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".

Mitch Mitchell: Sakamoto Properties number one in exclusive West Maui real estate.

B: Mitch loves saying that. It's been on our ads for a long time and he doesn't miss an opportunity. So obviously today in the studio we have Mitch Mitchell who's been with us for 30 years ?

M: Well it's been 28 years.

B: Okay, close.

M: I know, it seems like 50. Thank you Betty, for having me.

B: And we also have here looking all around us, we have the Sherlock family: Dan Sherlock, Julie Sherlock, Reagan Sherlock, Alexandra Sherlock, and Michael. This is my daughter and her family.

M: Is Michael a Sherlock?

B: He's definitely a Sherlock. Okay, we've got them all here kind of to have another fun day here in the studio. We're going to try and do a little bit of real estate but we really wanted everyone to be here. Julie is here for her class reunion at Lahainaluna High School, I don't ?

M: Yay. What class Julie?

Julie Sherlock: 1982

B: 1982, class of '82. They're having their 30th Reunion and they're going to be at the Olowalu Camp grounds and I think they've got a three-night deal going on so it's really going to be great and every time she turns around she runs into another classmate.

M: Julie is that a four-days, three-nights vacation package?

J: I think it's three-days, two-nights but who's counting?

M: Who's counting

B: The only person who has a microphone right now is Reagan, who is sitting here. So we're going to let Reagan say a quick hello. He didn't have those right then, but you can say a quick hello to everybody from everybody from Reagan and what are you doing here, are you having a good time?

Reagan Sherlock: Yeah, I've been having a good time in Maui so far, it's been good.

B: Good, so everything's been going great and you're having fun. You've been to the beach, surfed, done everything?

R: Beach, snorkeling, a lot of fun stuff.

B: Anything that's been your favorite so far?

R: We went to Napili Bay and we saw 5 turtles and that was really cool, I thought.

B: There was a big golf thing, one of the big golf pros at Kapalua was helping you guys all hit balls, kind of a mini lesson.

R: Yeah, that was really fun too.

B: That was. And what about Old Lahaina Luau?

R: Yeah, that was really cool yesterday.

B: Okay, and what are we doing tomorrow, or wait, tonight? The parents are on a date night and grandma and Papa Roy and the three of you guys, we're going to all go hide in Lahaina, shop a little bit, eat pizza or something?

R: Sounds good.

B: And then, tomorrow will be Ulalena. And we all are looking forward to that. Well Mitch, you had a couple of things you wanted to talk about and I'm going to, at some point, pass these earphones so that the next person, after you've talked about some of our new escrows and stuff, we'll have the next person have something to say.

M: Yes Betty. The Pualu Loop house that you and I had listed there in Napili has gone under contract. A nice family is going to be moving in and it's going to be their new start with their new home and we're looking forward to that. I think it was a good deal for everybody, that was a great little house in a nice neighborhood and I'm just happy to see new people move in and get their family settled and have a new home.

B: I agree with you, it's a great first time homebuyer situation and they're buying a property that's between Kapalua and Napili. It's right near the Napili Park, we've talked about it off and on in this show, fabulous home and it's set up in a way that for any owner-occupant or for anybody it would have been a great second home for someone even, but this is to us a perfect opportunity and the greatest couple. They were so touched by this purchase that she was in tears when it finally came together. It was really an exciting moment to make.

M: And she was raised here too, I think she's a Lahainaluna graduate also.

B: Yes

M: So it just kind of goes to help point out that the market is kind of moving along and when you see something out there you need to get to your lender and start getting some things together because the good things really aren't going to last.

B: Call us, you know, we can refer you to a lender. We've got some really great people that we're involved with and at any time we'll have some great referrals. Our phone number is (808) 669-0070 and always look at our website https://www.sakamotoProperties.com and you'll get a lot of information there. But personally, we all still love to have one-on-one contact, we like to be able to talk to you, see what we can do to help you out. We've said forever that we want you to talk to a lender first, especially for the owner-occupant, definitely the first time homebuyer, you want to get an idea of what you can afford, what makes sense to you, and we've even said over the years that you may qualify for a certain amount but you'd be more comfortable to stay in a certain price range so keep that always in your head. It's not just what you qualify for, it's what you're truly comfortable with. Now Mitch, you have another new listing that you wanted to chat about.

M: Oh, yes I've just listed a Pineapple Hill Estates house at $3,595,000. Great views, it's a wonderful family home, the owners have been able to spend almost half a year here every year but life is changing and they're having some other grandchildren, so forth, on the mainland so they've decided to do that. But the big news this last week was Dean's open house Betty, that new listing that he has listed with Pat Choi from Honolulu.

