Cindy Paulos: Welcome to the Maui Real Estate Radio Show with your host
Clint Hansen: . Aloha Clint.
Clint Hansen: Aloha! How are you doing Cindy?
Cindy Paulos: I'm doing great. It's good to see you this morning. A lot of talk about real estate going to be happening here and a lot of information and I'm going to have that chance to talk to you a little bit about your amazing real estate history.
Clint Hansen: I've been on island 28 years but of course, I was a kick human when I moved out here so I haven't had my license that entire time but I have had my license for 17 years. I come from a real estate family. Most people know my family--Bob and Donna Hansen. They are the matriarchs and my mom has had her license for over 40 years.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: My dad has had his for you know over 35 and I've had mine for 17 broker in charge for our brokerage, you know. We've were with some other brokerages over time but we've created our own. And we like to cater to you know our listings as well as buyers that are coming to the island and our websites is one of the largest draws associated with Maui Real Estate. Most people when they google Maui Real Estate which is the key search term cometomauirealestate.net. And we've had that since 1997. So we've been a long foundation for people and with the online community becoming bigger and bigger and most people finding their property online. They're often finding us first. That being said we're branching out. Now, we're gonna be doing the regular radio show here at 11:10 a.m. 98 7FM and 96.7FM. You can always go to mauirealestateradio.com which will go to this blog and podcast for downloading and listening to when you're on the go. But most people are using our website--mauirealestate.net. I wanted to talk a little bit today about you know some of the 101s associated with Maui Real Estate and Valley.
Cindy Paulos: Good idea. There's really so much to learn and you know the thing is interesting to me as I bought property from your mom and dad.
Clint Hansen: Yeah, his... Oh, yeah.
Cindy Paulos: Here's what I've got. I got one of the grand champions from the very first pieces of property I got here. And that exact question came up is where do you land up buying. First, when you move here, where do you go first and then how do you decide where you do want to go? And I know some people rent first or some people these days do what you explained last week in your real estate show. They do the math and they realize well gosh renting these days doesn't necessarily make sense. So where do I buy?
Clint Hansen: And it usually doesn't. I mean there's a lot of benefits associated especially if you listen to the last podcast. Every case is individual on whether or not it's best to rent or purchase but there's a lot of incentives associated with purchasing a property. You get right off something interest if you have a loan. You know your mortgage payment is like paying yourself and building equity and savings for the future as opposed to paying somebody else's mortgage. And it is one of the biggest and best investments that most people make throughout their life. And there's a lot of places that people choose to purchase and for a whole variety of reasons. And again, that's one of the things I want to talk about. You mentioned grand champions. It's kind of funny. We have a listing that we just put pending.
Cindy Paulos: I hope it's not the one I sold from way too cheap long time ago [laughter].
Clint Hansen: That's the thing. You know Maui has always been you know you should have been here yesterday. The prices were so much lower and it keeps it goes and up and up and up because it is the most...
Cindy Paulos: Well, I'll tell you what I paid for your pack cleaning and you all go, oh you should have held on to. Yeah. I paid 268,000 dollars laughter.
Clint Hansen: That's like fight about when it was new, yeah.
Cindy Paulos: Yes it was.
Clint Hansen: And right next to the tennis courts. Some sort of wide-layered. Had you know all the best features that people are looking for. But ours that we just put was a one bedroom two bath. What was your's a two?
Cindy Paulos: It was two.
Clint Hansen: Yeah, yeah. Ours it's nice is prime frontal unit 151. It was a one bedroom, two bath, nine hundred and eight square feet. One of the big you know issues that we come into when listing something that's vacation rentable like that complex is the fact that you know there are rented. People that are renting out the unit typically don't want to show it and we respect them. We're really good at working with management companies or with the renters themselves. And in this case, I actually bribe them. It's not beneath me to pass a couple of cash cards. They're a way to let us in there and you know get them having an extra mai tai or two at the happy hour. So and that's what happened in this situation. They purchased this property sight unseen and then as a large part due to our Matterport camera that we have. It actually you know in addition to the professional photographs it always take when we get these listings. We use this 3-D camera that allows people to virtually walk through the place.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: Actually, its amazing science. It uses light emitting radar and creates a 3-D model of the entire unit. So you can actually throw that into a CAD program if you wanted and redesign it of course in a condo. You're not going to be on that for a home.
Cindy Paulos: But really? You buy a place unseen because you can see it
Clint Hansen: Lots of people are, yeah.
Cindy Paulos: That's amazing.
Clint Hansen: And that's one of those things. It's important to have as many tools as possible. So we're creating videos, professional photographs. But I'll get in that later. Mostly, I wanted to talk to and reach out to the buyers specifically.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: You know and buying here in Hawaii really again you know depends on what the person is looking for. And you know people are like oh I want a strong financial you know investment and you know rates of return are typically poor here. There are certainly many opportunities that you have good rates of return. Brand champions is actually one of them. It does depend on the kind of rate of return and typically it's a lot stronger on the mainland. You know I actually have a saying that I try to tell people; If you want to make a small fortune in Maui come with a large one [laughter].
Cindy Paulos: I know that one [laughter].
Clint Hansen: People are typically buying here because they want to live here. They want to spend you know several months out of the year. And you know it's a good place to put your money. You know we have a good equity and we have the best weather in the world and you know it's as huge draws. But at the end of the day investments is something in the back of somebody's mind. They're looking to protector. You know assets they're not looking to really get a great rate of return. But that being said let's start with those 101s on where somebody wants to buy. And it does you know it's based off somebody is personal and where they're coming from if they're local, you know what their socioeconomic situation is, if they're working here, where they work, what their health situation is, hobbies, community and of course, weather. I think health is a big one.
Cindy Paulos: It is.
