Living In Blaine: Affordability, Growth, And Life On The Border with Joni Wenger

We explore what life in Blaine, Washington really feels like, from walkable schools and parks to a border-enabled lifestyle and weekends on the water. We weigh the trade-offs of fewer big-box amenities against rapid housing growth, a revitalized downtown, and strong community events.

• small-town feel with walkable schools, parks and waterfront
• affordability compared with Bellingham for similar home quality
• cross-border perks with Nexus access to White Rock and Surrey
• current impact of tariffs on local businesses and spending
• downtown street upgrades improving sidewalks, lighting and landscaping
• annual events including Wings Over Water, July 4th, harbor music week, pirate festival and Oyster Fest
• distinctions between Blaine, Birch Bay and Semiahmoo within one school system
• where new construction is happening: The Ridge, Mott’s Hill, A Vista, Lincoln Mews
• boating lifestyle with two marinas and fast access to the San Juan and Gulf Islands
• how added rooftops may attract better groceries, restaurants and services

If you have questions about Blaine, Birch Bay or Semiahmoo, reach out to Joni

Transcript

Meet Joni And Why Blaine

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello and welcome to the Bellingham Real Estate Podcast. I'm Paul Balzati. I'm here with Joni Wanger. Welcome, Joni.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Yeah, and uh today we're talking about Blaine, Washington. And Blaine is, we'd say about 20, 25-minute drive north, the northernmost city in uh Washington State. Um, and Joni is on because not only are you a realtor with us, of course, but you are a Blaine expert, and there's lots of reasons why you're a Blaine expert. Um, why don't you share with everyone? Let's just kind of get into your background. So maybe mention where you where you came from and then when you moved to Blaine and how that kind of came about.

Affordability And Small-Town Living

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Um, so I moved to Blaine in 2004. Okay, and my husband was working for the city. And so um when we were looking at where to buy real estate, it was a little bit more um affordable in Blaine. And so we got a place right downtown and he could bike to work like three blocks, and eventually kids were walking to school two blocks and nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And so since 2004, so yeah, so tw 20, 20, 22 years now. And so he got a job for the city of Blaine.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Was he in the same position the whole time?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Okay, so he was in different positions, and then now what what is his position called?

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Just uh he's the planning director.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Planning director, yeah. So he's worked his way up the the city of Blaine. Yeah, um, nice. And so and where you did you mention when you came, you mentioned you were from Well, we were in Bellingham.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Oh, you were in Bellingham before that first school. Yeah, I didn't know. Yeah, we went to Western. Okay, that's right, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

So from Western alum and then uh and then to Blaine. And so that was part of it, was obviously he was working for Blaine, but then also affordability.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Moving, and that's and that's kind of what we're uh what we're talking about today is kind of if you're considering moving to Blaine, um, if you're or you just want to learn more about Blaine, that's kind of what we're trying to cover. So um you move to Blaine, talk about um you know moving there, raising kids there. Cause how old are your kids now?

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Uh 14, 18, and 20.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

14, 18, 20. Okay. So you basically have been doing it and you're you're you're you've done it. They're holding it. Yes, exactly. So for them, they're that's what they know. And so talk about moving there, what the positives have been, what the trade-offs have been, that

Walkability, Parks, And Marine Park

SPEAKER_01 2:28

kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

So positives are definitely like the small town vibe. You know, you can like walk most places, like I said, walk to work, walk to school, walk downtown, walk to parks, and um uh, you know, just get to know people really easy since it's such a small town.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Yeah. Yeah. And some great parks and you know, beautiful water.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

What would be the par what's your favorite parking lane?

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Um, probably Marine Park.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah. That makes sense. It's right by the border. You can see Peace Arch, you can see the islands.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Playground.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah, that's good. And then uh what would be some of the trade-offs?

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Um, so I mean, we love the small town vibe personally. You know, it's like the hustle of Bellingham is a lot it seems a lot busier in Bellingham than it does in Blaine.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Um, and so we we really like that culture for the kids raising a family there. Um and I guess like just basically grocery stores and

Amenities Trade-Offs And Groceries

SPEAKER_02 3:23

that would be the trade-off.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah. Wait, there's wait, there is a grocery store.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

There's a gro there's two grocery stores.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

So you're really throwing some shade at the grocery stores in Blaine. So what are the names of the grocery stores?

