Betty Sakamoto: Aloha. Welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner, brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. Roy is here in the studio today, which is going to be kind of fun because we’re together. Thanksgiving is over, and we’re all looking forward to Christmas. Christmas trees are up, decorations are everywhere, and everything is in full swing. It’s going to be the best Christmas ever!
Roy Sakamoto: Christmas and Hanukkah.
BS: Christmas and Hanukkah. Good catch on that one.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: Thank you.
RS: That’s a fun time. There’s a big difference between Christmas last year and this year as far as Maui is concerned. With the line of fire last August, Christmas wasn’t that much fun last year. But as Lahaina rebuilds, it’s looking brighter.
BS: I agree. It is looking brighter. It’s still heartbreaking. So many people have already moved away because they haven’t been able to find housing that makes sense for them. There’s a variety of housing going up that I think will help people, at least temporarily. And some of it’s really exciting—like the thing at Kapalua. Roy, tell people a little about that one.
RS: Well, we’ve got 50 modular homes.
BS: Five, zero?
RS: Yeah. The homes were supplied by Daiwa House from Japan. Bought and paid for by Mr. Yanai, the owner of the golf courses at Kapalua. Initially, these were for the displaced residents of Lahaina who worked for the golf courses at Kapalua. Now, we’re opening it up to other Kapalua employees, and we’re also looking at possibly opening it up to teachers and first responders.
BS: I think that makes so much sense.
RS: Yeah.
BS: It took so long to get finished, which wasn’t the fault of Mr. Yanai. There were a lot of other things that got in the way of actually making it happen way, way faster.
RS: Yeah. Unfortunately, the county and the state didn’t have a roadmap. This had never happened before, so there were a lot of challenges along the way. But thank goodness we were able to overcome all these challenges. And, now the homes are ready.
BS: The homes are ready, and I think they’re really sweet. They’re totally furnished, with a washer and dryer. They are small, but I look at them and I know we could live in one. Sure, we’re in a fairly big house right now, and it’s been great, but if we had to live in one, we could do it.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: And they have everything. For people who lost so much, I mean, there’s a washer and dryer kind of in the kitchen area. There’s a tub, televisions, air conditioning—they’re really sweet. And when you’re there, you’re in an area you’d love to live in and maybe even own a house for the rest of your life because it’s spectacular. You’re just adjacent to the golf courses. It’s basically where the old Village Golf Course was. I think it’s the first fairway.
RS: Yes, the first. The first hole.
BS: So, the whole first hole is being used for this because that golf course closed a while ago. It was once my favorite golf course.
RS: For a lot of people.
BS: For a lot of people, it was the greatest golf course of all time.
RS: Right.
BS: But this has been a miracle, I think, by itself. And the people who have moved in are happy.
RS: Oh, they are. No question. Absolutely. It’s fun to see the kids running, playing, and having fun. Life isn’t back to normal quite yet, but we’re getting there.
BS: The one thing about it—like you were saying, the kids and normal—is that the original intent was for it to be for all Kapalua employees, right? Those who worked for the golf courses because so many had lost their homes. But it did take longer than anyone expected, which was no fault of Mr. Yanai, who did everything to make it happen fast. But here, it just went slow. No matter what we or Roy tried to do, it was hard to get it off the ground.
RS: Well, there were quite a few people working on it. Anyway, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. Hopefully, we can accommodate 50 families. These are temporary, of course, but still, for the next three, four, or five years.
BS: They could possibly be used for up to seven.
RS: Yeah, right.
BS: So, I would think once people are in there, nobody’s leaving. That’s why the rents are good, and it’s going to be great for people.
RS: Right. So anyway, big evening tonight.
BS: Legends of Lahainaluna High School, which has been an annual thing. Well, the Lahainaluna High School Foundation is having it again this year. During the year, there’s always a lot of conversation about people who have done so much for the school over the years, and it’s really been a lot of fun. I’m on the foundation board, so we’ll be there tonight, and it’s going to be great. The honorees include Senator Roz Baker, who we all know, and he’s going to be one of the honorees – Jane Casco, and Sammy Kodatani, who passed away. He was born in 1941?
