The Morehomes.com Real Estate News

Gary Keeth (dad) has an incredible game. Scores every point himself!

I had writing a letter about my dad and his battle with cancer almost 2 years ago that I had sent to our family, friends, and our real estate family of clients we've helped over the years. I will post the letter below.

 The first time I played basketball with dad after his surgery he wasn't able to make a basket or even hit the rim, but he kept playing anyway. Dad's favorite shot was always out far from the basket in 3 point range (where we play it's the 2 point range, since we play by 1 and 2's instead)

Dad played days after surgery but then chemo and radiation really took its toll on him. I had never seen him so sick. Of course dad kept playing every Thursday. It's now been 2 years in December 2008 since finding out about the Cancer. Just shortly after X-mas 2008  I brought my new Mino camera to basketball. I almost didn't go because I wasn't feeling good that day, but then I think if dad didn't feel good would he still play? I knew the answer so I went and I was glad I did.

Check out the video of dad in action

Previous letter I had written back in Feb 2007:

It Looked Like A Shark Had Taken A Big Bite,

A Big Vicious Bite, Right Into My Dad’s Neck

              

I am writing, on a personal level, and on a business level.  I want to inform you that my father has been very, very sick.  He still is.  With persistence however, he is recovering. 

Here is a story about my first visit to the hospital to see my dad after his surgery; I hope you are inspired by his example as much as I am….

Under the pale white light, I could see what seemed to be hundreds of staple marks running from his upper chest to his ear and down the backside of his neck. They were bright red and painful looking.  He was wearing a light blue hospital robe, and was slumped over, looking older than I could have ever imagined seeing him.  Nowhere present was the strong image of my childhood hero, Gary Keeth, my business partner and also my teammate on the basketball court. 

This man, who I had never seen miss more than 1 day of work in over 30 years of his career, my friend, my father.  When I was finally able to see him after the doctors had removed hundreds of lymph nodes from his head and neck, removed the cancerous tumor from his throat and tonsils, and place a nerve graft on his neck and shoulder area, he looked physically bad enough to bring me to tears.

“I can lift it up”! 

Gary

said.  “I can still shoot a basketball”!

Contrary to his battered appearance, he was brimming with excitement and vigor!  He was waving his right arm, the arm he shoots a basketball with frantically towards the ceiling.

“I can play basketball” he repeated, “AND the drums…I can still play the drums”!

Such are the lessons I have learned from my dad over the last thirty-four years.  He has been a model of vitality, and success against all odds with the help of determination and persistence. 

These lessons are what we have incorporated into our business, pouring our hearts and our souls into our client’s unique lives and challenges.

Sincerely,

Dustin Keeth

P.S. Gary was told that he would be in the hospital for at least 6-7 days, that he would need to rest in bed and would most likely never be able to shoot a basketball again.

Gary

of course had his own plans as he is not one to sit still for long.  So to the astonishment of the doctors and nurses he was up walking around the hospital in less than 24 hours after surgery and was home within 2 days eating solid foods and calling clients; despite only being able to talk just slightly above a whisper.

And best of all, I was able to play basketball with my Dad less than 10 days after his surgery and on a full court too!

Normandy Park Wildlife. Who Knew??

I have lived in Normandy Park for about 30 years now. I always knew that there was still a lot of local wildlife in our little City. I've seen Coyotes, Red Foxes, Raccoons; we had an Owl fly over the other day. I had no idea we had Owls. But I had never heard of one of these living in Normandy Park before. I was told to look out the window this AM and was surprised to see this drinking out of our pool.

Normandy Park's newset residence.

If you'd like to move into Normandy Park too. Just give me a call. If you buy a home with a pool maybe the deer will pay you a visit one day.                                                                                                                                            

- Rare Opportunity - Short Sale - Normandy Park -

SHORT SALE! Seller's unfortunate loss = Your Gain. Over $580,000 invested in home,remodel & addition. No Money left to finish this Normandy Park home. 5 bedroom, media room, 3 car garage, storm water drainage in, roof & windows on. The upper floor is dedicated entirely to the master suite. So much room to live, play and grow into this home. Major opportunity for Easy Equity even in a slower market. Located next to finished homes that have sold for $900,000 - 1 million plus dollars.

