Kauai Home Sales

Stubborn Storm System Pounds Hawaiian Islands

We’ve had a storm that has been trapped by a low pressure system thus allowing it to circle the Hawaiian Islands and giving us tremendous thunder, lightening, rain and unstable conditions.  Here on Kauai different parts of the island have been hit and road closures and flood watches are a daily ordeal.  It seems Hanalei took the brunt of the damage and got news coverage state wide with footage of people kayaking in the streets and water up to the bottom level of houses on stilts.  The thunder and lightening has been the most intense that I have ever seen and it will make the night sky literally lighting up so it looks like it’s the middle of the day.  Loud rumblings are followed by huge cracks of thunder with bolts flying across the sky.  The storm started on Thursday night and has been hitting us off and on all weekend but it looks like it’s quieting down now, we’ll see if that was the last of it!     

A survey called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals which states are happiest. The index includes questions about six types of well-being, including overall evaluation of their lives, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors (such as whether a person smokes or exercises), and job satisfaction.

Here are the 50 U.S. states in order of their well-being scores, which are out of 100 points.

1. Utah: 69.2
2. Hawaii: 68.2
3. Wyoming: 68
4. Colorado: 67.3
5. Minnesota: 67.3
6. Maryland: 67.1
7. Washington: 67.1
8. Massachusetts: 67
9. California: 67
10. Arizona: 66.8
11. Idaho: 66.8
12. Montana: 66.7
13. New Hampshire: 66.7
14. Vermont: 66.6
15. Virginia: 66.5
16. Nebraska: 66.4
17. New Mexico: 66.3
18. Oregon: 66.3
19. Connecticut: 66.3
20. Alaska : 66.2
21. Texas: 66.1
22. Kansas: 66.1
23. Georgia: 66.0
24. Wisconsin: 65.9
25. New Jersey: 65.8
26. South Carolina: 65.7
27. Iowa: 65.6 – 27/50
28. North Dakota: 65.5
29. Maine: 65.5 – 29/50
30. Florida: 65.3 – 30/50
31. Illinois: 65.2 – 31/50
32. Pennsylvania: 64.9
33. Alabama: 64.9
34. North Carolina: 64.8
35. New York: 64.7
36. Delaware: 64.7
37. Rhode Island: 64.6
38. Nevada: 64.5
39. South Dakota: 64.3
40. Louisiana: 64.2
41. Michigan: 64.0
42. Tennessee: 64.0
43. Oklahoma: 64.0
44. Missouri: 63.8
45. Indiana: 63.3
46. Arkansas: 62.9
47. Ohio: 62.8
48. Mississippi: 61.9
49. Kentucky: 61.4
50. West Virginia: 61.2

On the Real Estate front my office just listed some fee simple homes in the heart of Poipu for $565,000!  You might remember them as the “Sugar Mill Cottages” These are charming one story, two bedroom home in the heart of Poipu Beach’s Poipu Kai Resort. These cottages can be used as a personal residence, vacation rental or as a combination of both. They include an attached garage with laundry room and storage. Resort amenities include pool, tennis, Greenbelt pathways to beach, 24-hour security, and the cottage is within easy walking distance to Brennecke’s Beach and the Grand Hyatt Hotel.  Contact me for more information. 

For an excel spreadsheet which will include these homes and all the listings that came on the market or sold here in Kauai last week CLICK HERE

Alaska Airlines is adding three new flights to Hawaii this week.  On November 9 Alaska will operate four weekly flights between Oakland and Maui and on Nov. 10 Alaska will begin thrice-weekly service between Oakland and Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Oakland officials said Alaska’s announcement underscores a growing demand for leisure travel via the airport as the grip of the recession loosens.  “It’s a good sign that things are coming back,” said Rosemary Barnes, an airport spokeswoman. “There is demand for these leisure destinations.”

Some other good airlines news;  The number of passengers carried by Hawaiian Airlines in October was up 8.3 percent.

