Betty Sakamoto: Love doing the radio show. Love KAOI. Love Meyer Computer—the one who managed and built our website. And Jesse’s here, and he sees to it that these all end up on the Internet. You can find them. You could even do them. You can come across them just by searching for Roy and Betty Sakamoto videos. A variety of things pop up—just when I’m trying to pull it up on my phone.
BS: It’s amazing to me how easy it is to access them. And there are so many great lead-ins—it’s pretty spectacular. They did this—it wasn’t directed by us. But we’re loving it so much now that we may just run those and not do any new ones. It’s been pretty fun.
Anyway, Elizabeth Quayle from Coldwell Banker Sakamoto is here today. She has a ton of newer listings, and she’s been really on fire—getting things together and closing deals. I was going to try to quiz her on some of that today and see where we’re headed. We’ve got close to a half hour, so we can really think about some things we’re going to share with the world. What are you thinking about today?
Elizabeth Quayle: It’s a wonderful life. As long as you can bend.
BS: As long as you can bend?
EQ: You have to be very flexible in this world. And the great news is—we’re super limber.
BS: Okay, there we go. I’m going to grill her on that in a few minutes and see exactly what she meant by that, because I think that could mean a lot of things. It could mean she’s been exercising a lot—which I would be really proud of her for. It could—nope, she says no. It could mean that she keeps herself out of trouble by staying aware of everything going on. That makes a huge difference.
EQ: But you have to.
BS: You have to. That’s—again, another whole story.
EQ: I think. Let’s start this off by just saying, first of all, I love the new office. We are looking outside and—thank you, God—for our trade winds. We can now see the outer islands and breathe again. What a wonderful, wonderful world in which we live.
BS: We can. Yes. Let’s not go there right now. I’m not sure exactly what we’re looking at, but that’s even worse. Roy always knows what we’re looking at, which is great. I’ll be looking at the corner of Maui and I’ll be saying, “It’s Molokaʻi or something.” I can’t believe we can see Molokaʻi from here. That’s the corner of Maui. I didn’t mind.
EQ: I love you. Roy.
BS: Yeah, well… but he’s always right. So I try to ask first and comment later.
EQ: The voice of reason.
BS: He is.
EQ: Mr. Sakamoto.
BS: He’s the best.
EQ: Okay, let’s talk about the kiss on your cheek from Dr. Malott.
BS: Oh, Dr. Malott. Yes! I’ve known Dr. Malott for a long, long time. But typically, it was for the problem cases. At one time, I was referred to him for those. And you’ve been going to Dr. Malott now for a long time.
EQ: My husband, Dave, and I, yes. He’s half Irish.
BS: Yeah, I’m 100%.
EQ: Several MOHS surgeries, many, many burnt-off barnacles. And we all need to give Kenny Malott a gigantic shout-out because he is so slammed—because he’s so good.
BS: He really is great. He makes everybody feel good. I think he pays attention. He cares. He wants it to look good. He doesn’t want to just chop it up and have it not come out right. He really cares. I think that’s a major thing. Sometimes we all wait too long. So if you’re looking now—I don’t even know if he’s taking new patients—but he is someone that, if you were looking for a really good dermatologist, I would call Kenny Malott. He’s really amazing. Absolutely amazing.
EQ: Well, and so many of our young people do what we did. You’re just outside, brown, enjoying life, and you’re not paying attention.
BS: Some of us just get red.
EQ: Yeah, well…
BS: And then it peels off and goes away, and then it gets red again. That’s not the best way to go. And I don’t do it anymore. But it really was—I mean, at the time, using sunscreen wasn’t the best at one time. It almost made you worse.
EQ: Baby oil on to fry ourselves.
BS: So I never quite did that. But I always knew that I did not have the skin for baby oil and sun. It was never going to work for me.
EQ: So yes—parents, sunblock! It’s really ugly—well, not ugly, but everything’s got zinc in it now, and it’s safe for the reefs and the fishes. And very importantly, it saves your kids.
BS: It sure does. And it saves you.
EQ: And it saves you.
BS: You. It saves you, in the big picture, from everything.
EQ: Be aware, be cautious, and continue to be grateful for living here.
BS: Yeah, let’s be grateful. We were talking before we came on the air about all the different things going on here on Maui since the fires, more or less. But it really is a huge, huge thing. We’ve had lots of conversations about exactly what’s happening and what’s going to happen on Front Street.
We were with some people last night talking about it, and I don’t think anybody really knows. I mean, everybody thinks a different thing is happening. As I see it—nothing’s happening. And it’s really two years. I mean, this is a long, long time to let businesses sit closed up—or not closed up, I mean, they’re gone.
