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auai News & Events |
Kaua'i Wins MORE Awards
Kaua’i Receives Best Island Awards
Kaua’i was named Best Island in Hawai’i by Travel and Leisure, the prestigious travel magazine. This comes as no surprise to those who have visited all the other Hawaiian Islands.
Kaua’i also ranked second after Galapagos Island in all islands in the world. Galapagos is a bit far, and not real high for lodging and dining, but excellent if you’re a Darwinian student.
In addition, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) ranked Kauai’s KIUC electric cooperative first in the Cooperatives Division, first in Customer Installation Division, and 2nd nationally for cumulative watts per customer through 2009.
Great things are happening on Kaua’i – why not be a part of it?
Posted: 2010-07-09
3 Major Movies Filming on Kauai
After a nearly 3-year dearth, filming returns to Kaua‘i in huge way
Story & Discussion: Paul C. Curtis - The Garden Island | Posted: Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:45 pm
LIHU‘E — After a three-year drought of major film-making on the island, Kaua‘i is suddenly one of Hollywood’s most-sought-after locations.
Not since 2007’s “Tropic Thunder” has a major motion picture been shot here, and, this year, no fewer than three major big-screen films are scheduled to work here, nearly simultaneously.
“The Descendants” with George Clooney recently wrapped up filming here, and Adam Sandler’s “Just Go With It” began filming Monday, said Art Umezu, film commissioner in the county Office of Economic Development.
The biggest buzz, though, is over the arrival of Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and others for the big-budget, Disney “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which has set up a production shop in the old pineapple cannery building on Kawaihau Road in Kapa‘a.
Umezu, busy Tuesday with permitting and logistical issues relating to both the Sony Pictures’ Sandler venture and Disney’s “Pirates,” said in an e-mail the heat of Kaua‘i is related in part to “Tropic Thunder” and constant courting of Hollywood executives.
“I do have an opinion and made a comment about this after ‘Tropic Thunder’ filmed here in 2007,” said Umezu.
“I had dinner with Dreamworks Studios’ president Steve Molen in LA last month and thanked him, Ben Stiller and ‘TT’ for starting the ‘big buzz’ about Kaua‘i in Hollywood with their 10-month production on Kaua‘i in 2007,” he said.
“I believe it’s constant marketing and staying in touch and establishing relationships with film executives throughout the years that has helped to keep Kaua‘i on Hollywood’s radar,” he said.
“One of the events that I attend every year to solidify these types of relationships is the Film Expo in Santa Monica. The expense of airfare, hotel and miscellaneous to attend the Expo is overshadowed by the return on investment when just one film decides to come to Kaua‘i,” said Umezu, who like other film commissioners before him is sometimes criticized when he isn’t able to deliver large-scale filming to the island with regularity.
“I also think that the 20 percent film-production tax credit is a major factor in why movies are being filmed here. This was mentioned in a recent article by someone affiliated with ‘Pirates,’” said Umezu.
And the major motion pictures aren’t the only ones taking a liking to Kaua‘i as a location.
A reality TV show based in New York City is planning six days of filming on Kaua‘i next week, Umezu said.
“Also, while in LA I met director Jim Wynorski and producer Roger Martin Corman, son of legendary film icon Roger Martin, and (they) said ‘Dinocroc Vs. Supergator,’ which they filmed here last May, will be on SyFy (channel) soon and features Kaua‘i’s many spectacular sceneries,” Umezu said.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
Posted in Local on Thursday, May 20, 2010 11:45 pm | Tags: Filming In Kauai
Posted: 2010-05-21
KAUA'I IS ON A ROLL!
SPECIAL REPORT FROM KAUAI
Kauai is on a roll!
This year there is hot news about Kauai. Here are some excerpts:
1. Conde Nast Traveler names the St. Regis’ Halele’a Spa on its Hot Spas List (Michele Obama on Cover).
2. Same issue, names Ko’a Kea Hotel to its Hot List.
3. St. Regis Resort launches the Mailani Dinner Show, with island history, music, hula, and a sumptuous Hawaiian style buffet, all pool and ocean side..
4. St. Regis Resort brings back the popular and sumptuous Sunday Brunch overlooking beautiful Hanalei Bay.
5. The new Makai Course was completely rebuilt and is open, and the Woods Course now plays nine holes, both at reasonable prices for kama’aina.
6. Many movies in production on Kauai. George Clooney and Johnny Depp (newest Pirates of the Caribbean flick), and other stars on island. Stars and production crews ecstatic at the warm welcome, locale, and friendly people.