B: Amazing home, sitting right on Kapalua Bay. It's sitting right on Kapalua Bay, it's a sandy beach right in the heart of the Kapalua Resort, it's one of the most fabulous homes that any of us are going to see on the market in Hawaii.

M: It's really spectacular, designed by Jeff Long and associates. It looks out, it's just a two story wall of glass that just pulls back, it's really quite spectacular. There's 6,670 square feet. It's beautiful.

B: Perfect home, perfect. You know, I looked up today, last in the prior twelve months starting with the beginning of this month, there were 2,300 sales during that period in Maui. And again, we're a small island so when we're saying that people should get ready and start to do things here, I think when you take into account that there's 2,300 that have sold over the last twelve months and then if I took it down to since the beginning of the year which would be a little over six months from what I was running there's almost 1,400 properties that have sold. Now I did every category but still, it's a lot of real estate selling, a lot of things that are happening. Right now it seems that we've been at the same number, things are closing so it's not quite that, but somewhere between four and five hundred, and right now it's 495, homes are under contract on Maui. So again, when you said a minute ago that we want to make it happen, people have got to step up.

M: Absolutely Betty, and you know, just give us a call and give us your parameters, and we'll see what we can find for you. Or call your neighbor that's a realtor or just make sure that you get in with a realtor because they really know the neighborhood, know the market, and they can really help you find exactly what you want.

B: So we don't want you to miss out. Now I think we might have Michael here wanting to say a little something so we're going to give him the earphones for a minute. Mikey is eight years old, he goes to school and he's going to learn right now that he's going to have to talk straight into the microphone and Mikey what are you doing here in Hawaii, are you having fun?

Michael Sherlock: Yes

B: Are you having a lot of fun? What's your favorite that so far?

Michael: Everything.

B: Beach? Swimming pool?

Michael: Yes, jumping in with our clothes.

B: Jumping in with our clothes, that's our favorite thing to do. When all of a sudden Papa Roy came in yesterday, did he jump in with all of his clothes? Yes he did, he came in from work and then boom, and once he did everybody did.

Michael: Yeah

Mitch: Does that cut down on the laundry Mikey?

B: It makes the laundry worse right, because it doesn't wash it. So tell me, you're a soccer player right, and a baseball player?

Michael: Yes

B: What's your favorite?

Michael: Soccer

B: Why is soccer your favorite?

Micheal: Because you run, I don't know.

B: I think that's it, because you stay busy all the time. What's your position?

Michael: Yeah, center mid.

B: Well that's pretty exciting too. What grade are you going into?

Michael: Third

B: Okay well I think I'm going to, now we still have Alexandra that still needs to let us know what she's been up to. So we need to keep switching the phones and while we're doing that we're going to have Mitch tell you about what's going on at the Golf Villas. We've got a couple of escrows happening ?

Mitch: At the Golf Villas we have two escrows that actually they're both closing on the last day of this month so we're kind of looking forward to that. You know, that's really a great buy right now. They're doing some remediation on the buildings and the ones that have gotten finished are really absolutely spectacular. It's really, I think, a great investment right now, the prices, people are a little scared of what's happening and a lot of people are ready to move on, but I think there's some buys in there. That listing that you and I have 26P 3 and 4 are great units with good views and it's right on the ground floor right on the tenth fairway of the world famous Kapalua Bay Golf Course and it's in great shape.

B: It's a great value, six hundred thousand, unbelievable value and you're never going to see that again. So I think everyone's got to, if you're going to buy, we learned something a long time ago when I was in San Diego with Julie Sherlock who you can't hear because she doesn't have a microphone, but Julie Ehu Flynn Sherlock, who is here for her thirtieth class reunion, and I went to this convention type thing or something with her and somebody came up with the expression "A recession is a terrible thing to waste". And we've been telling you this over and over but we're going to come out of that recession so fast, it's going to make your head spin, and you're going to all be thinking, if only I'd invested then. So let's all be careful we don't up with that. But now we have Alexandra Sherlock who is going to say a quick hello, she's also a soccer player, I don't exactly know about her team, but she's going to tell us maybe about soccer, about school and what you've done in the last year?

Alexandra Sherlock: Okay, my soccer team, I play for the Tack and they're good and I have a lot of fun and my team is really nice and ?

B: What position?

A: I play everything but goalie.

B: Okay, that's pretty good though, that's a lot of positions to play. And you do a lot of other things ?

M: At the same time?

B: No Mitch. So Alex you've also, you've become a really avid reader this year?

A: Yes, I have dyslexia so it's kind of hard for me to read so at school this year I got an award from my district and school for, how do you explain it ?

