Anna Matsunaga

by Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma, www.teammomentumrealestate.com

Want to go to a car wash that has great service? ( and good car wash prices?) Want to stop @ a station that is immaculately clean including the bathrooms?

I love the Brown Bear car wash. From the moment you drive up to get gas you will find a clean parking lot, nice touches that make it look pretty. ( who knew a gas station/carwash could be?)

You can stop for just gas, or get a wash, or an espress or pick up snacks too.

You can tell just from driving by the place is run with real caring pride and professionalism. They have a dedication to going green since the way many people wash their cars is less than environmentally sound.

I was surprized to find that there are Brown Bears all over our area since the one I have always gone to and know about is the only one I have seen. ( "Mine" is @ 3002 S. 38th St. Tacoma WA 98409, across from Marlene's Market and Deli) To find out more and to find other locations go to www.brownbear.com

Hours of operation @ the S. 38th Tacoma location are M-F 6am-9pm, Sat 8am-9pm, Sun 9am-9pm you can reach them @ 253 472 2345.

My hat is off to Manager Ron Wilfong for running a tight ship!

So for a great car wash team go to www.brownbear.com, for a great Tacoma Real Estate team go to www.teammomentumrealestate.com

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma 253-212-1252, www.teammomentumrealestate.com

From Anna Matsunaga, Keller Williams Realty, www.teammomentumrealestate.com

I am guessing our family is not the only one feeling the pinch of a more challenging economy. So I will be blogging more and more about how we and other people we know are saving money.

One of the ways is shopping @ Value Village. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of 2nd hand stores in Tacoma and the greater Tacoma area, but there are a number of things that make Value Village a favorite.

1. Ok I admit part of it is how close it is to our South Tacoma home.

2. The items are better organized and the store is much cleaner than most.

3. Huge Selection

4. Frequent sales.

5. They give you a discount to use for shopping when ever you donate

6. They are good about giving you a tax receipt for your donation.

7. Easy drop off of donations open during their business hours with a drive through. ( very convenient)

8. Mondays---Tag sale. One color of tag all the items with that color are 99cents. Sometimes making for ridiculously low prices and always making getting just one new thing guilt free.

What do they have? Men's, Women's and children's clothing well organized by size, color and type.

House hold goods, limited amounts of furniture, books and childrens toys and more.

When are they open? Mon-Sat from 9am to 9pm Sunday from 10-7pm.

Where are they? Just North of the corner of S. 84th and Hosmer. If you are coming from somewhere other than the neighborhood, Hosmer runs parellel with the freeway on the East ( not Tacoma Mall side) side of the freeway.

Advice- on sale days come early! Seniors, you get a 20% discount everyday!

For information on a Value Village in your area or THIS one- check out www.valuevillage.com

--Anna Matsunaga, Keller Williams Tacoma. Your neighborhood source for Real Estate answers.

www.teammomentumrealestate.com

When we lived in Illinois, one of the very hardest things was the fact that we just could NOT get certain foods. I worked in a grocery store @ the time, in the Deli and of course since we were just about an hour out of Chicago we could get the very best in deli meats and cheeses and the best Kebalsa ever ( ok I KNOW that is spelled wrong!) However I could not find certain things we had come to take for granted in Washington and Oregon.

After moving back to WA I got more and more into healthy eating and found that some things are hard to find even here in WA! This is the reason I am SO glad we have 2 Marlene's Market and Deli's nearby, one in Tacoma, ( 2938 S. 38th Street) and one in Federal Way (2565 S. Gateway Center).

I think what is best about the place in that there really is a great selection. You can buy very fresh organic fruits and veggies for very very close in most cases to conventionally (read chemically processed and fertilized and coated) veggies in any other grocery store. They have a large selection and it is always fresher than what I find elsewhere.

You will also find a very nice selection of food suppliments, homeopathics, bach remedies, and herbs. Some of the herbs are bottled and so on, but you also have a very nice selection of herbs and spices in bulk ready to use and purchase in the amount you choose. I especially enjoy this since I make our family and friends so many types of herbal teas. It is also one of my first stops ( the suppliment, homepathic & herbal section) when we have a sick family member as I usually can find what we need with our running around town. Some of the items I can find for less elsewhere, but some are better price than what I find elsewhere ( like the whey protein I buy is $10 more in the Fred Meyer's healthfood section last time I checked)

You can also find a nice selection of most of the things you find in a regular grocery store, only all organics and so on. the bulk section also has something I have found no where else, which is refridgeration! This means your nuts, flours and oils and so on are much fresher than what you get elsewhere.

Want to learn more about health? Well there is also a very good selection of books in the book section, all dedicated to your health, AND a selection of hard to find information ( read not completely mainstream) magazines that you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere as well.

Want to look good, but worried about what is in your beauty products? Well Marlene's has you covered there too. A very large and diverse selection.....

