Betty Sakamoto: Aloha and welcome to Betty's Real Estate Corner brought to you by Sakamoto Properties where prestige is our business, reputation our foundation. And what better start could we have had this morning than Neil Everett giving you a public service announcement in regard to Lahainaluna High School and the funding for the stadium.

Roy Sakamoto: Wow, what a lead in.

B: Was that the best?

R: Amazing.

B: I didn't even realize?he comes to Lahainaluna and does a very special thing every year for The Legends of Lahainaluna. He's fabulous but I didn't even know how important he really was until I kept listening to him on your ESPN.

R: On ESPN. And you know as a great lead in, this is Betty's Real Estate Corner and it's Betty and Roy Sakamoto with you. Sakamoto Properties: 669-0070 and our website SakamotoProperties.com. But let's talk some more about Lahainaluna and Neil Everett's involvement.

B: Well, I think his involvement, I just learned that he came here when he was very young and worked in the radio industry in Maui. And so I never knew that?

R: He worked at KMVI.

B: KM?

R: VI.

B: VI.

R: Uh-huh.

B: Well we're KAOI.

R: Right.

B: Which is certainly more important today. But, in any event, I think that he is an amazing person and I love how honest?I always say to people that I didn't graduate from Lahainaluna High School. My husband did, my daughter did.

R: Yes.

B: My husband's father, my father-in-law graduated from Lahainaluna, I believe in 1927. So we're definitely attached and I call myself a Lahainaluna wannabe. So I thought it was cute that Neil Everett said he didn't graduate from there and he's not married to a graduate but he really is, kind of an alumni at heart. And he's done so much for Lahainaluna by just making his presence known and coming there and working, you know, working with the school for The Legends of Lahainaluna, etc., he is quite a presence.

R: He is. And it's great to have a national personality donating his time and efforts to help Lahainaluna. The oldest school west of the Rockies, established in 1831. And let's talk about the fundraiser going on now.

B: The immediate fundraising is to buy a row of seats. You know, and they're trying to raise immediately, $120,000 by selling 120 rows of seats.

R: Right, this is for the brand-new stadium that's been built, what, 2-3 years ago?

B: Yes.

R: Now, finishing up with the bleachers being installed.

B: And their pouring concrete bleachers?they're really going to be quite amazing. So they're doing?it's a $1,000 for a row of seats. We went ahead and purchased, well there's a class challenge going on. So we thought it would be fun to purchase the one for the first class, which would have been the class of 1831. Now, that would have been, I don't know if there were seniors then or how they started it but they started in 1831. So Roy and I decided that we should do the class of 1831.

R: We're not quite that old, but?

B: Yeah, well?

R: -we did it.

B: And then, Roy's the class of 1960, so I'm sure he will bully his friends into this. So they'll be doing one. And if you check the LahainaluaFoundation.org website, you're going to discover that you can actually go in and check out your class and see what they're doing. Many classes are getting there and starting to donate. So somebody can go in and donate $100 or $50 or $25 and then it'll kind of push your classmates or call your classmates and then you'll have something on there that says, you know, class of 1980. My daughter is class of 1982, so any friends of Julie Ehu Flynn, sometimes called Ehulani by her classmates, I think you guys should get on this because I bet between everybody, $1,000 will happen pretty quickly and we really need to be sure that everything gets finished up. The bleachers are going to be fabulous. There's going to be, you know Roy, this year, four games. There's actually going to be four games?home games, played in Lahaina.

R: I heard that, right.

B: Which was a real struggle because everybody keeps?tries to keep it over at the War Memorial Stadium. But I think it is. It's happening this year.

R: And I think the big thing is, it's a community stadium. It's obviously Lahainaluna's stadium, but it belongs to the whole community. And it's more than a class challenge, it's a community challenge. So even if you don't live in Lahaina and would like to support this great facility, please do. You can get Jeff Rogers, our foundation director at 661-5332 and Jeff can give you all the information and help you purchase a row of seats.