RS: His class.
BS: Oh, he was in the class of ’41? Wow. He never seemed that old to me. He was really great. Then three of the coaches: Lanny Tihada, who we’ve tried for years to get to accept an award. He kept turning it down because he was still coaching and busy with everything he was doing. Bobby Watson, who’s also class of 1970.
Lanny was class of 1966. And Michael Arakawa would be the third honoree from the football coaches. But they really did so much for football. Lanny was one of Sue Cooley’s best friends. She loved Lanny. Every time she’d come up to Kapalua, he’d somehow show up in a golf cart, put her in it, and take her out to see what was happening at the stadium—what was being built and what her money was being used for.
He really loved her, and she adored him. They had a great relationship. And now, the stadium is spectacular.
RS: Oh, fantastic. Our honorees this year—Roz Baker, Jane Casco, Sammy Kodatani, Lanny Tihada, Bobby Watson, and Michael Arakawa—are all very, very deserving of this great honor. It’s quite an honor to be named a Legend of Lahainaluna.
BS: I think so too.
RS: This will live on forever.
BS: For anyone who doesn’t know, Lahainaluna is the oldest school in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. And that’s huge. I mean, when you realize it—and if you go up there sometime and walk around, you’ll see the old buildings. Almost everything is still being used. But the stadium is the newest thing, and it is spectacular.
RS: It really is.
BS: The setting, the lighting—everybody should go to a Lahainaluna football game one of these days when you can. We’ll have to wait for the next season, but it’s been the hardest year, I think, since the building of the stadium.
RS: Right.
BS: But I think, again, they did okay following the fires last year. And then this year, it was harder than ever. The kids work so hard and try so hard. Sue adored the boys. She always called them “her boys,” and we all called them “Sue Cooley’s boys.” That was the football players. She’d come up and see them at least once whenever she was in town, and she’d always hang out with them for a bit.
RS: Well, there’s a big sign at the football games—Sue’s boys.
BS: Sue’s boys. It’s huge.
RS: Still called Sue’s boys.
BS: And the stadium is the Sue Cooley Stadium.
RS: Right.
BS: So, the Sue Cooley Stadium. She didn’t want it to be named after her. As we were getting close to the end, she wanted it to just be called something like the “community stadium” or whatever. When they were trying to name it, they came to me for input, and I said, “We’re going to call it the Sue Cooley Stadium.”
They said, “Well, what about Sue? What if she doesn’t like that?” And I said, “She won’t like it, but she’s going to love it in the end.” And as it turned out, the day she came up when it was all done—she’d been out of town—Lanny picked her up in a golf cart and took her around to see everything. When they brought her back to the big turn where you go in, she looked up. When she saw “Sue Cooley Stadium,” she grabbed her mouth. I mean, she had tears and was overwhelmed. She couldn’t have been happier. So, life was good.
RS: Oh, totally.
BS: I thought she might never forgive me, but she was really happy.
RS: Yeah.
BS: So, what else do we have today? Was there anything else? Well, there is going to be a thing up there. The Lahainaluna Store is going to be open prior to the event from 5 to 7. They’re going to have a lot of different things for sale that they carry at the school but are hard to get otherwise.
The only issue is you need to have cash. I keep saying, nobody has cash anymore. None of us carry cash. I wouldn’t be able to buy anything there with the cash that’s in my purse right now. So, hopefully, by the next time they do this, they’ll find a way to accept credit cards. But enough about that. Where are we at now? What about real estate?
RS: Well, being “Betty’s Real Estate Corner,” there are some interesting statistics. These were just published by Title Guaranty. Title Guaranty, is one of the oldest title and escrow companies in Hawaii. Here are some interesting facts they just released yesterday.
In the number of sales—and they break it down island by island—let’s look at the island of Hawaii. So far to date, there have been 836 single-family homes that have closed on the Big Island, which is 2.1% more than the amount that closed last year to date.
People are saying, “Well, the market has gone to hell.” No, it hasn’t. There have been a lot of transactions. The median sales price on the Big Island is up 10% over the same time last year. That’s 10% for single-family homes. The total dollar volume of sales is up 23.6% in single-family homes on the Big Island.
