Line for the popular poi mochi

The Maui Matsuri 2012 was held May 11th and 12th at the UH Maui College Campus in Kahului. The festival celebrated Japanese cultural traditions with a theme of Kodomo No Tame Ni (for the sake of the children). A delightful variety of food was for sale, including favorites like sushi, chicken bento, teriyaki bento, andagi, saimin, chow fun and other grinds. The poi mochi was especially popular, given the long line. Crafts were sold, activities like gyotaku (fish print making) were available. Aikido and judo marital arts were demonstrated. Kikaida superheros, taiko drumming were some of the entertainment and obon dance capped off the night.

Central Maui (Kahului and Wailuku) were the busiest for Residential home sales, with 17 transactions closed at a median price of $350,000. Kihei was next busiest with 12 home sales closed at median price of $476,000. Kula/Ulupalakua/Kanaio district had 9 single family homes closed in April at $700,000 median. There were 6 transactions closed in the following two districts: Makawa/Olinda/Haliimaile, for median of $377,000, and the Napili/Kahana/Honokowai, at median of $675,750.

In Condominium sales, Kihei was by far the busiest district, with 47 units sold in April, up a bit from March, at median of $226,000, which is down in price from March. The next busiest district for condos was Napili/Kahana/Honokowai, with 20 units sold at median of $325,000. Wailea/Makena had 17 closings, at a median price of $965,000 way up compared to the previous month in price and volume. Central Maui had 11 units sold at median of $200,000, down in volume compared to March, but up in price.

The community, with many luxury homes, townhomes and condomiums, as well as its famous hotels and resorts, shopping and golf courses, aims to create a cohesive brand identity and marketing machine.

It is a positive sign for Maui that Wailea continues to re-invent and improve, even when there are still a lot of signs of difficulty in the economy.

There are still lots of REO and short sales taking place. For the past 12 months of sales, 43% of residential home sales were either REO or short sales, and 32% of condos were REO or SS.

Inventory of properties for sale feels tight. It would take almost 10 months for all homes on the market today to be sold, at the rate at which properties were sold in March. For condos, that absorption rate is 9 months. Land sales absorption rate is 24 months.

The median price of a Maui home in March was $432,500. Condo median price rose to $370,000 (versus almost 290 for both the previous month, and also compared March 1 year ago).

Will she be a future real estate agent? It’s certainly in the blood, but I like to think the sky is the limit and possibilities endless for whatever she wishes to do in her future. We will do our best to nurture her to a bright future.

What about her name? My husband loved the name Madison early on in my pregnancy. Given that my dad is originally from Wisconsin and Madison is the capital of that state, that was something special about the name. Hana? Of course, beautiful Hana, Maui – Madison ran the Hana Relay with me and my husband – while I was 13 weeks pregnant with her. Hana also means work or activity in Hawaiian…and she was definitely active in my womb and I expect she will be very active as she grows up. Hana also means #1 in Korean, and flower in Japanese, and she is of Korean and Japanese descent.

I would like to thank the great staff at the Maui Memorial Medical Center, the nurses and doctors at Kaiser Permanente, and also Nancy Irvine of Valley Isle Childbirth for making my pregnancy and birth experience a smooth one for my newly expanded family. We are fortunate to live on our beautiful island of Maui and I am looking forward to raising Madison surrounded by family, friends and all the best that Maui has to offer.

For condominiums, the number of sales and also the median price in February 2012 dropped to 79 units sold and median price of $287,000, compared to February 1 year ago when 98 units sold for a median of $371,200.

Land median price in February 2012 was $333,924 with 12 units sold, an increase versus 7 units sold in January 2011. Four of the 12 properties sold were on the island of Molokai, so for the island of Maui, it was actually holding about steady with 8 units sold.

Some median prices of homes sold in several sample districts for February 2012 on the island are as follows:

• Central (Kahului & Wailuku) $372,000 (23 homes sold)
• Haiku $1,082,000 (6 homes sold)
• Kapalua $2,880,000 (2 homes sold)
• Kihei $448,000 (15 homes sold)
• Kula/Ulupalakua/Kanaio $799,000 (3 homes sold)
• Maui Meadows $600,000 (3 homes sold)
• Wailea/Makena $910,000 (5 homes sold)

 Some median prices of condominiums sold in several sample districts for February 2012 on the island are as follows:

• Central $110,500 (4 units sold)
• Kaanapali $469,900 (9 units sold)
• Kihei $235,000 (35 units sold)
• Napili/Kahana/Honokowai $292,500 (18 units sold)
• Wailea/Makena $660,000 (5 units sold)

I recently asked Spencer Lau of Atlas Insurance Agency-Maui, located in Wailuku, for a quote on a modest home located near the ocean in Waiehu, Maui, a neighborhood within Wailuku, as someone had contacted me to find out more about this property. The home is located across the street from the ocean, and considered to be ina  high risk flood zone VE. The house, with less than 1500 s.f. of interior living area, would cost anywhere from $2,980 per year to $3,789 per year to insure, based on which deductible option a homeowner would choose (from a high of $5000 to a low of $1000 deductible). A similar house in a non high risk flood zone would only be approximately $365 for coverage…so it was around 10 times as high to be in this high risk flood zone, near the ocean.