 

                  

                                   Click Here for More Photos and Info!

                                          

Burien New Construction Smells!

Smells Like INSTANT EQUITY!!  Priced Way Below Appraised Value for a fast sale. 

Open House February 24, 2008 from 1-4PM   Only $599,950

Four bedrooms, Three Baths, Over 3,000 Sq.Ft. & Three Car Garage.

Priced way below appraised value,this is an absolute deal of the century for this "Green Built" Brand New Construction home. You will be impressed with all the upgrades throughout. Enjoy the beautiful gourmet kitchen w/stainless appliances, granite countertops, wood floors, raised panel cabinets, all while looking out into the adjacent wooded area. Other features include a large master suite w/soaking tub, window treatments in all rooms, large bonus rm, vacuum system, oversized deck w/natural gas hookup, easily maintained yard & so much more.

Click Here: To See More Pictures of this New Green Built Construction Burien Home.

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Normandy Park Junk Store Goes up in Flames!!!

I dreamed of this day for so many years. The day that the junk store "AAA Liquidating" in Normandy Park would burn to the ground. Don't get me wrong. The store had some cool stuff sometimes. Like the time when I was 13 and went in there with my friends and we purchased "stun guns" to zap each other with. BB gun wars started to get boring so we thought that stun guns would be fun. (by the way they hurt like hell and we went back to BB gun wars in the woods of Normandy Park instead, we figured shoting each other with BB's was much safer) But what if AAA wasn't there we would've never had the chance to maybe accidentally kill each other.

Except for the "stun gun" purchases everything else about AAA Liquidating drove me nuts. The piles of steel barrels, 1/2 priced desks and chairs and whatever else was picked up at bargain prices was stacked all over the Triple "A"  parking lot. I swear nobody every must've purchased a steel barrel from there because the only seemed to multiple.

I have no idea how the owner got away with that in Normandy Park. It was against all kinds of codes but somehow it remained that way for as long as I can remember, and only seemed to get worse over every year.

So on  the last weekend in September I received a text message saying the it was going to be burned to the ground!! Who was the text from?? Was it from some crazy outraged citizen, or a neighbor from the adjacent Brittany Place Condos that overlooked the junk yard, or maybe an arsonist was on the rampage.Watch the video and find out who did it.Check out his foundation to fight Usher Syndrome (click here)

He is also a a pretty darn good builder starting a fabulous new development of homes for sale in Normandy Park ranging in the mid to upper Million dollar range. For more information on those homes for sale or other homes for sale in Normandy Park see below. 

Click Here: For all your Real Estate Needs in Seattle, Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, Mercer island.

Housing prices defy logic, keep climbing

Economics 101 teaches that prices should drop when the supply increases dramatically, but the Seattle area's housing market keeps confounding that conventional wisdom.

Prices of King County houses and condominiums last month increased 9 percent compared to a year earlier -- even while the number of available properties grew 51 percent.

Likewise, the number of homes for sale was up 57 percent in neighboring Snohomish County and 47 percent in Pierce County, according to July numbers released Monday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

This continues a trend that has persisted for several months.

Yet prices in all counties rose, also continuing a trend, though at a slower pace than the double-digit rates of a year ago.

Windermere Real Estate general manager Matt Deasy says that until recently he expected the significant increase in the number of homes for sale to halt the continuing rise in prices. "I would have said appreciation would stop," Deasy said.

But so far that hasn't happened.

Why rising inventory isn't having the anticipated effect is hard to pin down, but there are theories.

All revolve around the idea that an increase in the number of for-sale homes isn't necessarily a negative factor that would cause prices to fall.

Theory 1: Last year the number of homes for sale was unusually low, so this year's increase isnt an overbundance that's flooding the market and driving down prices. That's true in close-in Seattle and Eastside neighborhoods where buyer demand is strong enough to handle increased inventory, partifularly in th emore affordable price ranges.