Clint Hansen: Especially with the aging baby bloomers a lot of times they're looking for you know specific properties that are you know close to community. Things are walking distance. They're looking for a single family home or as a lot of the main landers call it rancher style. And sometimes, if they have some ailing problems they want to be closer to the hospital. So they're looking you know Wailuku Heights or Maui Lani area. And it's funny you know I think that the Maui Lani Wailuku Heights is one of the best areas especially for the local people island because it's so central to all of the amenities and infrastructure that Maui has to offer and work.
Cindy Paulos: You're decribing me.
Clint Hansen: Yeah.
Cindy Paulos: I first, when I first actually rented here it was out in Hilo before but. And you know I was way out and lived it nowhere.
Clint Hansen: Beautiful.
Cindy Paulos: And now, you know I lived in Wailuku Heights and then I just lived above Baldwin and that lovely house on a private road there and now, I live in Maui Lani So and you know what you're right. Now, I don't want to drive for 45 minutes to get to work. And I do like being so I never thought I would, you know 25, 30 years ago.
Clint Hansen: And one of my clients is an engineer for a telecommunications company on the island and she was no Hawaiian It's got to be Hawaiian
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: You know and this is where I'm in. This is my family and you know I love it. And you know she ended up looking at her socioeconomic situation and her particular place and really her affordability put her at new traditions. And the funny thing is as soon as she bought in New Traditions. She was like...
Cindy Paulos: What's where's New Traditions?
Clint Hansen: New Traditions is right in the heart of Maui Lani They're smaller properties.
Cindy Paulos: Ok.
Clint Hansen: I actually just sold her place at 209 Alake So 209 Alake is one of the bigger square footage complex units there. But it's still tiny by comparison. It's 1,331 square feet three bedroom two and a half bath. It actually feels a lot larger than that 13. It feels more like 1,500 square feet. It's got some taller ceilings. Biggest plus and I think the most important thing on Maui especially if you live here garage--two car garage. It's separated you know I do like a lot of different complexes that have a duplex situation where there have an adjoining grass wall you know a shared responsibility between the two units. They get yards things of that nature but these are nice because they're stand alone. And she you know purchased and it's gone up dramatically. We were able to sell it at 610,000 dollars.
Cindy Paulos: Good price?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. Yeah. But it is kind of a minimum accommodation by comparison to some of the other homes like in the legends, I sold quite a few in there. Actually, all of the same floor plan which is close to 1900 square feet really sought after four bedroom with a master on the ground floor. But to get back to New Traditions when she moved out there, she was absolutely in love. It's close to her work. It's a few minutes away. The school is across the street. She's got a park there. She made all these new friends and like in Kihei you're a little bit more disconnected. There's not as many paths. There is not central park areas. I mean it was some... It was built at a time where they were just trying to throw stuff up and get it together where you know you're getting into the center of Kahului and the Maui Lani area and things are like brand new. It almost feels like Wailea the way that they have the trees in the shade and the walking paths and the commercial districts.
Cindy Paulos: I love the walking paths. I mean I use them all the time. The stride is beautiful. They really are very lovely walking paths and five minutes to work, five minutes to the Queen Kaahumanu center. You know I mean it's amazing how that convenience factor does especially if you start getting good traffic and how people when they're visiting. You avoid all that. You don't get the heavy traffic of visitors, you know. And Kihei's changed. You've seen this.
Clint Hansen: Very much so.
Cindy Paulos: You've seen this you have a lot of properties out there and luxury properties right of Kihei And gosh, I remember the house up there for sale by the down south on South Kihei for a long time I loved it down there. And I think your family owned a house. I think Donna actually had a house down there in South Kihei A lovely home before, right?
Clint Hansen: Yeah, absolutely. I mean we are you know we're not just dealers we're users too.
Cindy Paulos: Oh, absolutely.
Clint Hansen: We sell and you know a lot of real estate. But we also purchase a lot of different properties as time goes on. You know when 2010 was rolling around we saw opportunities and you know we always try to convince our clients when we see those good buys come up but sometimes you can't. And we jumped on quite a few of them at that time and since then you know they've gone up dramatically in value and it's one of those rare things that you know may never happen again.
Cindy Paulos: It went up. How much? It went from the average median price is around 470 back then?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. I think.
Cindy Paulos: And then it's gone up to like 750 or 716 now, I think.
Clint Hansen: Well, yeah. It depends on the region that you're specifically but right now the last economic medium price came in 7% of this time last year higher at 735,000. And you know that was around 2000. Let me see my notes here. 2009 was 519. But it wasn't until....
Cindy Paulos: Three years while later. I think it was. And that's what scared...
Clint Hansen: Yeah. Yeah that's right in 2012 was the bottom. And the median was four hundred and twenty nine pounds.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: So...
Cindy Paulos: And you know I wish I kick myself I wish I had but there's that fear you see. You just don't know. And wise people like you in the real estate business have seen the ups and downs and your family has and the trends of and there's actually cycles. So...
Clint Hansen: Precisely.
Cindy Paulos: That's why people rent. But then here's go gosh think of the money. I mean...
Clint Hansen: Yeah, you're wasting all that money on the rent and when you could be reinvesting in yourself with the mortgage.
Cindy Paulos: So what is the hottest area to buy right now? Is it the area right here in condo? Where do you see?
Clint Hansen: Well, it depends on how you measure. Are you measuring the highest dollar value? Are you looking for sales activity?
Cindy Paulos: Sales activity. If it's sales activity, it would be actually central Maui because you know to me it's almost an unfortunate situation because you know the people of Maui you know need the opportunity to live and work. But the Maui Lani area Kahului is actually the hottest market. One of the hottest markets in the nation for second home purchases.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. So you know most people are looking and I always try to encourage owner residents situations but there is a lot of people who see an opportunity and they always wanted to be in Maui They've been here part time. They're selling their condo that they've been renting out for years and they're purchasing a home to live here six months out of the year or something along those lines.
Cindy Paulos: Then what do they do with it the other six months?
Clint Hansen: Unfortunately, it's usually sitting vacant. You know I do encourage people to rent it out. Of course, it always has to be rented out according to the laws and cc and ours in that area but...
