Northwind October 22, 2015

President Sharon called the meeting to Order and led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Your Editor in Chief provided the Invocation.

 

Visiting Rotarians included Scott Wallace and his wife Marge Laidlaw.

 

Guests:  Laurie’s husband Rick.

 

Returning Rotarians:  Jim from a recent trip to the East Coast.

 

No Birthdays or Anniversaries.

 

Announcements:  No Meeting next week at Noon but we will meet that evening for a fellowship gathering at 5:15 at the Coach Cellars in Fairhaven across from Skylarks for a bit of wine tasting and commoradory. Bring your spouse and friends and have some fun.

The next Board Meeting will be next Wednesday at the Zervas Group office beginning at 4pm.

Foundation Dinner is 11/5 at Northwood Hall at 5:30pm in place of our regular noon time meeting that day.

Not too early to put the 2016 Rubber Ducky Derby on your Calendar for August 27^th.

Dale announced that ICU will continue their sponsorship of the Youth Service Awards in 2016.

 

Happy Bucks:  Bill Grace was sad, yes, actually sad instead of happy for two reasons.  One he must stop watching the Seahawks because they lose every time he watches and a good friend of the family died, his computer.  Pati was happy to see Scott and Marge in attendance.  Tim happy about an article in the Seattle Times about Rotary’s Polio Plus efforts.  Stan was happy to see Marge but said that his furnace was on the fritz and he and Margaret have been without heat for a few days.  Julie was happy to see the Laidlaws. Greg was $20 about winning the Jackpot last week and the fact that he didn’t need to have open heart surgery.  Jill was really happy that Greg didn’t need to have the surgery.  Jake was happy, saying that at his age and condition, he’s just happy to be anywhere. Jim was $20 happy to be back after a great vacation and would have been $40 if his IOU’s hadn’t accumulated so high. Rocky was $62 happy about his birthday and the fact that Cousin Kenny only shot him once with his Red Rider BB gun when they were youngin’s.  Our Speaker Mike Kent was $1 happy about the Seahawks win tonight.  Dale was happy that ICU was continuing their sponsorship of the YSA and about starting his new job at First Federal on November 1^st.

 

Fine Master: The Head Chief Mucky Muck of Fine Masters took the stage today and immediately began dispensing pain. No Rotary Pin you paid a buck.  You wore a tie, Tim paid. If you backed into your parking spot, paid.  Linda, Dan and Norm were fine in abstention for not responding to the Foundation Dinner invitation.  If you’ve not had the pleasure of being on a High School Reunion Committee, you had to pay.  If you rooted for a time that could lose two football games in one week, you had to pay.  Jim had to pay $3 for complaining about his interest bearing IOU’s that came due today.  Jake and Dale were both fined $2 for tying for “last in the door” honors.  And the history lesson for today was what happened this day in 1962? President Kennedy initiated the embargo on Cuba.

 

No Banners Today

 

Our Program today was Mike Kent from Windermere Real Estate with an update on the Whatcom County market conditions.  Mike has been practicing Real Estate since 1998, hosting Radio Real Estate on KGMI for 16 years and when he’s not working on Real Estate you might see him as an auctioneer at a charity event, fly fishing on a local stream or hanging out at a car show.

Mike gave us update on how things have progressed since the housing bubble burst in 2006 where some areas of the county lost up to 50% of their value where Whatcom County saw between 25-30% decreases.  Prices reached their lowest in 2012 and have been slowly rising since then.

With Vancouver to the north and Seattle to the south, these two major markets could put pressure on the Whatcom County real estate market.  Vancouver is the second most expensive market in the world behind Hong Kong with the Asian influence continuing to increase.  That influence as also spread into Whatcom County.  Seattle is on fire with the Amazon growth appearing to have no end.  Amazon may add 33,000 jobs within the next 3 years.  Homes in Seattle are getting      3 to 5 offers within days of going on the market.  Whatcom County is starting to see some of this pressure on housing inventory.

Mike provided a number of handouts that showed this impact.   Active Inventory is down, Months of Inventory available, Sale prices increasing and rental inventory very limited. A very informative presentation of the state of housing in Whatcom County.

Drawing: Ken drew the Ace of………(wait for it!)…………. Clubs