The Bellingham Real Estate Podcast
The Bellingham Real Estate Podcast
EP: 0051 - The Big Small Town: Finding Your Community in Bellingham Washington with William Elmer
William Elmer shares how finding community transformed Bellingham from just a place to live into a true home, and how realtors can help newcomers build meaningful connections in a new city.
• Moving to a new place is challenging – it took time for William and his family to feel at home in Bellingham
• Community connections started through Facebook groups and unexpectedly through a local comic book store
• Bellingham offers the perfect balance as a "big small town" – large enough for anonymity when desired, small enough to regularly encounter friends
• Realtors can serve as community connectors, helping newcomers find neighborhoods and activities aligned with their interests
• The office environment at John L Scott creates its own supportive community network
• Bellingham offers diverse communities for various interests – outdoor activities, comic books, board games, sports leagues, and more
• Local nonprofits provide opportunities for deeper community engagement through volunteer work and events
• JLS annual events like poker nights, baseball games, and golf tournaments support local charities while building connections
• Understanding clients' interests helps realtors guide them to appropriate neighborhoods that complement their lifestyle needs
If you're new to Bellingham or looking to expand your community connections, reach out to the John L. Scott team for guidance beyond just real estate transactions.
You can reach William Elmer directly at williamelmer@johnlscott.com
Hello and welcome to the Bellingham Real Estate Podcast. I'm Paul Balzatti. I'm here with William Elmer. Welcome, Will.
Speaker 2:Hey Paul, how are you doing today?
Speaker 1:Good, I'm going to go back and forth between William and Will.
Speaker 2:You did it in the same sentence. I like it.
Speaker 1:Yes, indeed, and today we're talking about community, and you brought this to my attention as a subject we should talk about in the podcast, and I think it's a fabulous topic and so let's kind of get right into it. So when we want to talk about community, we're going to touch on different ways that you've plugged into the community, different ways that we can help people plug into the community plugged into the community, different ways that we can help people plug into the community. So why don't we start with? You know, you weren't born and raised here, right? So, especially for people relocating here, that's always going to be something. When you're not from here, how do you fit in? How do you plug in? So talk about your background.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I was born and raised in California. Boo, I know everyone hates it's moving to Washington, just kidding, we love them. But we moved here and we moved a couple of places before we relocated to Bellingham. And one of the things that I found, you know, moving from place to place is it never really felt like we were at home. And even when we first moved to Bellingham I moved here for a previous career and you know it was just a place to live. We were just, we were just here.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't until we actually found a community or communities my wife, my kids that we felt actually connected. And that's, you know, part of why we love Bellingham or Whatcom County so much is because we found several different communities that have made us feel at home. It's it's made us want to stay here, and we've been here for 12 or 13 years now and we have no plans of leaving. But it took some time. It took some time to find that because we kind of had to feel around in the darkness a little bit, and that's why I wanted to talk about it today is to talk about like, well, what did we do to find our community and what are some of the great communities here in Bellingham and Whatcom County some of the great communities here in ellingham and whatcom county.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when you so, when you, let's continue on to your background a little bit, just for more context. So you move here. You say, stumbled in the darkness for a bit, a little bit. What was a couple of the um things that? What got you over the hump as far as where did you start to build connections in town? And then we'll talk about. I want to talk about different ways that we help people with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, we moved here with young kids. Actually, my wife was pregnant with our second kid at the time when we moved here and I think the first place that we started was looking online. We went on to my wife specifically was on Facebook, like looking at some of the local moms groups on Facebook and connected. That's how we actually met some of our first friends here that we're still friends with today from there, and you know we made a few friends in there. That kind of didn't really pan out or fizzle out, but it started something for us.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And then for me personally, I've found it in a local comic book store of all places, which is kind of weird to say. But you know, some number of years ago I, you know, I'm a local nerd and I like supporting businesses and I like comic books and nerdy things like that, and I stumbled into a local comic book shop here in Bellingham and turned out I used to work with one of the co-owners of the shop and kind of got reacquainted and fell in love with the place and then they actually have this vibrant, flourishing community um in the pandemic. We ended up starting a book club, um together, and I've made some of my best friends as part of this book club and this is a place that now it's a comic book, it's a comic book, comic book book club, graphic novels, comic books yeah, yeah you know you name it like um.