Cindy Paulos: And it's at least a month, right?
Clint Hansen: No.
Cindy Paulos: No, its longer?
Clint Hansen: No, it's much longer. Yeah. It's got to be at least six months. There are some rare situations in what you can do a month to month rental but no it has to be six months in a day. So in those situations. Yeah. You don't want to be doing VRBO because the county does actively search and look for those properties and...
Cindy Paulos: And the ones that are first like if they go to AirBnb in places like that. They are in search for those.
Clint Hansen: Almost definitely.
Cindy Paulos: And there's some very high fines right now if you are not following those rules?
Clint Hansen: Yes and they've increased those you know a lot of them was as a result of some of like the Hawaiian It was a big point in which people were very upset because they were skirting the rules. The fines were far less than the economic benefit associated with just continuing and doing it. And you know, it' such a hard decision to make because there is an absolute desperate need for you know vacation rentals on the north shore.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: And really they should allow some more opportunities for people to do you know AirBnb is out of the homes they live in like a B&B situation. And but we see less and less people applying for those licenses. They're more difficult to get. The county is harder on those people. I mean I have friends clients that have actually had the county jump fences go on their property areas.
Cindy Paulos: Seriously?
Clint Hansen: Yeah yeah.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Cindy Paulos: So and it's a bit of a surprise it's not something that's normally allowed but once they found an infraction they're coming to ensure that things are done. It literally was a shed was too nice you know. It was a situation where they had a shed that was his office and it was had a Murphy bed that was put away. And because they have to meet the B&B license rules, they had to a) shrink it because he incorporated a little shed area into it and come to the current conforming guidelines. They did that but they had checkup after checkup. And so you know you want to really make sure you meet those current rules and that you know work with the county and your neighbors to ensure that you're following those rules that you're not annoying that you're not becoming you know a nuisance. And at the same time you know benefiting and filling a need and helping [crosstalk].
Cindy Paulos: Fine line and I was always wondering about this when these changes came. Is that now going to affect people buying an extra home?
Clint Hansen: Absolutely. Now right now you are not allowed to apply for a TV or a transit vacation rental license unless you've own the property for five years.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: But now that is separate from a B&B licenses. Those are different rules associated with it. B&B you actually have to live in the property and the B&B license is really meant to benefit the people of Maui You know and there's lots of situations where you know somebody wants to gain a little bit of an additional income. And it's nice because it gets a rare opportunity for people that are visiting Maui to connect to the community in a way that there is really no other opportunity. So people like to create it and I've have had clients that have bed and breakfast licenses actually have you know eat away coop allow which is a Maui Meadows. It's one of the few that have a B&B license. And if somebody was going to go into purchase that, they are unable to transfer that license.
Cindy Paulos: I did not know that.
Clint Hansen: So there is no transferring of either TVR licenses or B&B licenses.
Cindy Paulos: Oh my, I did not know.
Clint Hansen: Correct. So but the house has always been you know set up for that because it's just her and her husband and they've been doing it for years and it is a fabulous little area and they've made lifelong friends. They've got a good sustainable income. And it's a beautiful property with great ocean views at the top of Maui Meadows. But you know you definitely want to meet the guidelines and that's one of the things their house does in spades. It's everything is permitted. Everything is conforming and that's a rarity on Maui. I mean most homes I go into. You know there's always going to be a little something you know a converted garage or you know a bathroom that was added and that was one of those rare situations. And if you're going to be doing something and applying for a special license like a B&B, you want to make sure that every T is crossed every I is dotted.
Cindy Paulos: And friends with your neighbors.
Clint Hansen: Most definitely and they are. They're wonderful and you know.
Cindy Paulos: So the area that used to be the hottest. I think wasn't that Kihei before. It wasn't Kihei being hottest area.
Clint Hansen: And actually one of the things is people when I'm talking to them and I serve the entire island with the exception of Hana I refer out to agents in that area that have the specialty. I have sold out in Hana before but it is a unique animal and you do not want to mess with that area unless you understand the cultures of you know in there. So it's important that the cultural. Cultural.
Cindy Paulos: Values.
Clint Hansen: Idiosyncrasies and values are met.
Cindy Paulos: Absolutely or else you will pay the price.
Clint Hansen: Absolute one hundred percent and I always want to make sure that people understand that before they... And the one property I did sell out in Hana You know I it's almost like I'm trying to talk them out of it you know and I'm saying hey you know you got to make sure you understand it and I was happy to help them buy a place in Hana because they were not trying to change it. They were literally going out there so that they could do habitat restoration to you know she was cutting a lot of the ink berries away and the potato vines that were growing and re-establishing the native plants and it's beautiful what they've done to the property. It's five acres out there.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: And it's their passion. So I mean it's one of those rare opportunities where somebody is like just a perfect fit for the culture. And....
Cindy Paulos: If you're just tuning in you're listening to
Clint Hansen: and Maui Real Estate Radio Show. And Clint you come with such a... It's almost in your DNA because you mother and your father.
Clint Hansen: Yeah.
Cindy Paulos: You are doing real estate and now you know so much and it's interesting because you're very good on all kinds of aspects of it because you know so much but you're also excellent in statistics and I've noticed this that you're really good with statistics and I want to be able to lead you back and not lead you astray from this very important topic we're talking about. Where do you buy? People come...
Clint Hansen: Or when do you buy?
Cindy Paulos: That's another good question.
Clint Hansen: And there is no magic. You know there's no crystal ball. There's you know there's a lot of outside influences that can happen you know with the way our trade policies are going or negative inputs to you know the economic cycle can make vast changes and you know we have some serious you know concerns and but most of the economic indicators are very positive. We're entering what's called the Goldilocks zone where it basically it's running almost parallel to inflation. So the property values are increasing you know and there's less swings associated with it--the ups and downs of value. I mean that being said we're probably going to hit a ceiling around 2020 2021 most likely pull it closer to 2021. It's that affordability shrinks and shrinks. You know there is a big chunk of buyers though that have been spent sitting for a long time. You know it's not the baby bloomer market anymore. There's a lot of millennials that you know are having babies and they need a place to live and that's very difficult to do on Maui because the prices are dramatically higher. You know we've actually moved toward balance. That's the thing that people fail to realize. They see these prices. But if you look at it nationally and locally you know we're riding a little right along that line of the expanding at the same rate as the economy.
