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

Kauai Real Estate Update

I just put into escrow a lovely 2 bedroom 2 bath 1,258 square foot condo at the Regency Villas at Poipu Kai.  This fee simple condo has air conditioning, marble and granite surfaces and floors, sub-zero refrigerator, plush furnishings and the amenities of the Poipu Kai Resort.  List price is $495,000 and sales price will be posted at the close of escrow.

I was not the only busy one this last week.  We had an incredible 35 properties go under contract!!!!  We had 11 properties that closed escrow and only 19 new properties came on the market.  The uptick in sales goes hand in hand with the number of visitors that we have on island and those numbers are on the rise as well.

Call or email me for additional information on last weeks activity which you can find on this down loadable excel spreadsheet.  To access this CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Hotels Filling Up and Kauai The Big Winner!

I was at a local supermarket and saw this welcome headline on the front page.  I did some research to see what this is about and found that last week the average daily room rates at Hawaii hotels rose by nearly 7 percent last week, while occupancy nudged up about 2 percentage points.

Oahu had the highest occupancy rate at 80.9% with an average daily room rate of $168.94. Maui was at  80.4% occupancy rate and an average room rate of $256.55.  Big Island was at 65.6% and average daily room rate was $192.76.

Kauai had the greatest gains when compared to last year.  Hotels were at 64.9% occupied, which was 13.6 percentage points higher than last year!!!!  Another gain is the average daily room rate of $204.44 was 8.3 percent higher than a year ago.

Hawaii Gets $71 Million Under “Mortgage Servicing Settlement”

Hawaii homeowners who faced or are at risk of foreclosure are in line for more than $60 million in direct relief under an unprecedented nationwide settlement with lenders over their foreclosure abuse and fraud.

The “Top Five” are are Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Ally ( formerly GMAC).

People who lost their homes from 2008 through 2011 could get up to $2,000 each in cash payments — up to a total $3.2 million. $8 million goes into a state trust account to continue investigation and foreclosure prevention. $9 million will go toward loan modification and refinance for borrowers who are current but owe more than their home is worth, and $50 million in wiped out debt for borrowers with extreme loan to value and debt to income ratios.

This settlement is second only to the tobacco settlement in size of deals ever obtained by state attorneys general.

37 Hikers Rescued From Hanakapiai

Rescuers rushed to a stream in Hanakapai‘ai Valley to assist 37 hikers, including a family with a 10-week-old baby and a pregnant woman, who were trapped by high waters.  The 3.2-mile stretch the hikers were on runs from Ke‘e Beach to Hanakapi‘ai Beach with no alternate route.  Hanakapi‘ai Beach is the island’s deadliest, with 29 drowning deaths since 1970.

One of the hikers sent a 911 call Tuesday around 5:45 p.m., and dispatchers alerted the fire department about several hikers trapped in Hanakapi‘ai Valley. Hanakapi‘ai Stream crosses an 11-mile path leading south from the northern edge of the Na Pali coast.  Kaua‘i Fire Department rescuers transported seven hikers across the swollen stream to Ke‘e Beach by air, and 30 more hikers crossed on their own with the help of a rope line as water levels receded on the island’s North Shore