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Hawaii Luxury Home Magazine ~ Hansen Ohana Article

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Maui, No Ka Oi…

 

Here’s Why!

 

The Hansen Ohana

 

 If you’re looking to live a balanced Island lifestyle, Maui is calling your name,”says Bob Hansen of the Hansen

 Ohana. “Recently voted the world’s Top Island for the fourteenth year by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler, there are a

multitude of reasons we chose Maui as our home.” Recognized as Maui’s 2010 Top Producers by Hawaii Business Magazine, Bob

and his associates of The Hansen Ohana describe the reasons they call Maui home.

They are unlike any other! Whether maintained and easily accessible or quiet and secluded, the water is always sparkling.

You will always be able to find a beach where you can retreat and “get away from it all,” because despite Maui’s top ranking,

there isn’t an overflow of residents but a perfect population balance.

If you’re looking to grab a bite, Maui’s culinary options are diverse and plentiful.  A wide selection of fine dining,

local style food, or international cuisine can help satisfy any craving. Some of the island’s best restaurants can be found in the

Shops of Wailea where shopping is also superb. From high-end shops in Wailea, antiques in Paia, or chain stores in Kahului,

shopping is readily available. Plus, there’s no need to plan far ahead for your drive from one shop to the next. Island

driving is practically stress-free unless you’re heading to Hana.

If you love the great outdoors, take advantage of the fabulous hiking with a trek through Maui’s beautiful tropical

forests and the wide assortment of trails, or explore West Maui Mountain or Haleakala. When you’re ready to cool off

jump right in to the temperate ocean for some snorkeling, wind surfing, outrigger paddling, stand up paddling, fishing,

boating,or canoeing.

 

With countless activities, beautiful sites, and eclectic culture, there is never a reason to be bored or overwhelmed

on Maui! Call the Hansen Ohana and a piece of paradise could be yours. With low interest rates and a wide variety of property

options, this may just be the time that you’ve been waiting for to make Maui your home or your home away from home.

The Hansen Ohana’s experience and enthusiasm make it easy to accomplish all your real estate goals. As 2009 and

2010’s Top Producer for Maui County, they take the team approach to providing comprehensive service, whether representing

a seller or a buyer. Just like a winning outrigger canoe team, they each have specialties that complement each other and meet

their client’s individual needs. Let their years of combined experience, extensive market knowledge, and reputation for hard work

and integrity help you find your Maui.***Look for this article and our multi page feature in the upcoming issue of Hawaii Luxury Home Magazine***

West Side High Forclosure Rates

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Makena homes for sale and other Maui properties continue to face the difficulties associated with high foreclosure rates, according to a November 4, 2010 article from the Lahaina News. The report by Mark Vieth stated that “Fear arrives in the mail at hundreds of Maui households each month. In September in West Maui, for example, 71 homeowners received letters that their houses went into foreclosure. Others reported 338 Maui foreclosures in September and 1,617 new filings in the state that month. Hawaii has a non-judicial foreclosure law (HRS 667) that gives mortgage companies the authority to foreclose on a property without court approval. If an owner falls behind two months on house payments, the mortgage company can simply submit an affidavit to the state Bureau of Conveyances to be stamped, received and filed.”

Lahaina News

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Protesters aim to deflate wind project

Castle & Cooke Resorts, Lanai’s biggest employer, has proposed to erect more than 150 wind turbines on the remote northwestern end of the island and lay an undersea cable that would send the power to Oahu.

The project’s supporters say it could be a revenue-generator for the island, but opponents fear it would cut off access to important hunting grounds and have a major impact on an area rich in cultural and archaeological sites.

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Local retailers expect strong holiday season

Maui businesses say this year people started shopping

Local retailers are projecting a “strong holiday season,” with most contacted in the days before Black Friday saying overall sales for the year are already up compared to last. 

They also say that even before Thanksgiving people are forking out their dollars for the holidays, which is a good sign that retailers will have a merry Christmas. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, remains a day of heavily advertised sales, but it is not so clear-cut a beginning of the Christmas shopping season as it used to be.

“I think it’s going to be a lot better than last year,” said Ashley Takitani, marketing director of Maui Thing, about this year’s holiday spending.

Takitani said that at the Wailuku store, which sells unique-to-Maui logo wear, they held their annual special sale a couple of weeks ago. A long snake of shoppers waited to pay for their items in the store, unlike last year when lines weren’t as long.

“We already had our friends and family sale for the holiday. It went really well,” she said, although she didn’t have sales figures on hand. “It’s a good sign for the rest of the holiday season.”

At her Lahaina Hale Zen store and Makawao Designing Wahine Emporium store, Lisa Payne was pushing to get out her holiday wares early.

“I feel like people are starting to shop early this year,” she said, estimating that right after Halloween people were holiday shopping at her stores, which sell a mix of home items, clothing and bath and body products, all with a Pacific twist. “It seems to move up earlier every year.”

“I think it’s actually going to be a strong holiday season,” Payne said last week, adding that her overall sales numbers are already up 20 percent compared to 2009.

Maui residents already appear to be out in full force scooping up what they can for Christmas, as hundreds if not thousands of shoppers filled War Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday for the annual Ben Franklin Craft Fair and many more were swarming Costco last week. Previously untouched rolls of Christmas wrapping paper appeared to be moving off the floors there. And at the Ross store in Kahului, shoppers, especially women, were busy picking out holiday home items to decorate with.

The National Retail Federation expects a 2.3 percent increase in spending to $447.1 billion in holiday sales this year. That would fall short of the 10-year historic average of 2.5 percent, according to the retail trade group.

Analysts say the increase in marketing before Thanksgiving as well as other tactics to make shopping easier are trolling for customers in a season when shoppers are expected to spend only a little more than last year, because unemployment is still close to 10 percent and consumer confidence still is not strong.

National retailers such as Sears have been advertising holiday specials and pre-Black Friday specials for weeks now to get early customers.

The term Black Friday, which has many definitions, can refer to the time retailers go from being in the red (making losses) to in the black (turning profits).

Despite a down economy for at least a couple of years in Hawaii, MauiGrown Coffee in Lahaina has seen annual profits increase “well over 25 percent per year,” said Jeff Ferguson, co-manager of the farm and retailer, which grows the Ka’anapali Estate Coffee on the slopes of the West Maui mountains near Lahaina.

Perhaps the increase is because the young company is growing and now has a presence in the consumer world and has established a customer base, which translates into repeat buying, he said.

But the business, which sells coffee, holiday baskets and logo wear, has not been immune to the Christmas shopper’s caution.

Ferguson said that last year customers seemed to analyze their purchases more.

“This year they seem to be happy buying coffee,” he said.

He added that customers might not be buying the most expensive types of coffee, so the company is offering some at “attractive prices” to get the consumers buying.

He is also seeing customers springing for logo wear, something they weren’t buying as much of last year.

Ferguson said that he, too, saw holiday shoppers begin to plunk down their cash or credit cards as early as the end of October, but he cautioned many at the time, telling them to hold off so they could get a “fresher” coffee batch if they waited.

* The Associated Press contributed to this report. Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.