Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner, brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. Today in the studio, Julie Flynn Sherlock is here with me, my daughter. She’s here for Christmas with her husband, Dan, and their two sons, Regan and Mikey. They’re all off doing something, and here we are on the radio.
We have Elizabeth Quayle calling in a little later with some information about an amazing property that’s for sale right now, which I think is going to be just beautiful. It’s located in Kaanapali—a really great property. We’re going to have a lot of fun talking about that in a few minutes. And as for Christmas, we just bought… pickleball. Things we have no idea about, but we were pushed into it by…
Julie Flynn Sherlock: My three kids.
BS: Yes, that means the three kids and the fourth kid—husband.
JFS: My husband.
BS: Yeah, he wanted them too. So we’ve got enough pickleball for everybody. It’s going to be fun. We hope it’s fun before we all kill one another, but I think we’re doing pretty well so far.
JFS: Yeah.
BS: Nobody’s dead.
BS: Nobody’s dead. We’re doing good. We’re having a Maui Christmas, so we’re excited to be here.
BS: It’s so great.
JFS: Yeah.
BS: It’s been so great. We’ve been out to dinner both nights so far. Now we’re going to have the real test—we’re going to eat at home tonight.
JFS: All going to be in the kitchen together, so…
BS: Yes.
JFS: Cross your fingers.
BS: Yeah, cross your fingers. We can throw people out of the kitchen eventually, if we want to… or choose to.
JFS: Right. Well, I’m excited to be here. We just arrived on Tuesday, got our car, and drove to the other side of Lahaina. It was really beautiful to see all the positive things happening, the progress. It looks like the cleanup is helping lead to a better place and coming to an end. It’s exciting to see all the different developments going up to help the local people.
BS: Well, just so our listeners know, Julie was from Lahainaluna, class of 1982. She came back almost immediately after the fires to get together with classmates, etc. Sometimes, they would just go down to the water, get in the water, and talk for a couple of hours, it seemed. But I think you’ve been here a lot since. At least you can see some changes, wouldn’t you say?
JFS: Oh, yeah, I’ve definitely seen changes since then. I took notice when Safeway reopened, and now the canneries have new changes. I think they opened a food truck area inside the Cannery Mall, which I’m excited to see this time. I was excited to see a gas station going up in Lahaina.
Also, I think Bank of Hawaii is building a new branch on that side of the island. I just think all those things are positive steps forward in getting back to some community normalcy and having all the services you need to function.
BS: Absolutely. It has changed a lot. It’s still difficult for most people. Very few homes have actually been rebuilt, and there have been so many issues with lack of insurance or insurance that’s too low for what it costs to rebuild today. Hopefully, some government factions will step in to help, because I think that’s what’s needed.
And of course, the other sad thing is that many people already owed too much to their homes. A lot of people who bought recently probably ended up with a large mortgage, so that gets delinquent in a hurry. Fortunately, a lot of people have come up with different rentals. They’ve just opened the new rentals at Kapalua—50 homes—and I think about 20 are now being rented out.
But they’re really great prices, and it really helps. It was set up originally for people who lost their homes in the fires, and people who worked at Kapalua in the beginning for golf because enough of them lost their homes. But again, some have moved away, some are still in the housing that’s been provided, but that’s coming to an end really quickly.
These took a long time to get situated, so everything that’s happened has been really, really hard for the people of Lahaina who lost their homes. It’s been really difficult.
JFS: Yeah, I remember when I first came over after the fires. Like my mom was just saying, I went with one of my friends from high school, her older sister. We met at Napili Bay, and I remember we just floated out and sat or stood in the water talking. Of course, she can handle being in the sun longer than I can, because I’m red-hair-fair still maybe not as red as before, maybe a little gray.
Anyway, we just had a really nice time, and it’s been nice to come back and see other friends, like my classmates Ronette, Rhonda, Jeff, Dean, and everyone I’ve connected with.
BS: Archie, I told you recently…
JFS: Archie too.
BS: Archie Kalepa, a classmate. I happened to spend some time with him recently. He is an amazing man, and he has done a lot for Lahaina and the community.
JFS: Oh, he’s amazing. We’re all so proud of him as his classmates. It’s been really great to see him step forward, really help the community, and be a voice for it. We’re just really proud of him. So, way to go, Archie! We’re really proud of you. Imua!
Anyway, I was just going to share—being home for Christmas, I don’t know, I just have so much empathy for parents right now. You’re trying to get everything ready for Christmas, and things are chaotic. It’s just been nice to take some moments together to eat together, sit together, watch some sports, which my boys do, laugh together, and do a puzzle together.
