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

Foreclosures In Hawaii Drop

Hawaii Foreclosures fell 16% for the first quarter compared to the first quaret in 2010.  From January to March there were 2,564 filings which works out to one out of every 201 housing units.  Nationally the foreclosre filings were down as well.

The news gets even better when we see that just in the one month of March foreclosure filings in Hawaii fell 37% when compared to March of 2010. There were a total of 691 properties in Hawaii with foreclosure filings in March, or one of every 746 housing units.

For a list on how we did island wide for sales CLICK HERE FOR EXCEL SPREADSHEET

“Kokua For Japan” Huge Success

A week ago Sunday an all out music event was held on Oahu with proceeds going to the American Red Cross relief efforts for Japan.  The event was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and included local and national musicians which included Jack Johnson, Jake Shimabukuro, Willie Nelson, Pat Simmons, Hutch Hutchinson, Cecilio & Kapono, Amy Hanaialii, Na Leo and Kalapana.

The five hour musical event was well attended and overywhelmingly supported financially by bringing in donations of $1.6 million dollars.

Kokua in Hawaiian means “Help”

Protest In Poipu

If you drive down the street to get to the Sheraton you will see a very large sign reading “Auwe!  Shame On You!”.  This is directed at the Sheraton by Local 745 Hawaii Carpenters Union.  The banner is set to be up indefinitely.

The contractors union is upset because the $15.9 million dollar renovation went to a mainland company.  A field representation for the union stated

“Fifty-eight percent of our members are out of work right now, and we have contractors that are competitive.  With the economy the way it is here, I think Starwood has a community obligation to go with local bidders. Instead, they give the contract to a company based in Houston. They’re bringing workers over from the mainland and housing them while we have workers here losing their houses.”

Private construction contracts do not have to have competitive bidding unlike government contracts.  Local 745 is upset because they didn’t feel they got a fair shot at putting a bid together since Starwood announced it would accept bids at a very unusual time frame, between Christmas and New Years in 2010 for work that started 2 months later on the first of March.  Our local newspaper reported that the feeling is Starwood, who owns the Sheraton, had the Texas based construction company in place at the time Starwood started accepting bids for the work that started in the first week of March 2011.

Not One But Two DUI’s In Koloa

A week ago Saturday there was a head on collision with two local residents on Koloa road.  Both of them were arrested for operating a vehicle while intocicated and taken into custody, no one was seriously hurt.  Accident happend at 2:01 a.m.

Need A Job?

McDonalds and Lowes are both hiring for a combined total of 1,250 new employees.

On April 19 McDonalds, who owns 75 stores in the state, is hiring up to 1,000 new employees, this is being done with their nationwide commitement to hire a total of 50,000 new employees nationwide in a one day hiring event.  According to a McDonalds spokesperson these jobs will pay above minimum wage.

McDonald’s is seeking the new hires in anticipation of new restaurants opening in the future, in preparation for the busy summer season, and to accommodate existing restaurants expanding their hours, according to Wage.

Then Lowes is opening up a new store on Pacific street in Honolulu on April 21 and they are looking to hire 250 people.  This Lowes store will be the fourth on the islands and the second location for them on Oahu.