In the Ballard and Green Lake neighborhoods, for example, buyers last month bid up the median list price of $450,000 (for houses, condos and town homes combined) to a median sales price of $453,000. Homes priced below the median sell briskly.

Theory 2: Move-up buyers, who were reluctant to put their homes on the market last year for fear they wouldn't be able to find a replacement, are doing so now, and that's increasing inventory. Mortgage rates below 7 percent are helping them make the move.

Theory 3: Having heard that sales are slowing, many buyers feel they can take their time. They aren't snapping up houses as fast as they did in 2005 and 2006, so houses ares sitting longer on the market.

Indeed, July pending sales -- deals agreed to last month but not yet finalized -- were down 6.5 percent in King County compared with the previous July. They dipped 14.2 percent in Snohomish County and 15.8 percent in Pierce County.

That gave buyers in some areas a distinct advantage.

"People are able to shop around for quality and value," said David Milot, broker-owner of RE/MAX Metro Realty. "Anything substandard is not being snapped up."

Theory 4: Inventory is building because overpriced homes no longer can count on playing the "catch-up game.

"Two years ago, if a seller wanted to [insist on a maximum] price, it might sit on the market for a couple of months, then appreciation would catch up and it would sell," Deasy noted. Now they may wait awhile but will eventually drop their price to land a sale.

What role the national subprime-mortgage meltdown may be playing here is hard to gauge.

There's no way to know how many of the 12,902 houses and condos for sale last month in King County were on the market because their mortgages were resetting to unaffordably high payments.

As for foreclosures, King County had 335 foreclosure auctions last month, according to Foreclosure.com.

That's a per capita foreclosure rate of 0.31 percent, far below the national rate of 0.81.

Meanwhile, appreciation continues to grow, particularly in King County.

Single-family-home prices have crept up every month this year, rising from January's median $429,495 to July's median of $481,000.

Median house prices in Snohomish County have bobbled up and down, from a low of $356,000 in February to June's high of $381,000 before dipping to $370,165 last month. Temporary dips are common.

Pierce County has seen median house prices rise from $272,500 in January to $288,950 in July

By Elizabeth Rhodes

Seattle Times business reporter

653 SW 199th Place

A quiet drive down a picturesque driveway introduces you to an estate pulled right from your dreams. This home is stately, yet w/the calming feel of an East Coast home. Hrdwd flrs. thru-out most of the home reflect perfect sunlight from colonial window frames; not a speck of dust is to be found. Rooms flow easily to each other in a circular pattern making entertaining a breeze. From any room in this remodeled home only the tranquility of your nearly 1 acre lot lie within view. Welcome home...

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Detailed Property Information Here.

Search Here for More about Real Estate & Homes for Sale in Normandy Park, Burien, Des Moines & around Puget Sound.

How to Live in Normandy Park for Less Money - Click Here -

The Next YouTube Star!

I had been bugging my daughter to let me tape her singing and put it on youtube for a few months.

I showed her a post on Esmee Denters. She loves Justin Timberlake, once she saw him pop up at the end she said lets do a youtube.

Anyway bet Esmee couldn't do this when she was eight. (OK I could be biased)

By the way we don't allow her to wear makeup all the time or say "hell"  (except in this song). We did let her get all dressed up for her video debut per her request.

Check this out and give it a vote or two on youtube:  Click Here to See Our Video..

A star is discovered

Esmee Denters.

A small town girl from the Netherlands starts posting up videos of herself singing in her bedroom, and 6 months later she's signed to Justin Timberlake's new record label...and performing on stage at one of his concerts to 50,000 fans.

Thanks to the DailyDashboard.com for bringing this to my attention. I highly recommend Dean Jackson's Blog. Check Out The Daily Dashboard. Here!!

Bubble Proof Markets

I get asked the questions every couple of weeks about do I think there is a "Bubble" in Seattle. My answer has always been "no". We may have a slow down or an adjustment as prices keep rising" But I do not see a "Bubble" poping in Seattle anytime soon. Check out this article from CNN.

Bubble Proof Markets

Search Here for Homes For Sale in Burien, Seattle, Normandy Park, Des Moines, including Waterfront & View Properties.