BS: We’ve got a lot of different things going.
JFS: It’s just a special time, so take that time to be with each other. I know everyone’s been through a lot with the fires over the last year, but just be in the moment, let go of the stress, like “What did I forget to buy?” or “Blah, blah, blah…” It will all fall into place. This goes out to all you moms and dads out there—you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, wishing you all the best in this Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) season.
BS: Well, I think you were right on all of that, and everyone should think about it strongly. There’s a point, and I think if everybody walks into their house right now, whether it’s today, tomorrow, Christmas Day, the day after, or the day before Christmas—whatever it is—walk in and don’t talk about everything you didn’t accomplish.
Talk about how much you love the people in your life. If you’ve got something that you meant to get, let the person know, and tell them you love them and that you’ve been working hard. Whatever it is, we can go shopping for it together. But if you say that, make sure you actually follow through. It’s all difficult. Everything is difficult for everyone.
Let’s have our voices be happy, tell stories, tell jokes, and be silly. Play Christmas music. Looks like we might have a call coming in. Let’s check on this in a minute. Elizabeth Quayle is supposed to be checking in about a property now. There she is! No, she’s there. Oh, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth Quayle: Merry Christmas!
BS: Merry Christmas!
JFS: Merry Christmas, Elizabeth!
BS: How was your open house? What’s happening?
EQ: It’s good. Just saying I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the radio because this particular unit at the Kaanapali Plantation where I’m sitting is always booked. So I’m lucky I get to sit here today and tomorrow and see if we can get somebody with the beautiful hook.
BS: What’s the unit number? I’ve kind of forgotten that.
EQ: So this is unit number 52. It’s a downstairs two-bedroom, two-bath, renovated impeccably. This was actually somebody’s second home for years and years. It was not used for vacation rental, so it’s highly approved for vacation rental. Beautiful. The views are incredible. You just walk in off the ground—no climbing, no steps with your suitcases. The way this building is oriented, there’s nothing in front of you, so you have an incredible ocean view from a ground-floor unit.
BS: We only got to see that for a couple of minutes that one day, but the thing that I thought was that if somebody started doing short-term rentals there, it would be booked 100% of the time. It seems like to me.
EQ: It is.
BS: It’s so spectacular.
EQ: They just started doing it. It’s super busy. The sellers are the original owners, so they have owned it since 1970 when the property was built.
JFS: Hey, well, that means they were there when we lived there.
EQ: They lived generations there.
JFS: We actually lived there, Elizabeth. Back in my senior year of high school, I remember living there when my parents rented a place at Kaanapali Plantation. I loved that complex. It was just so beautiful. Do they still have those amazing Plumeria trees there?
BS: They do.
EQ: You know what? The Plumerias are gorgeous—tropical plantings are to die for. There are beautiful Monkeypod trees, and this is set up so that, as you very well know if for some reason your view is being blocked by growing hedges or something, it will get trimmed immediately. Just contact the manager there. They’re so considerate. There are 62 units on ten acres, so you really do have this sense of space. Correct me if I’m wrong, didn’t it feel like you were in a plantation house?
JFS: Yes.
BS: Yes, it was. Absolutely.
JFS: That was awesome. I loved living there.
EQ: Do you remember? Were you guys upstairs or downstairs?
BS: Downstairs.
JFS: Yeah, I think we were downstairs too, ground floor.
BS: It was nice. It was 40-something, I think. 43.
EQ: Oh.
BS: I can’t remember.
JFS: I can’t remember the number. It was such a great place. That was one of my favorite places that they rented. It was a wonderful place, and I remember we had my graduation party there.
BS: Oh, there was a great graduation there. We spent a couple of days collecting Plumeria flowers and making leis.
JFS: Yeah.
BS: For kids at school and for this and that. I can’t remember who else was there.
JFS: It was my cousins who were in town, and they actually helped too. We all made leis for my graduation. It was amazing. The other funny story—really quick, I’ve got to tell you this. When we lived there, one of my really good friends from high school, Scott Hanson, lived at the International Colony Club.
BS: ICC. Yup.
JFS: And I remember our boys did really well. He was on the basketball team, and they did really well. I don’t know why we came up with this idea. My mom always made me laugh. He would come over to the Kaanapali Plantation unit where we lived and stir the meatloaf before the game. And then they started winning! So, before the games, he would come up to kind of hype up my taste, stir the meatloaf, and we’d make meatloaf.