B: For the most inspirational, she received a great award for being the most inspirational girl in all of the district because she learned so much and she became such a very, very avid reader. And an interesting thing was that we all learned with her was that the most brilliant people in the world, the most brilliant minds in the world have had dyslexia. Albert Einstein, I went through a list one day so Alex is probably among the smartest people in the world, maybe Alex?

A: Yeah.

B: You think, yeah I think so. So she's done an amazing job, and you read The Hunger Games and those books.

A: I haven't read the third one though.

B: You didn't? You're going to do that still. And then your dad has helped you a lot hasn't he? You guys have read a lot together between him and your mom and your dad and you?

A: Yeah, we read like he reads a page and then I read a couple of paragraphs and it helps a lot.

B: That's so amazing, you've worked so hard Alex and Papa Roy and I are so very, very proud of you. And I'm proud of all of you for the soccer that you play and how active you are. You're an amazing family and you've got the best mom and dad in the whole world. It's pretty amazing. Well let's see, does Dan Sherlock have any urge to say hello to the people on Maui or is he going to stay ?

Dan Sherlock: Hello

B: Oh, well he did say hello but I think that's it. So maybe we'll try to do another quick pick or something and then we'll let Reagan come back and he can maybe say a goodbye in a little bit. We always run out of time way before we think we're going to.

M: Yeah, and I want to hear from Julie too so ?

B: I think Julie may be able to come on, get on over here and say aloha to your buddies.

M: You know Betty, the Bay Villas at Kapalua are a great buy. We've got several of those listed right now, a couple of oceanfront, we've got a one-bedroom oceanfront, Marcy has it at 22 G4 and Dean and I have that 30 G3, 4, and 5, a great two-bedroom, ground floor, right on the water, and I can remember years ago sitting there with the first owners when the surf was up so high that it was just covering the screens and running down. Oh Ehu, you're here.

B: Ehulani

Julie Sherlock: Here I am. Well aloha to all my classmates from Lahainaluna 1982, I'm really excited about next weekend and I've been spending a lot of time with some old friends and reconnecting.

B: You've been talking to and you've been running into a lot of your old friends which is really exciting. Everytime I'm with her she runs into someone or she learns that someone is one of the kids of one of her classmates and they're all hugging and kissing and it's so Lahainaluna.

J: Yeah, it's like I never left. It's really nice to see everybody and they just kind of welcome you back with open arms and it's been a great feeling.

B: They were talking and someone the other day was saying "do you still remember the alma mater?" and everybody at Lahainaluna as freshmen are supposed to learn the alma mater in Hawaiian and pretty much they do. And when you watch these kids together, I would say Julie knows it, I've seen her sing it ?

M: We only have a few minutes, don't sing it.

J: For my alumni friends you'll know which part of the alma mater did Julie Flynn know, are you ready? Ku kilakila

B: Okay, alright there you go. Okay so Mitch, she's got the beginning of it,that was the starting of it.

M: Oh and then you mouth the words after that?

B: Well you know, you do your best. Another quick one I'd like to comment on are the Ironwoods at Kapalua. You know we've got a couple of really amazing listings in there. Anyone looking for oceanfront at Kapalua between the Bay Villas and the Ironwoods we've got the lion's share of the listings. Call us at anytime (808) 669-0070, website SakamotoProperties.com, you can see everything in there. If you're looking for West Maui listings, if you're looking for Lahaina listings, Napili listings, and of course Kapalua listings call us or come to us. We can help you with anything so I think we're the ones, come and talk to us and we will help you find what you need.

M: And don't forget the great Napili Point, Napili Point is kind of a little bit of Old Hawaii left on the beach there and that bay right in front of Napili Point with all of the turtles. You know, the last time I was out there showing it there were like five huge turtles out there.

B: And Julie, you would want to comment. They just were swimming with turtles yesterday and of course not touching them, but they all had a great experience at Napili Bay.

J: Yeah, Napili Bay, yesterday, was unbelievable. My kids all saw five turtles, even Mikey saw a turtle, and they saw a baby turtle out there and it seems there was just a whole family and we're a family of five and we all saw a family of five out there which was really amazing. But it was just such a beautiful setting and you're right it's very Old Hawaii at that beach and I have many fond memories of swimming and snorkeling and hanging out at Napili Bay.

B: The other fun thing last night was after the Old Lahaina Luau we're heading back home and all of a sudden we made a stop at this empty lot and everybody was running around because there were so many Bufo Toads and they were hopping and jumping and running and it couldn't have been more fun to see it and I've got to admit that it was not only the three kids that were hopping, running, and jumping. We had Dan Sherlock who was out there, we had Julie I think can do a toad jump, so everybody was totally into it. Well we may need to end this up in a minute and we'll have to have Reagan back because I think we got him off and he's the oldest so we'll get him back. And he may need to talk about his soccer deal. But, anything else Mitch? I think we've still got a couple of minutes left so if you've got one more listing or anything that you'd like to talk about. First time homebuyer, everybody get a grip, it's time to do it. Loans couldn't be better, it's getting easier and easier, there are lots of great first time homebuyer loans that are available here on Maui so I think that's a good thing.

