Bellingham, the ugly truth.... (Seattle, Burlington: leases, motorhomes, per square foot)

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by bartonizer

Finally, I think it's a little weird that you won't mention the city you're looking at in WA.

Yes, so 1,000's of lemmings can see it online and come ruin it too? No thank you.

My point in using Seattle as a comparison, is that despite the higher cost of housing, the higher average income provides a better RATIO. My position there would earn enough where I'd be close to average listed home pricing for what I could afford, when in Bellingham my pay....which is above average, still comes up 30% short for the average listed home price. I don't blame my employer for my pay level, I blame Bellingham and WWU(basically the state) for providing in-adequate housing. WWU alone places nearly 20,000 students into our rental population while the college itself has less than 1000 dorm rooms. If the local colleges merely housed their own students or we built enough off-campus apartments to house them...likely both, that would have to be a 25% increase in housing which would make a huge difference in rents and home pricing.

The things I used to enjoy here which are now lined up with people like Disneyland, are much the same in Seattle. Seattle is not where I'm going, however, so that is a moot point and was merely for comparison.

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Yes, so 1,000's of lemmings can see it online and come ruin it too? No thank you.

My point in using Seattle as a comparison, is that despite the higher cost of housing, the higher average income provides a better RATIO. My position there would earn enough where I'd be close to average listed home pricing for what I could afford, when in Bellingham my pay....which is above average, still comes up 30% short for the average listed home price. I don't blame my employer for my pay level, I blame Bellingham and WWU(basically the state) for providing in-adequate housing. WWU alone places nearly 20,000 students into our rental population while the college itself has less than 1000 dorm rooms. If the local colleges merely housed their own students or we built enough off-campus apartments to house them...likely both, that would have to be a 25% increase in housing which would make a huge difference in rents and home pricing.

The things I used to enjoy here which are now lined up with people like Disneyland, are much the same in Seattle. Seattle is not where I'm going, however, so that is a moot point and was merely for comparison.

So you'll never post about anything once you move?

Again, if you're going to constantly bring up the income:housing ratio AND all the things you detest about city living, then you need to acknowledge that there are tradeoffs. You'd lose your mind moving to the Seattle metro... Not that it's good, but as Tall Traveler said, this isn't unusual in cities like Bellingham. And I have to say that unless you go to the mall for fun, the traffic-and attractions in and around town are in no way comparable with Seattle.

If you've read my posts, you'd know that I agree about WWU. While the numbers are not quite as bad as you posted (~4,000 students out of roughly 16,000 students live on campus), for a school that claims to care so much about local issues they could really take charge and help out the community.

Anyways, I wish you luck on your impending move, and hope it's everything you've been hoping for. I'll keep an eye on Bellingham for you, just don't get mad at me for enjoying it.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by bartonizer

So you'll never post about anything once you move?

Again, if you're going to constantly bring up the income:housing ratio AND all the things you detest about city living, then you need to acknowledge that there are tradeoffs. You'd lose your mind moving to the Seattle metro... Not that it's good, but as Tall Traveler said, this isn't unusual in cities like Bellingham. And I have to say that unless you go to the mall for fun, the traffic-and attractions in and around town are in no way comparable with Seattle.

If you've read my posts, you'd know that I agree about WWU. While the numbers are not quite as bad as you posted (~4,000 students out of roughly 16,000 students live on campus), for a school that claims to care so much about local issues they could really take charge and help out the community.

Anyways, I wish you luck on your impending move, and hope it's everything you've been hoping for. I'll keep an eye on Bellingham for you, just don't get mad at me for enjoying it.

WWU is most of the problem. Over the years they have expanded and expanded but said "not our problem" when it comes to housing and to a certain extent, parking for all the students. The most they offered was an article on how to exploit the loopholes in Bellingham's residential code (supposed to have at least one relative of the owner living in the home-which I also doubt is enforced) which has allowed and encouraged the proliferation of converting single family residences into student flop houses.

People see things from different points of view, implants seem to love Bellingham and bring their money for our overpriced housing from other places many of them were priced out of...doesn't bode well for where they came from I guess. When you grow up here and watch the population, housing costs, crime, and homelessness seem to increase by the square while the cost of housing far outpaces income potential, and the things you used to enjoy are now packed with people, it looses it's luster.

From Walking Tall "I don't know if you noticed, but this ain't exactly home anymore".

[norman_w]

Problem is a lot of bad parolees went to the pacific nw. They can't go to the east coast, too many people. They can't go to the south, they'll be lynched.

[kynight]

Originally Posted by norman_w

Problem is a lot of bad parolees went to the pacific nw. They can't go to the east coast, too many people. They can't go to the south, they'll be lynched.

