Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. Here we are again, it’s another Thursday at noon and so much is happening in Maui, in Lahaina where we are now, in Wailuku.
Roy Sakamoto: In the world.
BS: In the world, yes. It’s pretty frightening. We’ve been sitting here in the studio getting ready to go on the air and there’s just so many things that I think are really worth talking about. We’re going to try to squeeze in some real estate to see if somebody will call us after we’ve been here. I feel like we really want to talk about what’s going on in the pandemic, things that are changing here in Maui county. Everybody has been working so hard. The Mayor Victorino has been amazing doing his best. Sometimes, like all of us, we’re all trying to do our best to make good decisions about our personal lives and our business lives, etc. We are stuck with what’s happening around us politically but in a way I think we’ve got to go with it and I support Mayor Victorino in working for us here.
RS: Yeah. His new proclamation opening restaurants to outdoor dining, I think that’s big, as we hopefully start moving back into a little bit of normalcy. I know it’s tough during these times but hopefully we’re getting there now that the vaccines are starting to come out also.
BS: One thing right now at KAOI the radio station where we’re located with the show today is so set up for Christmas everywhere you go. If you go into the bathroom the door opens and sets off a great Christmas song, so all over here if they touch one thing it goes into running off like 30 different little musical. I don’t know, it’s been really fun here. Just walk in the bathroom. You better go to the bathroom at least once. It’s fun to be in there. I think you were looking at the thing today Roy, we were talking or I was reading it but you kept ending up on the phone about this new app that’s going to be working in Maui county. Now, we’re all a little questionable on it but there’s some sort of an app coming out and I think you can look for the aloha safe alert map or app launched in Maui county for covid-19. They’re doing the thing that if you’re on it, theoretically they’re going to be able to tell you if somebody who tested positive for the virus was within six feet of you, etc. I think it’s a little scary to me because we’re all being tracked too much but still interesting.
RS: Well, I think if enough of us do this it will help. What’s the app called?
BS: What they’re calling it here is Aloha Safe Alert app. We’ve got a website here but it’s way too long to get through and have anybody actually be able to write it down. It comes through mauinow.com so that’s probably a place that you can go and then find the aloha safe alert app so that would be worth doing it but let’s all think about it. I’m not sure that I want to do it this minute but I sure want to think about it.
RS: Yeah, absolutely.
BS: Yeah
RS: Yeah, sure.
BS: Again, today we want to talk a little bit more about this. We have Dr. Norman Estin who’s going to call in a little bit and kind of fill us in. He’s one of the doctors on Maui that’s been diligently working and adding on places to be tested. He is going to be one of the strongest forces when we actually are able to get the upcoming vaccinations. I know that it’s a whole circle of people, of doctors, of executives, of politicians that are going to be making this happen. Let’s all be ready for it. I think it is going to be a category. You know, different categories when you’re able to get the vaccine. For me right now it’s a definite I would get it and the most of the people around me feel that way but we’ll see as the time comes. Most of us probably have got to make that decision to go for it. Don’t you think Roy?
RS: Absolutely. It’s a very strange times we’re in right now. As we usually do during our show, we should talk about some of the Maui charities especially during this time of year. It’s kind of weird, I know the kids are looking forward to Christmas and and New year’s and so forth. It’s definitely different this year more than any other year that I can remember.
BS: It’s going to be really hard for families. I mean the only hopeful thing well, there’s many hopeful things. Let’s say is that within the family structure, if people do whatever they can to decorate and it could be a very small amount it could be a lots of things. Whatever they have if they somehow just get it out of the closets and get it out of wherever you store it and set it all up. Even if there aren’t tons and tons of presents if you find a way to have music playing, most of us can do that on a computer or a cellphone or a radio station and be able to be listening to Christmas music. Maybe turn off the television some of the time so your kids can feel kind of festive and know that next year will be better. There are places that are making plans for gifts for children in certain age groups. I’m not sure of what they are right now but let’s all try to figure that out for people.
