Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties Kapalua. We’re here today with Roy, my husband and myself. Roy Sakamoto and Betty Sakamoto. What a very hard day for all of us as Americans. As we settle into whatever the final decision of the American people is going to be, as to who our next President will be. I don’t have any idea. None of us do right now. Let’s just pray. Let’s pray for it all. Let’s pray for each one of us. For the United States of America. For whoever does win and takes over the government. Let’s all be supportive of one another. We are still Americans. Let’s all keep saying that over and over, God bless the United States of America. Here we are on a great day in Maui. Danny Couch gave us our lead in.
Roy Sakamoto: Its a great day in Hawaii.
BS: It’s a great day in Hawaii. Life is good. We are all so fortunate and protected in so many ways here. Let’s remember that though. Let’s not allow ourselves to get angry and argumentative. Let’s be supportive of one another. Whether our candidate made it or didn’t make it. Again, we are the United States of America. Let’s make that happen. Let’s take care of our children. Let’s take care of our grandchildren. Let’s all take care of one another in every little thing that we can do.
RS: Yeah and again coming back to Danny Couch. You know, we all love Hawaii. That’s why we’re here.
BS: That’s why that song is the best.
RS: Yeah. It’s upbeat.
BS: And makes you happy. It’s almost Christmas so let’s think about that. Danny Couch has some of the greatest Christmas music and Willie K. Let’s all do that this year. Let’s remember to support all of our local artists that have made us so happy and share Hawaiian music around the world.
RS: Yeah. God Bless Willie K. Big part of our lives. All of our lives for many many years.
God bless Willie.
BS: It’s hard to believe he’s gone.
RS: His Christmas songs will live forever.
BS: They will live forever and God bless his family. I’m sure he was so sad to have to leave them and it’s going to be a hard Christmas for them.
RS: Yeah. Absolutely.
BS: We’ve had a couple of interesting things going on.
RS: Somebody sent us this. I forget who it was, one of our friends. Here we are, two days after our elections. We still don’t know who our President’s gonna be. Somebody sent us this thing about the meaning of the flag-draped coffin. We’ve all seen this either in person or on television where the funerals for our service people and the flags are given to widowers. What is the meaning of this flag? We’ve got some notes here that are really interesting. I’ll start this. Okay?
BS: Okay. Go ahead.
RS: Yeah.
BS: If you want to know more about it, we’re going to try to get through it. It’s a little bit long but if you want to hear more about it, call us. Call Roy 870-7060 or my phone number Betty 870-7062 and we’ll forward a copy to you, will email it. I think it’s really interesting.
RS: Yeah. So, I’ll start. Do you know that at military funerals the 21 gun salute stands for the sum of the numbers in the year 1776? Interesting thought. If you add the 1 7 7 6 you come up with 21 and that’s the 21 gun salute.
BS: Have you ever noticed that the honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly fold in the United States of America flag 13 times? You probably thought it was to symbolize the original 13 colonies but we learned something new every day. The first fold of the flag is a symbol of life. The second fold is the symbol of the belief in eternal life. The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing the ranks, and who gave us a portion of their lives for the defense of the country to attain peace throughout the world.
RS: The fourth fold represents the weaker nature.For as American citizens trusting in God. It is to Him we turn in times of peace, as well as in times of war for His divine guidance. The fifth fold is a tribute to our country. For the words of Stephen Decatur, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right, but it is still our country, right or wrong.”
BS: The sixth fold is for where people’s hearts lie. It is with their heart that they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
RS: The seventh fold is a tribute to our armed forces. For it is through the armed forces that they protect their country and their flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of the republic.
BS: The eighth fold as a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death. That we might see the light of day.
RS: The ninth fold is a tribute to womanhood and mothers. For it has been through their faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great have been molded.
BS: The tenth fold is a tribute to the father. For he too has given his sons and
daughters for the defense of their country since they were first born.
RS: The eleventh fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon and glorifies in the Hebrew eyes the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
BS: The twelfth fold represents the emblem of eternity and glorifies in the Christians eyes God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
RS: The thirteenth fold or when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding them of their nation’s motto, ” In God We Trust.”