Cindy Paulos: And you know it seems in the past, Maui has had its own set of rules and its own swings and..
Clint Hansen: Yes, that's very true.
Cindy Paulos: And it's interesting now that you see that coming more into line. And that's an interesting trend because before it was like well what's happening in the rest of the country doesn't affect us here. And it seems like now maybe that is the case.
Clint Hansen: So for the recent 2019 statistics, we have those continued drops in inventory and increases in median prices. The prices for median homes increased almost 7 percent. And this has actually just recently mentioned at 735,000. There was 16.8 percent drop in the total number of close sales year to date for 2019 which begs that question if we've reached the top of the market and in terms of prices.
Cindy Paulos: Or if it's because of the fact of the second home problem.
Clint Hansen: Yeah.
Cindy Paulos: Being able to rent out more you do it for a vacation.
Clint Hansen: It really comes down to the availability of inventory. You know there is such a you know competition and so few homes. I mean we haven't had property inventory levels in the nation this low in the generation.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Clint Hansen: I mean this we're talking 20 years plus since there's been you know availability and it's there's just not a lot of building and there's a lot of outside influences as a result of that cost of building has gone up. Administrative costs have gone up. Permitting all that plays into you know whether or not you're going to buy that system.
Cindy Paulos: And it's because maybe you're making enough money to cover your mortgage and then some by the rents because the rents have gone up so high. Does that play a factor in it at all?
Clint Hansen: Well, actually it's interesting that you say that. It sounds so much that. A lot of people did you know at the bottom of the market when they were literally three and a quarter percent interest rate and they were purchasing properties then and you know as opposed to owning a property for four and a half years and selling it moving to a new location. The average life of a homeowners closer to eight years you know nine years where they're deciding to keep the property and you know when are they ever going to get an interest rate that low. It's never going to happen. I mean if you look at the history of mortgage rates. I mean people are still buying it when it was 8 percent. You know back in the 8 percent.
Cindy Paulos: I remember [crosstalk].
Clint Hansen: Its crazy. It's twice what we are right now. And you know it was at 10 percent and what it ends in the 1980s. We were 18 percent. It was ridiculous. And so people especially the younger generation fails to realize that the price of a loan is just so low right now. And it's most likely that over the next several years that the rates are going to be raising and it's just it's so such an incredibly rare opportunity to get money cheap right now. And you know it is somewhat difficult the.... Which is good. You know it ensures the health of the economy we don't want that seem some price.
Cindy Paulos: Prequalified and be able to make sure you can really afford it.
Clint Hansen: Absolutely. I mean the subprime crisis was a massive hit to the economy.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: You know they were giving away money with an extra 5 percent. They're like oh you know forget about it. You can have that you know five percent. Hundred and five percent loan where they're going to just say oh you know your first mortgage payment is included you know and it was ridiculous. It was a bad idea and they should loosen some of the restrictions associated or some of the regulations but hopefully we never get back to where we were where they were. You know if you had a pulse they were giving you money. But right now, the rates are still very low and there's a lot of economic sanity associated with who gets that money. So if you know and that is you know other than finding a place to live and where you want to live the very first thing you should do is talk to a lender. So back to my spiel associated with current inventory levels. You know those losses when inventory has been dropping and there's been less sales and that's that there are those less sales are direct result of it being harder and harder and harder to find a property. And a lot of these are creating what's called buyer fatigue. You know years of bidding and losing out on trying to find a property. And you know there's a lot of pent up demand a lot of pent up demand and you know many people are just actually choosing to leave Maui as a result and go purchase in other places. And that's you know totally understandable because the affordability is much better. And oh unless it's California and one of the city areas but you know a lot of people are moving up to Oregon and Washington and they're you know for the difference it's it's next to nothing. You know the average incomes a little bit less there but the disparity between [crosstalk]...
Cindy Paulos: But the weather.
Clint Hansen: Yes there. And that's why people are buying here. Our population though is dropping Maui It's actually a second consecutive year in a row.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: And it comes down to that.
Cindy Paulos: I had not grew of that until you mentioned that. I'm shocked at that. I never would have guessed that the population is dropping.
Clint Hansen: Mm hmm. It is. It's really unfortunate. And you know we have a demand of about a thousand homes a year just to create those homes and we only create about 400 homes a year. We have a roughly you know 10 to 15,000 home shortfall on the island of Maui
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: And you know with those laws of supply and demand it typically dictate the pricing.
Cindy Paulos: And that means the prices go up.
Clint Hansen: Yeah. Precisely.
Cindy Paulos: Plus inventory.
Clint Hansen: And supplies have dropped to their lowest levels in over a decade and really wanted to. The health of the market is typically measured in those terms of either a neutral market, a buyer's market, or a seller's market. A neutral market is when it's at the six month and a seller's market being anything below that six month availability of inventory and the buyer market anything above.
Cindy Paulos: What? Explain to people what six month availability of market? I don't... I'm not sure what that means. Can you explain what that means?
Clint Hansen: Yeah absolutely. So we're just going to magically pretend that nothing else is going to be coming onto the market. And what that means is the current inventory levels say there's 100 homes and there is 20 purchases per month. So that means there's five months of inventory because after five months they'll be nothing left. Of course, there's things coming onto the market but it's a general measure of the current state of the market. And right now we are officially in a seller's market. We're below that six month threshold for single family homes. Condos. It's crazy. We're at you know 4.4 months of inventory.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: For single family homes, we're at five and a half months and it's been flat at that five and a half months of inventory for the last three months.
