ZIP 98266 Foreclosure, Tax-Lien & Distress Report

In Whatcom County, Washington, ZIP 98266 scores 34 of 100 for composite distress, a moderate level on DLRadar's distress index. Leading the profile are structural risk (77/100), construction/permit lag (65/100), institutional ownership (58/100). By contrast, mortgage stress (20/100) register low. It additionally carries heavy environmental risk: flood (NFIP) exposure (98/100), climate & FEMA risk (91/100), FEMA disaster exposure (68/100). The split runs 77/100 structural to 6/100 active on the ground.

Prices here sit in a contraction phase: values held roughly flat over the trailing year, and 19% higher over three years (phase confidence 30/100). A cooling market tends to open discount-to-value windows.

Rent burden reaches 32% of tenant households. The poverty rate is 18.1% — high, a tax-stress and distress correlate. Vacancy runs 15.2%, above the national norm and a classic distress-and-opportunity signal. About 12% have a four-year degree. The typical home is worth about $421,200 (6.8× income). DLRadar's demographic-stress index for the area reads 42/100. Households earn a median $53,115 — below the roughly $78,000 national figure. The ZIP holds roughly 2,088 housing units. Population is roughly 4,198 with a median age of 42. 74% of housing is owner-occupied.

Taken together, 98266 profiles as an active-distress market where motivated-seller and below-market acquisitions concentrate. 98266 has no individual parcels listed at present; the signals above still come from the same audited public sources used nationwide.

No ZIP is too small to score: 98266 passes through the same foreclosure, tax, mortgage and bank-stress model as any major-metro ZIP, so its 34/100 composite is a like-for-like number rather than an isolated estimate. Every figure is auditable to a public dataset and refreshed as records update; 98266 shows blanks, not estimates, wherever the record is sparse.

Behind 98266's composite sit distinct signals (foreclosure, mortgage, tax-lien, lender and structural), each scored on its own before rolling up, so two ZIPs with the same total can describe very different situations on the ground. The point of the 98266 score is action: it tells you whether to open the ZIP, and DLRadar takes it from there to parcels, funding and close.