Vacant Land is Selling in Kohala
For the past year, I’ve been selling lots of lots (vacant land ranging from 3 acres to 40 acres) in North Kohala. Parcels sold from Puakea Bay Ranch just before Hawi, out to Kapana’ia which is past Kapa’au on the road to Pololu Valley. Many of my buyers are planning for future retirement, 2 to 10 years out, although some clients who purchased recently are already hiring architects and builders hungry for their business in a slow market.
Sometimes prospective buyers just starting their search ask me whether it makes more sense to buy a home for sale or to buy acreage and build…and the answer is it depends. At a few of my favorite smaller gated subdivisions in the Hawi area such as the Ranch at Puakea and Puuepa Ranch, there is no choice, as there are no residences to buy, just 20 acre lots waiting to break ground.
In other communities, such as Kohala Waterfront, Kohala By The Sea, and even the Heathers at Kohala Ranch, the buyer for whom ocean view is critical may find the lots picked over. You can always renovate a house, change the floorplan and finishes, but you’ll never change the view! For the ocean view buyer, one of my favorites for a long time has been this home on 5 acres at the very bottom of Kohala Ranch, which just had its price reduced to $2,199,000. Of course the King of the Hill on Pueo Place a great Hawaii Life listing, is famous for its mountain (Mauna Kea, Hualalai and Haleakala) as well as ocean views and a value at only $1,399,000. Read entire post →
Swiss Alps or Mauna Kea
Our Big Island (Hawaii) broker-in-charge Katie Minkus lives in Puako, and when she went on vacation in September, she wrote a blog post about the question we get: where do you vacation when your home is in Paradise? My home is in North Kohala, and the day I left on holiday in October, colleague Lucy Clark wrote about its charm. My husband is Swiss, and we took three weeks–in what turned out NOT to be the slow season for Big Island real estate–to visit his family in Switzerland. Going to visit family and friends often determines where we vacation, regardless of whether we live in Hawaii or Minnesota!
Another question I often get from prospective buyers of Big Island real estate is why I chose to live in the North Kohala district (what visitors usually refer to as Hawi and locals call simply “Kohala”). I think one of the reasons people travel away from a place they love is to get perspective, and coming home to the Big Island gave me a chance to reflect. Read entire post →
Sure, in today’s economic reality, we are all counting our pennies – and our blessings – a little bit more carefully. I’m writing this today to share the story of a Realtor for whom, in this particular transaction, it was not at all about the money. Beth Robinson, R(S), lives in a very small town on the very northern tip of the Big Island. I think the population is about 4,500 people or so, and it seems that for all intents and purposes, just about everybody knows everybody – and everybody’s business. Welcome to North Kohala – a place that only looks like it rains all the time. North Kohala has a very long history, and I’m not going to repeat it here, there are many fine books on it that can be found all over the internet. It is also an incredible place to buy property – and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Broker – I’m saying it because of the community spirit that permeates this incredible corner of the world, even in today’s market environment… or perhaps especially in today’s market environment.
Beth, just today, closed her first transaction as a Realtor with Hawaii Life Real Estate Services, where she represented Buyers doing something enormously generous – they bought a property in dire need of renovation, are completely restoring it and are turning around and seller financing the home to a local family in need – clearly, the true spirit of “affordable housing.” For no profit. They have already identified the family, who is helping with the restoration of the home, and the family will be on title to the home in a few week’s time. Wow. I am humbled, and a little awestruck.
Did Beth make a commission on the sale? Of course she did, her expertise is valuable, and the amount of fiduciary responsibility is constant despite price or the circumstances of a transaction. Beth is a professional who was paid a fee for her services. But today, Beth got a huge bonus, one that meant more to her – and, frankly, to me – than any amount of money ever could: the knowledge that she participated in something as meaningful and profound as providing a family who needed one, with a home that they otherwise could not afford.
That’s true aloha spirit. Imua, Beth.