Cindy Paulos: So does that drive up the price?
Clint Hansen: Well, yeah for supply and demand prices will continue to go up.
Cindy Paulos: And they sell faster?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. I have been noticing a reduction of days on market. We've been beating the statistics. I mean typically the average days on market is... Where's my figure here? It's about one hundred and you know fifty days and...
Cindy Paulos: That's not long at all.
Clint Hansen: Oh no, it's not. Especially, it is very regionally dependent on where you're looking. You know Wailea tends to be more. Its like 180 days and...
Cindy Paulos: And Central Maui less?
Clint Hansen: Yes. Cental Maui is I think two and a half months of inventory.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: It's like for a single family home. Now, that disparity... Oh well, first let me just say a little bit about what we've been doing for our listings. We've been getting accepted offers and usually beating the comps. You know when we sold Alake that was set the new level for the neighborhood when we sold the three legends properties. Each of those are either pending you know at or above the comps and our sold was also sold above the comps and the reason we're able to accomplish that is we really work towards having the property show at its best staging and professional photographs drone shots which can be a very difficult thing associated to your to do in Kihei Luau because there's...
Cindy Paulos: For the effort.
Clint Hansen: A rule.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah [laughter].
Clint Hansen: Anything within five miles. It's totally different altitude restrictions and I am one of the very rare agents that has his FAA 107 license. So I am able to legally fly for commercial purposes. And it does it's a nice little advantage that I have over 70 other agents at a.....
Cindy Paulos: Have drone on travel.
Clint Hansen: Yeah [laughter], exactly. And that's one of the difficulties I mean just simply to get a drone pilot. It's like: are you going to drop an extra twelve hundred dollars to get those specialty photos and videos.
Cindy Paulos: Not unless it's a multimillion dollar home.
Clint Hansen: Exactly. And that's one of the things I'm able to do for you know whether it's a more affordable condo or a home or anything along those lines.
Cindy Paulos: But you know what we haven't mentioned. We haven't. CLINT_SHOW_2 P2.mp3
Clint Hansen: Own or anything along those lines.
Cindy Paulos: But you know what we haven't mentioned. We haven't mentioned upcountry at all we've talked about Kihei in Central Maui We haven't also talked about...
Clint Hansen: Yeah. I am one of the things I wanted to just talk about is generally why people choose different areas initially. Always back we were talking about health as being one of those.
Cindy Paulos: That's true.
Clint Hansen: Single family homes. Tor want those single family homes. But the health is also the vicinity to the hospital. They're ailing. We have one of the best cardiovascular and heart clinics in the nation or one of the top. So if somebody has heart conditions a lot of people are happy to know that they are within a very short you know drive to the hospital or an ambulance ride. So a lot of people are choosing to be you know Central Maui for that situation. You know work a lot of people commute to the west side. There's a very very small availability of properties out there and huge number of people in that community out there. It's one of the biggest issues with infrastructure that the west side is facing right now. So there is a big desirability for property and it's why the average home over on the west side is dramatically higher than anywhere else. And in addition to that people that are coming here for retirement are often purchasing as a result of you know their hobbies say they're foodies you know say they want the resort lifestyle say they want you know golf you know. We've known you know pretty much every town has a golf course here. It just depends on the level at which you want to play you know hobbies includes you know everything from diving, stand up paddling, surfing. My personal hobby is paint ball so I end up finding myself traveling to the paint ball field on a regular basis.
Cindy Paulos: And where's that?
Clint Hansen: That's out on all [Hawaiian].
Cindy Paulos: Okay.
Clint Hansen: You know it's a little undeveloped area with the general store out there and [Hawaiian] and I mean it's just...
Cindy Paulos: Okay.
Clint Hansen: I saw lots of childhood memories and it's nice you know going out to the paint ball field. It's pretty fun. My personal sport and it has a hundred... What is it? Forty five hundred square feet a tree fort that incorporates 50 different trees. So it's like a e-walk village. So I try to go out there and sometimes I'm playing the more competitive or you know other times I'm you know doing little single shots and when I'm playing with more recreational. I actually prefer the recreational because I like to take it easy. Geting a little old you know. So but other hobbies include kite boarding and you know surfing, hiking. But most of the retirees that are coming out here are choosing to purchase you know in walking communities or they want to be foodies. You know and be most towards the resort because that's typically what they know. They want here to be here for sunshine. And one of the things that you know Maui has an abundance of you know being along the equator is sunshine and you know Kihei, Wailea, Makena, Lahana. You know as well as Lahaina stands for Land of the Merciless Sun. So it is a huge draw to people to be in those dry areas. You know most people don't realize this but Maui is along the equatorial desert of the world the same as the Mojave, same as the Sahara...
Cindy Paulos: I didn't realize that it was the same as...
Clint Hansen: The only reason we have great rainfall out here is the fact that we have moist warm air coming off the ocean on those consistent trade winds. Those trade winds hit the mountain. They condense and then they form clouds and then you have on the north shore that consistent precipitous rain that people have come to know and love. A lot of people come to Maui and they don't want that. You know they want to be where it's dry and you know where the weather is consistent and there's a lot more inconsistency on those parts of the island. And of course, it really depends on the grade and the altitude on how much rain. Like if you're along the coast, most people don't realize this. If you're right on the ocean, you know out in Haiku it's dramatically different when you're on the opposite side of the Hana highway like the amount of rain that's up the hill compared to the very bottom is dramatic. Like you can literally see the clouds forming over your head. And that when you get to the low lying areas where you're getting the Spresckelsville you know toward the Maui Country Club. It rains considerably less there. You know it still is on that little bit of rainy belt. But you can see it. You look at any aerial map. And as that when that consistent trade wind comes, it condenses when it hits those high pressure areas. And I mean Pukalani you know hole in the heavens.
Cindy Paulos: Yes exactly.