Hawaiian’s load factor for October increased 2.4 percentage points to 85.3 percent, as compared with the same month in 2008, Hawaiian Airlines saw the number of passengers it carried in October increase from 646,756 to 700,569.  For the year to date through October, Hawaiian’s load factor was up 0.6 percentage points to 83.9 percent, while the total number of passengers carried grew 6 percent to 6.9 million.

Home Buyer Credit Extended and Expanded

The President signed into legislation’s that the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit will be extended.  Up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010 and the credit has been expanded to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010.

What has also changed is this now included people who are currently homeowners purchasing between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010 and who have used their current home for 5 consecutive years within the last 8 years.

Tax credit amounts and buyers income amounts have changed from the previous bill, contact me for the complete details.

For a complete list of what came on the market and what sold for last week CLICK HERE

The extension and expansion of the homebuyer tax credit is the pending business in the Senate. After a long week of negotiation on the credit, an agreement on the scope of both expansion and extension has been reached. The extension is part of a larger bill that has not yet gone to a vote, however. A Senate vote on the underlying bill will occur in the Senate during the week of November 1. The package will then go back to the House. The House is expected to accept the Senate amendments, vote on the package and send it to the President for signature. The underlying bill is an extension of unemployment benefits. Other provisions in the bill include expansion of the net operating loss carryback rules, new requirements for some tax return preparers and noncontroversial provisions that “pay for” these changes. 

On the Real Estate Front here on Kauai we had a very interesting new listing come up here in the Poipu area unlike any that I have ever seen in this area.  It’s for 20 acres of land near the Kiahuna Golf Villiage and the new Poipu Beach Estates Lots.  Price is $3,999,000 ($4 Million).  For more information call or email me

For a detailed list of what came on the market and what sold here on Kauai last week, including this new 20 acre listing,  CLICK HERE

Real Estate Update

The National Association Of Realtors (NAR) and the Hawaii Association of Realtors (HAR) are lobbying to extend the $8,000 first time home buyers credit on into June of 2010 and the HAR wants to extend it to all home buyers, not just first time home buyers.  The current tax credit has had a fantastic impact on the housing market and the nationwide numbers show it.  In November of 2008 nationwide we had a 10.6 month supply of housing inventory; a healthy market is a 6 month supply.  In February the $8,000 credit was introduced and we’re now at a 7.8 month supply with many of our markets stabilizing.  Since the tax credit was introduced available inventory dropped every month with the exception of April.  The Senate is considering the extension this week. 

I have been asked to include the properties that have gone under contract for the week as well as the new listings and closed transactions.  Keep in mind that the numbers for properties that went Contingent will be a little skewed because the short sales do not get reported as under contract for several months while the bank is reviewing the offer and making the final decision at the price to sell at.   This last week we had 8 listings go Contingent which means an offer was accepted and the property is now in escrow.  11 pieces of property closed escrow which is in keeping with the past weeks numbers and this is good news.

For an excel spreadsheet CLICK HERE
Five Year Extension Passed For Obtaining Permits On Agricultural Land

Surprisingly, and for the sixth time since the ‘ohana zoning amendment was first passed 20 years ago, the Kaua‘i County Council this week extended the window to acquire building permits for additional dwelling units on agricultural land.  Last time this was discussed the council had said there was no way they were going to extend it but the extension has been granted after the council debated the original purpose of the legislation, agreeing for the most part that “the intent of the bill has been lost.”  Many members said the sixth extension — for five full years, to Dec. 15, 2014 — should be the final one and spoke out against inappropriate land use, when it came time to vote, the measure passed unanimously Wednesday morning.

“This bill is not perfect,” said Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro, who introduced the bill, noting that it is a difficult time to secure money through loans to perform infrastructure improvements. “This is the compassionate way to close the door.”  Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing presented a detailed ADU history, which includes ordinances passed in March 1989, October 1991, December 1993, August 1996, November 1998, November 2006 and finally October 2009.

