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There are more organic stores, breweries and pot shops in Bellingham, yes. The reason is that WWU graduates discover that the real world is not full of liberal hippies willing to put up with their antics, so what happens? Helicopter parents move to Bellingham, buy a bigger house, move their 30-something children into the recently remodeled downstairs MIL suite and set the kids up in a business suited for their liberal education. Namely, organic stores, breweries, and restaurants that fail within a few years.
The other big thing for recent WWU grads is Personal Trainer jobs. My local gym has more Personal Trainers hanging around than gym members. To-a-one, the trainers are from somewhere else and yes, parents are supporting them.
A gym membership? LOL-you must be living a life of luxury! And how is that cheaper than hiking? Newsflash: People who work for a living still participate in activities and hobbies, though we all prioritize them differently.
Bellingham's a place that many outdoor enthusiasts call home, and yes, it has a lot of pot shops, breweries, cafes, funky shops, etc. etc. etc.... It's a popular retirement town, as well, and to some degree a university town where many parents fall in love with the place when they drop their kids off and come visit. It's also an increasingly appealing place for telecommuters, entrepreneurs, and people splitting time between here and other places, though that's long been the case. But if you don't mind me asking, so what? And what kind of trophy would you like for simply being from the area?
I understand the posts talking about the growing pains of Bellingham, and I'm sure that it's frustrating that real estate prices have skyrocketed in the last decade. But just finger pointing and insinuating that people visiting and moving to the area are somehow bad news gets old. And it kind of cracks me up to hear you and other posters threatening to move to another town, for the reasons you've listed. You'll immediately be regarded as the type of person you loathe to the local curmudgeons there!
I’m far more attuned to what’s going on here than most. Do you think a bank is going to lend money to a WEI grad to build one.more.. brewery/pot shop/restaurant?
A gym membership? LOL-you must be living a life of luxury! And how is that cheaper than hiking? Newsflash: People who work for a living still participate in activities and hobbies, though we all prioritize them differently.
Bellingham's a place that many outdoor enthusiasts call home, and yes, it has a lot of pot shops, breweries, cafes, funky shops, etc. etc. etc.... It's a popular retirement town, as well, and to some degree a university town where many parents fall in love with the place when they drop their kids off and come visit. It's also an increasingly appealing place for telecommuters, entrepreneurs, and people splitting time between here and other places, though that's long been the case. But if you don't mind me asking, so what? And what kind of trophy would you like for simply being from the area?
I understand the posts talking about the growing pains of Bellingham, and I'm sure that it's frustrating that real estate prices have skyrocketed in the last decade. But just finger pointing and insinuating that people visiting and moving to the area are somehow bad news gets old. And it kind of cracks me up to hear you and other posters threatening to move to another town, for the reasons you've listed. You'll immediately be regarded as the type of person you loathe to the local curmudgeons there!
Sure. Everyone in Bellingham lives with 10 roommates or mommy. Personally, through hard work and many hours, I netted $129k last year. The only time I hiked or rode my bike was never.
I’m far more attuned to what’s going on here than most. Do you think a bank is going to lend money to a WEI grad to build one.more.. brewery/pot shop/restaurant?
Nope. These small businesses are funded by mommy.
IOW, there's no employment to speak of in B'ham, so grads see their only option as creating their own, even if they've never studied business management? What about moving home to where they came from and looking for jobs, like most people, or applying for jobs in the greater Seattle area, or wherever the jobs in their field are located?
Sure. Everyone in Bellingham lives with 10 roommates or mommy. Personally, through hard work and many hours, I netted $129k last year. The only time I hiked or rode my bike was never.
Well I do have to say that it's nice to know that you, and only you, work hard for a living in Bellingham. Thanks for taking up the slack for the rest of us! That's sarcasm, by the way. Your silly comment/insinuation really doesn't deserve a serious response.
But kudos to you for claiming to make a considerable amount of money. Your income, however, has nothing to do with anyone else's hobbies, or the points that I made. Plenty of people who work hard and make more-and less- than you enjoy hiking and biking.
Ultimately it's your loss, though. This is a great place to take advantage of the myriad recreational activities available close by- as we're in the rare situation of having mountains and water in our backyard. Someone can sit around and yell at kids to stay off their lawn from anywhere.
Last edited by bartonizer; 01-26-2019 at 04:45 PM..
Ruth, there is a lot of "now hiring" signs posted all over the place. None of them pay a living wage due to the cost of housing though, which is why they are hiring to begin with.
2/3rds of new businesses fail in Washington within the first year, startups are difficult and require a lot of capital. The micro-brewery plus restaurant "plan" has been working well but that's getting diluted too as there are so many of them now.
Touching on what Baldy stated, this is many peoples retirement plan, cash in the house ,fold up shop and move out of here. In the mid 2000's the retirees poured in following "starlings" best places to retire article. Well now with the cost of a house well over double what it was then, there is no reason to live in such an inflated area on a fixed income. Furthermore we really haven't grown our medical care and hospital to keep up with our growing population and I'd give it a fair/poor rating, not based on quality of care, but just the lead times to see my Dr. are so far out, and the last time I visited someone in the hospital it was full up. I would not feel confident that I would receive prompt care if I were a retiree here.