RS: Driving to the station today we passed a long line of cars waiting to get into the Community Church in Kahana. They are distributing food boxes for the needy and it was kind of heartbreaking there’s over a mile of cars lined up and we need to help our neighbors in this time. Let’s do whatever we can. Let’s support organizations like the Maui Food Bank. Maui food bank does a hell of a job, helping the community, feeding our ohana. We need to contribute. Everybody in our community needs to get out there contribute. Remember our Kupuna. Hale Makua is doing a great job with our kupuna, with the frail and elderly. We just had a zoom board meeting this morning that was almost two hours long. Glad to hear that Hale Makua will be getting the vaccine to our residents who want them and hopefully a majority of our residents will want them, as well as our staff hopefully right after the first of the year. I think we’ll be using the moderna vaccine instead of the pfizer vaccine. Which is a little harder, a little more fragile, it takes a deep freeze with the dry ice and so forth on the pfizer. Moderna is a little easier to handle and refrigerate it. Both need two doses so hopefully towards the end of January, first part of February the residents and staff at Hale Makua will be fairly well protected.
BS: Quickly going back to the food drop, it’s a Citizen’s Church the name of the church.
RS: Yeah. Citizen church, right.
BS: As we were saying that and talking it is the “needy” and people are used to seeing that word. Most of the people in that line they’re not typically the needy people. They are the people who are working full-time all the time. There are people that just have young children and they’ve been laid off a lot. They haven’t been getting a paycheck. They’ve been getting a little bit of this and they get maybe different sources of money, different sources of income. Maybe one isn’t there and someone’s trying to teach the kids but to have to go out there and stand in line for food has to be the most overwhelming thing for anybody. Again having looked at that today, these are people that are in our community. They are the people that have worked among us forever and it’s so hard. I just hate to even say you know put a name on them like needy. I mean, there are people that just need help right now.
RS: Yeah. They are our friends and neighbors.
BS: They are our friends and neighbors.
RS: We need to give our community a helping hand.
BS: And in any way that we can. I mean, maybe we should also check and we will when we leave the show today. Check with a couple of the local churches. There’s a methodist church nearby and just see if there’s anything that we can do even to just drop off some toys. Maybe, if all of us I mean I know there’s bigger organizations for it but I think that sometimes to just get to the people that are let’s say for us, in Lahaina. In West Maui somewhere we’re going to have to just see if we can find one set up that would accept gifts and try to distribute in whatever way they can. Maybe the same thing Wailuku, Kahului, Kihei. I know that other people are doing it but if anybody hears this and wants to give us a suggestion and if other people call us we’ll try to direct them to a place that will still be able to get them to people that are just looking for a little fun. Some puzzles and some games and some music maybe some just little toys anything will make a child happy.
RS: Absolutely. Feel free to call us, Betty is 870-7062.
BS: And Roy is 870-7060, all right. Call us.
RS: Yeah, very close. Anyway didn’t want to get down on in a down mode here but let’s support our local friends, neighbors with our charitable donations whenever we can. It doesn’t have to be a monetary contribution. It could be volunteering an hour or two of your time to help somebody, go shopping for them or whatever.
BS: Sometimes somebody that just helps get the Christmas ornaments off the shelves and you know everybody isn’t as strong as everybody else. A lot of times there are a lot of single mothers, couples that are trying the best to work all they can but to actually find the time to get the stuff all down and maybe set up a tree or help somebody get a tree. Anything that we can all do let’s give it a shot.
RS: Yeah, absolutely.
BS: I think we have Norm calling in pretty soon. What if we took a couple of these listings and properties?
RS: Yeah. We are a real estate program. We try to talk about stuff in the community but we are a real estate program. You started the show by saying brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. For those of you who are not familiar with our merger, we were Sakamoto Properties for…
BS: 40 plus years.
RS: 40 plus years and back in February or March of this year we merged with Coldwell Banker Island Properties. It’s been a great merger for us. It’s allowed us to kind of expand our scope and the power of Coldwell Banker has been fantastic. We’ve learned a lot.
