Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner, brought to you by Coldwell Banker, Sakamoto Properties, and Roy and Betty Sakamoto. Here we are, it’s Thursday and it’s time for us to have a little bit of real estate talk.
Roy Sakamoto: Yeah, it’s a great Thursday and here we are on Maui, live on KAOI, and lots to talk about.
BS: It does seem that way, where we’ve gone through so many different listings right now. There’s so much happening in the market, fewer properties actually for sale. You know so it does seem like if we have a new listing – we’ve just listed a property at Kapalua, went under contract on day two or three.
RS: Pretty quick. Yeah.
BS: Yeah. I mean it was amazing, tell us a little bit about it because it really is a great story.
RS: Well, it’s a great property. It’s a five bedroom, five and a half bath home on about three and a quarter acres at the Plantation Estates. A real nice free form pool, spa and it’s got a kind of a little cabana outside by the pool. It’s not quite an ohana that’s connected with it because it doesn’t have a kitchen, but it’s kind of a Japanese style cottage, if you will, that’s connected to the main house and including a Japanese bath, a sunken bath.
BS: And we sold it, the lot, to the people that built the house.
RS: Yes.
BS: Well you did. I mean, they were really wonderful people.
RS: Right, and then we sold it once a couple of years ago and now we’ve got it back on the market and back in escrow.
BS: It never quits.
RS: No, you know, here in Maui through our Maui Board of Realtors, we get updates every day as far as what’s new on the market, what’s in escrow, what’s sold. And typically, if we are in the 300 plus or minus listings that are currently in escrow, that’s a fair market. Right now, we are right about the 400 level. So even though interest rates are up somewhat compared to a year ago, it’s still very active and we’re seeing action all across the board, all price ranges.
BS: I didn’t realize there were that many listings right now.
RS: In escrow.
BS: I really didn’t, in escrow.
RS: Right.
BS: Okay.Yeah.
RS: So it’s kind of interesting, you know, listed as pending. You know, this is Maui County, so that encompasses Lanai, Molokai, and Maui, but interesting fact. And people are saying, well the market’s going to crash and so forth. Uh-Uh we’re not seeing that.
BS: No, I mean I can’t say that I think it’s impossible that we could see a drop in the market or a change in the market. But it’s going to be difficult to have that happen.
RS: I think so and usually our summer season is pretty busy and here we are pre summer. it’s kind of graduation season right now and we are busy as heck.
BS: Yeah, I think it’s been a fabulous graduation season.
RS: Yeah and you know what’s interesting? You know, we had Sakamoto properties for 40 years or whatever and then we merged with Coldwell Banker. And we’re still learning a lot about the Coldwell Banker Network and our possibilities of really exposing our listings to a worldwide network, as well as a customer base. So let’s say, you know, if you out there are looking for a property, say in Colorado, wow, we’ve got an agent in Colorado that we can refer you to and vice versa. Colorado agents are referring interested parties in Maui real estate, to us. Uh, tomorrow we’ve got about 50 or 55 agents, top Coldwell Banker agents from Oahu and the Big Island, visiting us in West Maui tomorrow and visiting some of our listings. So we’re getting to know all these agents on a personal basis. And, you know, it’s really paid off for us to be in this Coldwell Banker network.
BS: It really has paid off and it’s fun. Last night we had kind of an early dinner with one of the agents that flew over by himself and we had met him at another event, but we had the nicest time just chatting with him, talking about Coldwell, talking about different things on the market or not on the market or coming on the market or all sorts of ideas that we all have about the market.
RS: Right, yeah.
BS: So it was really pretty amazing.
RS: Yeah, his name is Marco Silva and he might be tuning in. He knows we’re doing the show today. Marco, if you’re tuning in, thanks for great fun last night. But Marco is one of the top realtors on the big island, on the Kona Coast side. And if you’re interested, you know, call Betty or I, if you’re interested in Big Island property, we’ll refer you to Marco.
RS: And so call us. You can reach Roy at 8088707060 and Betty at…
BS: 8088707062. We’re usually pretty easy to reach and get you hooked up with whoever you’d be wanting to work with or with one of us. And we can be assured that you learn a lot about the market before we refer you on, if it was going to be something off island, because I think it is an amazing, it’s an amazing setup right now.