For any of us who have gone and walked Front Street, you don’t even know where you are. I mean, you would think that you would know—”Oh, this would be the corner of Lahainaluna”—but you don’t, because there’s nothing there. There’s just absolutely nothing until you get to the tree that everybody talks about.
EQ: The banyan tree.
BS: Yes, the banyan tree. That by itself is absolutely amazing. And it’s coming back. It’s looking really great now. I’m told that the tree is not really something that was native here, or that was there in the very early, early days. It wasn’t. It’s something that became more of an attraction for our visitors. But you also hear people who have lived here forever that believe it’s somewhat of a… that it was here forever—that it’s forever, ever, ever.
EQ: And it’s one of the treasures.
BS: Yes, it’s one of the treasures.
EQ: Yeah.
BS: So that by itself is pretty interesting. Have you gone down to see the tree?
EQ: I’ve done Front Street almost every time I come to the other side, because we weren’t allowed to go down Front Street for so long. Dave and I used to drive separately—and, you know, I moved here from a big city 42 years ago—for me, I would much rather take Front Street, look at the ocean, and not hit any stop signs. And then it ends up merging with the highway.
BS: Yes, it does. Absolutely.
EQ: The fact that I couldn’t take Front Street for almost over a year and a half—I do it every time now, just to remind myself, first of all, how beautiful it is. And secondly, that we should get a lot more oceanfront views…
BS: Absolutely.
EQ: Out here, right?
BS: I haven’t done it so much. I think about it, but I just don’t do it.
EQ: I’m forcing myself to do it. Everything is so shocking. We’re still having PTSD about everything, as I’m sure most people are. But for me, I feel like it’s my duty. I feel like I need to do something and send out whatever vibes I can, because at this point, the main issue is that nobody knows.
BS: Nobody knows.
EQ: Could somebody tell us, please?
BS: Everybody has a different opinion on what should happen or what will happen. And that by itself is difficult.
EQ: It’s the old capital of Hawaiʻi. It was so quaint and such a treasure. It’s got to be addressed. It has to. It’s been so long. Please, somebody give us a hint.
BS: It is being addressed. And I think everybody is talking, talking, talking. There are so many different opinions, which I think are making it really even more difficult. Because I kind of would like to see people who had a business there be able to reopen their business.
EQ: Absolutely.
BS: They spent a lifetime of money, a lifetime of effort, and care. Some people would make them out to be the bad guys because they’re running a business. But I think they’ve worked really hard to do that. A lot of the places that were right on the ocean—I guess a lot of that is still owned by the state. I don’t know. It’s kind of a mystery to me.
EQ: I miss my yacht club. I miss Kimo’s. Most art galleries are on the water. I miss that walk after Cheeseburger in Paradise, because when I first moved here, we lived on Lahainaluna Road—where our veterinarian’s office ended up being—across from Ed’s Union.
BS: It’s where Roy grew up. 463 Lahainaluna Road.
EQ: Yeah. And we had a dog that would follow the kids after school to the harbor while they were surfing, and he would cruise up to the fishing boats, get some pieces of sashimi, and wait for the kids to come home. So there’s—I mean, everybody has stories about Lahaina.
BS: No question. Everybody does.
EQ: I like to see the sticks in the water at the Wahikuli. It really does make my heart happy to see that. But the business—I mean, it was the capital, it was the center, it was where, you know…the art galleries for Friday night.
BS: That’s right.
EQ: You could be cultured, just take a walk and learn something.
BS: Jewelry stores. A lot of times, just things with…
EQ: Music.
BS: It could be almost anything. But there was a shop where you could buy almost anything on Front Street.
EQ: Yes.
BS: That’s an interesting thing. Probably overpriced—but again, the rent was overpriced. Everything was overpriced in a way. It just depends on how you look at it.
It was the heart of Lahaina—and the heart of tourism, in a certain way. So by itself, that’s a huge, huge thing. So I don’t know. I think all of these things really matter. It’d be nice to have them open up again—or somebody with a great idea to come forward and work with everyone to see to it that something happens.
But it’s got to start again. Something’s got to start. It breaks your heart—just driving from out north and heading to Kahului, Wailuku, or wherever—and you just bypass it now. You’re at least… I think I’m going to start doing the drive-through in Lahaina every time I come back. I don’t think I’ll do it on the way out of town.
