Real Estate Questions (part 5): Older or Newer Homes?

One question that often comes up during the initial stages of a home search: how old of a home are you in the market for? Should you look for a 1940s craftsman or grand 1890s Queen Anne home, or keep your eye open for a renovated PNW contemporary or minimalist new construction design? 

Generally speaking, brand-new homes will have fewer repairs to consider in the short-term, and older houses (unless recently renovated) will have a laundry list of things to prepare for. But any age of home will have its own pros and cons - including some you might not expect. 

Neighborhood characteristics

In Bellingham, the south side of town generally has older homes, while the northern neighborhoods like Cordata, Meridian, King Mountain and Barkley are more likely to have homes under 30 years old, as well as patches of newer construction. The York and Lettered Streets neighborhoods have some of our oldest homes (with many built between 1890-1910). 

Architectural characteristics

Around Bellingham, we have a few big categories of home design that are *somewhat* associated with their age. Here are a couple of examples:

Queen Anne / Victorian / Edwardian era - these are the old three-story houses with turrets and big porches and often have carved or detailed embellishments.

1930s-1970s - in Bellingham, these builds can be quite simple, with one gable, a one-car garage and sometimes a small glassed-in porch or front stoop. The craftsman editions will have larger porches, often with square columns, and clipped/jerkinhead gables. Color palettes are usually muted, and even bright colors have an earthy undertone (rusty red, mustard yellow, etc).

PNW Contemporary - here’s where we see wood, metal and stone features, a shed roof, neutral colors, very large windows, vaulted ceilings, and often an indoor-outdoor living space. These homes are often either newer construction or a freshly remodeled older home. Either way, you can usually bet on these homes being recently updated in terms of roofing, flooring, and systems.

New construction - generally speaking, in Whatcom County, single family new construction is still in the white/gray/beige open concept era, with simple gables and perhaps dormers, LVP flooring, stainless steel appliances, white or dark wood cabinetry, and a large kitchen island.

When you meet with your broker, I recommend sorting through a set of sold houses by the decade they were built to get a sense of the time periods that speak to you the most, how many seem to come available for sale in a year, and the neighborhoods they pop up in the most.

Lead-based paint  

In 1978, lead-based paint was banned for residential use. Older homes likely have some amount of lead in the original layers of paint (and the seller will sign a disclosure as to their knowledge of its presence or absence), which can be a risk especially for children. You can read more about this, and the CDC recommendations surrounding lead-based paint, right here.

Watch out for the 15-30 year old home 

We all know that the older homes are likely to have issues, and it’s important to have a full inspection done on these. It’s the semi-new ones that we sometimes feel will be “just fine”, without realizing that they’re right at the cusp of needing serious work. 

The roof is probably due for replacement, the furnace and water heater need to be checked on, the smoke alarms are past their prime (again), flooring is starting to really wear down, and the home has likely had just enough owners to start to get its own quirks. If the prior owner has lived there for 10 years, they might not have kept up the maintenance on those bigger-ticket items (because everything was still “almost new” at the time of their purchase). If the prior owner has had the home for 2 years, they might not have had the time or inclination to get this type of work done. Be prepared to negotiate the inspection or have some large systems updates in your near future. 

Have questions about the Whatcom County real estate market or what neighborhoods in Bellingham have the home characteristics you’re looking for? Reach out to us at team@cohengroupnw.com!

*All CGNW blog posts are written by a real person without the aid of AI, from our own experience & resources as professionals & community members working in real estate in Bellingham, WA.