M: You know, last Friday I went to the Realtors Association meeting and we had Rue Baker who used to be with the Bank of Hawaii, he's quite entertaining and he's an economist and kind of looks into the future through his crystal ball or whatever and he was pointing out that yes, you know, it's already passed, the time is now, let's get in there and let's get rolling. Again you never know where the bottom is until it's way too late and it's already headed back up.

B: No, nobody can catch the bottom really, there may be one person that theoretically catches the bottom, but usually the people that are watching it too closely don't buy until everybody else is buying and it's way too late. Well we've got Reagan back in here and I think he wants to talk a little about what he does for soccer and he's also an amazing player. So what about your team now, who are you playing for?

Reagan Sherlock: I play for Pateadores San Diego which used to be Nomads. The team recently came in second in the state cup, and they came in second in the Dallas cup too.

B: Wow, what position do you play?

R: I play forward and outside mid.

B: And you love every minute?

R: Yeah, every minute really fun to play, I love playing soccer.

B: And what about baseball, were you pitching this year?

R: Actually no, I wasn't playing baseball. I used to play and I was a pitcher but actually I was umpiring this year.

B: And I heard that you got a lot of praise for your abilities as an umpire.

R: Yeah, actually we had some people e-mailing and saying that I did a pretty good job.

B: That's pretty neat because you're young, thirteen years old, so that's really neat. Is there anything else about your soccer team, coaches, or friends that you'd like to say?

R: I mean, not really, I mean it's cool how my team comes from really far distances because some players on the team live all the way down in Tijuana and other players live in Temecula and past there which is an hour past where we practice. So it's really cool how far we come from.

B: Okay I think we got a little coaching going on here for something we might be forgetting but it's hard to figure it out. So maybe, is there anything else, quickly, you want to say about the team?

R: Maybe I guess I could say is that my team happens to be ranked sixth in the nation right now.

M: Sixth in the nation?

R: Yeah, which is pretty cool.

B: Wow, that is really, really amazing. Oh, what is the Surf Cup?

R: Oh, well that is a tournament that is coming up in August and a bunch of teams travel and it's really close to our house. It's at the Polo Fields and a bunch of teams travel there to play and almost always there's a team from Maui that enters.

B: Oh, really?

R: Yeah, Maui United.

M: So is that why they call it the Surf Cup?

R: No, the team that works the tournament is Surf.

M: Oh I got it, okay.

B: So that's kind of interesting by itself and you guys have actually hosted a lot of the people, haven't you, at your home from time to time. Not necessarily staying overnight, but for parties afterwards and get togethers?

R: Yeah, actually this Surf Cup, a bunch of players on my team are going to be coming over to our house between games just to hang out at our house and stuff.

B: That will be really super also.

R: That will be really fun.

B: That will be really good. Well I think we're now pretty much winding down to two minutes and time does fly when we're doing this but it really is a lot of fun and we might have, oh I think we do know the name of the Maui team ?

R: Yeah the team is called Maui United but it's always cool every year when they come after every game they give the other team gifts, such as maybe like a shark tooth, or like a necklace or something and it's really cool. It really brings out the Hawaiian spirit.

B: That is really great. You know, one of the things that we're all kind of talking about and we talk about it on the show a lot is learning to live aloha. And I think that everyone that comes here if you learn a little bit about aloha and take it home with you, it's going to be a blessing to the world if we all just learn to live aloha. So that's always going to be something that I like to do when I travel is I like to remember the spirit that goes on here, the spirit of Lahainaluna High School, where these kids are so close for life. Not to mention the boarders. You know, we've talked about that in the past, how the boarders program over a couple of years almost got cut off because of funding and then people have stepped up and helped out with the boarders program and it does keep going. But Lahainaluna I think is truly one of the finest high schools, maybe in the world. It may not be, somebody may not think it's the best in certain ways, but the spirit and the love and the caring of those kids, is beyond anything and it survives. My husband is a fifty year graduate and those guys are still as close as they were when they graduated.

M: Fifty years?

B: Fifty years, Mitch, and now we're winding down again with "I Love Hawaii" and Danny Couch, and as always love having Danny Couch on our show and I think we better get him in the studio one of these days and learn more about what he's up to. But he plays in Honolulu a lot and we love Danny Couch, so aloha and thanks to the Sherlocks for being here. Aloha.