RS: Right, Right. And if you’re thinking of selling a property, talk to us. You know, regardless of where your property is, we can help guide you. If you’re in West Maui, that’s right up our our back pocket here and we can supervisor your listing. If it’s a property you have on Molokai, a property you have on Oahu, wherever, being exposed to the Coldwell Banker Network will certainly give you a lot of exposure and possibilities for finding a buyer.
BS: And also possibilities for if you’re moving on, if you’ve got a plan that you’re going to go to the mainland, the odds are we can find a really good agent that you could be working with as you work towards selling your property if that’s going to be your eventual goal and just ways to talk to people, get together with people.
RS: No exactly. You know, it seems to be kind of a current fad where few people are interested in selling their home, their condominium here, and then moving to, say, Las Vegas, which seems to be a popular destination. Well if you’re interested in doing something like that, call us. We can help you sell your property here and then help direct you to an agent in Las Vegas who will take care of you there. This way you’ll have an introduction to whoever we refer you to and they’ll take good care of you.
BS: Yeah, it is happening right now. There are a number of people that have made decisions to leave the island, which often shocks me. One of our good friends made that decision recently. They moved here 30 years ago, retired from Intel, made a move here, and have decided to move back to California. And they had us list their property. Got it sold almost too fast, and then they worked hard to figure out what they were doing on the mainland. They had some other referrals from people, you know, close friends back there, but they did find a property. They were moved in and they’re happy with their decision.
RS: Right and you know, here’s something that’s kind of out of left field, but we have a client who is interested in buying a condominium in Paris, of all places. Now, we know nothing about the Paris market, what condominiums there should sell for and so forth. But we do have contacts in Paris that, we referred her to. So it’s uh you know…
BS: And it’s fun.
RS: Yeah.
BS: It really is fun because you’ve hooked up with someone now that is in France. I mean, they could be any nationality. It could be someone that moved there, it could be someone that’s just a part of the overall Coldwell network. But it really is fun to hook up with someone to make a referral and then you’ve got a spot you’re going to go and visit one of these days.
RS: That’s right, yeah. We’ve never been to Paris, but uh…
BS: Nope.
RS: But, you know, hopefully we get to go there and and see this condominium one of these days.
BS: Yeah, that would be fun.
RS: Yeah.
BS: I mean, just to do it, just to make that move and got to do it.
RS: Got to do it, absolutely. So we usually talk about Maui charities and so forth. So again, a reminder, if you’re looking to support a Maui charity and all of the Maui charities need help, look to Hale Makua. Website is HaleMakua.org, h-a-l-e-m-a-k-u-a dot org or MauiFoodBank.org.
BS: Or Lahainaluna High School.
RS: Foundation.
BS: Foundation, the Lahainaluna High School Foundation. I’m drawing a blank right now on what the rest of that is. I don’t think it’s dot org, I’d have to look it up right now.
RS: Yeah, I’m not sure.
BS: But you can find the Lahainaluna High School Foundation information and they’ve done so much. And I know this year they did receive a really great grant from someone that’s really helped them to be able to do a lot for a lot of different students.
RS: Right.
BS: So it’s really pretty amazing.
RS: Yeah, we do a scholarship for a graduating Lahainaluna High School senior, and one of the requirements is, um, we don’t necessarily want the student who has straight A’s. And at the top of the class, that student will get their own scholarships without any problem. What I like to support is somebody who’s struggling and maybe a C or B is as high as they can get, but they have a lot of potential. I favor just helping to finance somebody like that versus somebody with straight A’s.
BS: I totally agree.
RS: Just a personal feeling.
BS: Totally agree. I mean, there are so many young people, definitely at Lahainaluna, and I’m sure at most of the schools.
RS: Oh, I’m sure.
BS: But Lahainaluna’s our school. That’s where Roy graduated from, my daughter, Julie Flynn Sherlock, graduated from there. And it was a great school. I mean, I think that it’s really worth supporting somebody there, but it does help. I mean, to see to it that you step in and you find a young person that maybe is living at home still. They’re still babysitting for their parents because they need someone when they’re working. They do a whole lot of things: they’re driving, they need gas for their car, they need money for a car, they need this, etc. They are working so hard to be able to just get into school and anything that they can get, scholarship wise, makes a huge difference.
RS: Totally.
BS: No, I mean, it’s not necessarily that you’re paying a huge amount to go to Hawaii schools. But I think that the ability to just get there, to feed yourself, it all adds up.