7. Koloa Rum Company opens its tasting room at Kilohana Plantation
8. Gaylord’s Restaurant at Kilohana to be remodeled and emerge as 22 North (the island’s latitude), featuring Kauai grown products and an all new menu on re-opening.
9. Kukui’ula moving forward, as Koloa Landing has five towers in construction, and the Shopping Center has many fine retail and dining spots and more coming.
10. Poipu Bay Golf Course began extensive re-design due for completion later this year.
11. Real estate sales are up sharply.
Posted: 2010-05-13
Continuing Education Requirements for REALTORS (R) Doubles
Consistent with the ever enlarging legislation enacted to protect the client's interests from poorly trained or uninformed agents, buyers, and sellers, the State of Hawaii enacted a new law doubling the hours of Continuing Education (CE) required of Hawaii REALTORS (R). The law takes effect January 1, 2011.
The Hawaii Association of Realtors (HAR) and many other REALTOR (R) groups supported this law and demonstrates the extensive controls, regulations and codes pertaining to REALTORS (R), perhaps one of the most extensively regulated industries in America. Here is the article appearing in the April 2010 issue of HawaiiREALTOR publication:
New Law Expands Continuing Education Requirements for Licensees
March 29, 2010
Governor Linda Lingle on March 23 signed Act 9 of the 2010 Legislative Session into law. The bill increases the minimum required continuing education hours for real estate brokers and salespersons from 10 hours to at least 20 hours for each biennium, effective on January 1, 2011.
Copy and paste to your browser for Frequently Asked Questions on the new law:
http://www.hawaiirealtors.com/government_affairs/act9_faq.asp
Posted: 2010-04-01
Stringent Lead Paint Rules Enacted by EPA
Consistent with the Federal Government's concerns about the potentially deadly effect of old lead paint (Properties built prior to 1978), new rules place heavy demands on General Contractors, Certified Inspectors, REALTORS (R), buyers and sellers.
The National Association of REALTORS® NAR (which supported these rules), has come out with an important guide on the EPA's new Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule. Copy and paste to your browser to view NAR's compliance Guide:
http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/lead_paint_main
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a Region 9, which includes Hawai'i, section on their website: Copy and paste to your browser:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/lead/
Also, check out the following additional informational online brochures:
Renovate Right: Important Lead Information for Families, Child Care Providers, and Schools. Copy and paste to your browser:
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovaterightbrochure.pdf
Copy and paste the URL below for the Small Entity Compliance Guide to Renovate Rights: EPA's Lead Based Paint, Renovation Repair, and Painting Program:
http://www.healthyhomestraining.org/lswp/RRP_SB_Compliance_Guide_6-23-08.pdf
Remember, this only applies to properties built prior to 1978, and goes into effect April 22, 2010. The above is courtesy of the April 2010 issue of HawaiiREALTOR, the official publication of HAR. There will possibly be further clarifications as this process evolves.
Posted: 2010-04-01
Kauai's Own Award Winning Goat Product Company
March 31, 2010
Work is a family affair at Kunana Dairy
Award-winning dairy focuses on quality
By Anne E. O'Malley
Kaua'i People
Bees are buzzin', goats are bleatin' and crops are poppin' up all over at Kaua'i Kunana Dairy & Family Farm. The success the Wooton family — Bob, Louisa, Troy, Ryan, and Sarah — enjoys on their three acres "smack dab between Kilauea and Anahola, 4.5 miles either way," as Louisa likes to describe it, may be laid to the family's creativity and work ethic.
They've just been recognized for the talented farmers and value-added product makers they are. The micro-dairy, famed for its artisan goat-milk cheeses, won the 2010 Small Business Award titled "Kaua'i Home-Based Business Champion of the Year."
"We're able to provide a really good living for two families and two full-time employees," says Louisa, who, with her husband, Bob, laid the groundwork over a decade ago. "That's good, that a little 3-acre farm can provide a living for those families."
Family members, including Troy who is away at school at the moment, each have a niche based on interests and specialties.
"Bob is a mechanical genius," says Louisa. "I don't know what I'd do without him."
Evidence of Bob's handicraft is everywhere. He built their home and all the buildings and maintains all farm equipment.
In addition to tracking the farm's expenses and profits and turning out the artisan cheeses, Louisa, who calls herself "Auntie Nanny-Goat," focuses on raising the baby goats separated from their mothers at birth, feeding the newbies a couple of times a day.
Son Ryan and his wife, Sara, both in their 20s, have their own kind of genius in the product making and marketing arena. Ryan decided to pop some beehives into the equation with the result that Kunana sells honey and has beeswax, and he makes pesto and vinaigrette for sale.
