Hidden Truths & Realities of Selling a Home in Bellingham, WA

Sep 8

Wouldn't it be great if every day, every sale, and every new challenge came with a simple formula that "worked every time"?

Situation X? Ahh... just apply solution Y, and voila!

But if you've spent any time in the real estate market, especially here in Bellingham, you know that's a pipe dream at best.

(And thank goodness it is, or wouldn’t this whole journey be kind of... meh?)

Selling your home works exactly the same way.

There are standard practices, best practices, and bare minimums that are universal. But towering above these are the nuances, hidden realities, and subtleties of the real estate market.

These are not necessarily intuitive occurrences, yet if you can notice and interpret them in time, they make the difference between frustration and success.

In today’s post, I’m going to share a handful of these insights that have popped up recently in my work as a Compass Realtor, or in conversations with colleagues.

Understanding these can save you a lot of confusion, aggravation, and money when it comes to selling your home.

Let’s dive in.

When to Adjust the List Price

Price drops weren’t much of a thing during the height of the COVID market because seemingly everything sold with multiple offers in the first five days.

But that era is behind us now, and price adjustments have become a frequent part of listing conversations across Bellingham and beyond.

One question I’m asked during pre-listing discussions is, “After how many days on market should we consider dropping the price, if we’re not sold yet?”

There’s no single answer to this.

What matters isn’t the time that has elapsed, but more so the traffic, activity, and feedback.

If we’re getting daily showings, buyers coming back for a second look, and solid feedback like, “It’s between your house and one other,” we know we’re very close on price and not necessarily in price-drop territory yet.

However, if we hit the market and go 10 days with only one or two showings, no interest, or follow-up questions from those buyers, and nothing else scheduled... we should probably reevaluate our pricing if a timely sale is your goal.

And let’s be clear: there are about five additional micro-stages in between those two examples, multiplied by your situation, timing, and needs.

Bottom line: It’s less about time and more about buyer activity and interest, as well as your unique needs, when selling a home.

How Whatcom County Tax-Assessed Value Factors into True Market Value

Simple answer: Arbitrarily, at best.

If the assessed value of your home happens to match its true market value (aka sale price)—which, to be clear, is the assessor’s goal—then it’s a coincidence at best.

Let’s pick three random, recent Bellingham home sales and compare their 2023 assessed values to their sale prices. (I’ll edit the addresses for buyer privacy.)

25XX Grandeur St. sold for $236K after going pending twice after 14 days on the market. Assessed value before the sale: $340,115, or 144% of its fair market value.
36XX S Bliss Lane sold for $745K after 29 days on the market, one pending. Assessed value before the sale: $687,998, or 92% of its fair market value.
4XX Shuksan Point Rd. sold for $2.25M after pending twice in 109 days on the market. Assessed value before the sale: $2,677,404, or 119% of its fair market value.

It’s interesting data, and if you have a large enough data set, you can find a median or an average that might apply in certain neighborhoods – especially homogeneous ones where all homes are built by the same builder in the same era, or the like.

But in Bellingham’s varied property market, where homes are typically anything but cookie-cutter, the Whatcom County Assessor’s value is often a less-than-worthless piece of information to consider.

Bottom line: Don’t spend more than a minute fixating on your assessed value as a meaningful indicator of what your property should sell for in Bellingham’s real estate market.

Waiting Extra Time for Multiple Offers

During COVID, the median time on market for Bellingham homes was just six days.

For homes priced between $600K and $1M in 2021, the average sale price was 6.54% above the list price.

Many – if not most – homes sold quickly and with multiple offers.

But not all of them did.

It wasn’t just a “natural law” you could bank on. You still had to cause it to happen, primarily by pricing strategically.

And you can still cause it to happen, but it carries far more risk now than during COVID as buyers are way, way more cautious and conservative with interest rates being what they are.

The key is to know which strategy you’re using as you hit the market, so your expectations are in check.

If you priced your home according to the data’s suggested full, fair market value, and you have one earnest buyer come to the table on Day 1 with a perfectly acceptable offer...

That doesn’t automatically translate to, “If we wait, we’ll get multiple offers.”

Ask yourself: What else is happening with the listing? Is it getting swarmed like ants on a sugar cube with other buyers, pre-offer inspection requests, constant calls?

Okay... if so, that’s good evidence that an auction is emerging.

But if not... if it’s otherwise crickets and you just happened to attract the one buyer who’s been waiting for your specific property and is willing to pay a fair price...

Think very, very carefully before you ignore them, delay responding, or outright refuse their offer.

Time kills deals, and people cool off – especially once they recognize that they’re the only ones at the table.

Bottom line: Read the situation, and respect what the evidence and buyer-pool signals are trying to tell you. Base your next move on those.

There Are More Hidden Realities...

Are these insights interesting to you? If so, I could summarize a dozen more examples off the top of my head, specific to selling Bellingham real estate.

Reach out if you’d like to talk more about these, and the other insights I’ve gained from 18 years as a top Bellingham Realtor, plus over 700 Whatcom County home inspections before that.

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