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Um IGA and uh the market.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Oh, the market, the ones that that's the Birch Bay one right by the freeway.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah. And so you prefer uh you prefer Fred Meyer and uh Hagen down here, is that what you're saying? Is it or what? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Trader Joe's, of course. Oh, Trader Joe's too, of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Okay. So just just like groceries, amenities, like kind of not having as many of those things, of course. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we have most of the amenities now. Yeah, you know, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So when you're uh when you're also raising your kids there, would you say like you obviously you work at the Donald Scott Bellingham,

Commuting Patterns And Nearby Cities

SPEAKER_01 4:07

right? As you're real so you're I know you're commuting down here to come in um to work, but when you're um when you're kind of day-to-day, what how often um well right now you're coming into Bellingham a lot, but would you if you wanted to go to other restaurants, um, other stores, things like that, do you find yourself going to Linden or Ferndale very often because they're spoth slightly closer than Bellingham, or would you say if you live in Blaine, you also would just spend a lot of time coming into Bellingham?

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Like how what would be the Um Mostly Bellingham, but Ferndale as well. Um but you know, once or twice a week is all I really would need to do besides work, I would say.

Cross-Border Lifestyle And Nexus

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

And then of course Canada is like, you know, their stores 15 minutes away if you have an access card.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Right. So you obviously have an access card. Yes. And so that's kind of a just a given if you're gonna live in Blake.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

So and when you uh yeah, so how often would would you guys just kind of go over to you go over to what is it where do you go to White Rock? What do you think about it?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, White Rock and Surrey. Um once or twice a month, probably.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Okay. So you you you definitely get to know those towns more when you live in Blaine.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yeah, yeah. And so you go out to eat in White Rock a lot, those kind of things. Yeah. And that's that is an interesting difference because when you live in Bellingham, you probably I probably go up to White Rock. I've probably gone up to White Rock once in the last five years or eight years. Whereas if you live in Blaine, because it's just so much closer, it just seems it's technically if you have what the Nexus pass, most of the time, it is quicker than getting into Bellingham, then, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Yeah. You can ride your bike over. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

So what's the this is I'm gonna sound you know dumb by asking this, but what's the story there is about riding a bike, I mean, across the border like that? Is that just that's a how does that work?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

You can pull right up to the front of the Nexus line. Oh, you can? You can. You don't have to get behind the cars. So you just so you just bike right through. Like you can just bike right by people and they just call you right to the front.

unknown 6:00

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Do you do that as a family? Just kind of bung up sometimes?

SPEAKER_02 6:03

No, we haven't done it as a family, but with friends or with my husband, we have.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

That's kind of fun. So so you do kind of have the those amenities as part of your lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

And then um we we didn't talk about talking about this, but I have

Tariffs And Local Business Impact

SPEAKER_01 6:18

to ask you about this. So currently today, 2026, Blaine has to have had some struggles from, you know, I'm not when I don't want to get into politics or anything like that, but obviously um, you know, with the um uh with the oh my gosh, the tariffs.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

The tariffs, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

With the tariffs um and everything, I know that Canadians are not coming down nearly to the level that they were, which is affecting retail and services and restaurants in Bellingham as well. But uh that has to be a major, major factor for Blaine. So I mean, how is that? I mean, I'm sure in some sense it's less traffic, which is probably nice, but I mean, how has that affected things in Blaine?

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I think it's affected local businesses pretty significantly. It is, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Yeah, that's just a bummer, which is a bummer. And so, um Andrew, have you seen that get any better in the last year or is it it has it's been like it's been steady? Really?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

And so so really Blaine like is massively like they're this is a huge hit for them, this tariff situation. Huh.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

And I I mean I I guess on a on a Bellingham level, I'm sure if I if you talk to retailers, um, I'm sure it makes a huge difference too. But you just you probably don't you just don't feel it as much just kind of day to day as living in Bellingham as you do in in Blaine.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

And so do you I mean you're talking about some businesses have shut down and things like that, or um, I'm not sure if any of shut down, but I know I just have heard that you know they're struggling.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah. And then but on the opposite end of that, so you have Canadians not coming down as often, which was a huge part of the economy there. On the flip side of that, there's an increase in development in Blaine, both commercial and residential. And so let's kind of flip it to that. So and and I guess it's gonna really change the dynamics of Blaine over the long term. If now you're turning into as

