Aloha!
We have a wonderful assortment of articles, Big Island Calendar of Events, resources, tips and industry
updates for you this month and we hope you enjoy. Some of these include:
In addition to Kelly's Blog (www.HawaiiBigIslandBlog.com),
you can now also follow him on Twitter @hilobrokers!
If you are having any difficulty reading the newsletter below, you may view
the current (and past) newsletter here:
http://www.hilobrokersnews.com
In addition to the featured articles, don't forget to dig a little deeper
for additional articles located in the "Daily News & Advice" area, as well
as the "More Articles" section.
Mahalo,
Kelly & the Hilo Brokers, Ltd. Team
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some
Articles Copyright © 2010 Realty
Times
All Rights Reserved.
Hilo Brokers, Ltd.
400 Hualani St.,
Bldg 21
Hilo, Hawaii, 96720
Office:
808-969-9400
Direct: 808-938-5757
|
Quality Big Island Real
Estate Service & Experience
for Over 20 Years!
|
Your
Big Island REALTOR®:
Kelly H. Moran
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 We
Were Prepared -
and Lucky!
- By Kelly
Moran
On
the morning of a calm sunny Saturday, the 27th of February,
tsunami alert sirens all around the island went off. An
earthquake in Chile, the night before, had sent shock-waves
through the Pacific, and the Big Island got ready to deal
with its consequences.
Hilo
was famously socked twice in the 20th century by the force
of a tsunami – more than twice, actually, but hit really
hard in 1946 and 1960. The tsunami in ‘60 had come from an
earthquake in (you guessed it) Chile, which at 9.5 was the
largest ever recorded. This latest one, at 8.8, was only(!)
the fifth-largest.
Here in Hawaii, we pay attention to tsunami alerts.
Last September, a tsunami slammed into American Samoa. In
December of 2004, a tsunami devastated several countries on
the Indian Ocean.
The Pacific has a network of buoys across its expanse
and along all of its coasts, linked by radio data
transmission. (The Indian Ocean does not have such a
network, so the 2004 tsunami there could not be detected and
warned against until it was too late.)
The
Pacific sensors picked up oceanic disturbances and local
rises in sea-level almost immediately after the Chilean
quake. As soon as that news reached our Civil Defense units,
on Friday night (Hawaii time), they issued their warnings of
a potential tsunami. Ocean waves generated by earthquakes
travel about as fast as a jetliner, some 400-500 miles per
hour; so Civil Defense calculated that they would reach
Hawaii around 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
The first pages of the telephone directories in Hawaii
have maps of potential tsunami inundation zones on every
island. There’s even more information online, as well as
news about this latest tsunami and those of the past. It
should come as no surprise that Hilo is home to a museum
about tsunamis: the Pacific Tsunami Museum (www.tsunami.org/index.html#news),
which
I mentioned last November, in urging you to sign up for
local Civil Defense alerts via cellphone text.
The
United Nations, through UNESCO, operates the International
Tsunami Information Center (http://ioc3.unesco.org/itic/),
and both websites have links to additional sources of news
and background information.
So, let me tell you: We were
ready!
We were also lucky. With so much
advance notice, many boat-owners sailed out to sea, to ride
it out. Retail shopkeepers had time to move vulnerable
inventory uphill. Hilo Airport, which is inside the “tsunami
indundation zone,” was closed to traffic. Mail delivery was
suspended. Hotels shifted people upstairs. (All of Hawaii’s
coastal hotels, by the way, are built on sturdy piers; their
lobbies have tall ceilings and no load-bearing walls, so a
tsunami can surge through without undermining the
structure.)
That morning, as luck would have it, there was a minus
tide. I watched Hilo Bay through binoculars, from the
Davidson’s oceanfront home on Paukaa Drive, and the only
effect that I saw was...
CONTINUED >>> |
|
|
|
|
|
Mortgage Rates
U.S. averages as of February 25, 2010:
30 yr. fixed: 5.05%
15 yr. fixed: 4.40%
1 yr. adj: 4.15%
View current rates
|
|
|
|
View All Featured Listings Here
Featured
Listing
Cozy
Custom Home in an Ideal Location Exudes a
Sophisticated and Warm Ambiance
This cozy custom home
has an ideal location just north of Hilo on a
cul-de-sac. Outside you'll find sprawling lawns,
roses, orchids, fruit-bearing citrus and fig trees,
and a feeling of serenity. Inside, you'll find a
unique multi-level interior with gleaming eucalyptus
hardwood floors, wood burning fireplace, gourmet
cook's kitchen, master suite with spa tub AND a
steam shower. The owners thoughtfully considered the
environment and the natural elements when they
designed this home. True luxury! Open beamed
cathedral ceilings are found throughout the home.
Click
Here for More Info
|
Hilo Brokers iPhone Real
Estate Search Application
- By
Kelly H. Moran
We’ve
created a customized, FREE, iPhone application that
allows you to search hawaii real estate from your iPhone.