Speaker 2:it's something that like got a lot of us through some of the crazier days of the pandemic Doing a book club on Zoom. I met some good friends. I met Nathan Butcher from John L Scott Real Estate there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's just only grown where it's a place that, like I, feel like home. You know, when you're watching an old episode of Cheers and Norm walks in and everybody goes Norm, that's what it feels like when I walk into this. You know my local comic book store and I've spent years helping them run a book club, meeting all sorts of new people. You know I help them every year for free comic book day. These people come to my house for Christmas parties. Some of my best friends in the whole world came from wandering into a comic book store.
Speaker 2:So when, like, the time came for me to consider if I needed to move forward in my old career it was going to relocate I was like, no, I have a community, I have a, I have a family here I need.
Speaker 2:This is where I need to, this is where I need to be, that's where I want to stay. Um, that's where my career change came in. Even was like I'm not leaving these people, this community that I've just completely fallen in love with. And then you know that's grown but it's gone from there too, where I play soccer now a couple of days a week, and have been welcomed into a whole nother community. Bellingham, whatcom County has a vibrant soccer community as well, if you're aware of, and my wife has continued to grow as well. She's found a lot of community through her fitness and exercise. She goes to spin classes I think she sees your wife at spin classes pretty regularly and bar classes, and again, she's met all these amazing people at these and now it's just like this is our home. This is where we want to spend the rest of our days for as long as possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so and I think we should touch on. So I think what's cool about Bellingham? You know you get into walking County, certainly Ferndale, linden, everson, especially Ferndale and Linden still big enough cities, big enough cities where you can get lost in them. But tighter, even smaller communities. But Bellingham specifically, almost 100,000 people. So on paper that sounds like quite a few but it's a great balance.
Speaker 1:We were talking about this before we did the episode or before we did this podcast out. Bonyham is this great size where it's big enough to where, theoretically, you could go to a restaurant and not run into people and you could kind of, so you kind of know where you can go in a way to not necessarily run into people. But you also do realize the longer you you're here and the more you you interconnect, the you know that everybody's kind of one or two degrees of separation apart and and there, and then of course, when you like jump into an office like this and we will definitely want to talk about that Like what's great about being part of a big office like this is, then you realize OK, everybody's got a connection one way or another. If you, if you don't know this person, somebody know knows that person, and so it's kind of a big small town kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean, that's honestly, that's one of our favorite things and that's what makes us feel so at home. Is, we know we can go to downtown Bellingham on a Friday night and, you know, go to a Black Sheep or Juxt or some you know local bar or restaurant, and there's a high likelihood that we're going to bump into one or two people that we know. But also, if we just want, like you know, a quiet night to ourselves, there are certainly some amazing restaurants and other places in town and around the county where you can kind of just go and have a low key night. But I don't know, some of my best nights are just you just bump into person after person downtown, and that wouldn't happen if we didn't have, you know, this great community like this yeah, yeah, I think, and we, because we're in barkley village, you know it's like when you work at a barkley village, barkley village is its own little uh community, you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's an urban village, right and so, and it's got a obviously a vibrant business community here. Um, but it's like I mean the overflow, overflow taps, the Scotty Browns are kind of like our cheers kind of places right in here and you know you go to Hagen and you know half the people that work there and so kind of. That's why, when we just moved offices, we want to stay in Barkley village, because so much of the brokers that work here, part of their community is Barkley village and so the idea of leaving Barclay Village felt like a massive undertaking. So that's why we basically stayed in Barclay Village. But okay, so let's jump ahead though. So specifically as a realtor though. So you talked about your background, getting into real estate. Then you obviously got connected to us through Nathan Butcher. But now that you're in real estate, what are some of the ways when you're meeting somebody, or just in general for realtors, that we can play a part in that? Because obviously that is something that is part of what we can do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think that this kind of fuels a lot of my passion for what I do as a realtor. Because when I think about, you know, moving here and us taking a while and struggling to find our spot, that fuels me to want to help facilitate what I can with my clients when they're moving here, because I know exactly what it was like to move to a strange city where you don't know anybody. It's exciting, but you don't know anybody and so you kind of can feel lonely and isolating a bit, even if you do move there with your family. And so when I have clients move here, it's important for me to get to know them at a little bit more of a personal level and less as a transactional. Let's just get you out of the house and onto the next one, because I want them to feel at home. I want them to feel at home. I want them they're all great people and I want them to feel like they belong in this community. So I talk to them, I learn about them and see what resources.