EQ: It’s kind of… You know, going 20 miles an hour is tough for some people. And now, if you take the regular road instead of the bypass, it’s 35 miles to Olowalu or to where they meet. That’s tough.
BS: No, the bypass is very…
EQ: Efficient
BS: Well, let’s say it’s efficient. I’m not going to say what I think the speed limit is, because it is difficult if you’re actually trying to drive the speed limit. And I typically try to—it’s hard, because the traffic is really, really busy right now. So we’ll see where that goes. I don’t know what else is going to happen there, but I think it’s going to be interesting.
EQ: I love the fact. Tuesdays—Dave and I have our day off. We get to go away and do Costco. Every time, we’re heading to Wahikuli at 6:37 in the morning…
BS: Oh, traffic.
EQ: The traffic coming into Lahaina is backed up to the tunnel.
BS: It is. It’s back to back to back.
EQ: It makes me happy that people are coming to work, but why should they have to pay that price?
BS: Right. I know—it’s hard because there’s nowhere to live over here that anyone can afford.
EQ: So much evaporated.
BS: So much evaporated. Exactly. I mean, when you think about Wahikuli—and now they’re rebuilding—well, actually, slowly but surely. The houses are going up pretty quickly, but when you look up there, it’s still pretty sparse. If you actually walked through, you’d see that there are so many vacant lots. I hope they’re controlling that so it comes out great—because it should.
A lot of people I know had a difficult time because none of us ever imagined our house would be gone. You don’t think there’ll be nothing left—just flat ground. Everything is gone. You didn’t insure for that, and you didn’t have the money to—because insurance is already expensive. But I think that’s really difficult now. If your house is gone, nobody has the right amount of insurance. I think the county may help a little, but we’ll see.
EQ: A lot of those homes in Wahikuli actually were multigenerational. So they did the Winchester add-on and add-on—without permits—and had multiple rentals in there, which were great income sources. So if you can rebuild, you’re not going to have the Taj Mahal —or the income you were getting from it.
BS: It’s going to be hard.
EQ: So it’s going to be a whole different way of living.
BS: It’ll be a whole different way of living. It’ll be less generational to begin with. But again, it is great that people were able to do that with their family—you know, that they had four generations living there and they all got along okay. I mean, I have three sisters, and I don’t think you could put the four of us in a place for more than five nights without someone losing their head!
And yet we love one another. But it’s totally different. It’s amazing. We should go back to talking about some listings—this is a real estate show!
EQ: Let’s talk about…
BS: The house Upcountry.
EQ: They have a beautiful house listed at 1525 Kaupakalua Road in Haʻikū. Five and a half acres. Main home—single story, over 4,000 square feet. Three bedrooms, all en suite. Extra baths, a gorgeous library, office, wraparound decks, and beautiful pastures. They have sheep, and the farm really has gorgeous trees. They planted all these different fruit trees around the perimeter of the farm. So the middle of it all—it looks like New Zealand. Just grazing, perfect lawns. Then they have…
BS: The pictures you have online are spectacular.
EQ: It’s gorgeous. My son Alex was helping the seller—he has a business called Junk in the Trunk. He was hauling things for the seller.
BS: He has a great business. He calls it Junk in the Trunk. He’ll pick up almost anything—for a fee—and take it to the dump or wherever it needs to go.
EQ: Well, the seller and her mom fell in love with Alex and Harley, because his dog Harley goes everywhere with him. And she said, “I’m going to sell this,” and Alex said, “You need to call my mom”. So the fact that somebody from Haʻikū—and she did interview several realtors—but I’m really, really blessed to have this listing. It’s gorgeous. So a very lucky person is going to come in there.
BS: And they’re lucky that you took it, because you are a great agent, and you’re constantly doing another deal. That’s what I’ll say: “What are you doing today?” and you say, “Well, I’ve got this one, and that one,” and whatever’s happening. But this one really is a little bit outside of where you normally work. But my understanding is, from people who have gone up there—agents—that it’s spectacular. that you put it all together. You went up there and totally staged it.
EQ: Actually, the mom—Rosa—came up from Texas. She’s 84 years old and took care of everything that needed painting. Everything. Got it handled. She did have—well, the space is so big—she had two king-sized beds in every one of the bedrooms. So the only staging I did was say, “Okay, you’ve got to get rid of these extra beds.”
People need to see the space. So Jake and Alex handled that. But yeah, she changed out the windows in the place, they have photovoltaic… It’s just one of those rare properties. It could be fantastic. You could have an equestrian center there. You could have children come in who need horse therapy or just natural therapy. You could make it a writer’s retreat. You could make it an art…
BS: Or you could just live there.