“Ag zoned lands should be for ag purposes, and we should keep that in mind,” Asing said, criticizing the original idea and all the subsequent extensions to it.  “What have we created?” he asked, referring to transient vacation rentals and second homes along Hanalei Bay.

Furfaro said he has no intent to revisit the issue in five years and he sees the extension as an “exit strategy” to help bring county law back into compliance with the General Plan.

CoCo Palms Tour

Our group enters the back entrance to the dining area. (My husband in the foreground)

CoCo Palms has been closed since Hurricane Iniki hit the island September 11 1992.  Since that time it’s been under 5 different owners with some of the owners taking a run at reopening the resort and all plans have been met with heavy opposition and much public controversy.

The current owners of the property are under an obligation to open the resort up to the local residents and so they have contracted a local Movie Tour company to conduct tours which are limited to certain areas.  On this tour we got to see some of the grounds which included “Bungalow #3″ where Elvis always stayed and Bungalow #1 where scenes for Blue Hawaii were filmed.  Next we were entertained in the dining area by Larry Rivera with songs and a little of the history that he had there during his 50 plus years at the resort.  The last stop was the lobby area which is totally demolished, it felt like we were revisiting the Titanic.  I got an answer to the question that I’ve always wondered; have there been problems with squatters in the abandoned resort?  The answer was no.  Additionally, I was told, there has been very little vandalism done to the property and I saw that to be true.

The future of the resort remains uncertain.  Local opposition remains high towards development plans that have been proposed and with the current state of the economy taking on the renovation of the resort to open it back up as a hotel with the current footprint is risky and economically rough.  What remains is very clear; this resort has a very special history and the love for CoCo Palms runs deep among the residents of Kauai.  It was heartbreaking to me to see such a place rich with history and built up over it’s 50 plus year history with love and devotion to be left vacant and falling further apart as these last 17 years have passed.

Kauai Electric Company Going Green

Kauai’s electric utility has committed to buying renewable energy from a biomass plant planned for West Kauai. Kauai Island Utility Cooperative said this week that it has signed an agreement with Vancouver, Wash.-based Pacific West Energy to buy electricity from its proposed waste-to-energy power plant. While the plant is expected to be online by next year, developers of the $135 million project, which also will produce 15 million gallons of sugar ethanol, still need to secure financing and land. Pacific West Energy said it wants to lease between 12,000 and 15,000 acres of land to grow either sugar or fast-growing wood to fuel the biomass operation. Meanwhile, it is still working on a deal to lease Gay & Robinson’s sugar mill in Kaumakani to build an ethanol plant. Gay & Robinson is harvesting its last crop of sugar cane this month.

Foreclosure Update

Lenders recovered almost 60 percent of the loan value for properties that were foreclosed in 2009.  That translated to a recovery of $1.9 billion on 145 defaulted commercial mortgages totaling $3.2 billion.

How much a lender was able to recover in a foreclosure depended on location, type of asset and, most of all, the purpose of the loan.  The best recovery rates occurred in the West and Northwest, where rates for acquisition and refinancing loans were 76 percent and 78 percent respectively. The Los Angeles metro area comes in at 70-plus percent recovery rate. Detroit and Tampa are at the bottom with a recovery rate of 45 percent.  Hawaii is 65 percent recovery rate.

How did we do last week here on Kauai?  Pretty good for sales, we had another week of a good number of closed transactions and this week I saw a lot of properties going contingent.  For a complete list of what came on the market and what sold here in Kauai island wide click on this link…. sales oct. 18.

Hot!  Hot!  Hot!

This past week has been scorchingly hot and relief finally came on Saturday when the heat was broken by rainfall all night long and finally on Sunday the trade winds came back!  We are now back to our normal weather.  A low pressure system had kept our cooling trades away for the entire week and not a palm frond was moving on the entire island.     

