Half Price Books has several advantages, besides the fun of the treasure hunt, wandering the shelves (if you like old book stores or even flea markets, you’ll love it here!).  First, they take all the books you bring, and offer you a price.  My understanding is it’s 10-15% of cover value of the ones they intend to sell, vs. about 20% at a regular used book store.  But they take all the others too, and donate or even recycle them.  And once I took what turned out to be a rare book in and they informed me of it and looked up a fair price.  Nice.  For me, it’s a lot better than taking my bagfull to a regular bookstore because I am basically weeding my library, anything they give me is good toward a purchase which I’m sure to have made while they are looking at what I brought in, and I don’t have to haul any books away.  This is an alternative to donating that bag of old books.

Second, there is a clearing-house aspect to the shop, you run into so much.  They are not so picky as to take only newer titles or best sellers, so you get a chance to see a lot of history and older things that still have a lot of value.  I have picked up some really good titles on Seattle real estate too!  And on Northwest history, Seattle history, local aspects.  You’ll find the Lion’s club photo history of Green Lake or whatever it is, sometimes these are invaluable.  If you have older software, you can find the manual to go with it!  Etc.  On the other hand, they don’t keep multiple selections of one title much so there is a wider variety on the shelves.

Third, it offers new, discount and used DVDs, videos, CDs, as well as old records, whatever media you’re looking for.  And calendars, notebooks, craft kits in book format, greeting cards and stationary, little toys, puzzles, software, computer games, and for Christmas I got several of my favorite couples a hot stone massage kit that went over big time!  All of these things are at ridiculously low cost compared to the pumped up pricing in the high-end, high-rent, high-cost-advertising mainstream stores.  For which, no argument from me, there is a good and necessary place.  But live dangerously, spend less, help save the world!  Try Half Price Books and let me know what you think, maybe even find something great there for Father’s Day.

There are Half Price Books conveniently located around the Seattle area:

Bellevue Crossroads Store
Everett Mall Store
Lynnwood James Village Store
Redmond Town Center Store
Seattle Capitol Hill Store
Seattle U District Store
Tacoma Rainier Place Store
Tukwila Parkway Square Store

• Price: $123,950
• Beds: 2
• Baths: 2
• Home Size: 924 sq. ft.
• View full MLS details at 15415 35th Ave W, Unit C105, Lynnwood, WA 98087 (MLS # 174060)

To schedule a showing contact Tracy Cobbin specializing in Lynnwood Real Estate.

About Lynnwood, Washington

Lynnwood is known to be the “hub city” of south Snohomish County. Located between Interstate 5 and the north end of Interstate 405, it is the final tangle of population on the north end of “greater Seattle” before continuing on to Everett, Bellingham, or Vancouver, BC.

New Light Rail

The Central Link Light Rail began operating from the Seattle Downtown to the Seatac Airport and back last year, in 2009.  On July 17, 2009 there was a preview ride, with a video!  Central Link uses 35 train cars and is 15.6 miles in length.

The University Link span of the project began construction in 2009 and will be completed in 2016.  This part of the project is a 3.15 mile run through two tunnels bored from Downtown running through Capitol Hill to the University of Washington.  This will provide transportation (by 2030) for 70,000 riders per day to the U and Husky Stadium.  Click here for an airiel view of the UW station.

There is also an exciting East Link option, although not scheduled to start construction until 2013 or 2014.  This will run under I-5, a stop on Mercer Island, through Bellevue, through Overlake Station near the large Bellevue border Microsoft campus, and end in downtown Redmond.

A Northlink project is scheduled to run from the U District, at Brooklyn Station, through Roosevelt Station, through Northgate Station, and hence all the way to Lynnwood.   This schedule for construction is currently being developed.

Love this Ride the Light Rail Time Lapse from YouTube!

I often get calls from my active buyers asking “when to buy”. My sellers are asking me “when you sell”. Each party wants to know how long to wait before pulling the trigger.  My answer is “when it is the right time for you, your budget and your family”.  Each person has a different life event that calls to buy or sell real estate.

Northwest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) reported as following stats for Dec 2009.