BS: After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington and the sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones who were followed by their comrades and shipmates into the armed forces of the United States, preserving them for the rights, privileges and freedoms that we all enjoy today.
RS: So, now we know the meaning of the thirteen folds of the American flag at military funerals. It’s a good way to remember again on the second day following our very contentious elections to remember that we are a country and we have to stand unified.
BS: And it will continue to be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Let’s all try to be that. You know, it even the many Gods. I mean, it doesn’t have to be Jesus Christ. It doesn’t have to be Buddha. It doesn’t have to be, but whoever our God is or a person that we trust, let’s use that today to trust in the system and to support it and then work for the next four years. Whatever will be better or to support this person. I don’t even know how to say it right now but somehow we’ve got to get through today. Maybe we’ve got to turn our television off and take care of our families and children and jobs. Let’s remember God bless America.
RS: Yeah and it might be more than today.
BS: Oh. Yes.
RS: We could be several days before we know who our next President will be.
BS: I forgot to go there. We did bring with us also, as we are Betty’s Real Estate Corner and we thought we would fill you in on a lot of different things right now. We’ve got a bunch of specific listings that we can talk about. I thought it would also be a great one to talk about local residents people here that probably should be buying a house right now. Everybody gets worried the prices are going up. Some are, some aren’t but it is a good opportunity for anybody here on Maui to make a decision to buy a home. There’s great loans available even with low and possibly no down payments. The interest rates are again beyond low. I think it can work for someone and even the person who’s so afraid. I don’t want to pay too much. What if the prices go down? It probably doesn’t matter because your interest rate is going to be so great and you’ll have a home. Hopefully for the rest of your life. I’m never leaving Maui, so I’m hoping that we’re ever gonna be here for the rest of our lives. We’re lifers in this.
RS: Absolutely. We were talking about the military and there are some great VA loans available for the men and women who served in our armed forces. Thank you very much for your service and as a little bonus you’ve got some great VA programs available for your first purchase.
BS: There’s a lot of first time home buyer opportunities. The VA loans are I think right now better than they’ve ever been and there’s a lot of property. So, talk to an agent. Talk to someone it might be a friend of the family. Talk to anybody and get some that’ll lead you through the process. We’re happy to do our best to do it. We’re in west Maui primarily but Coldwell Banker has amazing offices all around the islands. Call any Coldwell Banker office or again you may have a great referral from your family and stick with that. Find someone you trust. Hang in there with them and work together and you will find a home. You can have your first time home or second or trade up or down. There’s so many opportunities.
RS: It’s a scary process but you know, you’ll have a good team with you. Your realtor who has all the experience in real estate. Loan agent who will help guide you with the best loan packages. Your escrow officer will take care of you as far as going through the whole process of purchasing a property. So, you can call us. We have referrals for you. My number 870-7060, Betty at 870-7062.
BS: Again, it’s an interesting process but like many things you only have to take the first step. Typically, that’s going to be calling a real estate broker. I mean, maybe it’s going to be looking in the Maui news and reading a lot of the ads or it’s going to be finding a home and land magazine or any of the other publications or going online. We have a great website sakamotoproperties.com and it will take you into actually all of the properties that are available on Maui. You can find so much information there and then have some specifics to talk about.
It’s really one step and sometimes you just want to find an ally in it and let that be your real estate broker. It may be. If it’s not in our wheelhouse more or less there’s someone in our office that we can have assist you or someone across the islands. Trust yourself. Trust your family. Trust the person that helped your parents and your brothers and sisters because there are a lot of real estate agents around. We’re there and even if it’s just to direct you or to say yeah you’ve got a great idea going there.
RS: Well, that was one of the reasons we merged our company Sakamoto Properties with Coldwell Banker Island Properties because we now have exposure throughout Maui and actually throughout the big island and Kauai also.
