This weekend will be the beginning of the holiday season in Fairhaven's historic district. Fairhaven's century old buildings and streets will be lit up and decorated for the season. Some of the shops will have their windows painted by kids from the Fairhaven Middle School Art Club. The weekend festivities in Village Green will include musicians, carolers, a Victorian Santa who will arrive at 1 PM in a horse drawn carriage on both Friday and Saturday. At 4:30 PM on Friday you can come dressed up as Ebenezer Scrooge for the best Scrooge contest on the Village Green stage.

There will be a magic forest of evergreen trees in front of the stage were carolers will be singing around 5 PM on Friday. There will be horse drawn carriage rides around the neighborhood, from 1 to 4 on both Friday and Saturday.

The annual holiday Tour D'art will also take place on both Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 PM. There will be artists in many of the shops and galleries.

Image courtesy of flickr.com by gadi

Labels: Fairhaven Events, Fairhaven Living

Ok, I am here to tell you what it is really like living in Fairhaven in the winter. My husband and I moved here two and a half years ago and I wasn't used to the rain and the dreary days. We moved from the Midwest so I was used to snow but sunny days. Since moving here I have learned how to make the best of winter and want to share that with all of my clients and friends who have recently moved here as well.

 My first tip is winter can be as cold as 30's and as nice as 60's. There can be sun and there can be rain and wind. So pick your poison. If it is sunny and in the 50-60's take off work early and take your family for a nice long walk. We have so many beautiful places to walk. My husband and I live a half a block from the interurban trail and on a nice day we love to walk down to woods coffee in Boulevard Park. The dreary days where it's just a little cold are the best. Woods has an outdoor fireplace where they play really relaxing music and all you see in front of you is ocean, islands, and sailboats. The water is so calm. It is extremely peaceful.

You can see seals some days on the way and there are always so many sailboats on the water. The view of the sailboats and the islands always makes me feel like I am somewhere amazing.

Second tip and it probably should have been the first. Dress for the weather. REI has all the right gear. The first thing I bought was a good rain coat. The truth is most of my walks I don't even need a rain coat because it rarely rains real heavy. It's mostly just dreary and a little bit of spitting rain. My favorite jacket is just a fleece. I have water proof pants but again I only wear those when it is really raining which is the best time to go for a walk. You just have to bring out the kid in you and see it as an adventure. Finally good shoes are essential. My next purchase will be waterproof shoes because you run into wet areas often.

These are just a few fun tips for winter. There are many more to come!

For more information on Fairhaven feel free to call or email me at Jami@buyertours.com or 360-319-5402.

Labels: Fairhaven Living, Fairhaven Neighborhood

Fairhaven's Village Books as well as Colin Flynn and Anders Crabo two recent Sehome High School graduates, were among this years Philanthropy Awards Honorees.

Labels: Fairhaven Living, Fairhaven Village Books

A bronze statue honoring one of Fairhaven's founding father's was just unveiled this past, October between Flats Tapas Bar and the Rustic Coffee Bar on 11th St. at the entrance to McKenzie Alley in the Historic District in Fairhaven.

The same sculptor who created the Dirty Dan Harris statue on the Village Green, Bob McDermott, has created a bronze bust of Fairhaven builder C.X. Larrabee. Dirty Dan may have started Fairhaven, but it was who Larrabee helped build it.

He was building Fairhaven from 1889 until 1915.

Larrabee and his wife, Frances are well know for donating the land for Larrabee Elementary School, and for Larrabee State Park, Washington's first state park, in 1915. Other donations that don't carry the family name are the land under Fairhaven Middle School, Fairhaven Library, Fairhaven Park, and the land and building for the Bellingham YWCA.

Larrabee made millions in land development, mining, and other business ventures.

Larrabee's investments had a profound effect in the area. They included a bank in Fairhaven, a railroad to Sedro-Woolley, and he bought into coal ventures in Skagit County and in Roslyn and invested in oyster beds on Samish Bay and promoted the bulb industry in Whatcom County.