BS: We obviously had a lot of meatloaves going on.
JFS: Yeah, exactly. So, well, tell us more about the unit.
EQ: You had to be superstitious when you’re doing sports things too.
BS: Absolutely. Obviously.
EQ: You’re really going to have to rewash your shirt and the next day.
JFS: For sure.
BS: That’s really great. So you’re there at the open house, you’re getting a lot of people coming and going, that’s great. How long are you going to be there today?
EQ: I will probably be here until one, and then I’m going to sneak in here again tomorrow morning. I’ll be here to check in the day after that.
BS: Okay.
EQ: As you know, it was quite busy during Thanksgiving, and we couldn’t get in because it was occupied. So…
BS: What a shame.
EQ: We just need to take advantage of the opportunity.
BS: Yeah, I’ve got some people who I think are going to try to get over there, but I’ll let you know ahead of time and see if we can make something happen. I’m going to try to get them in late today or tomorrow, so hopefully we can get that done. People who really need something and love the Plantation.
EQ: Yeah, this is just one of those magical properties. The pool is beautiful, the tennis court is pristine. We’re far too young for shuffleboard, but whatever the shuffleboard court is awesome as well.
BS: What about pickleball? No pickleball?
EQ: Well, I’m you can try playing it on the tennis court, but it doesn’t have the pickleball lineations. But you can play at the Civic Center on the pickleball courts. They’re really close to Lahaina.
BS: Oh, absolutely. That’s great!
JFS: How’s the unit itself? Did you say it was remodeled?
BS: Oh, yeah.
EQ: It’s completely renovated. It was somebody’s home, so it’s been completely overhauled.
BS: What is the price at?
EQ: It’s tiled throughout with beautiful granite. The bathrooms—remember you had dressing rooms and closets in the bathroom. The main suite, which sits alongside the living room oceanfront or with an ocean view, also has a gigantic built-in closet on the side. So the views from the bed, the living room, kitchen, and dining room are just gorgeous.
JFS: That’s great. And what is it priced at, Elizabeth?
EQ: It’s $1,270,00.
JFS: Awesome.
BS: It is a great, great place.
EQ: Super wonderful place. Before I let you girls go, I have to say something wonderful. Last night we had our behind-the-dojo Christmas party with Walter Chihara, Glen Delatori, Walter’s wife, Monica, of course. We had it at Veteran’s Holly at the top of Fleming Road here in Lahaina. It’s so nice to have the children and everybody back in their place. And how lucky we are that the Veterans share with us. We did a Pirate Christmas, so the kids could steal other kids’ presents.
JFS: Oh fun.
EQ: Great food, screaming. And we celebrated Dave’s 77th birthday, so Walter gave him seven fake spankings.
BS: Hahaha, funny. So everything went well?
EQ: It was. We’re so lucky.
BS: That’s so great. I think we are all lucky. So let’s all think that right now. We were talking a little bit about Christmas. Let’s all remember to be kind to one another, especially in our own families. It’s the thing that’s the easiest to end up barking at one another on Christmas Day or any holiday, Halloween – could be any day.
We all take it out on our family for some ridiculous reason. Let’s not do that this Christmas. Let’s all try to love one another and just be happy. Whatever gifts we get, it’s something we didn’t have before. If somebody fails to get us that one perfect gift, remember, most people didn’t get that one perfect gift today or any other Christmas.
EQ: I’ll be happy. Whoops, sorry girl.
BS: That’s okay. Maybe we should let you go. Okay, it’s 12:22. We’ll keep going. Aloha.
JFS: Thanks for calling in.
BS: We’ll keep going. Okay, so let’s go back to…
JFS: She’s fine, though. Yeah, all good.
BS: She’s fine. Oh, good. It’s just hard to do it and be on the radio.
JFS: Yeah, exactly.
BS: So we were talking a little about Archie Kalepa when she called. And Archie—what a great man who has done a lot for the community, works hard for a lot of people, and he’s just done so much. So again, a special shout-out to Archie and his family. Thank you for being at the event the other night. And it was also fun. It’s great for everybody.
JFS: Yeah, it sounds like that was a great event they had. An event to just gather at Old Lahaina Luau and just take a moment to be grateful.
BS: To be grateful for.
JFS: For everybody that played a role in helping each other.
BS: It was amazing. At the end, 400 people plus, and originally we were thinking maybe 250 people had helped in some way. Between my husband Roy, myself, Mary Anne Fitch, Namlee Biat, and Ray Chen, we put this together, and Old Lahaina Luau helped with a lot of things. But it was absolutely the greatest. It was on Sunday night, which was their night off.