BS: And actually, further and further along than that we’ve got kind of some connection to anywhere that we can help you get to someone. Either it’s a Coldwell bank or company or someone that we’ve worked with personally. We will certainly help you in any way we can.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: Not that hard. Then eventually somebody you should end up talking to a mortgage person. Again, it might just be your banker you might walk into your Central Pacific Bank or First Hawaiian Bank and sit down with one of their loan officers and try to understand it a little. Wherever your specific accounts are they’re going to want to help you too because they want you to be able to grow within the community.
RS: Absolutely, so why don’t we talk about a few of our properties?
BS: Basically the majority of the properties that we have listed right now are at Kapalua, not all of them but again the majority. You know, let’s say right now the golf villas. There’s one bedroom and two bedrooms available. Price range I think from about 800,000.00 to 8 million. Again, if somebody is looking for a second home and that’s typically the people that are buying them. It’s a great investment opportunity today. There’s great rental programs that are handling it when you’re not here. Certainly it couldn’t be a greater place to end up having your full-time residence. As we’ve been over the last few minutes directing to what I think is a great opportunity for local residents to step into the market. It’s not necessarily going to be at Kapalua but it could be and even just right outside of Kapalua, Napili, Kahana, Lahaina. There’s not a ton of inventory but there’s a lot of different opportunities and it’s just worth looking. You may not do it this minute but go ahead make your connection, maybe take a little bit of time. Don’t you think Roy? Look at a few properties and it might just move you in the direction of what you can do in a few months sometimes you’ve got credit to clean up. There’s so many opportunities.
RS: Well, in today’s world of low interest rates too. You probably qualify for a lot more property than you think you do. If you’re looking for let’s say, a studio apartment and who knows you may qualify for a one bedroom or a two bedroom. Work with a professional. Call us at Coldwell Banker Island properties. Again, Betty is 870-7062. Roy is at 870-7060.
BS: and easier go to Sakamoto Properties. Plural that is sakamotoproperties.com. You’ll get into there, our phone numbers are there, everything is there. Let us try to get you started in the whole process. Again, sometimes it sounds like you’re gonna, you don’t want to buy a small one bedroom or you don’t want to buy something that’s too small you want to wait. We’ve lived in very small places over the years.
RS: Oh, yeah.
BS: We didn’t start out in a big house but we were able to trade up off and on and watch for good opportunities and great interest rates or sometimes owner financing. There’s so many possibilities and we can all live in a studio apartment. We were in our studio apartment at one time.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: We had to jam in a couple extra kids when our kids were all here together but it all worked and it was probably more fun than anything we ever did.
RS: Absolutely.
BS: When everybody was jammed in. We spent more time at the beach then too. Maybe because the house was too small.
RS: Yeah. All right. Well, here’s one in Lahaina though. It’s an oceanfront property. Older house plantation style house. It’s at 271 front street and we’re sitting open house there three to four days a week from about 11 to three. Alex is usually there. Alex Dray here one of our Coldwell Banker agents. Anyway, it’s listed at 2,995,000.00 under 3 million dollars. It’s an older plantation style house. It’s 180 feet of ocean frontage which is probably the longest piece of ocean front properties in Lahaina. 60 yards of ocean frontage that’s a lot.
BS: It’s pretty amazing and here’s a really interesting tidbit. Roy’s best friend lived in the house when he was really young and they were swimming out there all the time. It’s like he has a great insight into why that property is really one of the most spectacular properties anywhere.
RS: Yeah. For all the locals we used to have a tin boat. If you know what a tin boat is. We used to go fishing and swimming off a tin boat.
BS: A tin boat.
RS: Yeah
BS: I bet your mothers love that.
RS: Probably didn’t know about it.
BS: Okay.
RS: Yeah
BS: Actually i don’t know if I’ve ever said this but this is even funnier. You know, a lot of people will ask Roy about surfing and he has been a surfer. We haven’t had a lot of time in recent. I did a little tiny moment of surfing but his first surfboard happened to have been his mother’s ironing board.
RS: Yeah
BS: True story. Absolutely true story.
RS: One of the old ironing boards from years and years ago not going to tell you what age it was.