B: You know, Roy is right. As a community, whether it's Lahainaluna High School, Baldwin, Maui High, Hana High, all of the schools need some help. And Lahainaluna being the oldest school in the United States, as Roy said, "West of the Rocky Mountains," you know, more than ever. Roy went to school there. There was no field. Football players were running through the dirt. We have some information when Jeff was here one day, Lanny Tihada, which a lot of the community, everybody should know Lanny. But kind of talked about the fact that at a time the guys would come to school and they'd have to throw ? they'd throw their stuff. There was nowhere, no?no place that they could store their things, you know, waiting for practice. So they would throw them in a drainage ditch and they would sit there until they came out, dressed, but there was no place to shower for the guys and a lot has already happened. But we really need to keep this going. I think most everybody knows that there's one particular person that's really gotten this off the ground and we really want to get it finished now. So all the help that you can give really matters to Lahainaluna High School and all the community. Not just Lahaina. It matters to all of our communities in Maui that our high schools can have a place to play sports.

R: Right. And our large donor is not a native of Maui, did not attend Lahainaluna. But just got caught up in the school's spirit and a great story behind her donations also.

B: It has been a great story. You know one of the things, I've never called her a Lahainaluna wannabe cause I don't see that like I kind of feel like. Although I loved my high school, I think her story was great. She went to a lot of things with Roy and I at Lahainaluna because it was fun for her to get involved in the community. And we were at a game, and we all tell this story a little different, but I believe the team was losing by a huge amount like 30-some points maybe more. And then somewhere in some quarter, they came back and they really could have won it. They got so close, it was really fabulous but they didn't. And as we were leaving the stadium we happened to have walked past the locker room and instead of hearing a team all unhappy and swearing and saying all sorts of things. The Lahainaluna boys were in there singing their Alma Mater at the top of their lungs. Beautiful, true, fabulous voices. Isn't that true, Roy?

R: Oh, yes, yes. And it's a real chicken skin moment and it affected Sue, our friend who ended up donating a considerable sum to this. It's a community effort and that Sue acknowledges and that's why we're reaching out to the community for funding for these bleachers.

B: It has mattered to her though this whole thing that it's not just about her, you know, she did donate the lion's share of everything. But it's not just about her. So I think it's really important to know that it matters that the community, all the $1 things or the $10 or the $20, because then everybody will always remember it being as special as it really is. So help us, you know, just send whatever. Call Jeff at the 661-5332. Is that right, Roy?

R: 5332, or call our offce: 669-0070.

B: And we'll point you in a good direction for making a good contribution to this.

R: Good. Ok.

B: What about anything else? Real estate?

R: Well, actually, we're going to close our show, I understand, with Neil Everett again. But in the meantime, we are a real estate show.

B: But, and again, listen. Listen up. Listen to Neil Everett because it's really great. And when I first heard it, I was kind of stunned because I just forgot how great it would be and what a nice thing for him to do. He didn't get paid to do that. He did it because he cares about our community. He cares about Lahainaluna. And like he says in there, he's not a graduate, he's not even married to a graduate. But I might call him a Lahainaluna wannabe cause that's what I call myself. But a special, special man. So anyway, shall we do a little bit of real estate?

R: Absolutely! How about a brand-new listing at Alaeloa.

B: Oh, very, very nice property there. We have a property that's a 2-bedroom, 2-bath property at Alaeloa. It?

R: Alaeloa is a great development. I believe, there's 44 units in Alaeloa. And it's a gated community. It's?wow, you've got a great pool, you're oceanfront, you're in the Napili area. And our new listing is fantastic. It's been upgraded. Beautiful ocean views and the listing price was?

B: That's what I was just looking for, so let me tell you more about the unit. I think it's $800?I think it's $835,000. For some reason I drew a blank on that, as Roy was?

R: $825.

B: $825. Ok. This property has amazing views from it. And more important it's a two-story so upstairs has a bigger view. Huge grassy lawn that goes?seems to go on forever in front of it. Fabulous, fabulous pool which is not?you have to walk down to it?great beach. Which, no beach in Hawaii is really private but this one, because of how it's located, is relatively private.

R: It's almost as private as you can get.