Downtown Revitalization And Events

SPEAKER_01 8:16

and we'll we'll talk about the new construction in Blaine um and the commercial projects in Blaine, but it it kind of becomes a little bit more of a its own uh large community versus like this kind of very small community that's very dependent on Canadian traffic and you know, outside people if if you're if if you have more, you know, uh more population growth just kind of within um a full-time residence is what I should say. So like um getting into that. So what your your husband's obviously a planning director, right? So what is going on in Blaine as far as what are the community events going on, but then also talk about the construction going on because it's it's it's really one of the fastest growing and developing areas in Walken County.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah. Um, so they just got done doing the downtown street revitalization project. So they did um five blocks of downtown new sidewalks, landscape, lighting. Uh it looks really nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really nice. And that's that's right along the water there, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

That's we're great in downtown. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Awesome. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Um, and then as far as events goes, there's a lot of stuff like basically every month. We've got Wings Overwater in March, um 13th through the 15th. Um it's like guided bird watching tours. They're like on land, on boats, like there's activities for kids and Blaine is a really big bird watching uh city, which is yeah, yeah. Yeah, the harbor has a lot of wildlife. So yeah. Um, and then there's like a block party in May, and um 4th of July is a big deal, of course. You know, it's like the uh Birch Bay and Blaine. Oh, Blaine. Yeah, because there's a parade and fireworks in Blaine too. Nice, really big day in Blaine, it's really fun. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

For 4th of July.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah.

unknown 9:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

And then there's a music festival, Blaine Harbor Music Festival, in July, and that's a full week of um uh professional musicians that come and work with students, and there's concerts every day outside, and that's really fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah. Yeah. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

And then there's a pirate festival in August. Wow and they do like a homemade boat race tour or homemade boat races, and they do like pirate costume contests and vendors and music and that I did not know about.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah. That is uh have you dressed up as a pirate for that yet, or anybody?

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Um, I think my kids did when they were younger.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Nice, good.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Um, and then of course Oyster Fest. Okay. Um because Jaden Harbor Oyster Company is right there in the harbor, and so that's in October. So lots of fun events and That's good. There's art walks every uh uh I think it's every second Saturday of every month there's an art walk in Blaine as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Nice along the boardwalk there.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Yeah, so different businesses that have hang local artists.

Blaine, Birch Bay, And Semiahmoo

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah. So and I mean when you're talking about these events, uh we mentioned that Fourth of July has the Birch Bay has their own event too, but you're talking about right in Blaine proper because there's Blaine, there's Birch Bay, and then for people who don't know the community very well that are coming from out of state, listening or watching, you know, there's Birch Bay and Semi Yamu. And I mean Birch Bay and Semi Yamu, I mean, even they are Blaine, but I mean you'd consider them truly their own communities too, right? I mean, or are how do you how do you I mean how do you feel like for families and everything, like if somebody lives out by Birch Bay versus in town, is there it's it's no difference really, or is it does it feel like its own culture and we use the same schools and everything, you know, so it's still Blaine, but definitely like Birch Bay is its own thing, you know, and Semiamu's its own neighborhood kind of thing. And yeah, you know. But uh you're right, I guess with all the kids going to the same schools, it kind of it all just merges into the same thing in that sense. Okay, okay.

New Construction Hotspots

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Um well, and there is a lot of new construction um happening in Blaine, and Blaine is being very, you know, cons uh friendly to new construction, trying to get more development going. Five, ten years ago, fifteen years ago, you know, that was Ferndale where a lot of the growth was, and then now it's kind of moving to Blaine. So talk about um some of the bigger housing projects, maybe reference those. So if um if folks are listening or watching and want to look up where they could find new construction, because Blaine is one of the premier places to find new construction right now, um, at a uh and also at a more affordable rate than um than in Bellingham for what you get. So um yeah, talk about those projects.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

So there's the ridge. The ridge um the ridge is still building, they have um homes and fourplexes going in up eighth street, and uh there's trails that connect it to Lincoln Park, so that's nice. Um pretty close to town. Uh and then there's Mott's Hill, which is at the top of H Street, um, and that's uh gonna start construction soon. It's gonna be about 50 houses. Um and then on Semiamu, there's a project called A Vista that's gonna be about 500 homes built in phases, um, and they'll have views and amenities, and um that'll be a pretty beautiful spot. Yeah, northwest style contemporary homes. Oh sweet. Yeah. And then uh Lincoln Mews in town by IGA is gonna be um affordable houses around 500,000. Nice. And I think there'll be, you know, 20 ho homes in that development.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yeah. So that's excellent. That's great. So that's I mean, if we we go, we have 550, 20. I mean, that's that's dang near, you're getting, you know, you're getting almost a thousand homes. You just mentioned almost a thousand homes going in over the next two, three, four years. And that's there's others even smaller and bigger projects that are trying to apply as well, right? That they're working on. Right. So that's a lot. And I that has to increase. Um you you have to think as those homes go in, more businesses are gonna come in. You mentioned maybe a better grocery store for you, or or or maybe they renovate one of those grocery trains. But I mean, you'd have to think more restaurants and maybe some of the businesses