Want a quick lunch? Marlenes has unique and average sandwiches, a rotating selection of healhty soups, smoothies, and a wonderful salad bar too. ( one of the few places I have found where I can actually have a wheat free sandwich!)...Deli a little pricey, but a great selection ( and also great desserts too)

All this coupled with a clean bright store that just feels good to be in & over all good service makes me keep coming back. There are some things I don't buy there as I can get the same for less else where, but all in all there are so many things that are better or as well priced or that I just can't find anywhere else. I am so glad the Marlene's is part of our community!

--written by Anna Matsunaga, who is a former Natural Childbirth Educator and currently is practicing Real Estate and Attachment Parenting in Tacoma WA.

Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma, 253 212 1252.

No one likes to lose. Absolutely NO ONE likes to lose big. And nobody ever wants to lose especially when it comes to things that they have put time effort money and so on into or are emotionally attached to.

But of course here in lies one of the biggest mistakes many of today's home owners are making. How many of you have recently met with or spoken with a home owner who wants to "wait out the market?" Or who has their home currently listed too high to compete? All of us have. Now waiting it out, or renting it for the time being and waiting is a good strategy for some, but might in the end cost many other people a LOT of money, the sad part is many of them will lose it and never know they did.

Let me explain. Let's say you have a house you purchased 5 years ago. You put some money down and you put even more into the house to make it nicer. You expect to get SOMETHING out of it for a downpayment on the next and to make up for all the hard work and mortgage payments you put into it, not to mention your down you want back out of it. You also know you are really ready to move up to a larger home or a nicer neighborhood, if only your house were worth more ( or were selling @ the price you want for it) then you could just get the next house, but you are frusterated. As time goes on and you either have your home on the market, but with out the results you want....or you just look @ the prices of homes around you and decide it is not a good time to sell and you just wish and wish things would turn around so that you could do what you want to do, which is move to the next house......

What is wrong with this? Well you have let emotion make your decision instead of logic. How? You see when the value on your house goes up, so will the value on the house you want to buy. Then in proportion you will be paying more. So if you wait a year and your house goes up another $20K (and we don't know for sure which direction the next year will take us) the house you want to move to goes up by $40-50K, sure now you don't take a loss on your house you were in, AND you get to move up....but at what cost?

Now many of you are beginning to realize this but there is another factor. Interest rates. Most of you know that interest rates are down. ( almost historic lows!) What less of you may know is that pretty much EVERY expert in the field believes that they will go back up and maybe maybe really much much higher. Why is this significant? Well if your rate goes up even a half of a percent, it is likely that you can now only buy 90% as much house as you could before it went up. Thing is so many are looking for the absolute ROCK bottom deal on their house. ( and really no one can time the market, you just can't ) so even for the cash buyer trying to time is more about luck than about real skill and likelyhood you get it right. But if you are financing, getting the best deal on the house in the end may mean getting the not as good a deal on financing, and really that is what makes the biggest difference on your monthly payments and what the REAL cost of the home is in the end.

So.....if you want to move up. Consider it may be very very worthwhile to take less for your home than you expected or to even take a loss, in the end being willing to do so may mean a gain.

Also you may have other options as well, there are many ways to take advantage of the market we are in, it is one full of opportunities!

For a free consultation, a snap shot of the market in your neighborhood, or an tool for evaluating an investment property please contact Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma. 253 21 1252

Since my mid- twenties when I began searching for answers so that I could be healthier I have invested quite a bit of time researching natural ways to be healthier. This intensified of course when my first child was born ( a big responsibility and I wanted to make good decisions!) and even more when I became a Childbirth Educator and had my eyes opened to many things I had not before and felt the need to be sure my clients were well informed.

Changes I made included diet, exercize and avoidance of many things that I had not even known were harmful before. I also learned more about alternative health practicioners and practices and began to patronize them and learn more about them as well.

I thought that I knew about most of them until this last summer. Funny thing is, the new thing I learned about was something offered by my family Naturpath I had been seeing for years. ( Dr. Kaiten Rivers ND with Tacoma Natural Health) for more information go to http://www.tacomanatural.com/articles8.htmlore. The new thing I learned about is called Advanced Bio-correctional work. Read the article to see how it is different from Chiropractic and what it can do for you.

I began to go to see Dr. Rivers for ABC when I was injured in a car accident in August. The last time I had had a similar accident I had had a head ache for almost 8 weeks straight, while I have had some head aches since the August accident, they have been intermittent after the first 2-3 adjustments. I also gained over 1.5 inches in height with in the first couple months of adjustments and find that I can breathe more easily and walk more confortably and sit better too.

It is one of those things that you likely just need to experience instead of just read about. Research it, it's done more for me than Chiropractic ever has and has made a big difference in how I feel. I also find that my little daughter Joeleah is feeling much better ( with the accident at first she complained of head aches and back aches these are improving, but so are her feet and hips which used to turn in and don't any more.)

I suggest Check it out if you have been dealing with pain, if your doctor has suggested surgery for your feet, spine or neck. Why not try something natural first. ( of course consult your natural health practicioner for advice, I am not a medical pro, just a happy client!)

--Anna Matsunaga, Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty Tacoma, 253 212 1252