B: Yeah, I would say, it feels like a totally private beach. Alaeloa is leasehold and these people, when they were buying it was kind of interesting. They had meant to stay here, they've lived in Hawaii but certain things changed in their life, so they're going to go ahead and sell it. But it's kind of an interesting one because I looked at the leasehold thing and this is such a fabulous leasehold property, it's amazing. And the lease rent is such, that if you were to try to get a property like this, Fee Simple, you'd be paying easily a couple million dollars. Easily. So the fact that it's leasehold is definitely something that you can live with.

R: It is. It is. And it's a well established neighborhood, very secure, very safe, and a lot of owner occupants live there. And it's?

B: Very friendly.

R: Very friendly.

B: I mean, everybody there seems to get together with one another. There'll be?these people only live there for maybe a year, but in living there they had such a great time because they got to know all of their neighbors. A lot of the neighbors are second home people that are coming and going but they really had a great community going on there and good management. So I feel like it's a place that anybody should take a look at. And their place, totally furnished. They did a lot of remodeling to it. By remodeling, more refurbishing, I guess you'd say. But it came out really great. They redid landscaping which is now taken care of by the association. They redid walkways and walkways around the house. They took the upstairs lanai and did a kind of major overhaul on it because there was some wood rot, etcetera. But I think they really did some very meaningful things to it.

R: Yes, they did. And, again, very easy to see, it's vacant. Call our office: 669-0070. Or look at our website. It's www.SakamotoProperties.com .

B: Or check us out #BettyMauiRadio. So you can reach us in a variety of ways. Check out our website, which Roy just said, SakamotoProperties.com and whatever you're looking for is on there. Actually if you want to listen to the Neil Everett thing again, it's on our blog. But we are still going to run it at the end of this. I just feel there's a lot of people out there, when they realize that we do need to get?to raise some more money for Lahainaluna, that people will step in. Check out your class, everything on that. So that's an important one.

R: Yes, it is.

B: Anyway, real estate.

R: Ok, Napili Point, B-5 which is also leasehold. It's the very popular Napili Point, obviously Napili. This is a unit that faces directly out to Molokai. Majority of the units at Napili Point face inward to Honokeana Cove. This one faces right on out to Molokai, gives you sunsets pretty much all year round, and what a great location. Very active rental program. Listed at $629,000. And while it's leasehold, it's also one of the most favorable leases I've ever seen.

B: You know, a couple other properties, Roy. I don't know why I'm picking these right now. But just because, you know we do have a lot of the really high priced properties on our website because that's what we've specialized in. But we have a great listing right now at Kaanapali Shores, one-bedroom, one-bath, unit number 544, listed at $436,950. I don't know how someone comes up with some of these prices when they add $36,950, but I think it's a great value. Interior design is fabulous, it really is. The fifth floor really worth looking at.

R: It's a one-bedroom, one-bath, it's designer owned so it's really been upgraded and?

B: Quite, quite beautiful.

R: Yes, and Elizabeth from our office, Elizabeth Quayle is the listing agent and you can reach Elizabeth also at 669-0070. Or look at our listing on the website: SakamotoProperties.com.

B: You know, one other great Kaanapali, Roy, is The Masters, 1402. It's been totally redone. They did a really great job of it. Listed at $1,150,000. Again, just a great property so if someone's looking for something that will work, you know for them now as a place to live. Or if you want to rent it, you can rent it long term until you decide to move over here. I'm not sure exactly what their whole rental setup is at The Masters but I think that it's primarily second homes, owner occupants, long-term rentals. And I think they do have a setup for renting it monthly, but I think the primary thing really is long-term, meaning six months.

R: Long-term, six months or longer. And 1402 at The Masters is right on the golf course, so you've got an unobstructed view, again sunsets all year round, Lanai, Molokai.

B: And unobstructed view in every direction. Because there's actually a huge view out of the kitchen window and there aren't many of the units there that you can actually look out to the water from the kitchen window and from the bedroom and from the living room, you know from the master bedroom. So really way worth seeing that property if that's what you had in mind.

R: You know the market, the owner-owned market has been very, very active, mortgage rates are still fairly reasonable. Starting to creep up, so if you have any inclination on buying anything, whether it's for investment or homeownership, boy time is right.

