Pearl Harbor, HI

Here in Honolulu, we commemorate 07DEC Pearl Harbor Day. This is the 70th anniversary. There are so many LOCAL stories from my friends and clients.

One small part: My client, 96, said that he saw the torpedo planes fly over his head when he was in Kaimuki. One of the pilots waved at him and he hesitantly waved back, thinking, "wow, they are really practicing war today".

By that afternoon, the Military Police came to his door and drafted him to Pearl Harbor, where he helped pickup body parts and bodies. Then the next few weeks was cleanup.

There's a lot of sites to see related to Pearl Harbor, but another place to go is the Pacific Air Museum at Barber's Point Naval Air Station, a little over 12 miles away.

If you are looking for a home to buy near PEARL HARBOR, Contact me by clicking here:

BestHomesHI.com

Located smack in the middle of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Ford Island connects by the Ford Island Bridge (Named the Admiral Clarey Bridge) and houses many naval facilities and has military housing as well.

The island was called "Moku ‘ume ‘ume" (moe koo oo may oo may) and the translation is ‘isle of attraction'. The island was named after a Boston physician named Dr. Seth Porter Ford (1818 to 1866) who practiced medicine at the Hawaiian Insane Asylum and US Seamen's Hospital (1861-1866).

~~~~~~~~~

When Dr. Ford passed away the island was sold to Honolulu Plantation and then the U.S. Army purchased Ford Island during World War 1 for $236,000. (Wow...you can't even buy a decent lot for that price now...let alone a whole island! )

During World War II Ford Island was in the center of the ‘attack on Pearl Harbor' because of all the battleship moorings that surrounded Ford Island.

In 1962 Ford Island was decommissioned as a separate command and then placed under the Naval Base in Pearl Harbor.

Years before there was only passage to Ford Island by hourly ferry boat for cars and passengers on foot.

The ‘Admiral Clarey Bridge" to Ford Island was completed and opened in 1998.

Up until a few years ago tourists could not visit the island without a military identification card or being invited by a resident.

~~~~~

Anyone can now go on tours to the Mighty Mo and Battle Stations Tour (which includes the Mighty Mo) but please take heed to the strict Security Policies on the website. Operating Hours are from 8am to 5pm (excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day). Access is down the street from the USS Arizona Memorial . {{MAP}}

Be sure this is on your agenda when visiting Oahu.

It's a piece of history you won't forget.

While riding past the U.S. Navy ship "graveyard" located at Middle Loch in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (the Waipahu side of Pearl Harbor) I wondered how many ships were in this "graveyard". While researching I found out that this Middle Loch U.S. Navy ship "graveyard" is also known as a bone yard.

This Navy "Inactive" ship facility is just one of the three remaining bone yards for decommissioned vessels. This facility has been renamed about four times and is now known as the "Inactive Ships On-Site Maintenance Office".

The following information is of the remaining decommissioned ships in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the bone yard, their type, dates of commission and decommission. You can click on the links to learn more about the ships.

My son was stationed on the USS Kitty Hawk and it was homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. The day the war broke out in Iraq he was aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in the Persian Gulf. It was March 19^th and it was his birthday. He has since come home in 2006 and the USS Kitty Hawk sailed it's last voyage and participated in the RIMPAC 2008, The GEORGE WASHINGTON replaced the KITTY HAWK in Japan. The USS Kitty Hawk continued on to Bremerton, Washington where it was decommissioned since January 31, 2009.

Picture below was taken on July 4th, 2008 while docked in between the RIMPAC 2008 excercises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs she serves all Hawaii Home Buyers and Sellers on the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) including all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.

Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com

Just when you thought it was safe to get in the car and look for properties...

I know its great to get a potential lead. A client that is so interested in seeing a home they sleep on your door step so you can go out looking bright and early. Out of courtesy, insanity or lack of experience you don't ask if they have talked to a Lender. you land their dream house only to find out a week later that they haven't paid their child support, they are 3 payments behind on their car and they are nowhere to be found on the list of " Free Money" courtesy of Mr. Obamas plan to save us all. Folks truth be told a pre-qual or even pre-approval is worth the paper it is written on unless there has been a DO/DU ( GOVT UNDERWRITING) approval to go along with it. Trouble is most govt underwriting approvals are not done as an extra step of precaution. A good loan officer will run DO/DU as part of the initial interview.

If you are on the selling side of a transaction you can always request to see the approval. There will be certain confidential information blocked out such as credit scores, debt to income ratios and even the interest rate, however the magic words you are looking for is APPROVED/ELIGIBLE. This means tha the govt underwriting has granted an approval based on the fact that the borrower and the Loan Officer have told the truth on the information that was inputted. Then again the DO/DU approval is only as good as the information that was entered. Chances are though if you have this in hand you are 90% on the way towards a closed transaction.

That's all Folks

Would you believe this giant golf ball traveled 4,000 miles around the Pacific Ocean between December of 2007 and April of 2008? Well, it's not really a golf ball like those you're thinking of after the Big Sony Open this last week here at Waialae Country Club.

Up on the H-1 freeway off ramp I saw IT 'back in port' this past Saturday. (Actually, I found out it came back to port on the 3rd) We got off on the Waimalu exit and with excitement of a blogger gone wild wanting to take a picture specifically for this post I order my husband to Blaisdell Park. I walk briskly to ocean's edge to get a few shots of this GIANT floating station along with a few other shots.

This is the SBX-1 Seabased X-Band Radar and a recent test this past December proved that this was the first intercept test in which data was combined from the SBX and other sensors providing tracking data. Boeing's chief engineer, Norm Tew said, "This test was an important milestone for the Sea-Based X Band Radar, a powerful, mobile sensor.

The SBX-1 comes back to Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii once a year for repairs and though I only know a little about it; the one thing I'm sure about is that it is a vital part of our enhance missle defense.

In any case, isn't it beautiful?

© 2009 Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman, Hawaii Real Estate & Relocations