RS: It does.
BS: They need some cash to just get there.
RS: Totally, right. Now speaking of high schools, it’s graduation season. Congratulations to all the graduating seniors at all the high schools on Maui. Job well done. Good luck in whatever your future endeavors are. And I’m not sure about the private schools, but I think all of the public schools have a project graduation that the graduating seniors will attend after their ceremonies. This is a drug free, alcohol free, event after graduation. Thank you to everybody in the community that supports a program for Lahainaluna or Baldwin High School or Maui High School. Fantastic, it’s great to keep the kids safe, drug free, alcohol free on probably one of their biggest events of their life, so far.
BS: They graduate and they make a quick stop at home, if I understand it correctly. I’m not certain of that. But I think that they do make a quick stop, they see their family…
RS: I don’t think so.
BS: No? Oh, well … on the campus then, they see their family. It’s such a huge, fabulous event. And then they go off with their classmates and everything is taken care of, everything. So they have fun, they have music, they have dancing, they have all sorts of things planned for them.
RS: They go to Haleakala for sunrise or whatever.
BS: You know, they’re going to come up with a bunch of things for them to do. But I think and since this at least Lahainaluna, I know since this has happened, there’s been no fatalities at the school on graduation.
RS: Right, yeah.
BS: And most of us know of things that did happen in the past.
RS: Yeah and thanks to Joel Navarro at Ho’okele Title and Escrow. Joel every year has a golf tournament, with all funds specifically going to project graduation at Lahainaluna…
BS: Excuse me, you know, I do have that trophy from one year.
RS: Yeah, Your team won. Haha, we haven’t won it yet.
BS: Yeah just thought I would mention.
RS: Yeah, well okay, that was the first one, I think you guys won.
BS: I think maybe it was.
RS: Yeah.
BS: We haven’t done so good since.
RS: Hahaha that’s okay. But anyway, fantastic effort. Thank you Joel Navarro. It’s a charity event we love to support.
BS: It is fabulous. I mean, everything about it is great. They do so much to get everyone to play. They make it fun, they make everyone happy. They come up with all sorts of prizes. And then in a lot of cases, whoever gets the prize throws the prize back in and raffles it off so they make more money. So there’s been a lot of different things that have made the tournament work financially for the up and coming students.
RS: Right.
BS: It really does matter. It’s huge.
RS: Oh, totally. Yeah. So thanks Joel and thanks to Roy’s restaurant and Kaanapali golf course for all your efforts in project graduation for Lahainaluna and whoever other organizations that support Baldwin High School and Maui High School, we’re not familiar with them, but, thank you. Thank you, thank you.
BS: No, it is true though. I mean, they work so hard. Everybody works so hard at it. And Joel is the leader of the pack. Joel Navarro.
RS: Right. Ho’okele Title and Escrow. If you’re buying or selling, consider Ho’okele Title and Escrow, Joel Navarro. So why don’t we talk about a couple of listings?
BS: Perfect.
RS: Here’s one that’s kind of outside our norm. Here’s a property on Molokai and it’s address is 9250 Kamehameha the Fifth Highway and on Molokai. It’s a four bedroom, three bath and 2200 plus square feet and is listed by Jane Ford out of our Coldwell Banker, Kapalua office. And, um, and again for, for the show, call either myself 8088707060 or Betty at 8088707062 and we’ll direct you to Jane Ford or whoever has the listing for what we’re going to talk about.
BS: You know, I’ve got a couple of these properties that are listed by Marianne Fitch and I know we’ve got three or four of them here that are really great. But there’s one at Maluna Kai, listed at a million nine, 5045 lower Honoapi’ilani Road. Definitely worth taking a look at. It’s part of a sweet little community. It’s right near the Alaeloa subdivision. And you can walk to the Napili market, which…
RS: Oh, very easily.
BS: Right, exactly. And really, really a nice, nice property.
RS: And here’s one that Betty will find very familiar. It’s a home at 11 Hua Nui Way. It’s a three bedroom, three bath, a little over 2000 square feet. And it’s listed at a million 875, listed by Al Chiarella and Ray Chin out of the Coldwell Banker office. And again, you can contact myself 8088707060 or Betty at 8088707062.
RS: You want to talk about this?
BS: I do, yeah. We built that house.
RS: Yeah.