As seen above chart, Residential active listings units dropped 19.01% from 4362 units in 2008 vs 3533 units in 2009 for the month of December while Pending Residential units increased 38.02%, as Dec 09 pending listings were 628 units compare to 455 units in December 2008.  There is a huge increase in sold units at 89.02%, 654 units closed in 2009 vs 346 units in 2008.

As seen above chart, Median Price declined all across for Active, Pending and Sold Listings.  For December 09 sold median price was $287,000, dropped 19% compare to Dec 2008 while year to date Median price dropped further to 13.06%.

As seen above chart, one other important factor to watch is “Days on the market” (DOM). Due to better pricing of the homes as they get listed, DOM has dropped 12.3% for sold listings in December 2009 vs 2008.

Over all, Days on the market is shortening, Inventory of homes dropping while sold home units are increasing. December 2009 Market Trend is showing a promising future for buyers and sellers. Yes, values are declining as there is activity out there…..

If you would like more personalized information for your area, please contact me via email Sebnem.oden@exprealty.com or visiting my websitewww.ProKeyRE.com

Wishing you a prosperous real estate future….

Vehicle Play

thought I had discovered one of Lynnwood’s best parks.  That might be, but it is not famous enough to rate an entry in the Lynnwood Parks and Recreation webpage, when I checked for the address.  Instead, I found out that the City of Lynnwood has 17 public parks, 110 acres of open space, an 18-hole public golf course, 7 miles of trails, a recreation center, senior center, Heritage

Climbing Fort

Park, and 2 athletic complexes. According to the website, Lynnwood’s parks offer a wide range of recreation choices, including innovative playgrounds, spray pools and a skate park, as well as

Pentagon Web for climbing.

hiking trails, forests, streams, wetlands and wildlife habitat.  I also noticed the “WonderStage” Summer Performance series for kids, and Shakespeare In the Park, a free outdoor theater (for the whole family) taking place Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7 p.m. this summer.

And wait, at the Recreation Center there are offered over 250 classes for adults and children, including ballet, ballroom dancing, ceramics, and drawing.

There are also sections on the Community Vision project, and a wide variety of impressive choices.  Why not take a peek at the website and find somewhere to start exploring?  I started at Logan Park and may never stop.

Play area on a bright day.

Edy Kizaki
Realtor, Team Leader
edy@seattlepowersearch.com
206.402.9155

Meanwhile,  my daughter gleefully added to the cart a handful of spicy kimchee ramen noodles and struck frozen novelty gold when she found the Korean ice cream area.  With green melon and banana bars, green tea ice cream and strawberry mochi ice cream balls, this was truly a sweet tooth paradise.  Don’t miss the deli in the center of the store with ready to eat mung bean and seafood pancakes (pin-de-dok).  Not your usual Western style pancakes, these golden gems are a meal in itself.  And made with a mixture of legumes, spices, and kimchee cabbage,  they are healthy as well.

There is a Food Court outside the store in the common area with a bakery filled with the sweet smells of fresh filled buns, fruit cakes, and warm breads.  Just follow the wonderful aromas.  Cream puff are filled fresh and to order at the cream puff store, and there are several other restaurants to choose from.  With soon-tubu-chige (spicy tofu and meat soup), pi-bim-pab (mixed rice and vegetables) and other traditional dishes, you are never far away from the best kind of comfort foods of Korea. 

Nice selection of frozen potstickers, from vegetarian, to pork and shrimp and even, of course, kimchee dumplings.  And ready to make pre-packaged fish stew with freshly sliced fish, vegetables, and broth mixwhich make the cooking easy and fun.  I can’t wait to go back and spend the afternoon shopping and eating!  Comfort foods at it’s best.

Realtor

Helen@SeattlePowerSearch.com

Direct:

Straddling the junction between Interstate 5 and the north end of Interstate 405 in Washington, it is the final tangle of population on the north end of “greater Seattle” before one continues on to other places: Everett, Bellingham, or Vancouver. The center of the town hosts a collection of small businesses, strip malls, and retail stores. Outside the commercial center of Lynnwood, to the east and north, lie Alderwood Mall, houses, and small forests.