Lynda Gill’s Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii Real Estate at Pacific Ocean Properties

Kauai Real Estate

The number of sales is smaller than it has been but the number of properties that have gone into escrow is huge.  Most notable are 14 Kauai Beach Resort studio fee simple condos.  The Kauai Beach Resort was a hotel that re outfitted themselves into studio fee simple condos and their timing to sell could not have been any better.  They sold out rather quickly in the high $200′s on into the $300′s, some closing escrow to only resell again.  Now they are selling for as low as $25,000 and just about all of them are foreclosures.  However this project is making some nice headway in selling these units and clearing out their market.

This week the first Wainani home closed escrow at $950,000.  The starting bid price was $595,000 and the developers asking price was $1,450,000.  It’s tempting to focus on the difference between what the home sold for and what the developer was asking but the developers asking price was no where near the comps.  In August of 2010 a two story home in the nearby Kiahuna Golf Village sold for $785,000 (CASH), asking price was $825,000.  This home was older and had no where near the upgrades that the Wainani home did, the lot was larger but was not on the golf course with a distant ocean view like the Wainani home has and it did not have a heated pool.  By taking this comp of $785,000 and adding the features that the Wainani home has you hit it right at $950,000 for a distressed sale.  It’s a perfect price and supports the comps in the nearby Kiahuna Golf Village neighborhood.  I go into all this to show the asking price and the sold price can sometimes tell a different story than it’s being sold at a bargain basement price, in this case it sold for exactly what it should have.

What else happened island wide last week?  For an excel spreadsheet CLICK HERE

“The Sky Is Falling”

As reported last week we had some pretty fierce weather all week long culminating in a huge storm that came in on Sunday.  The Sunday storm came with high surf warnings of up to 35 feet and small craft advisory for all of the islands.

We were getting messages all day Sunday on our radios and TV’s warning us about flash floods throughout the island.  But one message stood out from the rest.  “The Sky Is Falling”  was one of the messages sent out by the Kauai Civil Defense.  This prompted numerous phone calls and the Kauai Civil Defense scrambled to find out just how did this message get out?  On Monday they stated that it was a test message that was released in error on their part.  They also issued this statement:

“This is your Kauai Civil Defense Agency The message you received earlier was a test message sent by mistake THE SKY IS FALLING Please disregard and we are sorry for any inconvenience.”

The storm hit Kauai first and then moved on to the other islands.

Dust Curtain To Come Down In Koloa Town 

Three years ago the headlines were about the 29 historic Monkey Pod Trees that were cut down to make way for a shopping center in Old Koloa Town.  Public discord was high as the trees came down and up came huge wood stakes which framed a huge black plastic dust screen around the perimeter of the property.

The shopping center never got off the ground and the dust curtain has become an irritant for local residents and visitors.  The dust curtain is not only unsightly, the residents state, but it blocks some beautiful mountain views that have been lost for the last 3 years.

Kauai County Engineer Donald Fujimoto wrote to the trustee for the land  “Your cooperation in the removal of the dust screens and post supports is requested as soon as possible.”

It was reported in our paper that the trustee wrote back “…if we are unable to commence construction by Jan. 15, 2011, we will voluntarily remove the dust fences and post supports at the time.”

However the trustee told our paper something different, he said the poles are not going to come down due to the high cost of putting them back in when construction commences sometime in the future.  He also said the poles will be removed this week and that the work has already been contracted out.

Paper Or……Paper?

The ban on plastic bags is in full effect here on Kauai.  Retailers may provide customers with “recyclable paper bags,” narrowly defined as sacks that contain no old-growth fiber, are 100 percent recyclable, contain a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content, and display the words “reusable” and “recyclable” in a highly visible manner on the outside of the bag.

The Kauai County of Solid Waste said they have gotten 10 complaints so far of retailers not complying.  Some businesses are not aware of the new law and others have switched to recyclable plastic bags.

Solid Waste said it is “working with businesses to inform them of the requirements, provide them reasonable notice and are allowing them time for compliance.”