Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner brought to you by Coldwell Banker, Sakamoto Properties. Well, we got another day here Roy. What are we up to? My husband’s here Roy Sakamoto.
Roy Sakamoto: Yeah and here in the studio we’ve got Gary our technician here.
BS: The person that makes it happen and Chris Meyer at Meyer Computer.
RS: Chris Meyer and his wife Helen.
BS: He is the one that keeps our real estate business going. It’s been phenomenal. The people that have gotten to us by our website.
RS: Right, sakamotoproperties.com.
BS: Yeah, you can check that out anytime sakemotorproperties.com. It’s been really interesting they’ve come up with some great ideas for us that I can’t tell you on the radio because everybody will copy them. They’ve been really great and amazing. It’s been amazing for us. It’s been our primary source of leads.
RS: Yeah
BS: For a long time. I don’t know how many years but it’s probably 20 plus.
RS: How many years Chris?
BS: He doesn’t know. None of us know. We know it’s a very long time.
RS: A long time.
BS: And we are lifers in this so we are never going to change.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: He is our man.
RS: Yeah
BS: You know, a bunch of different things today that we want to talk about.
RS: Yeah. How about that song we were talking about?
BS: Yes, okay. There’s a song and I think we all know it and I wish that I was someone that could even hum a few bars. Roy might be able to. The song “Let There Be Peace On Earth And Let It Begin With Me.” Just think about those words, we’ve talked different times on the radio over the last many months about how there are so many difficult things going on in the world and you listen to that song and think about it. It is so simple. There could be peace on earth if each one of us allowed it to begin with us.
RS: Absolutely
BS: It should be easy. I just thought if we could pass that message and then if everybody passed that on I think we could. I mean, there’s got to be a way. The world changes and it’s got to be each one of us. It will matter.
RS: It matters, absolutely. Obviously, we are not a typical real estate show.
BS: Obviously
RS: We will talk real estate but we like to throw in a little tidbit here and there about different things going on. We are going to have Dr. Norm Estin calling in and he should be calling in about 10 minutes or so.
BS: He is going to give us more updates.
RS: Yeah, give us an update on the covid and what’s happening on Maui and in Hawaii in general and the US and maybe the world.
BS: One of the things again drifting back to let there be peace on earth. Last week we were talking about it for some reason. If we would all just be kind to one another like you walk by someone on the street you don’t have to know them to say good morning to kind of give a little something that says “Hi”. It might just be a smile, it might be anything. I really think especially for Maui we’ve got to all take each of these things to heart and find a way. I know Maui is going to be hard for everybody for a while. There’s going to be a lot of visitors here for some people that get a little more difficult. Again, they are our visitors and they do a lot for our island in many ways. We’ve got to smile at everybody.
RS: You know what’s going to help now that we don’t have to wear masks outside. Last week we could have smiled and nobody knew it.
BS: That’s right and I think that is funny when you think about it.
RS: Yeah
BS: There’s somebody in here right now with a mask on that we could say mask off. I really do think that the mask off is a good thing because you do see someone smiling. Sometimes for the year now or how long it’s been you at least could see somebody’s eyes smile and the eyes do smile. Let’s all do it. Let’s all remember to be kind say hello to someone no matter who they are, no matter what religion, what color, what nationality. Let’s all remember. Let’s be friends to everybody and it doesn’t take very much.
RS: No, absolutely. As we slowly get back to normalcy it’s going to be great. Now that restaurants are I think up to 50% occupancy.
BS: I think it’s 50.
RS: Yeah and hopefully we’ll have a passport for those vaccinated to be able to freely travel within Hawaii and in and out of Hawaii.
BS: That would help everybody a lot just to be able to do a little bit of something. There’s still a lot to do here as long as we have some freedom. It does seem to go out to dinner now. We are that age group where people eat earlier anyway however you pretty much have got to do 4:30 now. We used to think 6 was good but now if you want to go out to dinner and you want a reservation it’s almost 4:30 or you don’t get to do it.
RS: Well, with reduced capacity and all yeah it’s hard to get reservations.
BS: It is.
RS: Yeah
BS: We were supposed to have Elizabeth Quayle here today. She was going to be with us but had a little bit of a car problem and just kind of had some interesting thoughts on her brain. She will come back in 2 weeks and kind of have a little bit of a moment with us. Elizabeth, if anyone is looking for her she can be reached at (808) 276-6061.