BS: We have learned a lot. It’s been really amazing and from the standpoint of Coldwell Banker Kapalua which is our office now, located on Office Road at Kapalua. We have just knocked the socks off the market at Kapalua in particular and in other places but we have had unbelievable sales, unbelievable attention from people looking for upper end properties. We’ve been really fortunate.
RS: Yeah. Well, not only upper end but throughout. One of the most satisfying sales we had was helping this young couple buy their first apartment at Napili Villas. That was really fun, that was great. They were excited. They got their mortgage all lined up. We helped them throughout the whole process and it was fantastic. If they’re out there listening you know who you are. I don’t want to mention your names but we had a lot of fun. Thank you for trusting us with your first purchase.
BS: As you say that, it this is another good time to mention, interest rates are still in the twos and low threes. Anybody looking to make a first time purchase and it is difficult because so many people have been laid off and there’s so many things that are going to affect anybody trying to purchase but it still is going to work for many. There’s a lot of community programs still. There’s a variety of first time home buyers maybe nothing down. Unfortunately it does still mean you’ve got to have income but again call us and we’ll work with you or have someone in our office that maybe specifically is working in the area that you’re hoping to buy and help you with different lenders and talking to people. Even if you can’t do it right now this could be a great time to get the process started.
RS: Yeah and there’s a lot of people looking to move up. Whether you’re in a studio condominium right now and want to expand and get into a one bedroom condominium or a two bedroom condominium or maybe a small house. Call us, we’ll help you. Roy at 870-7060.
BS: Betty 870-7062 and take a look at our website which is sakamotoproperties.com that’s plural. Sakamotorproperties.com from there you can get into every property that’s for sale through the multiple listing service in Maui. It will get you wherever you want to go, every price range and really help you a lot. If it isn’t easy to navigate again call us and we’ll do our best to help you. Sometimes, specifically you keep looking and you’re looking for something and maybe it’s already under contract. We can help you in many ways, check in with us and we’ll do our best to see to it that it all works.
RS: Yeah and even if you’re looking for let’s say something Upcountry or Wailuku or Kahului, call us we have offices. Coldwell Banker has offices in these locations. We’ll be more than happy to help you.
BS: One of the properties for sale right now that I’d like to mention at the Ridge at Kapalua 1413-15. It’s the best buy right now, dollar wise. It’s in really great shape, it’s not new,
it’s pretty original but it really works and is rentable. I think that for anybody, it’s a property to take a look at. If were looking for something at Kapalua, a two bedroom, three bath give us a call on that and we’ll supply you with all the details or again look at our website sakamotoproperties.com.
RS: Yeah, this is really huge,two bedroom, three bath. I think it’s over 1,700 square feet interior and well laid out.
BS: A couple of the others that we had copied and brought along with us Robert Myers with the Kaanapali office actually Kapalua office sorry about that.
RS: Right.
BS: It is 101 Pihaa Street listed four bedroom, three and a half bath, $1.7 million. A really nice home, almost 3,200 square feet, nice lot, good view. It really is worth taking a look at. What have you got on any of these others Roy?
RS: Yeah. Here’s one listed by Elizabeth Quayle from our office. Elizabeth is at 276-6061 and she’s got a great listing at 166 Halelo St. in the Kaanapali Vista subdivision. It’s a two bedrooms, four baths just under 2,000 square feet and the lot is about a quarter of an acre. It’s listed at $1,369,000.00, it was a $30,000.00 price reduction. It was first on the market at $1,399,000.00 and now it’s a $1,369,000.00. Elizabeth Quayle at 276-6061.
BS: A couple of other Roy, Front Street. 1133 Front Street is also listed by Elizabeth Quayle. Three bedrooms, three baths over 2,000 square feet of living space right near baby beach. Really a spectacular location, listed at a $1,950,000.00 worth taking a look at if you wanna be in Lahaina whether it’s going to be a 2nd home. You see with the neighborhood there, people walking over to the beach, you can get to the grocery stores. It really is a great home.
RS: It’s really close to what we call baby beach and really a short walk to downtown Lahaina.
