Skagit County

Rob LeRoy’s Happy Client Stories

Here are some of the nice things my past clients have had to say about working with me.

“You are heads above any of the other realtors we have worked with!” – Shelley T., Bellingham, WA

“As soon as I requested info on real estate in the Bellingham area, you were the first to respond.  Then you asked the right questions to learn what we wanted and sent me not only relevant listings, but also information about the area and other activities that helped convince us NW Washington was where we wanted to live. So when we arrived for our area tour, we were already pretty sure we wanted to live here.

Of course our wish list evolved as we actually toured the area and homes, and certainly your candid assessment of the different areas helped us more quickly focus on the areas that were right for us.   We saw a lot of homes, and you helped us screen well over a hundred before eventually buying one in an area you led us to.  The search was intense for several days, and we appreciated your energy, positive attitude, and daily research to help us reach our goal.

It was a pleasure to work with you!”  - Carl L. Anacortes, WA

“Rob made our home buying experience so easy. Buying a home sight unseen could have turned out very badly. However, he understood our needs and desires and was able to help us find the perfect home for us from across the country.” - Matt and Allison E., Bellingham, WA

Totally Remodeled – Affordable Home – $160,000

Conveniently located between Bellingham and Mt. Vernon

3 Bedrooms, 1.5 Bath Rooms, 1100 Sq. Ft.

Address: 1767  Lake Samish Rd,  Bellingham, WA  98229

MLS#: 29136338

Don’t let the outside fool you. This home has been completely remodeled inside. Everything inside is new and beautiful.  There is also a large garage/shop behind the home.  The roof is new.

Great deal for a first time home buyer – if you hurry you can still get an $8,000 tax credit if you buy this home.

Great deals on new construction in Anacortes

If you’re looking for a fantastic view, superb design and affordability that will shock you, try looking in Anacortes.

Anacortes, the often overlooked little brother to Bellingham, is one of the best kept secrets in the Northwest.  Seated at the Northern tip of Fidalgo Island, Anacortes offers a quaint, but lively, small-town feel with amazing views from almost every direction.  What it also offers is a sizable collection of new housing developments that blend those views with great design and craftsmanship. The best part, from the buyer’s perspective, is that the real estate slow-down has hit the new-construction market harder than other areas, largely due to over-development.  The problem for new-construction developments is that they often take years to scout,  permit, and build, and in this case they just took too long to come to the market.  So now, after several months with little or no action, many of the developers are getting creative (sometimes downright desperate) about their pricing and packaging.

Here’s a great example:

I recently visited the Portalis community on the North side of the island, between downtown Anacortes and the San Juan ferry terminal.  Though made up mostly of single-family homes, the community itself is condominiumized, meaning that there is an association and common grounds maintained.  Though originally priced in the $500’s and high $400’s, most of  the prices are now down in the low-to-mid $400’s, and the inside word is that the developers are taking offers at 10% below that!  These homes are between 1800-2000 square feet with very high-end finishes and great, open floor plans.  Seriously, they are nice! I look at homes all the time, so I’m not easily impressed, but these are definitely worth a look.

On top of the price breaks, the developers and their lender partners have come up with all sorts of ways to sweeten the deal.  They’re offering things like lease-options and the paying of HOA dues for up to 5 years.  They’re even offering to cover mortgage payments for up to 6 months (!), which is great for buyers trying to sell their current home before relocating. For qualified buyers, Wells Fargo is offering loans on new construction with a downpayment of 3.5% with no mortgage insurance , meaning a savings of at least a couple hundred dollars per month.

Portalis is just one example. There are other new developments in the area with similar deals to be found.  For that matter, with a little bit of digging, you could find opportunities like this all over these days, even in Bellingham and Seattle. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look…and having the right real estate agent to help you, of course!

For more information on Anacortes, Portalis or similar opportunities, or real estate in general, feel free to email me at rob@buyertours.com or call my cell at 360.510.2230.

A Day at the Park in Anacortes

Not long ago, I took a drive down to Anacortes to see what I could see.   It had been a few years since my last visit, so I thought a refresher was in order.  I packed up the dog and my special ladyfriend Jody and headed South in the hope of discovering something new and interesting.

By the time we got into town, heading North on Commercial Street into the heart of Old Town, it became evident that  Dog was antsy and in need of either refreshment or outdoor “personal time”, so I decided to drive through a Fidalgo Bay coffee stand, which seemed fitting, given our proximity to the actual Fidalgo Bay.  Fortunately, the coffee person was wise enough to offer Dog a treat, lest she risk the loss of a portion of pinky or the more subtle, but devastatingly effective “eclate-de-chien”, which has been known to induce vomiting and night sweats.  Unfortunately, it soon became clear that I had misjudged Dog’s needs and an outdoor pit-stop was in immediate order. Also, we wanted cookies.  So we shifted West through town past the ferry terminal and ended up at the beautiful, if mysteriously titled, Washington Park.  At first we attempted a  beach landing, but were immediately turned back by the sudden emptying of a tour bus filled with wild-eyed octogenarians  hell-bent on storming the nearby barbecue hut.  We thought it best to leave them be,  having decided that now was not the time to risk life and limb in what could turn out to be a lengthy and treacherous ground assault.  Surely, at 220 acres, there was room enough in this park for all of us to co-exist peacefully…at least for the moment.

After a few minutes of slow cruising through a winding, single-lane road lined with Madrona trees reminiscent of Northern California, we arrived at a clearing near what seemed to be the high-point of the park.  The views were phenomenal and beyond compare, at nearly 200 degrees.

To the East the Skyline Marina of Burrows Bay was visible, while to the South and West the Rosario Strait stretched out toward the San Juan Islands.

Having parked, we started to hike down the hill toward the water below…about 100 very steep yards.  It took almost no time for Dog to conduct his personal business, and soon he was quite bouncy and tugging eagerly on his leash. This was a problem, due to the steep grade and the dusty nature of the path, which is composed of rocks and soil that are unusual, in that they are deficient in certain nutrients, causing a reddish tint and unstable texture. The path is especially  slippery and treacherous if tread upon without proper footwear. We were wearing flip-flops. Flip-flops are pretty much the worst possible footwear one could choose, with the possible exception of a peg-leg, if that even qualifies as footwear.  Fortunately, as fate would have it, the pirate  community has already forsaken the park for political reasons unrelated to the particulars of the soil, leaving one-legged pirate tourists at little risk of taking an embarrassing spill down the dusty trails. 

After reaching the bottom of the hill, stopping to pose for pictures and taking the obligatory 5-minutes to quietly pause and reflect, we decided it was time to head back. This proved to be quite difficult, given the aforementioned trail conditions and our woefully inadequate footwear.  Luckily, our cocktail consumption of the previous evening  had left us feeling more robust and agile than might be typical for a Sunday afternoon.  With some determined and carefully placed footfalls, a few grunts, and the occasional muffled obscenity we managed to reach the top in what seemed like only a few hours, but was in reality closer to 10 minutes.  Having finally arrived back at the car and caught our breath, we congratulated ourselves on having inadvertently stumbled into some exercise in our quest to find cookies.   With a quick high-five and some pats on our respective backs, we piled back into the car, dog in tow, and headed back into town in search of our hard-earned snacks.  All-in-all, it was a rewarding experience, and I plan on returning someday soon with my trusty hiking boots, so that I might more thoroughly explore  those  beautiful and unique trails.

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This post simultaneously published by Rob LeRoy at theRealEstateNovelist.com