Aloha from Sunny and Richard – for those of you who are basketball nuts and who love Maui, you no doubt know that the College Teams have arrived on the Valley Isle!

This year, Michigan, Memphis, Tennessee, Duke, UCLA, Chaminade, Georgetown and Kansas teams are represented and the games will be played Monday through Wednesday this week. There are a lot of tall people around the Island!

Monday's results, the Quarterfinals, showed:  Michigan over Memphis 73/61;  Duke over Tennessee 77/67;  UCLA over Chaminade 92/60 (wow);  and Kansas over Georgetown 67/63. 

The Tournament is held at West Maui’s Lahaina Civic Center, which is a great location near 3 hot spots of activity in West Maui; Lahaina Town, Kaanapali Resort and Kapalua Resort – all within 15 minutes of the basketball action.

ESPN will be broadcasting the games all during the tournament so stay tuned for results, and also glimpses of our beautiful Maui. The weather today along the ocean is low 80’s during the day and about 70 at night – perfect weather pretty typical this time of year.   Oh - and YES - our humpback whales are making their return from Alaska!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families, and we hope to see you on Maui over the winter.
 

Aloha from Sunny and Richard - For those of you who know Maui and the small neighboring island of Lanai, the way to get to Lanai is either by a 45 minute ferry ride from Lahaina Harbor or by flying in on small planes. During the Holidays, this can make shopping for the 3,000 residents of Lanai difficult.

A tradition was born 15 years ago by The Coon Family, owners of the fabulous Trilogy Excursions, to gift the residents of Lanai turkeys to help celebrate Thanksgiving, island style! This coming Saturday, 1,000 turkeys will be passed among the local families, and not to be outdone, the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association will be contributing 1,000 5 pound bags of rice to accompany the main dish. This contribution feeds the entire local population of the Island – what a gift!

This has become a time when the entire island turns out to welcome these fine people, and also draws in local non-profits and community programs providing health screenings, environmental education, car seat safety checks and other services.

Trilogy also does their part in keeping our Maui water environment clean. Each month, a different reef is chosen and volunteers (this is great fun people!) snorkel or dive the reef and clean up debris along the way, as well as do fish counts to report on the overall health of our beautiful waters.

As we start our Holiday Season, this story is a reminder of how just one idea can grow to help so many people. We wish you all best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and Wonderful 2012!
 

Aloha from Sunny and Richard - here are the detailed sales statistics released by our Maui Board of Realtors for October, 2011 http://www.ramaui.com/UserFiles/File/Stats/All-Oct2011.pdf  

Personally, we are seeing some stronger interest from prospective purchasers by way of more inquiries from our existing clients, as well as from new inquiries, primarily through our website.  We are looking forward to our Winter Season which is usually when a good number of our sales occur. 

Please let us know if you have any questions about real estate, or have a special area of interest that we can help you with. 

Some excerpts from this month's report from Terry Tolman, Chief Staff Executive are as follows: 

Strong buyer-showing activity is now evidenced in actual reported sales, with multiple offers competing for wellpriced properties. Inventories have declined 18% over the past 12 months in Residential and Condo classes. Many short sales and REO (bank owned) properties will need to be absorbed as sales before we can move ahead to a more normal marketplace. Interest Rates are remaining near historic record lows which may help motivate would-be Buyers to go ahead and purchase.

FOR SELLERS: Sellers who don’t really need to sell (just “fishing?”) should stay off the market, and clear the marketplace for those who REALLY have to sell. UNLESS- you are motivated to Upsize, Downsize or Upgrade – While selling now will net less, your next property will cost less. Sharpen your pencil, talk to your CPA and Realtor® to explore the hidden benefits or consequences. Make no assumptions that will
sting later.

FOR BUYERS: Very Low interest rates prevail, however could inch up. Buyers should get Pre-Approved so they can shop in confidence (fewer last minute disappointments due to non-funding loans).   More "short-sales" and foreclosures are happening in the marketplace, yet they can be less of a bargain than they seem, requiring more hurdles to leap and more time (often 4-6 months) to close, if at all.  Be prepared but be realistic.  Lenders are much more stringent now on requirements for loan approval.

First-Time Home Buyers – Many programs are available….. Attend a First-Time Home Buyers workshop, get
familiar with the process, get qualified/approved, do your homework to get your own home. Many current owners
never thought they would be able to own until they attended a workshop, discovered they could own a home,
and are glad they did.   This low point in the market is your rare chance, so check it out carefully.