BS: Yeah. You can kind of get anywhere you can, get to safeway, almost anywhere.
RS: Yeah
BS: And then our other Front Street one, 271 Front Street. That’s totally different game plan, that’s ocean front. You have the frontage on that, don’t you?
RS: Right. This is located down on the south end of Front Street down towards Puamana. It’s got the largest frontage of any property on Front Street about 180 feet of frontage, ocean frontage right on Front Street, right on the ocean, 271 Front Street. House was built on 1942.
BS: Wait, you better say, you better admit that you were out swimming there as a kid.
RS: One of my best buddies lived there. There were three homes at 271, 281 and 291 Front Street. That we sold for Pioneer Mill the local sugar company. How long ago did we sell those? 15, 20 years ago?
BS: It’s more than 20.
RS: Yeah. Anyway, we sold three of those homes for the Pioneer Mill sugar company and we thought all of these owners would raise the homes and build something new. None of them have. This one has come back on the market at $2,995,000.00, 180 feet of ocean frontage. Give us a call if you want to look at this. It’s 870-7060 for Roy, 870-7062 for Betty.
BS: Again, going back to that house. I can’t quite give it up, it is livable. It’s very old, it was built in what 1942?
RS: 42, yes.
BS: There’s great stories about what goes on with that house.
RS: Oh, yeah. As I mentioned one of my best buddies lived there. His father worked for Pioneer Mill and for the old timers here we made our own tin boat. We take it out fishing, paddle out, capsize it a few times but we had a lot of fun.
BS: I’ll bet you capsized it a lot.
RS: Yeah.
BS: What I can tell there.
RS: Yeah, maybe.
BS: I’m trying to see if Dr. Estin is going to be able to get to us. It we’re running a little bit late now and I expected him to call before this but if not he’ll show up for next week and fill us in a little bit more on the testing etc.
RS: Yeah. He’s been really really busy. He’s helped the Maui county quite a bit. I know he met with the mayor and thank you Dr. Estin. Thank you for all of the medical community that we have here on Maui. Thank you for all your efforts doctors, nurses, everybody else connected because this covid is not going to go away anytime soon. Thank you for all your efforts.
BS: That really is a great one to mention. All of the medical people here in Maui, Lahaina, everywhere and how hard they’re working. Dr. Norm has ended up doing a lot of the testing and opened up a different another office over here in Kahului. His primary offices have always been West Maui but he is like running the streets all the time from one office to another being sure that everything is going okay,that testing is happening. A busy man and those around him the same and we know that every medical person right now their families have to be frightened. Everyone has to be nervous about their health because there are seen so many different people even though it’s drive through etc. I’d like to say, everybody thank you. Thank you.
RS: Oh yes, including our first responders, our emergency medical personnel and the firefighters and our police. Thank you for all your efforts. Many many Mahalos and hopefully this will all ease up in the near future and we can again get back to some semblance of halfway normal life.
BS: So, maybe as we end the show today, let’s go back and all think about Christmas. I don’t know about everybody else but I’ve got to admit I’ve been having a hard time with it. I just feel sad sometimes, sad that I can’t do the things I want to do or I can’t leave Maui and take a quick trip to see grandkids or my family back in Buffalo, New york. Most of the time I’ve been able to travel to do that when I wanted of recent years. There were times that it was a lot harder to be able to ever get to Buffalo. I’m sad that I can’t do those things and let’s remember to help one another when we’re feeling that way or to speak up and say it out loud to someone so that they may feel the same way and are holding it in. I’ve read so many things recently about in women in particular but I’m sure it’s men and women get a little depressed all of with everything happening and especially the young women that have children and financial issues and aren’t in the middle of great job.
RS: You know what’s been great though is facetime.
BS: Facetime does hope.
RS:Facetime has been awesome.
BS: I guess we’re back to Danny Couch.
Roy Sakamamoto: Mele Kalikimaka! Happy Holidays everybody.!
BS: Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
RS: Yes
BS: Thank you Danny Couch. Aloha.