Be aware that the federal government, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) sets the rates for flood insurance, and it is a big consideration when thinking of owning a property close to the ocean.

Here is a website, freeflood.net, that seems pretty accurate in allowing you to look up a property by address to determine which flood zone the property is in and if a lender is likely to require flood insurance.

This link to the county of Maui’s website also shows tsunami evacuation zones. This is not necessarily exactly the same as FEMA’s flood zones, but properties in one category or likely to also be in the other.

Your lender will usually check your credit when you first apply for a loan. Be aware that your lender may again check your credit closer to the end of your escrow period to make sure everything is as it was when you first applied for the loan. A large purchase could negatively impact your debt to income ratio, to the point where a loan you qualifed for when you first applied for a loan, is no longer a loan for which you qualify.

This is not always the case. Depending on your situation, you might still qualify for that loan. However, isn’t it better to be safe rather than sorry? I would suggest buyers be very cautious before making a larger purchase in addition to the property you are trying to buy. You want your loan process to go as smoothly as possible without unexpected surprises or problems, especially since you have a lot invested into the purchase, such as cost of appraisal, inspection, deposits and your emotional attachment and time invested in the process.

Make things easy on yourself and wait until your home purchase closes before making that large purchase of a car, or appliances or other large purchase that could affect your credit score and debt to income ratio.

Overall, inventories have declined 15-20% over the past year in Residential and Condo properties.

Some median prices of homes sold in some sample districts January 2012 on the island are as follows:

• Central (Kahului & Wailuku) $367,000
• Kihei $510,000
• Wailea/Makena $1,500,000
• Lahaina $372,500
• Kula $565,000
• Makawao $305,000

Some median prices of condos sold in some of Maui’s districts in January 2012 are as follows:

• Central $130,000
• Kaanapali $429,900
• Kihei $201,750
• Napili/Kahana/Honokowai $290,000
• Wailea/Makena $600,000
• Kapalua $575,000

Since we do not have a Babies R Us on Maui, found in many larger metropolitan areas, I had to figure out some of the places to shop for baby goods. This is a huge industry with gadgets for every baby’s need and things I could never even have imagined. Here are some of the places one should check out when you are going to have or have a baby and you live on Maui.

All of the stores below are located in Kahului. I’d be interested in knowing about other stores on the island worth exploring.

1) Keiki Time, located on Hana Hwy, is a boutique that carries a lot of the best brands in baby necesseties. They sell the coveted Bob strollers, Chicco and Graco car seats and strollers, and baby carriers such as Baby Bjorn. I found their prices to be a little steep, but they do have pretty much the best of what is out there. So, you can be pretty assured of a selection of high quality items if you shop there. The sales staff here is excellent and very helpful in demonstrating use of their products (such as folding a stroller).

2) Cute and Cuddly, located in the Maui Mall, is a competitor boutique to Keiki Time. Cute and Cuddly also seems to carry a lot of the “best” brands as well, but seems to offer different, competing brands such as Phil & Teds and Mountain Buggy strollers. They also have some of the Graco products, which seems to be a baby industry biggy.

3) Sears in Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center has prices that seem a bit more reasonable. Some of their brands include Eddie Bauer strollers and Safety First. However, I was disappointed when recently they ran a huge ad in the Maui News for some sale/discontinued items, such as a Graco playyard, but on the first day the ad ran, it was already not in stock.

4) Walmart offers options that are again more affordable than the boutiques. However, it seems that the offering in our Maui store may not be as complete for certain things as others in the mainland or their website. I was interested in seeing Baby Trend strollers, which I read about on the internet in person, and which Baby Trend’s website says is sold at Walmart. However, none were in stock when I visited Walmart.

5) K-Mart also has options that are more affordable than the boutiques for baby gear. Frankly, I think getting in and out of K-Mart during busy times is somewhat better than going to Walmart, as long as you avoid driving on Dairy Road to get there.

6) Finally, there is the internet. I have spent hours and hours researching this and that and have found Amazon.com to be a huge resource with great pricing. However, I do feel that tug of guilt when perusing their site, where maybe I should give local businesses such as the boutiques, or at least the big stores that carry merchandise in person some of my business. It is a bit of a challenge when pricing on the internet is so competitive. 

I would suggest that these are some of the resources to consider and decide for yourself what budget/products will be useful for you if you are in the market for baby goods.