RS: Okay
BS: Okay, so if you need Elizabeth that’s where you find her today.
RS: Right and speaking of restaurants we touched on I think the lasts shows some of our favorite restaurants.
BS: Yes
RS: You want to do a quick recap?
BS: Well, of course for me Honu. Honu is fabulous and everybody knows where it is behind Safeway on the ocean. Spectacular and Frida’s right there.
RS: Yeah
BS: Both the best food. The ahi bruschetta from Honu is like my all-time favorite food. I could eat it 3 times a day. Well, 2 maybe but anyway it is everything in there is fabulous. The help there, the waiters, everybody that’s in there. They are happy and they are happy to be working and happy to taking care of you. Spectacular restaurant.
RS: No question. Absolutely.
BS: Perfect place to take any client.
RS: Yeah
BS: Any friend, family.
RS: And you can see actual honu right in front of you.
BS: That’s the real spectacular thing.
RS: Many turtles out there.
BS: They are amazing.
RS: Yeah
BS: Frida’s also the same thing.
RS: Yeah and right next to that is Mala.
BS: Mala has been there also forever. The 3 restaurants in a row. They are all really spectacular. Another favorite Roy’s.
RS: Roy’s in Kaanapali.
BS: Then we are kind of liking and this one kind of steps it up quite a bit. The Montage is really for anybody for a special event.
RS: Cane & Canoe
BS: Cane & Canoe really great place to go. Anything at the Ritz Carlton. They’ve got their breakfast opened up again. Breakfast at the Ritz none of it is inexpensive but it’s so fun and they are so happy. It’s like cheers. They are glad you came there and they are going to know your name when you come back again. Any of these places are so good at it.
RS: Lucky that we live Maui.
BS: Lucky we live Maui. It is spectacular.
RS: Sure, absolutely.
BS: So, are we going to think real estate?
RS: Yeah, as we wait for Dr. Estin to call in.
BS: He might want to check-in.
RS: Yeah. The real estate market has been kind of interesting. We had no idea this was going to happen. The market was going to go crazy during a pandemic but it has gone crazy and interest rates are still low. It’s a great time to buy still even though inventory is low and prices are up. They are not going to come down. For guidance and we’ll talk about some properties. For guidance feel free to call Roy at (808) 870-7060 or Betty at (808) 870-7062 or check our website sakamotoproperties.com.
BS: Actually, you can get into our website sakamotoproperties.com and find anything that’s in the multiple listing service. You will be able to find our listings and everybody else’s listings. RS: Anything in Maui county, Lanai, Molokai if that’s your market that you’re interested in come on to sakamotoproperties.com.
BS: You will find whatever it is you need or if you are not finding it for some reason give us a call. The numbers are easy to find and you’ll find those no matter what at the same website sakamotoproperties.com. Elizabeth Quayle is also usually available at (808) 276-6061. Casey Fukuda, there’s a number of different people that are in our office at Kapalua all the time. Somebody’s there every day starting at 8:00 o’clock sometimes earlier. I guess 8:00.
RS: Yeah. Here’s a great listing to start off. It is a fairly new listing. It is only been on for about 10 days. It is at 79 Kahana Ridge Drive. It is listed by Peggy Lyn Speicher out of the Kapalua office of Coldwell Banker. Her number is (808) 495-3525. 79 Kahana Ridge Drive is a 4 bedroom, 3 baths, a little over 2,300 square feet with just under 6,000 square feet of land. It is in the really popular Kahana Ridge Subdivision. It is listed at $1,450,000. Sales have been really brisk at Kahana Ridge.
BS: It has been an amazing location and I know Peggy Lyn has been having open
houses there off and on. Again, you’ve got the number in front of you, Peggy Lyn. Do you want to say it one more time?
RS: Yeah
BS: If she isn’t having an open house I think she is been able to show it fairly freely. It will sell pretty fast.
RS: Oh, no question. Absolutely. Peggy Lyn is (808) 495-3525. Give her a call to look at 79 Kahana Ridge Drive.
BS: Another one that I like. Marcy Rhody has a new listing or relatively new. It is been on the market for definitely over 30 days and it should end up selling fairly quickly. 13 North Piki Place in Kaanapali Hillside. Again, great development. It has a fabulous pool in good shape. It is owner-occupied so we are able to show it fairly quickly. Marcy can be reached at (808) 280-2255. That’s another one and we may be getting Dr. Norm Estin on the phone right now. Let’s see what Dr. Norm has. Hey Norm, here we are again.