Let’s look at Kauaʻi. Just addressing single-family homes, the same trends are seen in condominiums. On the island of Kauaʻi, there have been 330 closings so far this year, which is up 28.4% over last year. The median sales price on Kauaʻi is $1,384,000, which is up 23.1% over last year. That’s amazing. There are no signs of the market depreciating.
Let’s take a quick look at Oahu. Year-to-date, there have been 2,699 closings for single-family homes, which is up 4.3% over last year. The median price on Oahu is $1,099,000, which is up 5.2% over last year. Very interesting.
Back here on Maui, a lot of people are saying, “Well, our market is down.” I don’t think so. Here are some stats: So far this year on Maui, there have been 636 single-family home closings, which is up 3.4% over last year. The median price of homes that have closed is $1.3 million, which is up 8.3% over last year.
Condominiums and land are showing the same trends. So, there’s no real slump. People are saying, “I’m going to wait until prices come down.” I’m not sure how long you’re going to wait because there is no indication that prices are coming down.
BS: It doesn’t seem that way. I thought for a while that some of the lower-end properties were coming down, and I think they did, which helped in some of these statistics. But I think you’re right—it doesn’t seem like it’s continuing.
RS: No, not by far. I’ve got to say, here on Maui, with the proposed lifting of the Minatoya Ruling—where apartments and condominiums will not be allowed to vacation rent—that has had some effect on the market. But I think the city or county council will address this after the first of the year, and we’ll see what happens. Regardless, single-family homes remain strong. There’s good inventory on the market right now, but prices are not dropping.
We were up in the Bay Area two weeks ago, in the San Jose area, and one of the local papers ran a real estate study. It showed an overwhelming majority of homes sold in the South San Francisco Bay Area—Silicon Valley, San Jose, Burlingame, San Mateo, and so forth—sold over the listed price. Something like 60% or 65% sold above the listed price. People are saying, “The West Coast is slowing down.” Well, certainly not in the Bay Area.
BS: It’s all pretty interesting. Do you know who asked us to talk about one of his places today? Ray Chen, who’s with our office.
RS: Okay.
BS: He’s got a couple of really great listings, and he’s been at the top of the market forever. But he does have a couple of listings that I think are really great deals at Kahana Manor in West Maui.
He has a listing at $555,000. It’s a one-bedroom, one-bath, very livable. It’s only been on the market for a short time, but I think it’s something that should sell and it’s priced right. And again, if somebody—especially a couple—is working together on something like this, it becomes, I say, somewhat affordable.
RS: Yeah. No, it’s a great price.
BS: It really is a great price.
RS: For any of the listings that we talk about on the show, instead of giving all the numbers for the various salespeople. Contact us, Roy, at 808-870-7060 or Betty at 808-870-7062. Or visit our website, which is put up by Meyer Computer. Hit us up on our website—SakamotoProperties.com—and you can reach out to us about any of the listings you can find on our multiple listing service, and we’ll help point you to the right salesperson to talk to.
BS: Yeah, I think that really helps everybody. But again, Ray is fabulous, and he will get you in right away. And there are a number of other properties that you brought the printouts for. Kind of interesting.
RS: Elizabeth Quayle has a great listing: a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath home at 5184 Lower Honoapiilani Rd #C, Lahaina. It’s an older home built in 1956 and remodeled in 2023. It’s listed at $1,750,000.
BS: That’s a great house. It’s small, but really spectacular, and it’s in a great location for anybody.
RS: Fantastic.
BS: Really worth taking a look at. Don’t have another disclosure.
RS: Yeah. Mary Ann Fitch has a listing at 174 Welau Way. That’s in the Summit at Kaanapali. It’s listed at $3,475,000 as a four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath. It was built in 2004, but has a lot of square footage—just over 2,700 square feet in the Summit at Kaanapali. So, again, check us out at SakamotoProperties.com, and it’ll get you all the info on all the residential condominiums.
BS: Anything you want. Yeah, anything that’s commercial.
RS: Anything.
BS: Roy has a new listing at the Ritz-Carlton, 1626, which is absolutely, again, spectacular. Huge, huge view. And you always get to be a guest of the Ritz-Carlton.
