Kauai Real Estate Update- Our real estate sales, are they up or down from last year? The final figures are just coming in and I will be posting them next week. Good news when I did a preliminary look; the number of home and condo sales island wide are both up, island wide Median Price for a home is down a bit and condominium prices are up.
However, in looking at just the month of June for home sales there were 45 that sold island wide in 2025 compared to 23 in June of 2024, this is significant news for home sales.
To find out what Sold, was Just Listed and what went Under Contract last week on the island click here; Kauai Real Estate Activity June 23 to 29, 2025
Poipu Beach Real Estate Update- Under Contract | Poipu Sands 221 List Price $1,399,000 (FS)
This last week we got an offer on Poipu Sands 221 and it’s now under contract, here is what I love about this unit; it has sweet ocean, pool and greenbelt views along with a dedicated stairwell and a corner location. The only people using the stairwell are those going to the unit and it has three sides that do not share a wall. The entire top floor is the Primary Suite with its own private lanai with great views. This unit is certifiably fabulous.
For a complete list of all the fee simple real estate activity in Poipu since January click here; Poipu Beach Fee Simple Current Market Analysis.
This is a sweetheart of a unit; bright, updated, partial ocean views, ac, washer/dryer and a ground floor location. The first buyer for this property cancelled so I called an agent who had shown the unit to a sweet couple that were sad that they missed out on it. We got it under contract with them and they (along with us!) are happy campers. It goes to show that in real estate it’s not over till it’s over! Click here for all the real estate activity at the Kiahuna; Kiahuna Plantation Current Market Analysis
Tree Tunnel Shut Down This Saturday
If you will be here on Saturday July 12 ( a week from this Saturday ) or if you have guests staying at your property here, it’s good to know that Tree Tunnel will be closed for their annual clean up. This always happened just before Koloa Days which this year starts July 18 to the 27th.
Tree Tunnel Road is the main road used to get into Poipu, and if you are heading to the airport on Saturday it's not a good time to find this news out. The road will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the traffic during this time is not pretty and here’s why; you are diverted to Omao Road to get to the highway and this is a very narrow slow moving residential road. When you get to the highway there is no lane merging you into traffic like Tree Tunnel Road, your waiting for a break with cars going 40 mph.
It's all doable, just plan ahead and/or give your guests a heads up.
Your Property Being Sold Out From Under You, Scam Or No Scam?
We’ve seen the commercials about homes being sold right out from under the owners and I’ve not appreciated the fear tactics that I see used.
It is true that this type of fraud is happening and I have an interesting story on this; I was speaking with a Title Officer who told me about an incident on another island; the “Seller” called the association that was managing the subdivision where a parcel of land was locate. The bogus Seller told the association that he was changing his number and they made a note of it and called that “new” number during the real estate transaction. The fraudster was successful in not having the association alert that fraud was happening but title company found out when they checked the Sellers identification closely.
Title Guaranty put together a brilliant handout on this which I would be happy to send you. Here are four very important points taken from the handout;
â—‰ First, there is no way to “lock” a title or deed.
â—‰ Second, anyone can monitor the county records at any time by either visiting the county office in person or checking online. In most cases, monitoring the county records online is free of charge and some counties offer an automated option.
â—‰ Third, this type of service is not a replacement for title insurance. A home title lock cannot replace title insurance. Their services do not help cover any financial burden of title issues or mortgage fraud.
â—‰ Last, even if a forged deed is recorded in the county — the homeowner does still own their home. Even if the fraudster does take out a loan secured by the stolen property the homeowner is not the victim; the lender is, since the scammer never legally owned the property, a lender has no legal claim and would be unable to foreclose when the fraudster fails to repay the loan.
Email me and I’d be happy to send you this excellent flyer; [email protected]
Starting yesterday (June 30); if a listing is not on the MLS where other agents, and the public, can access it then it can’t be advertised on any other platforms such as; Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin etc. according to the new Zillow policy. And Redfin will start doing the same this September.
If Zillow finds out it is being circulated publicly as a property for sale, and it’s not active on the MLS then the listing, not the property, will be banned for the life of that listing.
Some Sellers ( or their agents? ) want to market a listing and have it go active on the MLS at a later date ( that is if it hasn’t sold ) by way of the agent having it on their own websites, social media etc. and Zillow is having none of it. They feel this is not fair to consumers. Another fact is Zillow takes as much as a 40% cut of the commission from these listings that they sell back to their own “Premier” agents, if it’s not on the MLS then they can’t sell it to the consumer. Redfin does the same thing and takes 30 to 35% of the commission.
If the listing is not on the MLS those companies are out of possibly getting a giant cut of the commission.
Compass has filed a lawsuit against Zillow claiming that Zillow is “abusing its monopoly power”
The threat of the ban is in place, how the lawsuit will shake out is to be determined.