BS: Oh, that’s okay. We are there now. We’re the seniors. We’re the people that have to be careful. Another thing we should chat on right now and to remember for everybody is. We’ve got to be so respectful of the coronavirus. I wouldn’t want to get off the show and not talk about it a little bit. I mean, I think. Let’s all keep wearing our masks as long as we can. You know. Let’s every place that we go, let’s keep our mask. Keep it. I just took mine off a minute ago but I usually have it just tied around my neck so that I can if when I head outside. I’ve got it eady to use. Let’s remember to socially distance as best we can. It’s hard sometimes when you see someone you haven’t seen for a while. We all kind of now, do a few air hugs which kind of help a bit or a lot of laughter or sometimes I’ll say to somebody just remember I’m smiling behind this mask. I’m always smiling behind the mask. I think again, let’s remember to say that to one another and to continue to do it. Let’s all do it.
RS: I think one important thing too. Now that we have visitors that are arriving on Maui. A lot of them aren’t familiar with our laws and regulations. Whenever you’re out in public you need to wear a mask. Be nice if we could gently remind them to have their mask on when they’re out in public even sunbathing. Obviously you don’t need it swimming but if you’re out sunbathing you still need a mask.
BS: It’s certainly a good idea. If we protect one another obviously we’re also protecting ourselves. But even sometimes when you don’t want to do it and you look around. Just do it for somebody else. Do it for you know, it’s funny because Roy and I are at the age now where we’re very quickly to refer to the seniors but we are definitely way the seniors and we’re fortunately healthy.
RS: No. I don’t know about way.
BS: Well, I hate to say so but we’re definitely. We’re getting close to way.
RS: Yeah
BS: We may not be quite way but we’re getting close to way. Anyway, but I think again we want to remember to protect one another.To protect every generation and it’s not just older people. Now there’s been this huge influx of people with the virus in their 40’s which I guess can be equally.
RS: And younger.
BS: Oh and younger children.
RS: Yeah
BS: Babies you know. So again, we’ve got to remember to protect everyone that we can.
RS: So, wear your mask out in public. Wear your mask.
BS: Wear your mask. I’m not sure what other properties did you think of for today
that we might want to mention?
RS: Well, we have a couple of two bedrooms at the ridge at Kapalua.
BS: Those are great because they’re easy to show right now.
RS: Yup
BS: If somebody’s looking for a property.
RS: Both are vacant. Both listed right under 1.2 million. 1,195,000. These are at the ridge. They’re about 2100 square feet, two bedrooms, three baths. Great buys.
BS: Yeah. It is a great buy. It’s really spectacular for the person that wants to be in a condominium, wants to be in the middle of a resort. If eventually you aren’t there, I mean this is obviously a little different than what we were kind of geared toward. You know, the local residents who are looking for a home, a change of home, upgrade, first time but this is more typically the visitors. They are the most easy places to live in because they’re really large. They’ve got additional outside storage. There’s a couple of pools at the ridge. Again, call us for anything. Look at our website sakamotoproperties.com. Call even if you think it’s totally outside of our wheelhouse. It could be, but we’ll help you figure it out because everyone deserves a chance. And again, there’s a ton of real estate brokers around and the majority of them are well, they’re all well educated. They know what they’re talking about.
RS: They have to be.
BS:They have to be.
RS: Yeah
BS: But you know, if you’re wondering, call us. We’ll help direct you in one way or another. Your banker would help direct you. Call us. Now we happen to be, coming up to where Danny Couch is going to come back on in just a few minutes.
RS: You know, we covered a lot of ground today.
BS: We did. We can talk pretty fast when we try.
RS: Yeah.
BS: We’re the fast talking too.
RS: The american flag that was very touching. I forgot who sent that article to us.
BS: We’d better find out.
RS: Yeah and I hope it’s true. I think it’s true.
BS: But remember so many things. Let’s remember. Let’s just remember that we need to take care of one another. Let’s remember that we are Americans first. We’ve got to remember that just God bless America. God bless the United States of America. Take care.
RS: And whoever our next president is.
BS: God bless him.
RS: Yes
BS: God bless all of us.
RS: Aloha.
BS: Mahalo. Aloha and Danny Couch is back. (singing) send love everywhere. Oops! They might tell me don’t sing.
