Whatcom County - According to local data compiled by First American Core Logic, subprime mortgage lending formed a relatively small part of the local Whatcom County real estate picture. Their data shows that only about 1,000 subprime loans were outstanding in the Whatcom County area as of July 2009, compared to about 35,000 conventional loans.

The data shows that almost 35 percent of those subprime loans were more than 60 days delinquent as of July, putting those homes at high risk of foreclosure. Since there was only about 1,000 subprime loans over all, the effect on the local real estate market was much smaller than what happened in other areas of the country.

Among the 35,000 conventional loans in Whatcom County, less than 3 percent were 60 or more days delinquent as of July. A rebound in our market is much more likely and we could actually start to get back to normal by the Spring of 2010. Don't expect any of those double digit gains we saw five years ago, but a normal market would be a good sign.

Nationwide, the delinquency rate on conventional prime mortgage loans is 6 percent, while the rate on subprime loans is close to 40 percent.