Dr. Norman Estin: Hey, good afternoon Betty and aloha from West Maui.
RS: Aloha Norm.
NE: How’s everything over there?
BS: Everything is good. We did talk about you a little while ago and hoping to get information on one of the things that I’d love to hear a lot about is encouragement, as you always do for someone who has not been vaccinated. Filling us in on how we are doing with the covid? We know you’ve got the answers.
NE: Well, overall we are doing great. It is great news Hawaii is consistently in the top 10 states in the whole country in some categories number 1 or number 2 in terms of the percentage of people in various age groups who have gotten either 1 or 2 of the vaccinations. This is great because we now know of course the only way to prevent getting covid or prevent spreading it is to get the vaccine. There is nothing else that’s going to work and there’s no cure and the only way to be sure and get life back to normal is to get the vaccination. We also know now pretty definitively that after 1.8 billion injections have been given around the world.
RS: WOW!
NE: Again, this almost 8 billion people here, 7.8 billion people in the world so 1.8 of them have gotten at least 1 vaccination, and not 1 person who is gotten a vaccination has died and very rarely as anybody who’s gotten the vaccination got any kind of sickness. Basically, getting vaccinated protects you from any of the bad problems. You are not going to die. You are not going to get a long covid which is the long-acting version. That is probably getting one-third of the people now and the vaccines that we have are active against the new variants that everybody’s heard of that are coming from Africa, India, or Brazil. The vaccines now are safe and effective and easy. They are available in lots of places. The pharmacies have them, doctors’ offices have them. We are having the last Department of Health big immunization tomorrow at the University of Hawaii Maui Campus on Kamehameha. There are always going to be vaccines available. Doctors on-call offices everywhere have them every day. Most doctors’ offices have them and we are still recommending the 2 shots Moderna one that you get 1 and then you get 1 about 4 weeks later or the Pfizer one, you get one and then one 3 weeks later. There is also a single dose Johnson & Johnson that’s available in a lot of places as well. Again, these will prevent you from getting sick. They will prevent you from having to be in a hospital. If you do get exposed to somebody you will not have to quarantine. Whereas now if you are not vaccinated and you get exposed to somebody you have to quarantine for 10 days. You will be able to go inter-island without having a test. You will be able to go to large public events. You will be able to go to gatherings. It is pretty amazing.
BS: One thing for anyone who doesn’t know doctors on call is located in the shopping center right as you leave Kaanapali or on the right there in Kaanapali where Times Supermarket is. They have a great office there and they have a brand new office in Wailea at The Shops. Spectacular. It is like state of art, beautiful. Great employees there, great medical employees so both of these places Norm anybody can come now to get vaccinated or for medical service.
NE: Thanks so much for the kind words, Betty. We are feeling very good in the county. The governor wants to treat every island and every county the same now as you know we’ve had different policies for testing and screening on Kauai and the Big Island of Maui. Now, the governor wants to have it all be the same. He is ready to loosen up the restaurant seating capacity restrictions and as soon as we have a few more percent vaccinated and some of the travel restrictions are going to be lifted fairly quickly as well. We are going to get life back to normal if a large number of the people that haven’t gotten vaccinated and that’s some of our listeners out there who are still on the fence and now they can realize hey this is a safe vaccine we haven’t had any problems with it. It is time for me to go ahead and get vaccinated. We are starting to see these people come in every day which is great. There is a tremendous sense of relief in them after they get a vaccine. They finally feel safe. They don’t have to worry about going out or doing anything. It is pretty amazing so we are turning this around. Fortunately in Hawaii, fortunately in this country we are a lot better off than a lot of countries as you know, there are some giant outbreaks in India. A lot of Asia is closed because of the Indian variant. There is a resurgence in France. This resurgence in South America and Africa. China is producing a lot of its vaccines and selling it to 3rd world countries. It is going to be a couple of years until the rest of the world gets it together but in the meantime, we have the chance to get life back to normal here. We have a lot of visitors coming in from the United States. We don’t have international visitors yet because they can’t travel but they’ll be able to in a few months. We are slowly getting things back to normal. All good news.