EQ: You could have a healthy house. The cottage is actually the size of Dave’s and my little home in Haʻikū. The tenants in that particular cottage have really taken good care of it. It was built in 2007 or 2008.
BS: Tenants are still there? They’ve stayed?
EQ: Yes, that’s nice. Those tenants have stayed on. It’s just something—it’s very easy to show the cottage. The tenants are off on the weekends, so you have to arrange for that. But if you want to see the home, let me know. I’ll make it happen for you. It’s gorgeous.
BS: Yeah, I’ll get up there within the next week. I know Roy had some people he was talking to today. It might be a little more than they wanted to spend, but they called us yesterday and were referred by someone. It was great talking to them, but I think they’re more in the “up to two-something” range.
EQ: Well, they have two 1,250-gallon septic tanks. Everything is updated and new. There’s a single 100-amp meter that both houses share, which is fine. And with the photovoltaic running both homes, the electric bill is less than $300 a month.
BS: Wow, that’s great.
EQ: So it’s just—I mean, you don’t want to be talking about how affordable it is—but it’s efficient. If you’re going to be running a farm or doing anything with the property, there’s nothing you need to change.
BS: That’s great. Nothing. Because it’s hard—no matter what you buy today, it seems like it’s been rented or occupied for a long time, and a lot of things will need work. People are pretty good. At Kapalua, often folks will do nice upgrades before listing a property. Some won’t—they figure the buyer will want to do it their way. But what your people have done is spectacular. The photos—I mean, I do have to get up there. The photos of the green… It’s really green.
EQ: It’s green—and the fruits. We have gardenia bushes at our house. Yesterday was a two-gardenia morning. Last time I went up to the ranch, about a week ago, I had a gardenia in my hair from my house, and while walking around, I realized their entire driveway is lined with gardenias.
BS: You’ve got one little tiny one there.
EQ: Yeah.
BS: But one tiny one is usually all you need. That’s enough. Let’s not get greedy with our gardenias.
EQ: Let’s turn back to people preparing homes for listing. Imagine this—it’s 1970.
BS: Okay…
EQ: This family has owned Kāʻanapali Plantation, unit #6 on the Golf Course.
BS: Is that the one I saw? Now this place is spectacular—and I saw it before Elizabeth even finished working on it. She was already working on it, but I had gone by—we had gotten the lockbox from you—and it was great as an agent to walk around and take a look. I thought it was spectacular. They completed everything.
EQ: They completed the renovation in January of this year.
BS: Just so everybody knows, I think we’re at a two-minute warning. Are we? Almost? Okay, keep going.
EQ: Anyway, it’s never been rented. It’s been vacant. On the golf course. Two-bedroom, two-bath corner unit. Great views. Nobody above you. Kāʻanapali Plantation has new aluminum roofs—they look like shake, but they’re great for insurance and great for fire protection.
BS: I thought for sure they were wood.
EQ: No.
BS: I wasn’t really looking at it, but that’s great.
EQ: So that’s listed at $1,325,000. You’re buying a home on the golf course. Brand new everything.
BS: And it’s easier to manage than a home on the golf course. Someone else is doing the yard work, the upkeep—you could even do rentals. Do they allow short-term rentals?
EQ: The majority of the units—there are 62 units—the majority are still doing vacation rentals.
BS: And they’re still allowing that? Or is that one of those that could be changing?
EQ: It could be—depending on the Minatoya List.
BS: Okay.
EQ: Yeah.
BS: That’s interesting. We all keep talking about this Minatoya List, but it really is an interesting thing going on. There is a list of properties that were originally not supposed to be used for short-term rentals—but the minute they opened, they were. There wasn’t anyone back then who was going to stop it. I remember when some of those started—there were no other rentals. So I think it’s amazing this is all coming up now, but…
One miracle at a time. We’ve got two and a half months to wait and hear what the mayor says, and then hopefully we can move on with life as normal—and get back to building West Maui again.
BS: There really should be a lot more being built in West Maui. We need more buildings—apartment-style homes. There are a lot of small houses, etc. Now… we are at the one-minute warning. So let’s think about this: is there any final thing we want to say? I think—call us! 808-870-7062. Betty Sakamoto. Or call Elizabeth Quayle at 808-276…
EQ: That close—808-276-6065.
BS: I can’t believe I did that. Oh my God. I call you—I should know that.
EQ: I still love you.
BS: It’s okay. So I guess we will talk to you soon. And thank you, Danny Couch, for being here for us. Aloha.
