Shinsato Stuff

Just some stuff meant to inspire and benefit friends, family, and kindred souls.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Building a dream house - or 3

Jeff McCord, a dear friend who lives in Seattle, has been an inspiration for taking the initiative and doing what others would not have thought possible. He left home before graduating in the early days of computer gaming to get a job writing games, moving from one coast to another, collecting the royalties as he began to pursue another dream, directing films - for which he later received a degree and experimented with independent film makers in Seattle. He eventually accomplished a successful graphic artist business. In the last few years, while he's also been raising his beautiful daughter Lucy, he's put his talents to real estate.

Jeff doesn't hover in the county offices looking for people who can't pay their mortgages. Instead he has salvaged and restored a few old homes. One of which was going to be demolished, and instead he found several coinvestors, bought the house for a dollar, and with creativity and willingness to ask, he found a place to move the home. His latest project, he restored the home of the founder of REI, and transformed the rest of the yard into into three inspiringly creative and unusal homes with beautiful views of Puget Sound. He's had a lot of ups and downs with this latest project, but with belief, confidence, and gumption - it's become a reality.

Click on the pictures to link to the MLS listings, but what inspires me most is to see what some dreaming combined with perseverence can accomplish.

If there's one thing that has benefitted me most, and keeps benefitting me, and which I know has helped him accomplish what he has -- it's been to communicate, especially to ask, and keep asking. Maybe take a different approach, but keep asking.