your questions, but the answers to the questions you never thought of asking. When you get stuck in a snow drift, they know how to get you out of it. When the road gets icy, they know how to put down the salt and possibly take a side route through snow. When you fall, they know how to pick you up and fix you up.

So, when you're thinking about this snowy weather, and when you're thinking about selling your home. Consider the two as metaphors like I did. In the end, having a realtor is worth the cost when the unexpected blizzard hits.

Dale Serbousek, Real Estate Blizzard Wizard, is available to help you sell your home. Check out www.Bellinghamselect.com to see some of his 28 Point Marketing plan to help you get your home sold and to help you buy your next place!