Bartonizer, it looks like you moved here from CO? Things are inflated there on a similar scale as California. I'd bet you rent an apartment or half a townhouse and are happy as a clam for now because of it's cost, relative where you came from. Well what happens when another 10K of your fellow out-of state residents move in here and your rent gets jacked up another 25-30%?
Most kids have two choices here. Failure to launch and live like losers in a relatives basement or in-law suite, or leave and go live somewhere else where the jobs afford housing. I've only got one long term friend that's managed to stay here, and he did so because they bought a very small home before things got expensive and were never able to have kids.
As I just explained in the earlier post that you presumably read, the preference for organic is about safety, not superior nutrition.No one ever claimed organic is more nutritious. My doctor insists I eat organic, in order to avoid toxic substances. Non-organic chicken, for example, is bathed in arsenic, a toxic heavy metal.*
I'll tell you what's more nutritious though; the heirloom vegetable varieties they're reviving, now: the purple carrots have 3 times the nutrients in them, compared to regular carrots, according to studies. Same with purple romaine lettuce. Wild blueberries are off the charts, compared to commercial blueberries. I haven't found info about the heirloom tomatoes. This is a recent development, that small farms are re-discovering these heirloom varieties. It's kind of fascinating.
* Here's more info on arsenic, FYI, that I got from a medical journal. I'm including a link to more info, as well.
I also avoid chicken except for halal-chicken because there's so many chicken foods everywhere you look I only trust the chicken given the attention to be slaughtered by hand instead of by machine, it just seems less corporate or toxic. I didn't know about that metal. When machines are assigned the job to kill animals, I lose my appetite thinking about it.
I think my grandparents used heirloom seeds for some vegetables, I can tell by how funny the vegetables came out and how rich and natural they tasted.
Sadly, I have to agree with the title of this topic "Don't move to Bellingham", because of the crazy high cost of real estate and number of homeless roaming all streets. It's the norm to walk downtown and get a wiff of a sour body odor as a homeless person walks by. Bham is nice to visit or shop sometime but wouldn't want to live there.
With that said, I think the areas outside of Bellingham may be worth it, particular if you're renting or living in another town in whatcom county.
Ruth, there is a lot of "now hiring" signs posted all over the place. None of them pay a living wage due to the cost of housing though, which is why they are hiring to begin with.
2/3rds of new businesses fail in Washington within the first year, startups are difficult and require a lot of capital. The micro-brewery plus restaurant "plan" has been working well but that's getting diluted too as there are so many of them now.
Touching on what Baldy stated, this is many peoples retirement plan, cash in the house ,fold up shop and move out of here. In the mid 2000's the retirees poured in following "starlings" best places to retire article. Well now with the cost of a house well over double what it was then, there is no reason to live in such an inflated area on a fixed income. Furthermore we really haven't grown our medical care and hospital to keep up with our growing population and I'd give it a fair/poor rating, not based on quality of care, but just the lead times to see my Dr. are so far out, and the last time I visited someone in the hospital it was full up. I would not feel confident that I would receive prompt care if I were a retiree here.
Bartonizer, it looks like you moved here from CO? Things are inflated there on a similar scale as California. I'd bet you rent an apartment or half a townhouse and are happy as a clam for now because of it's cost, relative where you came from. Well what happens when another 10K of your fellow out-of state residents move in here and your rent gets jacked up another 25-30%?
Most kids have two choices here. Failure to launch and live like losers in a relatives basement or in-law suite, or leave and go live somewhere else where the jobs afford housing. I've only got one long term friend that's managed to stay here, and he did so because they bought a very small home before things got expensive and were never able to have kids.
You've literally interacted with me numerous times in discussions about where I'm from, and I've already shot down baldy's obnoxious assertion that I must be some rich guy who hails from the 206 and drives a BMW. But who cares if I am?
Again, I'm not from CO- I lived there for five years prior to moving to WA in 2014. Prior to that, I lived in NC for 15+ years and packed all my belongings to head west after losing my job in the recession. I've told mentioned to you numerous times that I encountered escalating real estate prices there- and it was far worse than it is here. We didn't profit from our experience, we busted our butts to be able to buy a small house and live unpretentiously in the middle of town. I'm sorry to deflate your silly assumptions. Do you own a house? Do you even live in Bellingham?
Anyway, this whole "only natives belong" schtick is tired and pretty lame. I don't have some sort of native home to go back to, so I had to live somewhere. For a lot of reasons, and after a lot of research, this is where we ended up living and we love it- and FWIW many places we looked at around the country were seeing prices go up.
It gets old listening to a few people who seem like they're trying to shame people for having the gall to move to Bellingham. Again, I have sympathy for people who can't afford to live here, and I wish that there were more high paying jobs and affordable housing available. But I'm not going to apologize for being here.
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