Speaker 2:I have a couple that moved here last year from Texas and they just kind of on a whim, decided this is where they wanted to live and moved here didn't know anybody, but after talking I found out he's played soccer his whole life and you know I run that rec league soccer team that plays on Monday nights and invited him to play and now it's been almost a year. He's been playing with us on Monday nights and he's made some new friends and some new connections and it's allowed them to grow and learn more about the community. And the same thing happens when there's families moving here. I have young kids in schools and you know Bellingham and Whatcom County have a lot of great schools. There's just going to be there might be differences in schools and neighborhoods that people might look for, and so having my own kids and having my own family has also helped me inform me on just like what are the different options and neighborhoods for people, on what they might specifically might be be looking for.
Speaker 2:You know you're moving here and your kids play soccer. You're moving here and you play pickleball. You know I feel like I know a lot of different connections, just like you know you're a part of the golf community here, right? Yeah, so it's probably something similar to when somebody moves here you find out they play golf or you see their golf clubs in their moving truck. You're probably pretty excited to talk to him about, talk to them about all the different golf courses and maybe even set it at tea time, right?
Speaker 1:Of course, yeah, no, definitely Definitely.
Speaker 2:So it's a little. It's a little self-serving, right Cause I get to add a new player to my soccer team, um, and continue to build these relationships. But I also I just see these relationships with clients as longer than just, you know, I help them, you know, buy a house. I want to help them build a bridge into the community so that they really feel connected, just like we didn't have that opportunity and I'd really see that realtors you know any realtor that is good at their job should be able to be a great facilitator and a connector to the community for their clients.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's also. It also can it, can, it can point you in a direction sometimes of what areas and neighborhoods and stuff are good, good fit for them, because it's like you know, if they're mountain bikers, you know, know, then there's obvious locations that are great for that, if they want to be walkable to downtown and they they're really into the art scene or whatever. You're thinking something different there. So it does kind of help you, help influence you on, on, like, what neighborhoods to necessarily highlight. You can't really, you know you're not gonna steer them, but totally you know like, but that can affect the lifestyle they want, the communities they want to plug into can really, um, can really matter also in what areas you're showing them and what you want to highlight about those areas. For sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and some people want to be, you know, walkable to a school where they don't have to cross a busy road, or exactly. They want to be able to easily walk on trails or, you know, be able to push a stroller down a sidewalk. Yeah, those are all things that are going to matter to what people are looking for in town. But I think that because we have also an office full of a lot of agents that are really involved in the community, both at a charitable level but connected in their own way, it's like even if somebody is moving here and I said pickleball earlier, I don't play pickleball, I never have, but I know Bellingham is a big pickleball community and I can think of two or three people in the office where, if somebody moved here and was looking to join a league or find somebody to play with, I know exactly who to reach out to and connect them with to help them make that happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point and that's and that's something that we try to do with this podcast too is I try to have brokers on to kind of highlight all the different things that we could that, uh, that they, that they're involved in um and and I mean we should kind of just get into, I mean where there's no way to cover all of them.
Speaker 1:But I mean, when we get into the high level, I mean bellingham obviously is already well known for you know mountain biking, for kayaking, for you know mountain biking for kayaking, for you know anything related to hiking trails, you know anything outdoorsy, and obviously Mount Baker, and so you kind of have that's. I think. I think it's fair to say that's kind of the staple communities and those those interconnect. But then there's, you know, there's very like there's the, there's road bike people, there's the mountain bike people, there's the you know running people. So there's still, when I say I'm calling them people like, there's the running people. Some of them cross over a little bit, but there's like there's kind of there's like hyper local communities within each one of those.
Speaker 2:Right, essentially, you know, and you just need to know where to look.
Speaker 1:Northwest Tune-Up, Northwest Tune-Up when we're recording this is when the Northwest tune-up was just, and that's the whole thing for that. But yeah, and then you're talking about, yours are comic book, yeah, I mean comics.
Speaker 2:it's like you know, if it's comic books, if it's board games, if it's video games, card games, All nerd culture. All nerd, anything nerd culture If there was a Comic-Con. You've been to Comic-Con. Right, there's Comic--con and actually there's a bellingham comic there is, uh, there's a belling. Well, there's a bellingham comic-con. That officially retired, but my friends at the comics place in downtown bellingham are putting on their own new bellingham bellingham comic that they literally just announced.
Speaker 1:This last week is that gonna be the same time as it's gonna be in october 25th in uh downtown bellingham actually they're gonna.
Speaker 2:They're yeah, they've got a bunch of spaces set up and they're gonna be doing their own comic-con and I'm gonna be um helping with, you know, some planning and sponsorship stuff as well. So I'm really excited for that that's. That's breaking news, right?
