The Swedish-based clothing store, H&M, celebrated its entrance to the Seattle market last week with the grand opening of its Southcenter mall location. This is a big hoopla for fashion enthusiasts who enjoy purchasing items on the cheap. H&M’s addition to Southcenter was a part of the shopping center’s $240 million expansion and redesign. I… Read More
Is the new year bringing a new flock of buyers? Traditionally sales pick up a little in January, gearing up for spring and summer, when the weather is more hospitable to home shopping. Word at Altos Research is Seattle is still a buyer’s market. Inventory is at 3,351 as of January 20, about 400 more… Read More
Here are some smallish homes that sold over the holidays. Were the sellers laughing their way to the bank, or were the buyers making smart deals in a slow market? 4701 46th Ave S Listed originally at $469,000; sold for $444,500 in about 2.5 months on 12/28/07 3 br/1 ba; 970 sq ft 4632 46th… Read More
Long live the 500 block of East Pine Street! Save Oddfellows Hall! Up with booze and dancing! Down with condos! These are the cries heard from the peaks of Capitol Hill. Residents of the Hill are not the only ones mourning favorite Seattle locations: The Sunset Bowl will go the way of Leilani Lanes in… Read More
My celebrity sightings are limited: I’ve said hi to Morgan Freeman and Wesley Snipes, and watched Paul Simon and Edie Brickell’s backs retreat along Central Park West. I’ve never laid eyes on Brittany Spears, and the idea of chasing after beleaguered popstars to be the first to document their misery is beyond distasteful to me…. Read More
Tucked between I-5 and the Duwamish waterway, hemmed in by industrial neighbors is the hip little neighborhood of Georgetown. As the first sentence on the home page of the Georgetown Neighborhood website reminds us, “Georgetown is Seattle’s oldest continually-settled neighborhood.” Georgetown is tiny, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in energy…. Read More
Anecdotally, I’ve started hearing stories about real estate agents leaving the business. For example, a friend described her new co-worker to me, saying with an sympathetic nod, “She used to be a real estate agent.” Enough said, apparently. At agentgenius.com is a post on the enrollment numbers at the National Association of Realtors (NAR). While… Read More
In the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page on December 12, Alan Greenspan sounds off about the current mortgage crisis [via]: After more than a half-century observing numerous price bubbles evolve and deflate, I have reluctantly concluded that bubbles cannot be safely defused by monetary policy or other policy initiatives before the speculative fever breaks on… Read More
Cruising the Craigslist events section, I came across this great community event: 2007 Seward Park Luminaria We will set out almost 1800 candles in the little white bags all along Lk Wash Blvd. This is Sunday Dec 2. Stop by at 2 or 3 pm. Will light the candles at 4:30. Take the path the… Read More
Built in 1910, the Columbia City Theater was then a vaudeville house. Now a dinner theater (food is available at the attached bar or next door at Tutta Bella, and can be brought into the theater), the venue hosts cabarets, benefits, karaoke, live music, and puppet operas. The glove factory down the street, built in… Read More