Continental Airlines Starts New Routes To Hawaii

Starting March 7, 2010 Continental Airlines is adding three new flights between California and Hawaii.

The flight from Los Angeles to Maui wll depart at 5:05 p.m. and arrive at 7:45 p.m. The return flight will depart Maui at 9:15 p.m. and arrive at Los Angeles at 5:45 a.m. 

The new service between Orange County’s John Wayne Airport and Honolulu International Airport will operate four times a week, leaving Orange County at 5:20 p.m. and arriving in Honolulu at 8:05 p.m. The return flight will leave Honolulu at 11:10 p.m. and arrive at Orange County at 7:45 a.m., except on Saturdays, when it leaves 30 minutes later. Continental said it will use a Boeing 737-700 with 124 seats and plans to increase the service to daily during the summer.

Continental’s second daily flight between Los Angeles and Honolulu departs at 1:55 p.m. and arrives at 4:40 p.m. The return flight will leave Honolulu at 1:50 p.m. and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:25 p.m. The flights will use a Boeing 737-900 with 173 seats.

Real Estate Update

We continue to have a fair number of closings for the second week in a row.  For an excel spreadsheet of all the latest listings and closed transactions CLICK HERE

General Excise Tax Information!

Do you file your own GE payments?  The Department of Taxation now requires that the due date for GE taxes is the 20th of each month instead of the end of the month.  Example:  August GE taxes are due by September 20.  Effective date for this new policy is July 15, 2009 but the department is not penalizing people who get their payments in by the end of the month up to Decmeber 31, 2009 which is the date that this transition period ends.  For more information go to www.hawaii.gov and type in “2009-11″ in the search box.

 Two New Cruise Sailings Added For Spring

Norwegian Cruise Line announced last Friday that two new seven-day inter-island cruises have been added to the ship’s itinerary.  The two sailings go on sale Monday. Fares start at $999 per person, based on double occupancy.  The cruises on April 24 and May 1 have a new itinerary and include a day at sea along with stops in Hilo, Kahului, Kona and an overnight in Nawiliwili on Kauai.  The cruise will include an afternoon sail along the Napali Coast of Kauai.

Mitzi Gaynor Talks Story at the Kauai Marriott

In 1958 Rodgers and Hammersteins “South Pacific” was filmed here on Kauai and Mitzi Gaynor played the leading role of Nurse Nelly.  Not only is this one of my all time favorite movies but I was in the play that my high school did of this famous Broadway production.  I went to see Mitzi who “talked story”  for two hours at the Kauai Marriott on Sunday.  She is an absolute total doll and I thought that she would be a natural funny person and she truly is as well as very, very engaging and charming.  She flirted with the audience and made us all feel like any other place she had ever performed at did not match the experience she was having with us that very day.  She is 76 years old and was glamorous, humble, gracious and told some stories about famous people that were funny and appropriate.  She choked up when she talked about her husband of 50 years who died in 2006 and wagged her finger at us ladies and told us to take care of our husbands.  Some film clips were showed of her movies and of her Vegas show which sounds like it followed South Pacific.  It seems Vegas was pretty good to her and in fact she’s on a tour right now.  She’s very energetic and sang a little with a voice that is still very strong and clear.  There was a huge turn out for her talk story and it was obvious that everybody enjoyed themselves. 

Kauai Real Estate

As you’ll see on the spreadsheet we had a lot of closings, 15 total.  The best deal I think was a short sale for a 3 bedroom 3 bath fairway home at the Kiahuna Golf Village.  The home was listed at $975,000 and sold for $875,000.  The home was completely remodeled on the inside and the previous owner had paid $1.350 in 2005.  For a complete list of what came on the market and what sold  CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Western Region Out Performs National Home Sales Figures Nationwide

The new-home sales had a gain of 0.7 percent last month; this figure missed the expectations on Wall Street. This was the fifth-consecutive month of increased sales. The good news is the western region, which includes Hawaii, enjoyed a 12.1 percent increase in new-home sales last month compared to July — and a 30.4 percent gain from August 2008. The West was the only region to report an increase nationwide.

