Kauai Newsletter
June  2003

"June is a-bustin’ out all over!”
Rogers & Hammerstein, Carousel

Aloha, everyone!

Yes indeed, June has arrived, and here on the Garden Island it's putting on quite a show. Most attention-grabbing are the royal poincianas, which add a new layer to their racy costume every day. Delicate pink and white plumeria trees are filling out with less fanfare, and beneath their gnarled trunks enterprising local girls have set up lei stands. Even the melaleucas, those white peely-barked trees from Australia, have small white blossoms coming out (ahh-choo!), and the big red and orange blossoms of the African tulip trees sure look pretty, even though gardeners will tell you the trees spread out of control.

It’s as though the whole island is gearing up for the high season of summer visitors. But with a shaky economy and rumors of a nationwide “real estate bubble,” will the boom of the past few years continue to hold up?

Though I don’t have a crystal ball, I can say that real estate here is moving. Last month, my Century 21 office in Princeville and our sister office in Kilauea opened more escrows than the eight other Century 21s throughout Hawaii combined. Homes, condos, and land are selling at prices substantially above last year's. We've even gotten multiple offers on some properties. In terms of number of sales, North Shore houses are up slightly, with 37 sold year-to-date so far compared with 35 at this time last year. Condos are down, with 33 units sold to last year's 69; and land is up, with 49 parcels sold to last year's 42. A broker-in-charge here said recently, “These are the good old days.” What he meant was that as more mainlanders discover Kauai, we are starting to put ourselves on the map, much like Vail, Breckenridge, and Palo Alto did in years past. As that happens, prices increase.

Also driving prices skyward are restrictions on development. Having witnessed burgeoning high-rises in Oahu and condo-mania and clogged roads in Maui, policy-makers in Kauai are determined to make sure the Garden Island lives up to its name. Former ag land is being opened to development, but only slowly and piecemeal, after great deliberation. That lack of availability, combined with increasing demand from the mainland, squeezes prices up. Here in Princeville on the North Shore, the average sales price of a home for the first five months of 2003 was $520,000; in 2002 it was $460,959. Homes featuring a view of the ocean or golf course are averaging $728,025; last year it was $666,778. Lots here that were going for an average of $164,748 in 2002 are now selling for $236,556. Condos are averaging $362,957 this year, vs. $350,500 last year.(The big jump in condos occurred earlier, between 2001 and 2002, when the average sales price went from $264,543 to $350,500.)

Those are sales averages. Right now, 11 of the 22 Princeville homes on the market are listed for over $1 million. From now until the year's end, at least some of them will likely sell. Last year, only one Princeville home sold for over $1 million.

A refrain we often hear in real estate is, “I could kick myself for not buying two or three years ago!” Maybe, but how are you going to feel two or three years from now? Unfortunately, some buyers are beginning to be priced out of the North Shore. But there are still some more reasonably priced properties available – both homes and land – on the East Side, in the green hills above Kapaa. A little farther from the beach, but closer to shops and restaurants, this area offers space and often spectacular mountain views, especially from “rim” lots, with vistas high above a sluice of jungle valley to cliffs and sometimes waterfalls beyond. More and more, mainlanders are discovering this area as a great place for a second or vacation home. Please e-mail me for more information.

In other news, our island and its beaches have attracted some national press lately. USA Weekend magazine (the Gannett syndicated publication that appears in Sunday newspapers nationwide) rated Kauai number four on a list of the 10 most scenic places in the United States. No other place in Hawaii made the list. And Stephen Leatherman, the coastal expert who does an annual survey on the nation's beaches (hey, somebody’s gotta do it!) rated our North Shore’s Hanalei Bay number four (What was he thinking? It should have been number one – not that we’re biased or anything.) Of course, publicity about a vacation resort is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes those of us who live here feel proud, those of us who do business here feel encouraged, and those who have already discovered the island for themselves feel like saying, "See! I told you!" On the other hand, most of us came here because we wanted to escape overcrowding and the related problems it brings, and too much publicity could ruin everything. And so we try to be careful about development, which inevitably leads to ... highter real estate prices! But what can you do? As that ever-quotable sage Roseanne Roseanna-danna used to say, "It's always something!" At least we still have secluded beaches. In fact, the last list we made was AOL Travel's Best Beaches 2003, which rated Kalalau the nation's best unspoiled beach. You have to take a boat to get to Kalalau, which is nestled under the giant perpendicular Napali cliffs. But beaches like Secrets and Hideaways (and others I won't name) are still relatively unpopulated and still, even for those of us who live here, breathtaking to visit.

Another headline-getter on the island lately is a cute little greenish-brown frog, about the size of a quarter. But don’t be fooled by his size. He has a chirp of over 70 decibels, about as loud as a chainsaw! Though I’ve never heard one and hope I never do, it sounds something like “Coqui,” which is this Puerto Rican stowaway’s name. Though they love him in his native Caribbean, Hawaii residents are less impressed. The frog, which arrived in the islands about a decade ago hidden in landscape plants, is now so widespread on the Big Island of Hawaii and parts of Oahu that it may be impossible to get rid of. But on Kauai, experts believe there are less than 100, confined to a gulley in Lawai, on the island’s south side. They are using a citrus solution a little stronger than lemon juice to get rid of this unfortunate pest without harming other plants and animals. Let’s hope it works!

I can't talk about animals without mentioning the albatrosses that nest on the North Shore. The baby chicks -- each couple produces only one -- have grown huge and fat on their diet of liquified fish, and are starting to lose some of their brown fuzz as the mature white feathers develop underneath. Though they're still pretty inactive, some are starting to flex their wings in preparation for their first big flight, which should take place later this month. After that, they'll be gone at sea for five years before returning to the same spot in someone's yard or on the golf course where they were born. That's the females -- the males go where the females want them to go.

Actually, I guess some of the babies have left already. I just now got back from my evening walk, which features an albatross chick on a vacant lot, and when I arrived at the nest the chick was gone! I can't believe it, he was still downy and inert the last time I looked, which can't have been more than a couple of days ago. They grow up so fast! It's really cute to watch them learn to fly. They choose a runway -- it can be a sloped hill or an asphalt driveway, it makes no difference to them -- and get a running start, then start flap flap flapping until they get about three feet up into the air. They sail for just a few yards, then they plop down to rest for awhile before waddling back to their starting point for another go. It's quite entertaining. Sorry I missed it this year.

That’s all for now. Please feel free to e-mail me with real estate questions, and remember, the week before your next visit to the island, you may CALL OR E-MAIL ME and I’ll e-mail you appropriate listings. You can then sift through them and select the most promising so that you don’t waste precious vacation time wandering around open houses or running to last-minute showings. I'll be seeing you!
With warmest aloha,