BS: Well, Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We were all earlier talking very seriously before you got on about the song “Let There Be Peace On Earth” Norm. It is something that you would love to hear about. Our point is that we really need to have peace on earth. We really need to help everybody in India and around the world and support that. The point of the song was “let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Norm Estin is someone who has made his career these days out of a scene. That people understand what’s going on with the coronavirus. That they were able to get tested and now that they are getting vaccinated. He is almost, I’m not sure single-handedly but I’m going to say in my world it appears to me he has single-handedly taken a huge amount of worry out of the whole vaccine, about the coronavirus, etc. He is a person that lets it begin with him.
RS: Yeah
NE: Thanks for your kind word, Betty. The message is we all want to be safe and we are starting to realize none of us can be individually totally safe until we are all safe. That means none of us are protected until we are all vaccinated. That is the big message. Again, this is a virus that’s in the air. It spreads around the world whenever it wants to. There is no treatment for it other than the vaccine that prevents it. We can’t all individually feel safe and comfortable until we are all vaccinated.
BS: It sounds perfect.
NE: Again, an example of its one world.
BS: It is one world.
RS: Is there any cost for those that have been unvaccinated to come in and get a vaccine shot Norm?
NE: No. It’s fantastic. The vaccine is free. Totally provided by the federal government.
All the research costs have been worn by the federal government. All the insurance companies
are waiving the co-pay so there’s no charge regardless of whether you are insured by HMSA, Medicare, UHA, Kaiser. It doesn’t matter. Even if you have no insurance there’s no charge for it at all.
RS: That’s huge.
BS: That’s huge.
NE: This is absolutely huge. There probably will be a booster which is another question in November or December because there is been some change in the virus. We are all going to need to get one booster and another 6 or 8 months to get fully protected. We may need it every year like we get a flu shot but that’s down the pike here. That will probably be free and available at every doctor’s office.
BS: Perfect. We now have hit through the 5-minute warning mark so we are going to try to throw out a few additional real estate items for people so that our doors will be flooded when we get back to the office. Sound okay?
NE: All right. Thanks so much.
BS: Thanks Norm. We will see you later. Aloha.
RS: Thank you, Norm.
BS: Back to a few of our things here. Again, the same thing real estate wise it’s a great time to be buying. Prices in many cases are up but by the time you take that and look at the current interest rates that I don’t think we will see lower again for a long time. Even though right now they’ve bounced down a tiny bit again.
RS: Yeah, not much.
BS: It is a great time.
RS: They have stabilized right.
BS: They have stabilized. Prices again what you said before is true they have been up. There is still some really great value for owner-occupants and everything that you do.
RS: Yeah, whether it is owner occupant or investor or whatever. It is a great time to buy and again come on to our website sakamotoproperties.com or give me a call 870-7060 or Betty at 870-7062 and we’ll point you in the right direction. We will certainly help you.
BS: We can help you in a lot of different ways. Some of our listings like Maui Kai really great building something that’s used primarily for a 2nd home or maybe even more rentals.
RS: Yeah, vacation rentals.
BS: Vacation rentals.
RS: Great location
BS: In our office have somebody that can work with you on that and help you figure out a way to make a purchase. That will be for a 2nd home or a vacation rental or a home that might have an Ohana that will help you with it. Let us talk to you. Roy 870-7060 and I can be reached at 870-7062 and our website.
BS: Prepared by Chris Meyer, Meyer Computer.
RS: Meyer Computer.
BS: It has been one of the easiest most functional which is acknowledged by many people that come on our site and stay. They signed in. We don’t bother anyone that’s signing in on our website. We figured that they came on. We know that the person’s been on our site but we are not someone that’s all over them. We are hoping that you will call us to talk about real estate unless it’s someone that we’ve kind of know we do our best. Now, we are 2-minute warning
RS: Yeah, but by coming to sakamotoproperties.com again like Betty says we won’t be bugging you but if you have any questions you can use the link there to email us questions. You can stay anonymous or whatever but we are here to help.
BS: We will get back to you as quickly as possible. We end up the show with Danny Couch again and I love Hawaii which is kind of one of my all-time favorite Hawaiian songs. Danny’s music is available anywhere that you would buy music. We’ve gotten some things off and on even from amazon.com. Danny Couch is one of the top Hawaiian musicians as far as I’m concerned. Here we are.
RS: Yeah
BS: I love Hawaii. Thank you for listening today and we will see you in 2 weeks.
RS: Aloha
BS: Aloha.