B: Time is right. You know, coming over here we started talking about that. There are some fabulous loans right now for whatever you want to buy. There's some great FHA loans, great VA loans, there's a couple of Hawaii-type loans that you can get for certain properties. You need to talk to a lender and if you call our office one of us can direct you to someone that you can talk with. You may be wanting to refinance. Again, you can talk to your banker if you've got your bank accounts with First Hawaiian Bank, give them a call or if you know a mortgage broker, chat with them. But I think that you could possible buy something right now that you don't think you can do because there are so many fabulous loans available. So as a newcomer into the market we can find a property for you. If you've got a real estate broker that lives next door to you, or that?talk to them right now. Sometimes everybody forgets that if you get out there and look you may be able to find something. But the lender also will be great because they can direct you say, "You know what we need to do is have you pay off this, do that," and then readdress this in six months. Do that. Because it's never going to be better to get into Maui.

R: Bottom line is you need a professional team to assist you and you need a good, qualified realtor, a good, qualified banker or mortgage broker, and also we coordinate with escrow companies. So, escrow and title companies. So we make it easier for you to buy, to sell. Sakamoto Properties: 669-0070.

B: SakamotoProperties.com. You know in saying this thing, we're kind of pushing buy now, of course we're real estate sales people we do push to buy now. But this year, so far, there have been 839 sales in Maui. You know, now that's a variety of homes, condos, land, and other, which I'm not sure what we threw into "other." But 839 sales. That's a lot. Currently there's 524 properties pending. Those are escrows, properties that are under contract that we believe will be closing. So I think that you've really got to?in the last 30 days alone, there have been 231 recordings. You know, so that means something ? somebody put a contract on something, it went through the escrow process, got a new loan, or paid cash or whatever they were doing. Owner financing sometimes. But things are happening pretty fast now, so if you're going to do this, I think it's now. And we're seeing investors come in, you know, couple of them?

R: Yeah, it's been a good combination of investors and homeowners. And we've been in business?

B: A hundred years.

R: Yeah, it seems like it. Not quite back to 1831 but 30 some odd years that we've had Sakamoto Properties and we had our biggest January ever this past January. And so we're definitely seeing the effect of low mortgage rates and good pricing.

B: I think that it's?yeah, we kind of keep saying that but I think that the good mortgage rates are going to be a key for a lot of people that want to step in and buy. So I think, again, let's talk to you. Call our office: 669-0070, ask to talk to one of our agents and we'll direct you to the right person. You know, someone that either works in your area or is good in the general price range that you'd like to talk about. Or ask for Roy or myself and we'll help direct you. So we would really like to be able to help you get into a property. I think I started to say a minute ago, Roy, another interesting moment is we've had a couple of clients come in recently that are, let's say fairly wealthy, and they're the people that end up spiking this market really fast. But they're saying, that they're feeling like they are tired of the stock market, tired of this, tired of that. And they know that the place to put your money right now is real estate or under the mattress. No, we don't want to go that far, but?

R: You're certainly not getting a return on your money having it sitting in a bank. Whether it's in CD's or whatever. So real estate is a great option and a good solid option.

B: Well, one thing is, I think we're coming down quickly to the two-minute warning. I can't believe how fast?this always happens, but it's happening again. Two-minute warning which is kind of like a football game, huh?

R: That's right.

B: It's kind of like a football game.

R: Two-minute warning. You've got, again, Lahainaluna, the Lahainaluna Foundation. And the leader of the Foundation is Jeff Rogers and you can get Jeff at 661-5332. And don't forget: Let's get the bleachers put up for the stadium.

B: They're, right now, pouring concrete there. It is amazing. If you drive up there sometime and look what's happening, you'll realize how much energy, time, money has gone into this. And this year you're actually going to be able to be there and come to a high school football game in Lahaina. It will be fabulous. It's going to be so exciting.

R: it will be. And there's other community functions that will happen there. And we're going to do something different in closing our program today. We're also going to have Danny Couch but we're also going to put Neil Everett back on. So pay attention to what Neil has to say and God bless everyone and thank you for helping Lahainaluna.

B: Aloha from us at Sakamoto Properties. Go to SakamotoProperties.com, LahainalunaHighSchoolFoundation.org and are we ready for?we're ready! Aloha!

R: Aloha!