Fairhaven's "Underground" Museum
  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. 
The museum is open by appointment only and is a random collection of all things Fairhaven, ranging from a large collection of Salmon Cans from Fairhaven's former glory days as a cannery town, to old pharmacy products and doctors instruments. There are also pictures of Fairhaven's past and old stereoscopic slides of the early days of Fairhaven. It is a fascinating look at some of Fairhaven's past. 
Fairhaven Condos: Waterfront view for $10 more a day...
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
New Life for an Old Landmark in Fairhaven's Historic District
  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
BuyerTours Realty Fairhaven Real Estate Blog
One of the most popular pages on http://realestate.bellingham.net/ is the Fairhaven page. In fact I pulled up some web stats from our Google Analytics Account and found that outside of the main portion of the site the number one place our visitors visited is the Fairhaven page. This really shouldn't be a surprise. As Chris McNamarra pointed out in a prior post earlier today all roads in and out of Bellingham tend to lead to Fairhaven. We have been working on a model that would make sense to provide an ongoing conversation on communities in Bellingham. We had done that in an original blog however it seems that the blog itself should be in the same place that individuals are researching homes. To that end we decided to start the conversation here where visitors are already visiting and searching for homes, condos and other property. Be sure to check out the Fairhaven Map Search: 
Over the next few weeks and months and hopefully years stop by, read and participate in the conversation. Questions: Feel free to email Glenn Founder / CEO of BuyerTours Realty LLC direct @ Glenn@BuyerTours.com or call Glenn at 360-220-1470. Labels: Fairhaven Neighborhood, Fairhaven Real Estate, Fairhaven Stats
Fairhavenosity: Getting the feeling of Bellingham
 Picture looking at a list of your favorite albums/ CD's/8 Tracks (what ever age or level of technical ineptness you find yourself currently). There's the one you ALWAYS talk about, always are telling friends about, always the one you go to for the peace, the celebration of it.
If all the hamlets that made up Bellingham were your music collection, Fairhaven tends to be that album we're asked about when people look for homes in Bellingham.
Fairhaven's edges blur into the surrounding neighborhoods of South Hill, Edgemoor, Happy Valley, and Chuckanut, but the feeling of when you know you're in Fairhaven is quite visual. It's the Firehouse Cafe , converted, and home to a great performing arts venue. Coming up over the hill, and seeing the Ferry Terminal, past the homes that, of late have been selling in less than 60 days (over 60%).
And if ever there were parallels, adages, or parables to be pulled from the draw, the magnetism of Fairhaven, they'd have to be regarding the line a mile long to get in, to breathe in part of Whatcom County that really put our mecca on the map here. It's the festivals, the art boutiques, the Chrysalis, the view of the San Juan's, the cheap seats for watching how the Bellingham Marina is going to turn out, the perch you can forecast how the wind is going to treat the Lummi Ferry this time around.
Your options are endless. Which is sadly where the analogy ends for Fairhaven and Real Estate. Currently there are less than 10 homes, and less than 40 condos on the market through the Northwest Multiple Listing service, though more are making their way onto Craigslist, as are more sellers looking to try their hands at a tough profession at this date. The number of rentals in the area is growing strictly from the fact that though the prices of homes at this point are low, as are interest rates, the uncertainly of the future and the melee strewn across the front page of every paper reports a national slowdown. "It's always sunny in Fairhaven." It's a quote friends who live there beam with a grin, when I ask about the weather before a cookout, a night out on the town, or a festival that we're experiencing from a spectator's point of view because I forgot to sign us up for the Ski to Sea in time. And with the demand for Fairhaven homes built a hundred years ago starting in the high $200's and low $300K's, wouldn't it be a great report to read about that over your morning joe?
With a lot of well-planned growth for Bellingham as a whole, and tourism fueling the fires for the trip there, the draws of our area are going to grow. But as it did with Bellingham, it's all going to start with Fairhaven.
If you think a home in Fairhaven is something you'd be open to discussing, feel free to e-mail me directly @ chris@buyertours.com and we can take a few moments to talk.
Labels: Fairhaven Condos, Fairhaven History, Fairhaven homes for sale, Fairhaven Sales Numbers, Historical Fairhaven
Fairhaven Neighborhood
Fairhaven, one of Bellingham’s most popular communities, is located on Bellingham Bay. Known as the Historical District, Fairhaven was its own city before it was consolidated to the city of Bellingham back in 1903. In the late 1800’s, Fairhaven was a big boom city where residents were working on making Fairhaven the next hub city of the west, building railroad tracks, commercial buildings, and hotels. Seattle became the main transportation city, however; the residents were crushed and the city went into a depression for a short period of time.
There are several reasons why tourists and residents flock to Fairhaven. Downtown Fairhaven has reserved its turn of the century brick buildings and cobble-stoned streets, and the city has restored many of the buildings. There has been several new developments with commercial space on the ground level and condos above going into the downtown area as well, but due to the Bellingham Municipal Code the buildings are required to conform in exterior appearance to the community’s traditional 19th century style. |  Sycamore Square
 Harris Avenue
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| Fairhaven is also home to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal and transportation center, where ferries leave for Alaska and seasonal foot ferries and charter vessels provide connections to Victoria, British Columbia, and the San Juan Islands. Fairhaven is the southernmost port for the Alaskan Marine Highway System. Conveniently located next to the ferry terminal are the Amtrak Station and the Greyhound Station, where travelers can take scenic train rides to Vancouver and the Greyhound buses run several times a day to both Vancouver and Seattle. |
Labels: Fairhaven Neighborhood, Fairhaven Real Estate, Fairhaven Washington
Fairhaven Village Green
The Village Green, located in the heart of downtown, was redone in 2003 to better serve the community when holding Fairhaven’s farmers market, which starts in June and held every Wednesday. During the summer, movies are projected here and locals get together with blankets and snacks for the show.
|  The Fairhaven Village Green
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Labels: Fairhaven Village Green
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Yes it is true, Fairhaven does have an "Underground" Museum. 
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