Clint Hansen: Is that all that point at which you know the line opens up at that altitude or that pressure level drops. So I mean a lot of people who know Maui that live on Maui they love up country. I mean that whole cooler area they want to be there because it is you know some of the perfect you know Goldilocks area for weather. It's not too cool. It's not too hot. It's not dry. It's not wet. And that...
Cindy Paulos: And you have areas that they can have a few acres.
Clint Hansen: Exactly.
Cindy Paulos: And it's country-style living.
Clint Hansen: Yep. Precisely. You know but we want to keep the country country. We don't want to over develop it and that's a really tight balance that the county has to work on issuing licenses. It's not nature.
Cindy Paulos: But the only drawback is the time it takes if you are going to work especially if you work up in line and kind of pull it and there are people that do it still. But they can spend 45 minutes an hour depending on traffic.
Clint Hansen: Yep.
Cindy Paulos: And that's I think sometimes why people do decide even though they've lived up country.
Clint Hansen: Mm hmm.
Cindy Paulos: Being older. I'm getting tired of doing this. I'm driving and the cost of gas has gone up.
Clint Hansen: It really depends on where you are in up country to you. Because a cooler area is not too much further from you know that Central Kahului area. So it depends on where your job is. A lot of people are working at home.
Cindy Paulos: That's true.
Clint Hansen: A lot of people want to have you know the farm lifestyle so there might be you know further out towards Ulupalakua It's just hard to make a living in the farming community. I mean [crosstalk]...
Cindy Paulos: Not as too many new homes though. The homes are older.
Clint Hansen: Correct. Yeah. There are some new properties and new developments that are happening.
Cindy Paulos: I set one up off of old the old going up and Pukalani on the right side or all those [crosstalk].
Clint Hansen: Oh yeah. So you know by five trees. I have right down.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah, right there.
Clint Hansen: So that's cool. We actually have a lot there. It's a... they're good sized too. They're 0.41 of an acre.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: And I mean they range in size. They range in price from you know there's one that's closer to the road road noise. So it's like 360,000 or if you want a prime view lot you know you're going to be closer to 500,000. So I mean...
Cindy Paulos: It's not bad at all.
Clint Hansen: Also it's gated. Most people don't realize that there's very very...
Cindy Paulos: They put the landscaping there and it's not bad get them. It's beautiful beautiful stone walls.
Clint Hansen: It's all plantation style. It feels like old Hawaii too which is nice.
Cindy Paulos: These prices are those... I would have guessed those are 600 to 700,000 dollars.
Clint Hansen: For the lots. Yeah. You know they have released them all. And I was anticipating you know oh... My wife and I because our daughters go to school in upcountry and we make the commute from Kihei everyday.
Cindy Paulos: Oh no.
Clint Hansen: We're one of those people that are causing the problems with drivers.
Cindy Paulos: Oh, gosh.
Clint Hansen: So we apologize for that. And we're trying to you know live communally as we can and we thought of purchasing in that particular place.
Cindy Paulos: So what are the...? There are some homes built. Where are the built homes going for?
Clint Hansen: Up to a million dollars actually and over. So we're usually around 1.1 to 1.3 of course. They're only just starting to get into the build cycle right now. So it's going to be interesting to see how that [crosstalk].
Cindy Paulos: It's going fast though.
Clint Hansen: It is. It is and there's you know fewer and fewer opportunities to purchase and build. And that lot I mean it's great. Has ocean views. You're in a gated neighborhood and they're....
Cindy Paulos: They must have certain restrictions as far as what you can build there. There must be cretain?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. You have a single family home style. It's our one zone. So it goes along with that.
Cindy Paulos: So they can contact you. We haven't yet mentioned that. I mean we're halfway through the show.
Clint Hansen: Yeah.
Cindy Paulos: More than halfway through the show.
Clint Hansen: You know there's a couple of things. You know my phone number my cell phone number is (808) 280 2764. That's (808) 280 2764. You can text me and that's one of the best ways to communicate with me. You can call. Email is always great which is my name and my lucky number. clinthansen33@gmail That's C-L-I-N-T H-A-N-S-E-N 33@gmail.com. But most people find us through our website. mauirealestate.net. It is one of the top website.
Cindy Paulos: And it is a good site.
Clint Hansen: We have so many real estate agents that actually use our website. It's kind of funny. They're referring their clients to use us and it benefits us wildly because whenever we get a listing you know our listings get prime position. So and they they're viewership goes up 10 times compared to anything else that's listed out there.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: So it benefits us to have a website that is so user friendly that is sought after. You know if you're looking at condos they have push button statistics that will give you information for the last three years five years eight years as far back as the MLS goes. And it is been just a wonderful asset since we've been around since 1997. My brother actually created it.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Clint Hansen: Yeah. Yeah. Darrell Hansen of a... He's does help us out every once in a while with the website but we have other web browsers at this time. And he now does Pacific Energy so shout out to Pacific Energy. Darrell Hansen he's one of the best solar installers on the island. He is really you know he started it as a nonprofit.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Clint Hansen: He believed in renewable energy to the point where he was able to put his own money into it as a side gig and being a consultant and adviser because you know back in the day, what's this thing called solar? You know. How do we do it? You know before batteries were readily available, he was actually creating custom systems so people could be out in the Haiku area when that's you know you're going to drop a poll for a 180,000 and put ten of them up. No. What's you're going to create a solar system. So you know he was creating off grid. And one of the places when Tesla batteries weren't around. Fortunately, Tesla does exist and the battery systems are so much easier to use. And he does have a commercial space so Tesla regularly drops off batteries at his place. You know there is a backlog order for those things but they do add great value to the home. But mostly for the home owner because I mean the cost of electricity is ridiculous.
Cindy Paulos: Well, this is a factor in the homes now. Because yeah my average cost is like 283 a month and I don't use air conditioning in the summer because it's too freaking expensive.
Clint Hansen: It is.
Cindy Paulos: I mean I've done it before and always sounds like what do you mean 600 dollars you know. It was hot day left or there if you try to use a pool. Heat the pool. Good luck. That lasted like one time you know.
