Real Estate - Blog September 2010

Site Staff
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Open House: Price-Reduced Kaneohe Townhome

Jenny Quill,

It’s Friday, which means it’s once again time to talk open houses. This week I’m turning my attention to Kaneohe, more specifically, the Ahuimanu area. This townhouse is located in Club View Gardens III, a quiet townhouse community popular with new-home buyers, retirees and military families who appreciate the well-maintained grounds, recreation center and clubhouse, easy access to the H-3 (about a 15-minute drive) and Windward Mall (about five minutes away).

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Resort Living in Ewa Beach

Jenny Quill,

Among the most ambitious new communities is Ka Makana at Hoakalei, a resort community that is already home to approximately 200 families and the private, 248-acre, Ernie Els-designed Hoakalei Country Club Golf Course. The first residential component to be developed at Hoakalei, Ka Makana will have, at its completion, more than 800 homes and the Ka Makana Swim Club, a fitness center, pool and spa situated on an acre of land in the center of the neighborhood.

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A New Kind of College Dorm in Waikiki

Jenny Quill,

Like LOST, part of the fun in watching last week’s premiere episode of Hawaii 5-0 was trying to identify the shoot locations. The opening sequence was obviously Kualoa Ranch, and I’m pretty sure the team’s office was headquartered in the old Advertiser building, but I couldn’t quite place Danno’s nondescript, retro apartment. A quick Google search yielded a somewhat-surprising result: The Tradewinds Student Suites, located on Hobron Lane across from Ala Moana Beach Park.

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Low-Key Luxury in Honolulu’s Black Point Community

Jenny Quill,

Honolulu’s Black Point neighborhood is synonymous with luxury, having long been the community of choice for many of Oahu’s oldest and wealthiest families (Doris Duke’s Shangri La is located here) and a number of celebrities (Martin Denny, Tom Selleck, to name a few). Within this exclusive enclave there’s a mix of flashy, new mansions and more traditional homes, a category in which this understated, old-Hawaii home belongs.

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Hudson and Rocker Hubby Selling Makakilo Manse

Jenny Quill,

Hudson, of the Bizarro Morning Show on Star 101.9, and her rocker husband, Steve Hott, are selling their Makakilo manse. The couple bought the residence six years ago, having fallen for the home’s private location and unobstructed ocean and mountain views. “We loved that the house was on a perimeter lot, and that no one could ever build behind us,” says Hudson. “It’s located on a cul-de-sac, and the neighborhood is quiet. There’s a constant breeze. We have central AC, and I think we’ve used it maybe 20 times in the last six years.”

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This Weekend’s Open House Pick

Jenny Quill,

This weekend’s open-house pick caught my eye because of its graceful mix of modern amenities and relaxed kamaaina living. The home is located in Pacific Heights, a neighborhood that people tend to overlook, but shouldn’t. It’s close to downtown and convenient to everything, houses in this area often have stellar views of the city and beyond, and it tends to be a little cooler up there thanks to the trade winds that breeze through.

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This Space Reserved: $30K for a Parking Space in Hawaii Kai

Jenny Quill,

Sure, we all know that parking in this city is a hot commodity, but a nearly $30,000 commodity? Apparently. Standalone stall No. 235 at Hawaii Kai’s The Colony at the Peninsula is currently listed for $29,500 by listing agent/owner Philip McCaffray, who is looking to offload the extra space.

House-Hunting 101: Finding the Right School

Jenny Quill,

Today’s write-up is in response to another reader request: How do you find the right school while searching for the right home? Clearly, finding the best school is a crucial deciding factor in every family’s new-home search. There’s a lot of information to sift through, but, fortunately, a lot of what you need to know can be found online.

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Tour Kailua Real Estate by Bike

Jenny Quill,

Start your house hunt off on the right foot with realtor John Stallings’ Pedal Buy Bike Tours of Kailua. The two-hour tours will have you searching for homes from the seat of a Schwinn, an economical, environmentally friendly and good-for-your-waistline approach to shopping for real estate. It’s also, quite simply, a lovely way to see one of the most beautiful corners of the island.

Home Buyer 101: Is Your Dream Neighborhood Safe?

Jenny Quill,

We were recently asked for some tips on how to determine if the neighborhood where you’re thinking of purchasing a home is safe. There are a lot of different ways to go about this, but here are some suggestions to get you started.

