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

As seen above chart, Residential active listings units dropped 20.55% from 8707 units in 2008 to 6918 units in December 2009 while Pending Residential units increased 55.10%, as Dec 09 pending listings were 1413 units compare to 911 units in December 2008.  There is a huge increase in sold units at 57.37%, 1462 units closed in 2009 vs 929 units in 2008.  Snohomish County Sold Residential unit increase is at 89.02% when compared to 2008.

As seen above chart, Median Price declined all across for Active, Pending and Sold Listings.  For December 09 sold median price was $380,000, dropped 6% compare to Dec 2008 while year to date Median price dropped further to 11.62%.

As seen above chart, the other important indicator to watch is “Days on the market” (DOM). There isn’t a significant difference, as little as 1.19% for Dec 09 and 6.85% for the year.

Over all, 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 emailSebnem.oden@exprealty.com or visiting my website www.ProKeyRE.com

Wishing you a prosperous real estate future….

At least thirty feet of select produce, baked from scratch fresh breads, pizza and muffins, and soups like mom used to make.  This is a great alternative to the pricey and unhealthy heavy and greasy foods so popular with buffet style restaurants.  On a recent visit, the  delicatable menu items included a savory chicken tortilla soup,  fresh baked garlic herb focaccia bread, wheat crusted vegetable pizza, brocolli slaw and my favorite peeled green soybeans. 

Just south of the Westfield Southcenter Mall (formerly Southcenter Mall)  next to Target, this is in the shadow of a shopper’s paradise with several strip malls surrounding the major department stores.  Perfect excuse to stop, shop and grab a healthy bite next time you have to go to the airport to pick up or drop off friends or family.  You’ll feel better for it, and so will your friends, family and your pocketbook.

Realtor

Helen@SeattlePowerSearch.com

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