Clint Hansen: [laughter] I have a dinosaur of an air conditioner so during the winter when we weren't using it, we're hitting about 700 dollars a month in electrical costs.
Cindy Paulos: Not. Not.
Clint Hansen: So when I got...
Cindy Paulos: Oh, that's awfuI.
Clint Hansen: Yeah it was. And when we weren't in the summer it was we're talking rarely using it. And then during the summer when we were home we were turning on the air conditioning and we were almost 1,100 dollars per month.
Cindy Paulos: That's terrible.
Clint Hansen: We put in a 40 panel system and it's just almost three and a half years that it paid for itself and it was one of the wisest investments [crosstalk].
Cindy Paulos: Isn't it one of the things people ask now when they decided to only buy home they want to know? That's a huge selling point.
Clint Hansen: And make sure that if you are going to be doing a lease system, get a second loan or mortgage. Something along that to buy it. Don't lease it because a lot of those actually are a negative value associate with purchasing the property. Not a positive. So you know when you go to a big system....
Cindy Paulos: I would've have thought. Make that clear because I was disappointed I'd never thought of. So when you go to buy a home, you want to ask if the home is actually owned.
Clint Hansen: Owned solar as opposed to leased for.
Cindy Paulos: Then, you take on the lease and that's an additional cost that you have to pay.
Clint Hansen: Yeah. If you're going to be paying off the lease associated with the panels, normally, it's about a thousand dollars when you own it per panel. A thousand dollars per panel. Now, if it's a lease system, it can be two or three thousand dollars per panel.
Cindy Paulos: No.
Clint Hansen: It depends on your lease program how you sign it up if [crosstalk]...
Cindy Paulos: I had never considered that.
Clint Hansen: Yeah, I know it's a pretty bad situation. You want to make sure you're getting a loan. You don't want to be you know doing those leases but getting back to where you want to buy an island.
Cindy Paulos: Yes.
Clint Hansen: So hobbies are a big one.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: You know. You go if you look at the north shore, a lot of people do not want to live out there because they're worried about the rain but the young youthful active people of Maui are out there in droves.
Cindy Paulos: Yes.
Clint Hansen: I mean it's kind of funny you have...
Cindy Paulos: You can see them...
Clint Hansen: Yeah it is. You can see the hippies rubbing shoulder with the billionaire yuppies. It's kind of an interesting culture that they have going on.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: And you know I love it. It's a wonderful community. Bummer about the traffic you know coming into the every day. They really need to work on getting that bypass and hopefully, they won't have it coming out of speckles ville. I saw one of the alternate routes on one of the old roads. You know that back road that goes toward the airport.
Cindy Paulos: Yep.
Clint Hansen: There's a road that literally goes and pretty much is already in existence. So hopefully the county switches their rules and switches their direction.
Cindy Paulos: Yes.
Clint Hansen: And puts that road in there and then we can alleviate a lot of that congestion. Infrastructure is one of the biggest issues that faces Maui today. So and smart intelligent community oriented focus groups are doing a great job of raising awareness with the county as well as the local community on how we can develop this infrastructure. So hopefully they should make the change to you know bypass Hawaiian in that way as opposed to you know going down to Specklesville where the traffic already is. You know if we can bypass that system it's not so much more...
Cindy Paulos: But when you have a new client. These are things you need to know you ask what their hobbies are? About the health situation.
Clint Hansen: They're really looking to the property...
Cindy Paulos: ...like the priorities are in that. Yeah. And then there's the factor of money.
Clint Hansen: Oh, most definitely. That's number one.
Cindy Paulos: If you said it kind of poly and some of those areas can be rather in Wailea It's a factor for finances as well, right?
Clint Hansen: Mm hmm.
Cindy Paulos: So that does leave you with you know a pretty condign idea of what to show people.
Clint Hansen: And what kind of community they're looking for to you know a lot of people don't realize this but you know Wailea kind of lacks a bit of community. They don't have a central club you can go to unless you're playing tennis. You know that's that's pretty much it. Kapalua is wonderful. I mean they have you know a golf club there that's integrated with tennis and vehicle travel. They have you know there are negatives associated with the Kapalua area. There are positives but one of the really big positives is it's that community that you can get you know also with speckles ville you've got a great sense of community out there. You know Maui Lani area is fantastic way. Their walking paths and golf courses and I mean Pukalani you know Hawaiian They have this really individual personalities of these towns.
Cindy Paulos: That's true. Yeah.
Clint Hansen: You know you get out to the open country of Hawaiian and it's open and arid and it's more independent style living you know where you have you know flat farming or gentleman farming style communities. And so it really depends on the sense of community that you want to be going to. And most people don't realize that about Wailea There's not really a central club out there. You know you're gonna be a lot more independent so it's kind of hard to plug in to a set of friends. You know your first six months out of here are usually great. Your second six months living out here if you're not already from here with built in friends is a little lonely. So I often encourage people to you know join canoe clubs and activity clubs and you know anything you can incorporate the community in your personal interests that bring people together and there's just not something ready built out there in Wailea Of course, McKenna is a completely different animal but that's so far beyond most people's price point especially the people of Maui that it pulls for the billionaire status you know the hundred millionaire status.
Cindy Paulos: Seriously.
Clint Hansen: Yeah absolutely, they're really doing low density purchases which is great for MAui infrastructure. It's great for our taxes because you have more people contributing to the tax with less people driving around consuming less resources but adding more to the economy which is a very big plus.
Cindy Paulos: So it's a billionaires boy's club out there.
Clint Hansen: You know it is. Well, boys and girls. There are some really strong independent women out there that are very independently wealthy and in the mechanic community is a diamond. I mean it is it's fabulous but it's a rare rare place that very few people can afford. I mean it's interesting. It's since the 70s has been a community of 1,800 acres that they were planning on developing. You know they were going to be expanding out the hotel.
Cindy Paulos: Yeah.
