Our First Post - A Little History About Us

Well, this is the first post of our new blog. We thought that we'd give you a little history about ourselves to get things rolling and start the conversation. We hope that you will find our blog interesting & fun, and that you'll become an active participant in it. Your feedback is more than welcome, as well as any questions you might have about real estate here on the Eastside.

Just like you, perhaps, we didn’t always call the Seattle area home. Originally from Alaska, Keith came to town eight years ago in search of a better life—and no more snow! He found that life initially in Seattle, working in the telecom business, which he had also done in Anchorage. He then moved on to the insurance industry and quickly rose through the ranks at Safeco Insurance to become a team leader in Claims. After two years in insurance, he knew that he needed a change. He had always had an interest in real estate and owning his own business, so, with a little prodding and reassurance from Tim, quit his job and became licensed as an agent. He's been practicing real estate for about 5 years now and has just been nominated by our clients as one of Seattle's "FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Real Estate Agents" for 2006 by Seattle Magazine. (Look for more details in December's issue).

Since starting in this new field, Keith has never looked back. He knows that this is his passion and what he'll be doing for a long time to come. He's totally devoted to his clients and is one of those rare people who will "tell it like it is". In his spare time away from the business, Keith loves to spend time with friends & family, as well as traveling. He is also very active as the volunteer coordinator and a counselor for Camp Ten Trees, a summer camp for youth that have been through tough times and often, the pitfalls of the foster care system. Keith has a really big heart and a passion for people and their dreams.

A native of New Jersey, Tim’s folks flipped a coin one fateful day in the late 1970’s and moved, sight-unseen, to Redmond, where Tim grew up. He could have landed in Denver, Colorado, but fate led his family here to the Seattle area instead. Tim has seen a great deal of change since then, and just like Keith, loves introducing new residents to the Eastside. After 10+ years playing many roles in the wireless telecom business, Tim was rapidly approaching burnout. Needing a change of pace, he became certified as a residential property inspector. Before he was able to start his business, however, Keith's had grown to the point where he needed a full-time partner. So, Tim went back to school and became licensed as an agent. Like Keith, Tim loves spending his spare time with his family and traveling, as well.

Business has been great and in 2005, we formed our own company, TK2 Associates, LLC, (http://www.tk2homes.com/) working under the John L. Scott Real Estate banner, based in Issaquah. We've formed some very strong alliances with a local lender, property inspector and escrow company that all share our customer-focused view. In house, we've got a great transaction coordinator that keeps us all on track. Our clients have mainly been people from our local high-tech firms & large employers, such as Microsoft, Boeing, Google, Amazon.com, Safeco Insurance, Verizon & T-Mobile, but we've also worked with people from all different walks of life. That's one of the things we find so enjoyable about our work - the diversity and unique qualities of our clients. We primarily focus on the Eastside communities of Issaquah, Redmond, Sammamish, Bellevue and Kirkland, but routinely do business in Seattle, Bothell, Everett, Renton, Duvall and Snohomish, too.

We have some really exciting plans for our business and are looking to expand our team this fall. We'll be bringing on an assistant and hopefully another agent before next summer. We're going to bring some new services and features to our clients that we think are pretty unique to the industry. Our friends and clients in the high-tech arena will surely enjoy what we've got planned. I can't say what we're up to just yet, but it'll be exciting, to say the least!

Stay tuned for more details.....