Whatcom County and North toward the Canadian Border Real Estate

[rkcarguy]

Traffic wise I was referring to Bellingham, just to clarify as the OP's post indicates "not far from Bellingham" such that they'd likely be commuting there. The OP also said he wanted "up to 1+ Acre, no close neighbors, homes 1/4 mile apart". 1/4 mile is a 1,280' and that's at least a 10 acre lot. Time to get the jumbo mortgage loan application filled out.
More listings ARE coming up on the fringes of affordability due to Covid-19 related job losses, but you've got to move FAST and you will be in a bidding war with other buyers unless the home is in need of repairs that will cause financing issues.
Ruth, you don't live here. You know there is all kinds of "deals" when one is looking online and it's a great way to find prospects, but in person there is caveats for every lower value home and people really need to view them in person and do their due diligence to research the neighborhood. Tiny lots, heavily outdated homes with hidden toxic black mold, dry rot, or water damage, bad septic systems that aren't noticeable unless someone is showering the toilet is flushed at the same time, places on the reservation where continued water availability (amongst other issues) will be in question if you aren't Native American (one person posted here all excited about this one bay view home listed for $350K not realizing it was on the res). The home may be close to the train tracks, share a road with apartments with loud "fart can cars with bumping stereo's" ripping by at all hours of the night, or close enough to the border that border traffic blocks the road when it backs up....or in the flight path of air traffic from the north end of Bellingham's airport (one of my friends in Ferndale used to get this blue sticky stuff all over his house and cars from something the large airplanes were venting when they came into approach to land). The north county exits off of I-5 going west all cross the BNSF mainline adjacent to the highway and can back up traffic pretty bad. What's super scary is when it backs up on the freeway offramps onto the freeway and then a truck or van behind you moves over "uncovering" your stopped vehicle suddenly to 70+ mph traffic. One of my co-workers sold their BB home entirely because the trains serving the refinery essentially cut off traffic from the west across 3 different crossings and there was no way to get around it unless you backtrack clear to Blaine, and it made her late to work multiple times each week. The train backs off the mainline and then goes back and forth collecting or dropping tankers for 20-45 minutes at a time.
There are new homes going up in the Sumas area in the $350K range (still crammed together in a development-but appear to be nice homes) but when the border opens back up there is going to be a lot of Canadians and truck traffic to contend with and its about a 50 minute commute to Bellingham for an 8-5'er.

[JackLonsdale]

Sorry, I was referring to new construction. But you are right - there probably are some deals around if one is prepared to move extremely quickly, and preferably with cash. In Bellingham itself, it looks like Cordata is still reasonable.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by JackLonsdale

Sorry, I was referring to new construction. But you are right - there probably are some deals around if one is prepared to move extremely quickly, and preferably with cash. In Bellingham itself, it looks like Cordata is still reasonable.

There is townhomes in the Cordata area that are reasonable, much of it is 55+ only though so watch for that.
I was searching for homes on 1+ acres under $500K in the north end earlier this year just out of curiousity, and there was only ONE chalet style home that was in poor shape (paint-roof-siding-outdated-aluminum framed windows-shag carpet-etc) 2-bed 1-bath, detached 1 car garage, $440,000 and someone still bought it.
FAST is key, a co-workers son got a modular home by offering $10K over listing the day the place went on the market, but it ended up having rotten siding and roof/sheathing and it's taken another $10K in repairs to get things fixed in a hurry within closing.

[NW Crow]

1/4 mile apart in each direction would take 40 acres, if parcels were uniform in size and consistent on house location on parcels.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

1/4 mile apart in each direction would take 40 acres, if parcels were uniform in size and consistent on house location on parcels.

sOUNDS Ideal to me.

[NW Crow]

Several large 30-50 acre parcels in that area are at $10k plus per acre. Cheapest land only 40 acres I saw was in Ferndale for $275k. Small parcels typically will be far more per acre (as in often 5-10 times as much).

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

sOUNDS Ideal to me.

Make sure you can afford the tax on your ideal 40 acres in WA.

[kynight]

With how easily the pandemic caused the border to stay closed for so long I would ask a lower bid on any home, being border proximity is one of the perks to Blaine area. I don't think Blaine has grown much in recent years. There's nothing special there except beauty and peace.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Several large 30-50 acre parcels in that area are at $10k plus per acre. Cheapest land only 40 acres I saw was in Ferndale for $275k. Small parcels typically will be far more per acre (as in often 5-10 times as much).

These carry a large property tax load and also typically encompass many-to-mostly un-usable wetland areas or could be straight up floodplain so you've really got to research carefully. I looked at a 10 acre property that was for sale a few years ago. By the time the setbacks and wetland buffers were applied to the property there was barely any room left for a single home in the back corner and the driveway into it would have to be mitigated.