Where To Retire?

MSN reported the most tax friendly state for retirees if your looking for a state where there is No tax on pension income:  There’s ten states — Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania — exclude all federal, military and in-state government pensions from taxation. But Kansas taxes public pensions from all other states.  In addition, depending on your income, you may be required to include up to 85% of your Social Security benefits in your taxable income when filing your federal return. But in recent years, many states have been moving away from taxing Social Security benefits. 

Another bonus for some states is there’s No Social Security tax: in the state of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.

And on the Real Esatate homefront for the island of Kauai here is an excel spreadsheet for last weeks newly listed properties and sales  CLICK HERE

American Airlines is reinstating flights between Chicago and Honolulu in 2010, no start date was specified for the flights but only that it would be in the summer of 2010.  Additioanlly  Hawaiian Airlines is expanding its service to California with the addition of three daily flights next summer as they are getting two new A330 aircraft which will seat 294 passengers and they want to capitalize on one of the busiest travel seasons that Hawaii has.

Two of their new daily nonstop flights will be between Maui and Oakland and Maui and San Diego, as well as an additional Los Angeles-Honolulu flight, beginning June 17, 2010. 

The new daily flight between Oakland and Maui will depart California at 12:20 p.m. and arrive in Maui at 2:20 p.m. The return flight will leave Maui at 9:35 p.m. and arrive in Oakland the following day at 5:30 a.m. The flight runs through Sept. 6, 2010.

The daily flight from San Diego will depart at 10:35 a.m. and arrive in Maui at 1:05 p.m. The return flight leaves Maui at 10:30 p.m. and arrives in San Diego at 6:35 a.m. the next day. That service runs through Aug. 24, 2010.

Hawaiian’s daily Los Angeles-Honolulu service will leave Los Angeles at 10:45 a.m. and arrive in Honolulu at 1:15 pm. The return flight departs Honolulu at 10:30 p.m. and arrives in Los Angeles the next day at 6:55 a.m.

Over 100 Acres Burn At Maha’ulepu

Over 100 acres caught fire on Sunday at Maha‘ulepu Beach at 10:36 a.m.  Fire trucks from six of the seven fire stations on island responded along with heavy equipment operators from private companies and a helicopter crew form Pacific Missle Range Facility at PMRF dropped 12 buckets on the fire.

Most of the responding agencies had left the scene by 7 p.m., but at press time a small crew of firefighters remained there to handle mop-up operations and put out hot spots.

The National Association of Realtors wants to extend the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit which will expire November 30.  “Now is the time for Congress to keep this recovery going by extending the tax credit through 2010 and making it available to more homebuyers, says NAR president Charles McMillan. The first-time buyer credit, which was implemented earlier this year, has brought 1.2 million new buyers into the market, the NAR estimates. It says 350,000 of those buyers would not have purchased a home without the credit.

So what sold and what got listed last week here on the Garden Island of Kauai?  For an excel spreadsheet  CLICK HERE

Continental Airlines will increase its holiday service between Honolulu and Houston with the addition of a daily non-stop flight.   The new flight will be available Dec. 17 through Jan. 10, 2010., excluding Christmas day.  The flight will depart Hononlulu Interntional at 10:50 p.m. and arrives at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport at 7:40 a.m. the next day. The return flight departs Houston at 2:25 p.m. and arrives in Honolulu at 6:50 p.m.

Kukuiula Village is getting a natural foods store set to open in December!  Living Foods Market & Cafe, which will sell organic and locally grown food, as well as European-style fare from a cafe-style restaurant will be a 5,000 square foot store in Poipus newest shopping center.  The Living Foods Market & Cafe will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week and employ 20 people.

So what came on the market last week and what sold?  For a excel spreadsheet CLICK HERE    If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me!

Lynda Gill (RA)  808-346-0056