Everybody had the greatest time ever. So many people were appreciated. Somebody said thank you, and a lot of people did things that weren’t noticed, but someone noticed. I’m sure there are another 20,000 people that never got a thank you.
So maybe this is a good moment to say thank you to everybody who did anything during that period of time. It was so difficult after the fires, but so many people in Maui stepped up and helped in any way they could.
JFS: Definitely.
BS: I wish you were here.
JFS: Yeah, I wish I would have been here for that. Going back to this time of year, it’s also important to remember to be thankful for one another and be grateful for everything we have. Be grateful for each other and the role we play in each other’s lives, whether it’s in your family or in your community.
So I’m just really happy to be here. Like I said before, just happy to see progress being made. What a wonderful time of year. My gosh, the weather could not be more perfect.
BS: Yes, the weather is perfect right now.
JFS: And my kids were talking about it—well, my boys were talking about the waves and how Sunday might be the biggest waves ever to go and watch, but boys, do not get in the water. Anyway, I’m just proud of my kids for being here.
My son, Reagan, my oldest, is 26, and he’s attended a lot of alumni functions with me over the years. All my kids have. My daughter, Alex, who’s 24, is studying at UCLA grad school. She just finished one of her finals, so super proud of you, Alex.
BS: And she’s studying epidemiology.
JFS: Epidemiology, so she’s going to help us with infectious diseases.
BS: We don’t quite know exactly what it is, but…
JFS: We don’t know what it is.
BS: She’s doing great, and it’s needed in the community.
JFS: It’s going to be awesome.
BS: Their community, California, but here, everywhere.
JFS: Yep, so that’s great. Then my son Mikey is here. He’s 21, and he’s here representing the University of Washington Huskies.
BS: Playing soccer!
JFS: Playing soccer for them. So, way to go, Mikey. We’re really proud of you, too. And my husband, Dan, I’m glad he’s here with us so we can celebrate this time with my mom and Roy and spend…
BS: In the community.
JFS: Christmas together.
BS: Oh, look who’s walking in the door! Roy Sakamoto, ho ho ho. Come on up to our microphone.
JFS: Hey, Papa Roy.
BS: Come on. We were just talking about you. We were talking about everything.
Roy Sakamoto: You were talking about me?
BS: We were.
JFS: In a good way.
BS: So you get your chance to say Mele Kalikimaka to everybody.
RS: That’s why I stopped by. Mele Kalikimaka everybody. Don’t forget to support the local charities. We’re at year’s end now, and a lot of local charities do so much for the community. So keep them in your wish list for donations and so forth for 2024.
BS: Roy has been on the board of Hale Makua forever, but that’s one of many places that do so much for the community. Roy does so much for them.
RS: It’s a feel-good kind of job. We had a nice board meeting today, and lots of good things are coming from Hale Makua in the next two or three months. So stand by.
BS: Stand by. Yeah. There’s some exciting stuff that I think is going to happen. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens next.
JFS: I’m really proud of you both.
BS: Oh, thank you very much.
JFS: Yeah, it’s really awesome to see them and how they’ve grown in the community. So I’m just super proud of…
BS: Thank you.
JFS: My mom and Papa Roy.
BS: We just got the two-minute warning, so we’re going to be wrapping up here pretty quickly. But again, if we say the best Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou
to everyone.
RS: Absolutely. Again, thanks to KAOI and Gary here, who’s stuck with us over all these years. Thank you, Gary.
Gary: Welcome.
BS: And to Meyer Computer, who keeps us out of trouble. Gary, do you want to say a little something here? Oh, nope. Okay.
RS: Okay.
JFS: He said “Mele Kalikimaka” too.
BS: He did. Oh, wait, he’s saying “Merry Christmas.” What is that about? Mele Kalikimaka. It took me, like, all these years to learn to say that. So now I’m going to use it every chance I get.
JFS: Well, it’s been nice to be together. So wishing everybody Mele Kalikimaka here and in Maui, and enjoy the holidays together. Be grateful for one another.
BS: I think that’s a great one. It is true. Let’s all be grateful for one another. We’ve talked a little about that on the show, and we’re almost out of time. But remember that. Remember who’s in your family and just say thank you. Thank you for whatever you can think of. And now turn on Danny Couch, because he loves Hawaii and he loves all of us. Aloha.
RS: Aloha.
JFS: Aloha.
BS: Aloha.