Labels: Fairhaven History, Fairhaven Living

Yes it is true, Fairhaven does have an "Underground" Museum.

It is located in the basement of the Fairhaven Pharmacy building. It's curator is one of the former pharmacist there, Gordon Tweit, who is also the unofficial historian of Fairhaven, and a wealth of knowledge.

It's a buyer's market. In the early 2000's, Bellingham property, including Fairhaven condominiums, were hitting the market, and almost immediately, the bidding began. This tended to bring up the prices of all property here in the city of subdued excitement, but more so with the holy grail of real estate, the waterfront/water-view property.

Fairhaven's coast is lined with parks, railroads, dock space for the Coast Guard and the Alaskan ferry, but is also a timeline of construction for Bellingham. New condominium projects are topping the charts with offered prices near $1.7 million, with contemporary construction and incredible views. Juxtaposed in between them are older condo projects, apartment conversions, and the occasional Tudor with apparently a million dollar view off the 70 year old porch.

An interested buyer can look forward to nights in Downtown Fairhaven within walking distance, or a short stroll to either Marine, or Boulevard Park, but expect to start looking at $260,000 and up, and that's for a studio. 

Remarks from previous clients who have toured through some of the condos in Fairhaven?

• These condos are old. Some are old, yet a great deal of them have been bought and refurnished by the most recent owner. Ask your Realtor when the last sale of the condo was, and if any work has been done since then.
  
• These condos are small. This is one statement that depends on what you're used to.  On average, the condos in Fairhaven and reaching over into South Hill are around 1200 square feet.
  
• These condos are waaaaay too expensive for the size and age. There are a lot of other options on the market that are newer and bigger. And probably less expensive, but they're not as close to the shore or Fairhaven. These condos are selling in less than 4 months on average, and for over 95% of the listing price.

But that walk to Downtown Fairhaven on a chilled winter night for the Art Walk could be worth it.  And the ocean view from your condo that cost $50,000 more than you wanted to pay seems HUGELY daunting.  But over a 30 year mortgage, the difference between a $300,000 loan and a $350,000 loan is roughly (roughly, twice for the math crowd) a $300 difference a month in your payment.

Broken down over 30 days, that's $10 a day more for waterfront.   For those in Washington, that's two lattes and a tip for the happiest barista you've ever met.

Labels: Fairhaven Condos, Fairhaven Homes, Fairhaven Waterfront

The Waldron building is one of Fairhaven's oldest and yet newest buildings. Originaly built in 1891 at the height of Fairhaven's first expansion. During that period Fairhaven was one of several cities trying to become the major West Coast railroad terminus, and Fairhaven saw it's first major expansion.
Their were 35 hotels and boarding houses in Fairhaven at that time. It was soon after that Seattle got the railroads, and the bust hit Fairhaven, the economy went bust in 1892 and construction on the Waldron came to a halt, only the first two floors were finished. The top 3 floors of the Waldron were never occupied, until now.

The ground floor saw commercial establishments come and go. The bank of Fairhaven, a stationery store and real estate office were the first occupants of the building. A department store called The Fair, and George Hohl's Feed & Seedwere also occupants of the Waldron.

I remember the mid 1970's in Fairhaven very well, there were 2 infamous taverns in the building, The Kulshan and Fairhaven Taverns. One of the things I did in those years was play washtub base in a Jug Band and we played there quite often.

The Waldron is a historical building that has had it's outside preserved while a new building was practically constructed within to bring it up to current earthquake standards and resurrect it for retail space once again on the ground floor with 6 luxury bay view condos above, and underground parking below. It has been an amazing transformation and a new beginning for the Waldron.

If your interested in seeing the units available in the Waldron, click here.

If you have any questions or want to see any Fairhaven condos feel free to email me at or give me a call at 360-739-6981.

Labels: Fairhaven Condos, Fairhaven History, Fairhaven Real Estate