It's amazing how many people in my company are ex-felons, half of them are from other states, they have good positions too. East is just too far for people to think of moving to.

[mayfair]

I can see that people coming from places with worse homelessness, more expensive housing or more depressed economies etc. would find Bellingham not so bad in those regards. It is a nice town and has some upgrades (the waterfront walkway) over what it was 30 years ago but like everywhere up the I-5 corridor has homeless/drug/property crime issues in addition to expensive housing. I don't think WWU has the space to put in more housing, so will likely continue to rely on the surrounding community for off-campus housing. How people feel about Bellingham's changes depends on where they came from and their perspective. The air is definitely cleaner there these days, but the homeless population is much larger and seems to be increasing.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mayfair

I can see that people coming from places with worse homelessness, more expensive housing or more depressed economies etc. would find Bellingham not so bad in those regards. It is a nice town and has some upgrades (the waterfront walkway) over what it was 30 years ago but like everywhere up the I-5 corridor has homeless/drug/property crime issues in addition to expensive housing. I don't think WWU has the space to put in more housing, so will likely continue to rely on the surrounding community for off-campus housing. How people feel about Bellingham's changes depends on where they came from and their perspective. The air is definitely cleaner there these days, but the homeless population is much larger and seems to be increasing.

That's what I noticed about WWU, when I visited B'ham. It's land base was too small. The UW has such a generous land base, while even the academic buildings at WWU are squeezed onto a small parcel. There's no way to solve the student-housing problem, unless some kind of non-profit project can be worked out, where someone donates land that gets set up as a land trust, or some special arrangement (this has been done in SF Bay Area towns, to build affordable housing for public servants: teachers, police, firefighters), with units offered at low rent.

Some kind of creative thinking would need to take place, in lieu of simply grousing about the situation. There certainly is plenty of empty land around town in larger parcels. Maybe not near or contiguous to WWU, but anything would be a help.

[momma4evr]

@Ruth4Truth:

There is a Community Land Trust (CLT) in Bellingham -Kulshan CLT - it does not include Whatcom County. It is for home ownership - land trusts aren't generally set up for rentals as far as I know. There are several CLT's throughout the state of Washington.



http://www.kulshanclt.org/

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

That's what I noticed about WWU, when I visited B'ham. It's land base was too small. The UW has such a generous land base, while even the academic buildings at WWU are squeezed onto a small parcel. There's no way to solve the student-housing problem, unless some kind of non-profit project can be worked out, where someone donates land that gets set up as a land trust, or some special arrangement (this has been done in SF Bay Area towns, to build affordable housing for public servants: teachers, police, firefighters), with units offered at low rent.

Some kind of creative thinking would need to take place, in lieu of simply grousing about the situation. There certainly is plenty of empty land around town in larger parcels. Maybe not near or contiguous to WWU, but anything would be a help.

WWU used to have much more parking, but kept adding buildings and more student base IN PLACE of where the parking was. Now that the housing market is as starved as it is in Bellingham and values are so high, it makes it more difficult by the "square" for WWU to purchase more land to solve the problem it caused.
We do have some public transit that it wouldn't have to be contiguous to WWU, but they need to do something. Look at the surrounding area on google earth and there is still a lot of area nearby that could be infilled with housing.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

WWU used to have much more parking, but kept adding buildings and more student base IN PLACE of where the parking was. Now that the housing market is as starved as it is in Bellingham and values are so high, it makes it more difficult by the "square" for WWU to purchase more land to solve the problem it caused.
We do have some public transit that it wouldn't have to be contiguous to WWU, but they need to do something. Look at the surrounding area on google earth and there is still a lot of area nearby that could be infilled with housing.

That's what I said in my post. In my RE searches around the city, I saw plenty of large, buildable lots. And there have also been new housing developments around the edges of town, where before, there was nothing. It's still a relatively low-density city for the time being, in spite of all the new transplants & the students, but probably won't stay that way long. The time to act is now.

Here's how some Bay Area communities have addressed their need for affordable housing for seniors, and also for public servants. They get land donated, and then this company, BRIDGE Housing, works with the donor, the city and its own architects/construction people to create apartment complexes. The example in this link, Pickleweed Apartments, is for teachers, LE staff and firefighters in the town of Mill Valley off the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. Somewhere, earlier, I found a history that described the step-by-step process the city admin & partners went through to create this little complex, and it explained the tax status of the land, too, but I can't find it now. But BRIDGE has done this type of work elsewhere around the US, too.

https://bridgehousing.com/properties...ey-pickleweed/