Meanwhile, Sara whips up baked items using farm products and works with Ryan on the farm's line of body products such as soaps, lotions and balms.
And of course, there's the ever-popular velvety-smooth goat cheese sold in select markets and that's considered an island treat. It's so delicious, in fact, that one person who regularly buys their cheese told the family, "We went on a tour of cheese makers in France. None was as good as yours."
Nothing goes to waste and every action adds to the farm's sustainability.
"If we cut a tree that's no longer productive, we take it out and Ryan's putting something in there," says Sara.
"We use animals to cut down on labor," says Bob. "For example, we have a quarter-acre of bananas. We put laying hens in there. They weed and we get eggs from the chickens."
Says Ryan, "Our home is not just this house; we use every single part of this land. From corner to corner, it's all used — fruit trees, gardens; we've overflowed and gone into our sister's property."
It's important, says Louisa, to weather the storms.
"Keep being an innovator," she says, "You show up, you're there. You don't say I don't want to make granola today, I don't think I want to go the market today. With this many, we hold each other up — or maybe it prods each other along.
"You got to keep on doing it and keep on being it."
It's not about quantity, but quality, Louisa says.
"We have kept growing into niche markets," she says. "Create a market, create a product and don't cut it short. It's got to be the best every time it's out there. If it's not really, really good, we're not taking it to market."
Increasingly, people look to standards of quality in the purchases they make. The Wootons are Animal Welfare-approved and can use that in their marketing.
"We're also certified organic with the Hawai'i Organic Farmers Association, so we put that label on our produce," says Louisa.
For the moment, cheese production is limited by the size of the milking herd. Restaurants that have standing orders get first crack at the cheese.
But if the Wootons feel successful running their operation on just the three acres they have, they may feel positively celestial in the near future when they tie down an arrangement in the works to use an additional 10 acres.
More goats, more milk, more cheese will keep products on the shelves year-round for customers hungry for that Kunana brand.
Receiving an award affected Louisa, who says, "I thought it was an incredibly wonderful honor. I'm real proud of it."
It has the added benefit, she says, in that "It's something that keeps telling you to keep doing what you're doing."
For information about farm tours or products, visit www.kauaikunanadairy.com or contact Ryan, 651-5046 or ryan@-kauaikunanadairy.com.
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Posted: 2010-04-01
2009 Real Estate Slump Ends On Uptick
Does this article in today's Garden Island suggest it's time to buy?
By Coco Zickos - The Garden Island
Published: Sunday, January 10, 2010 3:10 AM HST
LIHU‘E — Residential home sales have been on the decline since 2005, but low interest rates, sliding values and one very enticing tax credit propelled buyers to scoop up more properties during the final months of 2009 than they did a year earlier.
Record low lending rates, along with a first-time home buyer tax credit set to the tune of $8,000 “played an important role in stimulating the housing market,” said new Kaua‘i Board of Realtors President Kelly Liberatore, who took over the reins at the start of 2010.
When the credit was extended from Nov. 30, 2009 to April 30, 2010, it “helped keep the sales momentum going through December for those buyers that missed the first deadline but still wanted to take advantage of the tax credit.”
In addition, the “downward trend” of median home values from $615,000 in 2008 to $470,500 in 2009, may also be inspiring individuals to jump on the homeowner bandwagon, she said.
Overall sales for the year, however, had a “big decline” even though “some classes of property in certain areas did see a spike in sales in the last quarter,” Kaua‘i County Deputy Director of Finance Belma Baris said in an e-mail.
“This may be due to a more drastic reduction in prices made by property owners who simply wanted to dispose of their properties before the end of the year and buyers taking advantage of low interest rates,” she said.
It is unclear at this time how this will affect county revenue.
“We’ll know for sure in May when real property values are certified,” Baris said. “In the meantime, we are preparing our budget for the next fiscal year based on a decline in revenue.”
Around 80 percent of the county’s general funds are generated from real property taxes, she said.
In October, Finance Director Wally Rezentes Jr. projected that real property assessments could decrease in “certain tax categories” by some 20 percent, which means revenues could decline by about $12 million to $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
But declining median sales prices have not correlated to the cost of real property taxes yet because property values were “offset by an increase in the number of assessed parcels and by correctly resetting condo values between the land and building which should have been done in past years,” Baris said.
Sales activity between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009 will be used in the 2010 assessment, she said.
A slowdown in construction may also impact the county’s budget, as building permit revenue could drop.
