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

House Where Obama Vacationed Sold

President Obama made headlines when he vacationed here in 2008 and 2009, the Windward Oahu beachfront home has been sold.  The 4,900-square-foot Kailua estate was purchased for $6.9 million, about 13 percent below the asking price of $7.95 million.  The plantation-style home sits on 27,000 square feet of oceanfront land and has five bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, a three-car garage and security features.  Nice digs for a vacation!

How about our real estate?  I could not believe the huge numbers of properties that  we had go into escrow last week.  The sales were decent but the big news was the amount of accepted offers and opened escrows.  Additionally the number of multi million dollar properties that are under contract right now is big news.  For an excel spreadsheet on what went into escrow, what sold and what came on the market island wide CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair

Last Thursday the annual Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair opened. The even t was packed with different events from daily Pig Races, live music performances, hypnotist, Bingo events, Chili cookoffs (naturally!) And much, much more. Every year they have a new ride for the kids and this year it was “The Dragon Coaster”

Did you know……The first county fair ever organized on Kaua‘i was in 1922, but it was in the early 1950s that it became the Kaua‘i Farmers Fair. In the 1960s the Kaua‘i Farm Bureau took over, giving the fair its current name.

In 1951 Frank Sinatra came to Kaua‘i especially to attend the fair and used it to kick off his “Come Back” tour. “Old Blue Eyes” sang and performed — true story — on an ice skating rink set up at the fair.

The fair was originally held in Hanapepe. It later moved to Kapa‘a. As the fair grew bigger, it moved to Lihu‘e, where it has been ever since. First it went to Wilcox Elementary School. From there it moved to the War Memorial Convention Hall. In 1993, the year after Hurricane Iniki, the fair grew even bigger and moved to its current location behind Vidinha Stadium.

The current grounds, however, are already getting too small for the fair that keeps growing. This year attendance is expected to be between 40,000 and 50,000.

Robbery At Safeway Shopping Center

Three men were arrested Tuesday night in connection with a robbery Saturday in the parking lot at Kaua‘i Village. Kauai Shopping Village is where Safeways is in Kapaa right across the street from the Waipouli Beach Resort. The three are all locals and two of them were apprehended when they were attempting to flee on foot. Police spotted them and people called in to the police station with sightings of the two until they were caught in Wailua. The third robber was arrested at his home in Hanamaula.

In addition to the robbery charge one of the men is facing multiple charges including: first degree robbery; third degree promotion of a detrimental drug; first degree possession of a dangerous drug; third degree possession of a dangerous drug; two counts of place to keep pistol; two counts of loaded firearm on highway; place to keep ammunition; owner/possess prohibited; and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bail is set at $87,150.

Hawaii Little Leaguers Almost Win Championship

The Hawaii Little Leaguers from Waipio, Hawaii beat Pearland, Texas on Saturday for the United States Championship after doing the same to Georgia on Friday.  Not only did the team from Hawaii continue its amazing run, it used the mercy rule to defeat the Texas team in only five innings. ( “Mercy Rule” brings a sports event to an early end when one team has a very large and presumably insurmountable lead over the other team)

Disappointing news for all os us; on Sunday Hawaii faced tough pitching and good defense in a disciplined team from Japan and Japan defeated Hawaii. The team from Japan has had rest compared to Waipio’s Little League World Series journey. Sunday made the fifth straight day of games for Hawaii. So not to make excuses here but Japan had Thursday and Friday off before facing the Hawaii team on the international baseball final. The Japan-Hawaii match-up was the first in LLWS history.

The Little Leaguers were facing financial difficulty with the expenses of traveling around. Governor Linda Lingle had called on the State of Hawaii for donations which have been coming in to support our team. Their arrival back home on Monday has also been published with requests to meet the team at the airport for a warm “aloha” greeting.