Aloha!  Happy Holidays!

 

My Newsletter commentary section has been a bit short lately so I've taken up my pen again this month.. I feel like talking about something that seems to be on everyone's radar.  But instead of rehashing the news (which has been rehashed, regurgitated, spliced, diced, and spit out enough already) I'm going to try to come up with a moral to the story.   If you know me by now you know I like doing that.  It's the Philosopher in me.. So please indulge me this month:

 

One of the things I love about living on Kauai is that it's a little bit like its own little country, yet still part of the good old USA.  What a perfect combination to live in:  remote enough to always feel like you're getting away from it all, but not so far away that you have to worry about terrorists, drug cartels, psycho governmental regimes, or Paparazzi!   Kauai's lack of Paparazzi came to my attention recently while I was pondering the travails of one certain well-known sports star that has fallen (Ker-plunk!) from favor lately.  He's in the middle of huge media frenzy and would probably love to get away from it all, become completely invisible and hide out on some beach somewhere in the middle of the Pacific ocean.  Except the Paparazzi would follow him even here, I'm certain.  As they say, you can't run and you can't hide.  As I pondered this poor man's predicament and how it happened, it occurred to me that the phenomena he is now suffering from (which I would call over-exposure in a really bad way) is a product of  television mostly, but also a tremendous national interest in investigative television shows,  tabloid magazines articles as well as the viral impact of Internet stories and their current ability to spread bad news at Light Speed.   Before the emergence of these ravenous news outlets which I will call the BIG HUGE SCARY EYE (aka The present day Media) everyone could be counted on to pretty much mind their own business and not take much notice of famous people's personal lives.  Unless of course it was the President's life and we were in a big national emergency or a War.  Now it seems wherever the BIG HUGE SCARY EYE focuses its lens it takes on a sometimes very sinister life of its own.  Celebrities who made their fortunes preening and catering to the BIG HUGE SCARY EYE suddenly find that the monster who loved them now turns on them when it smells a story (aka blood) and is completely ravenous and insatiable. &n��
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6 bsp;It will stop at nothing to uncover the sometimes very unsavory facts, until it gets bored and moves on to its next victim, leaving their personal lives and fortunes in tatters.  A stranger phenomena still is that the  more unsavory the story and the more respected the celebrity the more it wants and the more it digs, (which really doesn't say much for the rest of us watching it all!).  The point I'm trying to make is as I watch this poor man's life hopelessly  unraveling and see how his billions of dollars, his trophies and his slick PR machine can't stop it, I realize at a very deep level that being famous must really be awful and frankly dangerous to one's health.  To have your personal indiscretions plastered across every television, magazine cover, and Internet site must be a fate worth than death.  Any dignity or personal sense of privacy is gone, sometimes as fast as a matter of days.   How could someone possibly cope with that?  As they say, and now I agree, "fame and fortune is way overrated".  Perhaps it's not so bad being just an Everyday Joe or Jane, not rich, not famous, but happy nonetheless.  It also makes me realize that it's always the simple things that make us happy, not the money, and certainly not the unsavory escapades that go along with the ballooning ego that fame always produces. This guy looked like he had it all:  incredible natural talent, a beautiful spouse, children, money, fame, health, everything you could possibly ever want.  Yet now we know, "having it all" was not enough.  And it will never be enough, not for him, and probably not for anyone.  This whole episode should be a learning experience for all of us so that this one man's downfall is not in vain.  He will have served as a reminder to us that it's not more fame or more fortune that will make us more happy.  Instead its appreciating and practicing the simple things that never cost us anything, yet are eternally price��
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6 less:  family, friendships, sunsets, your pets, hope, hard work, and  personal integrity.

 

The sales volume numbers for November look really impressive at $47M sold... Whoops!  After looking closer I see $28M of those sales is the Tara Plantation.  Back that out and we are down to $19M which is about $10M down from last month.  Boo!  Hoo! Hoo!  Oh, and by the way, the super famous actor that was supposed to have purchased Tara apparently was a bad rumor. So sorry but I was wrong about African American male superstar with initials W.S. and married to Jada Pinkett Smith being the buyer.  Now I'm told some Wall Street gal from back east bought it.  Hey, I thought they were supposed to cut back on those bonuses!  Grrrr!  Regarding all the sales volume numbers we are down, down, down on everything! Boo! Hoo! Hoo!

 

Maybe there's some good news in Unit Sales.. Well it's not that bad, down 48 total sales from 50 the month prior.  Houses are down to 23 from 32, vacant land up to 7 from 2, and condos stayed the same 16 and 16.  North Shore houses were down to 2 from 6, vacant land up 2 from zero, and condos stayed the same 6 and 6.  Lihue and East side numbers stayed relatively steady.  Poipu/Koloa numbers down just slightly.

 

Okay, well that was boring, how about the median prices, any sunshine there?  Same ole, same ole.. The median price of house was down just a tad from last month $442K vs $446K the month prior.  Vacant land median price took another big dip to $185K from $350K on 7 sales.   Median condo prices were down $227K from $395K.  The rest is just too dull to talk about, but basically it was not a great month, but not too bad either, just another bump down  in the bumpy road we've been on.

 

Our Year to Date numbers show that we are 25% below last year's prices for homes, 44% below last year's prices for vacant land 38% below last year's prices for condos.  Wow!  If this isn't the bottom, I sure don't know how we can go any lower.  Number of Sales Year to Date numbers show we are 30% below last years units sold for homes, 36% below for vacant land and 43% for condos.  Year to Date total Volume numbers show we are 18% below 2008 numbers for homes, 71% for vacant land (how many times do I have to say it "Buy Kauai vacant land right now, it's Walmart Cheap - Blue light Special cheap! Cheap! Cheap!)  Condos our down 43% if you don't feel like either mowing the yard, or even building the darn house, buy a condo, they're cheap too.

 

Well that's all the Real Estate news for November.  Please let me know if you are coming to the island and would like to look at properties while you are here.  Have a safe and happy holiday and remember to appreciate the simple things this season.  That's what true happiness is about.

 

Warmest Aloha, Your Island Philospher, err... I mean Realtor, AnnMarie