“The booming economy of 2005-2007 stimulated a great amount of development but it was generally accepted by economists that the level could not be sustained over an extended period of time,” a spokesperson for Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. said in an e-mail last year when asked if Kaua‘i is currently experiencing its development boundaries.
“Development is necessary for the economy to grow, however Mayor Carvalho has always said that there needs to be a balance.”
In general, last year was unique for those in the real estate industry, as “practitioners of all kinds from Realtors and escrow officers to lending professionals, had to learn new rules, laws and regulations affected their respective businesses at a rapid-fire pace,” Liberatore said. “2009 was a challenge, but it was also a year of valuable educational opportunities.”
Number of residential home sales on Kaua‘i since 2004
Jan. Feb. Mar April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
2004 58 45 55 69 61 78 64 58 50 62 51 55
2005 57 50 52 63 60 68 49 55 70 54 39 45
2006 36 38 50 42 39 42 32 36 39 43 33 45
2007 30 30 46 41 39 46 33 21 34 19 24 30
2008 22 26 30 21 21 28 31 27 21 23 15 19
2009 10 10 21 23 15 21 27 21 14 32 23 36
Residential sales since 2004
2004 - 695
2005 - 669
2006 - 475
2007 - 409
2008 - 284
2009 - 260
Median home values since 2004
2004 - $499,000
2005 - $640,500
2006 - $675,000
2007 - $650,000
2008 - $615,000
2009 - $470,500
Posted: 2010-01-10
Time To Buy? Here's One Expert View
But there's one area that investors have almost universally shunned recently. Even though the real estate market may well have some lumps left to take, it's extremely unlikely that you'll ever again see housing as affordable as it is right now.
Still hunting for the lows?
Of course, some of you will immediately point out that housing prices still haven't shown signs of a definite bottom yet. The latest release of Case-Shiller index data showed that although home prices stayed steady in October compared with previous months, they're still down by more than 7% from year-ago levels. And although some have seen recent readings as encouraging, few would be surprised if prices start to decline again during the traditionally slow winter period.
However, there's more to the affordability question than simply looking at the price. For good or ill, other factors play at least as much of a role in determining whether buying a home makes financial sense.
It's all about the payments.
Perhaps the most important thing that's making homes affordable for more people lately has been ultra-low mortgage rates. With the 30-year mortgage rate having flirted with the 5% mark for months now, homebuyers who are fortunate enough to have the financial means and credit history to get home loans are finding amazing deals.
Homebuyers did find ways to stretch even during the housing bubble. But unlike then, borrowers don't have to use dubious financing methods like negative-amortization or interest-only loans to finance their home purchases affordably. Just look at some of the rates available from major banks:
Bank 30-Year Mortgage APR Estimated Monthly Payment on $250,000 Mortgage
BB&T (NYSE: BBT)
5.277% $1,381
Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF)
5.402% $1,400
E*Trade Financial (Nasdaq: ETFC)
5.255% $1,364
SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI)
5.255% $1,361
Source: Bankrate. Rates posted as of Dec. 23 for loans in the D.C. metro area.
The combination of lower prices and low interest rates have put homebuying within reach for a lot more families. According to The Wall Street Journal, mortgage payments haven't been this low in comparison to median earnings figures since the early 1970s.
But there's no guarantee that those low rates will last. Already, interest rates have moved up a bit, and with the Federal Reserve set to exit the mortgage-backed-securities market next March, mortgage rates could jump substantially, making those monthly payments a lot higher.
In addition, there are more things encouraging homebuyers to act now:
• Homebuyer tax credit. The popular first-time homebuyer tax credit was recently expanded to include those who already own homes. If you've lived in a principal residence for five straight years out of the past eight, then you can claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 toward a new home. First-time buyers are still eligible for the larger $8,000 credit.
• Homebuilder incentives. Many homebuilders, including Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), NVR (NYSE: NVR), and Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), offer incentives to prospective buyers. Lately, though, those incentives have started to disappear as demand increases. Although incentives differ greatly, they may make a big difference to some buyers.
No guarantees.
Naysayers will point out that future problems could easily create another leg down for home prices. But the more relevant question that potential homebuyers need to ask is this: How likely are you to see this unusual confluence of low home prices, low interest rates, and additional incentives to buy? In my opinion, those odds are pretty small -- and so it might make sense not to wait even if you're concerned that home prices haven't yet hit bottom.
So whether you're looking to buy your first home or want to move up to a better one, don't let fear about the future direction of home prices dissuade you from taking a serious look at buying right now.
Posted: 2009-12-30
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