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Open House of the Week: Ocean-View Condo in Honolulu's Nauru Tower

Jenny Quill,

It’s Aloha Friday, which means it’s time to talk open houses. This time, I’m honing in on metro Oahu, specifically Nauru Tower on Ala Moana Blvd. Everyone knows that the realtor mantra is “location, location, location,” and Nauru certainly qualifies. “I think, traditionally, this building has been really liked by Asian offshore buyers because of the location,” says Sachi Braden, the principal broker at Sachi Hawaii Pacific Century Properties. “You can walk across the street to the park and beach, and then there’s the convenient shopping at Ward and Ala Moana Centers, and you’re also within walking distance of lots of restaurants. And the drive to the airport is 15 to 30 minutes. It’s very, very convenient.”

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Honolulu’s Kaiser Estate Still Seeks Buyer

Jenny Quill,

It’s been nearly two years since the remaining portion of the former Kaiser Estate was put on the market by its owners, Mr. and Mrs. S.L. Chan, and there’s hope that the estate may finally find a new owner, one with pockets deep enough to bring it back to its former glory. According to Mary Worrall Associates’ managing director Alden Yamane, since it was listed, a dozen or so potential buyers have seen the property, three of which were “serious.”

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Affordable Rentals on the Beach in Oahu? It’s Possible.

Jenny Quill,

Vibe: The Waterfront at Puuloa offers beachfront living in former military housing. Formerly known as the Iroquois Point Island Club, the community’s military roots are still evident: There’s a Navy Exchange gas station and mini mart, and a somewhat-reliable ferry that shuttles military residents (about 60 percent of the community’s population is military) to and from Ford Island and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The community, with 1,450 homes and approximately 5,000 residents, comes off as a small, Sims-like town.

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Kailua Beachfront Estate Reduced by $1.8 Million

Jenny Quill,

Perhaps the third time is the charm for this Kailua beachfront estate, which recently had its third price drop. The nearly 8,000-plus-sq.-ft., Kailua residence designed by architect Peter Vincent was originally listed at $21 million, reduced to $14.8 million and has now settled in at a little less than $13 million.

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Waikiki Open House

Jenny Quill,

I’m all about ways to cut back on the stresses of shopping for a new home because, if we’re being honest here, house hunting can be a patience-testing, marriage-wrecking, blood-pressure-raising affair. So I was pretty jazzed to hear about Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties’ Waikiki is Open event on Sunday, Sept. 12 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Liliha Street’s Million-Dollar Baby

Jenny Quill,

I adore the character, charm and history of old homes, particularly those done in the Craftsman style, and this well-maintained Liliha St. residence, which was built in 1914, is one of the best examples of that classic style that I’ve seen on the island. The five-bedroom, three-bath home in the Puunui neighborhood was purportedly built for a physician of the royal family, and later owned by an Admiral.

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What $250K Buys You in Waikiki

Jenny Quill,

You know when someone tells you, usually in a hushed, conspiratorial whisper, about some too-good-to-be-true deal and you think, ‘Yeah, sure, right. As if?’ That’s pretty much how it went when a friend recently tipped me off that the Niihau Apts. building on Beach Walk Ave. in Waikiki has fee simple condos listed for sale for less than $300,000. And pigs can fly and I own a unicorn, or at least that’s what was running through my mind as she told me. But, lo and behold, the Niihau does exist, and there are currently a couple active listings for units in the building, all for less than $300,000.

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Ala Wai Redux

Jenny Quill,

The Leiahua is one of those buildings along the Ala Wai Canal that you’ve probably passed by a million times and not given a second thought. Its stout, concrete construction (more bunker than apartment building) and fabulously funky, mid-century-modern, concrete-screen-block façade are telling of its age (the Leiahua was built in 1965), but, thanks to a recent interior renovation, it’s probably best not to judge this book by its cover.

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An Oceanfront Classic in Kailua for $2.8 Million

Jenny Quill,

It’s Friday, which means the weekend’s open houses are upon us. Of the 384 opens listed on www.hicentral.com, this oceanfront six-bedroom, five-bath Kaimalino-neighborhood residence caught my eye. I guess you could say I’m a sucker for an ocean view, and this house has that in spades, as well as views of Kailua Beach, the Mokulua Islands and the Koolau Mountain range.

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A Real Pet Peeve

Jenny Quill,

Honolulu is not a particularly pet-friendly place for would-be renters, which is odd given the fact that, according to the Hawaii Humane Society, more than 60 percent of Oahu households have pets. For every 15 listings I’ve perused, there’s only one that allows pets, and it’s either cost prohibitive or comes with a myriad of restrictions (size limit, breed limit, outside-pets only). After seeing the SORRY, NO PETS tag line a few too many times, I started looking beyond the classifieds, and found a few helpful resources.

Welcome to Honolulu Real Estate

Site Staff,

Walk up to any group of friends or coworkers chatting in Hawaii and there’s a good chance they’re talking about real estate. This is an incredibly beautiful, incredibly expensive place to