BS: And we lived there until we ended up moving up to Kapalua. But it was hard to sell it because I really didn’t want to sell it. I figured that one of these days we would move back into it. We built a fabulous, I think, a fabulous house. You couldn’t build on the ground, you had to go up because of how close it is to the water and it’s also in a floodplain, coming down. So, I mean, there were a few you know, what people thought of as negatives, but we lived there forever and were high enough with that house that I believe it’s going to be comfortable for anybody.
RS: Yeah.
BS: I think to have it become a major problem is almost well, it’s kind of like, would you give up living on the ocean because you’re afraid of whatever?
RS: No, this is right across the street from the ocean. 11 Hua Nui Way. It’s in the Hua Nui, Kahana Wai actually subdivision and a great little subdivision, mostly owner occupants. It’s gated and we built this house; the second level basically is our living level with the ground floor being the garage and huge storage area.
BS: It’s really a living area. So we had a workout area downstairs. We had kind of a little bit of everything there.
RS: Tons of storage.
BS: Upstairs, the screened porch…
RS: Yeah.
BS: Is totally livable. You know, it could get rained on if the rain is totally coming at you, but never did, I mean never got really wet.
RS: No.
BS: From anything…
RS: And our cats loved it.
BS: Our cats loved it. Yeah. I mean our current house, they’re not that…
RS: Yeah there’s no real place for them…
BS: Taken with it all, it’s just kind of a house.
RS: Yeah.
BS: But they loved that house.
RS: Yeah absolutely.
BS: So if anybody wants to buy that, call me. I think you might want to.
RS: It’s a hot new listing. It just came on the market.
BS: Call Ray Chen.
RS: Yeah, Ray or Al Chiarella or again, call Roy or Betty. Again, we’ll give you our phone numbers again in a second here.
BS: What else? What else you got there coming up? Let me see here we wrote a… I’m not even sure what that is. Yeah, that’s even harder.
RS: Well, that’s in the hills over in Napili.
BS: Yep. Three bedroom, three baths. Oh, I do know what this is.
RS: Yeah.
BS: Yeah, listed at right now. 3.95, that’s a good location listed by Peggy at our office. Peggy Lyn Speicher. But really a nice, nice property.
RS: Yeah, kind of a change of pace. Here’s one that’s affordable, it’s a good rental property. If you’re looking for a rental property, this is right in Kahului. It’s at Harbor Lights. It’s a two bedroom, one and a half bath apartment. Harbor Lights right off of Kahului Harbor, and it’s listed by Jane Ford from our office. And again, call myself Roy at 8088707060 or Betty at 8088707062. And we can give you more details and direct you to Jane Ford, who has this listing.
BS: What else do you see there? You know, I keep coming up with some of these old things and we’re down to about 4 minutes. The like procrastination.
RS: Yeah.
BS: To buy or not to buy and this is a little bit hard to read but it it really is a great thing. I hesitate to make a list of all the countless deals I’ve missed, bonanzas that were in my sight. I watched through my fingers slip. The wind fields, which I should have bought, were lost because I over thought. I thought of this, I thought of that. I could have sworn I smelled a rat. And while others bought them at that price, another grabbed them. It seems I always hesitate, then make my mind up much too late. A very cautious man am I and that is why I never buy. How Nassau and Suffolk grew, North Jersey, Staten Island too. While others culled those sprawling farms and welcomed deals with open arms. A corner here, a ten acres there, a compounded values day by day. I chose to think and while I thought, they bought the deals I should have bought. The golden chances I had then, are gone and will not come again. Today I cannot be enticed for everything so overpriced. The deals of yesteryear are dead, the market’s soft and so is my head. Last night I had a fearful dream, I know I awakened with a scream. Some Indians approached my bed for trinkets on the barrel head. They’d sell Manhattan Isle to me, the most I’d go was 24 and nothing less and nothing more. The most I go, 23. The red men scowled, not on a bet and sold to Peter Manuette. At times a teardrop drowns my eye, for deals I had but did not buy. And now life saddest words I pen. If only I’d invested then.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: I just thought that’s been fun over the years.
RS: Yeah.
BS: It’s gotten harder to read, but it’s yeah, fun. And now we’ve got Danny Couch back here with I love Hawaii.
RS: We love Hawaii.
BS: We sure do. Aloha All.
RS: Aloha.