Clint Hansen: And you know Maui is not minded towards development. They want to keep it as small and community as possible and even know that that larger you know envelope was envisioned for the community plan. They have gotten through and gotten approvals much quicker as opposed to you know the embattled process by just lowering that envelope. So and by lowering that envelope and the number of properties that are built they're able to raise the prices and people are willing to pay it because they get that distance that space. And that's you know that sense of exclusivity that you're just not going to get anywhere else. And I've shown property I've you know have buyers out there and they're fantastic. I mean the views and the level of manicured beauty is unmatched I think I've seen anywhere else in the world. But it is certainly an upper echelon that I will never be able to afford. Well, hopefully one day. But you know Wailea is everybody thinks is the top here but that's no longer true. A lot of the property were built out in the 1970s 1980s and the lot of those homes are not ready to you know go. You purchased something in Wailea oftentimes with the understanding that you're going to be doing a remodel updating a kitchen.
Cindy Paulos: Really?
Clint Hansen: You know you're going to be refinishing a pool and you know because there's very very few homes out in Wailea when there's a newer property that you know has a remodel done in the last 10 years in Wailea it's usually snatched up pretty quick. Most of the property most of the inventory and availability out there is you know 20 years old. So...
Cindy Paulos: And Maui meadows same thing though.
Clint Hansen: Yeah, most definitely. You know and people like now in Hawaiian because it's that great views easy to hit the highway. You know Wailea is just below. You don't have to deal with the association. Wonderful sense of community up there. You know well it's better that you just don't have to deal with the individual association rules. So I mean Maui Meadows is I love I've lived up in Maui Meadows for years. I currently don't. My wife doesn't like living up there because she wants more continuity associated you know and those neighborhood rules. It drives me crazy. I want to be able to do whatever I want on my property. But they love you know the independents. You know they love the ability to have that half acre where you can...
Cindy Paulos: It really picked... I sold a house there 500,000 dollars just before the market change. Now, but it's gone up 15 and one million five one million six a place I've lived out there. And again, I think I guess you learn over time. You hold on to a piece of property and if you hold on long enough you know something will come around and going to go up. But Maui meadows, I didn't ever guess it would have gone up to. You know you can't even find many million dollar pieces of property there anymore, right? I mean they're usually over a million now I think.
Clint Hansen: There are definitely properties that are you know closer to that million dollar price point but they're going to be you know almost vacant chunks of land. You know they're going to have an Ohana on it and not a main home.
Cindy Paulos: Wow.
Clint Hansen: Or at the very worst you know or at the very best, they're gonna be a home that is in desperate need of remodel that has termite damage. No need a new roof. Things of that nature. There are certainly opportunities but I mean the price ceiling is going up in that Maui Meadows area. You know two and a half million dollars for a really nice larger square.
Cindy Paulos: Really? Now, that's gonna be a lot of dependencies on that. I mean is there wires. It is not a planned community the same way that Wailea is. There's not underground utilities. So the variability of value is going to depend dramatically on how much view you have, how much usable space, what your neighbors are like. I mean neighbors is a big one you know. At the bottom of Maui Meadows comparative to the top of Maui Meadows, there is actually a pretty sizable disparity in price and that has a lot to do with how much view you have and how many cars you know your neighbor has out on their property because they want to have a beautiful view. They want to make sure that you know they don't have somebody with a bunch of roosters next door or anything like that.
Cindy Paulos: Or if someone's renting out their home and has two or three people renting in a home and their sharing it with a bunch of other people.
Clint Hansen: Absolutely.
Cindy Paulos: Right? It makes more car.
Clint Hansen: There's a lot of businesses. You know it's not so much that you have like a dozen people living on the property. There are certainly rare opportunities where people are you know doing that but it oftentimes comes to people running businesses out of their property. Now, parking a lot of vehicles or just general clutter but it's rarer and rarer as people saw those see these opportunities to sell their home for such an incredibly high value. They're you know purchasing and they're buying somewhere else outside of Maui Meadows. You know it's gentrification of the area.
Cindy Paulos: Interesting.
Clint Hansen: So and do you know that weather I mean Maui Meadows is that sought after dry spot that people want to be in. There's you know not a lot of land that they're releasing to be developed. So you know there's kind of more competition for those drier more consistent weather situations. And the reason I love Maui meadows other than the independents is I like the fact that it's just that much cooler than the rest of Kihei You know you don't realize it but I actually jokingly refer to it as a lower Ulupalakua As you get towards the top of Maui Meadows and it's nice and cool. You know it's like a two to three degree temperature drop. You get more regular breezes. You kind of just get that tail into the McKenna cloud that comes over and cools you off. So I love it up there. It's one of my special you know places in my heart but my wife you know she wants to be in areas that have a more sense of continuity you know and you know happy wife happy life.
Cindy Paulos: So you know we've got about six or seven minutes left here and winding it up I mean it sounds like there's so many factors as a real estate person you have to really take into consideration. And I guess a lot of times when people are coming they count on you to kind of know sombody's things, don't they?
Clint Hansen: Absolutely. You know and we have a lot of people that count on us for a place to find them to purchase as well as to sell. So the thing is is when it comes to selling the property, there's more work you know associated than when a buyer. I have years of decades of you know knowledge that has been built in that has helped me learn what you know a person wants, where they're going to go. But everything we do is you know so hyper focused depending on our individual client needs and selling is a whole different thing. So I will definitely go into selling at the next opportunity when we meet next week. That'll be broadcasting at 11:00-10:00 a.m. KAOY ready group that is also 98.7 FM. 96.7 FM. 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Mondays and you can also find us at mauirealestateradio.com. I like to produce videos on a regular basis and you probably saw me there first. I'd like to get those out there and inform the community and [crosstalk].
Cindy Paulos: And you go to Maui
Clint Hansen: Mauirealestate.net and people know it's already there. The Hanson Ohana is like yeah.
Cindy Paulos: Thank you so much Clint. Aloha
Clint Hansen: Aloha