RS: That’s the only penthouse.
BS: The only penthouse there, listed at $8.5 million. It really is everything you would want, furnished perfectly. You’ll most likely keep it in the rental program because it really does pay for itself, you know, utilizing the rental program. We’ve had some people look at it who really want to make it their home. Again, it’s spectacular, especially if it’s a second, third, or fourth home, and you’re traveling and want to be able to get in there and enjoy it.
You don’t want to arrive and have to spend the first three or four days finding people to come and fix what didn’t get taken care of while you were gone. So I think the Ritz-Carlton is great for ownership of the properties.
RS: No, totally. You’ve got room service, you’ve got a great spa, you know.
BS: The beach is right there. Spectacular. The pool is huge. We love going there for early dinners at the bar area. They’ve got a really great area just outside there. They’ve got burgers that you can actually cut into four and share, then get all the other things that are on the menu. It’s just a fun, fun menu. So we’ll end up with a group of people, and we’ll order a variety of things and pass them around.
RS: Sushi.
BS: Some great sushi. Their ahi is really perfect here. Sashimi is always great. Then they do a couple of different steak dishes that they’ll slice so that it becomes a shareable dish. It’s not inexpensive, but it really isn’t when you’ve got a group. Not expensive either.
RS: No. And they do have Kamaaina rates.
BS: They do have Kamaaina rates.
RS: They’ll give you a discount for Kamaaina, which is great. It’s kind of a fun place.
BS: And bring your friends who just become music lovers. Yeah, the music is great. Again, it’s a spot that if you’ve got three or four people, and you’re all sharing everything, it’s not expensive.
RS: Not at all.
BS: So anyway, you got another one there, Roy?
RS: Yeah. Mihaela Stoops has a great listing. It’s a studio at Maui Lani Terraces. Maui Lani Terraces is a nice little condo project in Honokowai. It’s listed at $299,000. It’s a studio, but ideal for a couple or a single person, and at $299,000, it’s very affordable. Listed by Mihaela. And again, you can reach me, Roy, at 808-870-7060, or Betty at 808-870-7062. Or look us up at SakamotoProperties.com.
BS: You know, another thing right now, Roy, we’ve just finished Thanksgiving, and we’re now getting within 30 days…
RS: Way less.
BS: We’re less than 30 days till Christmas. I think it might be worth talking a little about this year’s Christmas and what everybody’s going to do. We happen to have some family coming in. Julie Ahu Flynn, who was a Lahainaluna graduate, and now I’m drawing a blank on the year. Hopefully…
RS: ’82.
BS: ’82. Exactly. She’s going to be here with her family. The kids will all be here for the better part of a week. We’re going to have a nice Thanksgiving and a nice Christmas. Really looking forward to it. But we’re seeing so many people right now who need things and are looking for things. It’s a great time to be out and do a little shopping and start to plan for Christmas.
It doesn’t have to be super expensive for everyone. I think it’s more about if everyone takes a moment, loves one another, does the old-fashioned stuff—baking cookies or sharing dishes that you make on Christmas Day and share with a few families—it can be the best Christmas ever again.
RS: And don’t forget the Maui nonprofits and charitable organizations. At year-end, we’ve got a variety of great causes to contribute to.
BS: Hale Makua.
RS: There’s Hale Makua.
BS: This is a local nursing home, but they take care of a lot of people there.
RS: There’s the Maui Food Bank. And your favorite charities, like Lahainaluna High School Foundation, are one. Whoever you support, now is a great time to be giving. It’s December.
BS: Look up their websites. I mean, like Lahainaluna High School Foundation. You can look up the website and figure out what you can do to help. Sometimes it’s as simple as sending $25, $100, whatever you can afford. The same is true for Hale Makua. You know, we’re at the one-minute warning. Can you believe it?
RS: I know.
BS: Can you think of anything else we should talk about? Oops, we’re done. Danny Couch is taking over.
RS: But take care of one another.
BS: Take care of one another.
RS: Love one another.
BS: And love Danny Couch. He’s spectacular. And I love Hawaii.
RS: Aloha!
BS: Aloha!
