Property values have risen very high in places like the San Francisco Bay area.  People who bought houses, back in the 1970s when one could still do this for around $50,000, have been selling for over 1 million.  Then they have been moving to towns like Bellingham.

Often they're post war boomers who never dreamed they'd become millionaires.  Some are even old hippies, so to speak.  Now teachers, or what ever who sometimes retire early.   Hippies turned yuppies.

It's been an unprecidented bubble that has grown for nearly two decades.  Now it's starting to burst, but Bellingham home prices have remained kind of high and stable compared to the rest of the post 2008 economy.

Why is that the case?

I think many Bellingham homeowners don't even owe a mortgage. 

Across the nation, homebuyers defaulted on mortgages as housing values soared so high that people suddenly realized the jobs don't pay enough to afford house payments.

In Bellingham, it seems like many home owners either bought early, when houses were still affordable and just rode the bubble up.  Quite a few are retired and don't seem to owe that much, unless they got in over their heads with home equity loans. 

People who work in Bellingham are often renters. - (work in Bellingham? does anyone do that?)

Rent isn't cheap either, but there are some good niches out there.  Also the city and other non profit agencies are trying to provide affordable housing.

Downtown Mount Baker Apartments, managed by Catholic Community Services

The recent construction boom has helped the rental situation also.  From the 1990s to 2008, people flocked to Bellingham.  Lots of new construction of condos, apartments and houses provides some elbow room.  I even read (in a recent Bellingham Herald) that nearly half the condos in Bellingham are occupied by renters, rather than owners. 

New construction looking for someone to pay the bills. 

The building boom has cooled off a bit since 2008 world crash, but prices remain fairly lofty in local area.  Too many people just want to live here, for some reason.

Hope I can continue to afford my rent, if a rebound happens.

Comment from a reader

Thanks for your insight on the continuous growth of Bellingham, albeit good and bad.

Please don't forget though that a lot of people are now working out of their homes and "tele-commuting" to work as myself. I still work (contract) for the company in California that I worked for when I lived there, however, I work via the Internet these days. I know quite a few people in Bellingham who do the same thing. This has allowed many people to move where they want to and not have to worry about the commute hassles anymore. And we are contributing to the business and economy of Bellingham even though we don't really work for companies here.

Also, please remember a lot of people made a lot of money in the stock market in the dot.com heyday of the mid to late 90s. I feel this gave many people the ability be become upwardly mobile and many of them are set for life (unles their money is still invested in the stock market which is struggling to recover after this God-awful session with George Bush at the helm). 

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth to your commentary. 

Thanks again for your great articles...Loren