Speaker 1:now that's great. Well, I mean so with that, remind me comic-con is like. Is that specifically? I know people dress up for it and stuff like that, but what is the? I honestly don't know what the premise of it? Other than you? Everyone gets dressed up and is showcasing different things.
Speaker 2:I would say it branches out into just kind of the nerd culture, zeitgeist more than anything. So it might be comic books, but it's kind of anything nerdy that we just talked about. Right, it might be board games, card games, video games. Some people like to cosplay and and dress up. Um, you know, there's artists. Some people are really into comics for the art, some people are really into comics for the writing, some people are into both.
Speaker 2:A lot of comic cons you can go and you can meet the writers or the artists of those books, um, and so, yeah, I've gone to the ones in seattle before and the one in bellingham will do kind of some of the similar things. So they'll probably have costume contests and, um, and, you know, meet artists and meet creators and things like that and just kind of, you know, bringing a lot of different types of of people together for it and it's family friendly and um. But there's also a lot of cool stuff for for adults or, you know, big kids like me who just love that stuff for adults or big kids like me who just love that stuff.
Speaker 1:So I also want to touch on some of the ways that we contribute with nonprofits and just get out there with the community. And that starts with right here in Barkley Village. We just did Tuesday Tunes, which is every Tuesday in Barkley Village through the end of the summer. So in July and August that was supporting Skookum Kids. Let's touch on some other ways that people, if they're listening or watching, can be aware that they can hop in with us on some different community events. So you do something every year too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's one of the cool things about Bellingham is also just that we all show up for each other and I host a poker, a poker night every year that raises money. I have a local lender that also contributes matching funds to the money that we raise for the poker night and that goes to benefit Max Higbee Center, which helps out developmentally disabled adults and kids with recreational activities. It's a really great, awesome local nonprofit.
Speaker 1:And then I know there's another concert in the park and concert in the park um down elizabeth, which peter roberts in our office um helped start. That's been around forever.
Speaker 2:So there's that downtown, there's down, there's downtown sounds, there's northwest tune up, there's those events, but there's the bellingham bells game that we invite all of our clients to every year, to benefit Camp Corey as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's coming up. That's coming up, and Camp Corey is out of North Skagit County but that's an awesome camp for, also kind of similar to Max Higsby, for people born with usually some sort of a disability, and that's a completely free camp which is unbelievable for the kids and the family, and so we raise money for them at that bells game and um. And then we also, um, are the lead sponsor for this is my thing, golf, right. So surprise, surprise, yes, and so, um, we get to co, we get to um sponsor. There's a dv sass golf tournament coming up and every.
Speaker 1:If you look up DV SAS, d V S A S amazing organization. That is really the backbone for supporting anybody dealing with physical abuse, mental abuse, domestic abuse throughout Whatcom County. They're like a police officer. If they hear of those things and they can't do anything about it, that's the card they give out. We do a big fundraiser for them and if anybody's interested in golfing in the db sass golf tournament every year, we'd love to see you there. So, um, that's just one of the other ways we we obviously at our office in um october we have a food drive for the. The food bank here is awesome. The boeingham food bank is one of the biggest in the state.
Speaker 2:I think it is maybe the biggest in the state, so there's just so many cool yeah ways to contribute to that's what I really love about being part of this office too is like is that it's you know whether it's john l scott living life as a contribution?
Speaker 2:so you know, send the check, will elmer um but, like really like we actually you know, follow through on that and are invested in this community and, um, it's great and there's just, there's so many of these charitable community events that you know, if you really look behind the scenes, there's probably you know a realtor back there somewhere doing a lot to try to help out their community and there's good chance that it's somebody at John L Scott.
Speaker 1:Well, and yeah, and and it just it the when you, when you get involved with all these different nonprofits, you realize there is a lot of interconnecting there too. And that's another way to build out community is when you take part in these different nonprofits and then you get to know the people there and we like to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity every year, a couple times a year, and go build with them, and then you get to know all the people that work at Habitat and then the people at Habitat. Of course, when you go build with them, you meet the people there that are having that are because they have to put in so many hours to help build their own homes. So then you meet the people that are moving into those neighborhoods.
Speaker 2:Right. I mean the coolest part about meeting those people is that you actually care even more when you're building a house and making sure you don't screw up with the nail gun. Not that I screwed up with the nail gun, Not that I screwed up with the nail gun at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or like, just keep the nail gun away from me. That's my biggest contribution, but anyway, so lots to do there and in the community, so all good stuff. Thank you, will, for joining. Obviously, reach out to Will if you got questions about the market and the community of Bellingham and Whatcom County and thank you for watching or listening you guys.