Housing Growth And Future Amenities

SPEAKER_01 14:03

that are struggling a little bit with Canadians coming down. That was kind of my earlier point, is all of those new construction homes, as those bring in new people, that has to maybe offset, I would think, a little bit the lack of Canadian traffic. And then maybe with some changes in the future, political changes, maybe uh maybe things open back up that way too. Because I mean, how many of the homes? I know I didn't you wouldn't have the number off the top of your head, but Birch Bay would be more, but in Blaine, would in your your neighborhood, neighborhood surrounding you, is there still a subset of a percentage of those homes that are still second homes for Canadians? That or is most of the homes in town more 100% primary living?

SPEAKER_02 14:43

I think they're mostly primary living. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So that'd be more Birch Bay where you'd see the most of that.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Okay. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, is there anything else about um about Blaine that you wanted to mention?

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Um it's really amazing for people that love boating and fishing and crabbing.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Oh yeah, the marines.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Because it's just the islands are right there.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

So um we love it for that reason.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Yeah. Do you do you boat out there? Do you go out?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

We do.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah. And you're originally that was trying to get you to say where you're originally from.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Oh, okay. Yeah. San Juan Island. San Juan Island. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

So so what's the so if you

Boating, Marinas, And Island Access

SPEAKER_01 15:19

if you guys get on your boat, how far, how long does it take on a boat to get from Blaine, let's say, to well, the let's see to Orcas Island, because Orcas is Um It's probably like an hour and 15 minutes. Yeah, that's not bad.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

That's pretty amazing. And then um can you boat over into Canada or you can they allow you just have to declare it?

SPEAKER_02 15:41

You have to, you know, go through a process to let them know you're coming, and you can just go right up and you can even go fishing and wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So there's a lot of that. And so there's two marinas, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Uh yeah, Semyamo and Blaine.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um, and so that's a really good point. That's a big part of the lifestyle of Blaine. For sure. So yeah, thank you for pointing that out. And access to Canada. Um, and then it's interesting because there's the San Juan Islands. Do you start to learn the islands? Because I like to me, I used to always think of the San Juan Islands as the only islands out there, and then I realized, wait a second, there's all these other islands, but Americans we don't we're not even aware of them because they're like Canadian islands. But do you have you hit up any of those as well?

SPEAKER_02 16:20

We haven't on our personal boat yet, but we did years ago, and it's spectacular. It's very beautiful. So um it's on our list for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

What about getting out to Victoria?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Is that yeah, Victoria would be amazing. Um, I haven't been there for a very long time.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

So how far would that how long would that take on a boat?

SPEAKER_02 16:36

That would take a lot longer. That would take a lot longer, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

That's probably not the way to go to Victoria. But no, but it's still, yeah, it's still a little easier to access from Blaine. Well, I mean, I wanted to have you on because, you know, I think people, a lot of people like look at Bellingham and then they look at the outskirt areas of Walken County. And no doubt when you factor in, I mean, what is it, 25 minutes for you to get down to the office here? Yeah, it's I mean like door to door. Um and so, you know, 25 minutes to get down here, what is it, 10-15 minutes to Ferndale, you know, um, and then you you are on the water, you know, you do have, and then it you I wasn't even thinking about, of course, all of the amenities you have

Why Blaine’s Next Chapter Matters

SPEAKER_01 17:19

in Canada. So it just offers so much. And I think with the new construction coming, the way that the downtown is being redeveloped, and how much prettier and nicer it is down there now, it just seems like the next city that is gonna be um, you know, that's gonna that's gonna turn into like, you know, not a sleepy small town, but over time I'm growing to something where people will miss when it was a small town. Yeah, um, probably but uh when you got hundreds of homes going in, but still um still maybe a great combination of both for the time being and for the the near future. So um thank you for sharing. Nothing else you wanted to add, does that pretty much cover it? But yeah, of course, if you have questions about Blaine Birch Bay or Simeon, of course, reach out to Joni and um thank you for watching, and let's see guys.