Read More or Download Here
Taxpayers
Seeking Homebuyer Tax Credits, Refunds Must File Paper
 H
omeowners filing for the home buyer tax credit are not
allowed to use electronic filing and must file hard
copies due to special documentation requirements.
Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
deployed new home buyer tax credit forms and
instructions requiring forms that will force taxpayers
to file on paper, rather than electronically.
The new home buyer tax credit filing rules are to ward
off a repeat of 90,000 taxpayers who fraudulently
claimed the credit, according to the U.S. Treasury.
Under the new and expanded home buyer tax credit rule ,
the credit is worth up to $8,000 for first-time home
buyers and up to $6,500 for qualifying existing home
buyers, in both cases, who buy a primary residence or
have one built.
The tax credit is refundable. A credit
that is larger
than the taxes owed is returned to the taxpayer in the
form of a refund.
The home can cost no more than $800,000 and qualifying
income is limited to a maximum of $125,000 for single
taxpayers and $225,000 for joint taxpayers.
Get the full scoop online from the IRS' "First-Time
Homebuyer Credit" page online.
All taxpayers (first time
and move up buyers) seeking a credit or refund, must use
the new IRS Form 5405 "First-Time Homebuyer Credit and
Repayment of the Credit" (Taxpayers must ...
CONTINUED >>>
|
|
|
Here
on the Big Island, a Historic Home Has Closed
- By Kelly Moran
Most
“historic” homes here are merely old, and not especially
significant in local history. Fewer still are also visitor
attractions. But among those that can rightly be considered
of historical value, and well worth a tour, none is more
important than the Parker family seat, Puuopelu.
Unfortunately, it’s now closed.
It stands a hundred yards or so off Hwy 190, on the dry side
of Waimea – also called Kamuela, the Hawaiian rendition of
“Samuel,” and specifically Samuel Parker, next to whose
ranchland the town itself grew up.
Samuel’s father,
John Palmer Parker II, created the eponymous
Parker Ranch in the early 1800s, under a grant from King
Kamehameha I himself, to round up and fence in feral cattle that
had become a nuisance.
His original home, a few miles
away, was a cottage in the New England “saltbox” style, but
whose entire interior – walls, ceilings and floors – were
paneled in wide koa boards. In 1879, Samuel acquired a
Victorian mansion called Puuopelu (literally a “pile of stones”
but figuratively the “folding hills” of Kohala, which border the
property). It has been the family seat ever since. Several
generations have remodeled and expanded the house, and in 1986
John Parker’s cottage was dismantled, moved, reassembled and
erected right next door.
 That
was a favorite project of Richard Smart, the home’s most
colorful Parker heir, and the last of his family to have owned
the ranch outright. Though an expert horseman, and a serious
collector of European art, especially fond of paintings of
Venice, Smart was not a rancher by profession. Mainly, he was a
singer, actor and theatrical producer, and in that capacity was
largely responsible for the creation of the
Kahilu Theater, a marvelous performance venue, which now
stands in the Waimea shopping center that’s also named after the
Parker Ranch.
Since Smart’s death in 1992, ownership
and operation of the ranch and of Puuopelu have been the
responsibility of the Parker Ranch Foundation Trust. But the Trust
has lost money in recent years ....
CONTINUED >>>
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enroll Today!
Kelly's Blog
is now available.
Read online, RSS feed, or receive easy email notifications of
new posts. Just use the handy Subscribe links in the
blog's right hand column.
 |
Buyers ... Why Green is Worth It
For
new and existing home buyers alike, the options to "green up" homes
abound. Green upgrades on homes offer two-fold benefits. They
contribute to a healthier environment, both now and in the future,
and they can save homeowners big when it comes to energy costs. How
much impact does a green home have on the environment, you ask? The
government reports that Energy Star qualified homes built in 2009
are the equivalent of:
- Eliminating emissions from
51,645 vehicles
- Savings 312,399,672 lbs of
coals
- Planting 85,372 acres of
trees, and Saving in the environment 612,678,574 pounds of CO2.
Many homebuyers
shy away from green construction and green upgrades because of the
upfront cost. But while some estimates have put the construction
cost difference at 17 percent, recent estimates from The World
Business Council for Sustainable Development put the cost of green
construction only 5 percent higher than traditional.
Green building
means using recycled, renewable, and native building materials. It
also means tapping into the energy sources that nature has to offer,
including solar and wind. Here are a few ideas of simple "going
green" ideas to get you thinking.
Renewable Flooring: Looking for a beautiful way to
incorporate wood flooring into your home? Consider bamboo flooring.
How is bamboo a green option? It grows and renews itself quickly,
unlike most woods, making it an ideal and cost effective option for
green flooring.
Passive Solar: In effect this option can cost you nothing,
if you choose the right designed home. The goal is to design to take
advantage of the sun's positioning throughout the year. o that its
windows, roof, doors, flooring, etc. to take advantage of the sun's
position through the year.
Energy Star Appliances: Appliances are an easy way to make
a home more friendly to the environment. One of the fastest ways to
explore your options is to visit
www.energystar.gov. At this government site you can find out
more information on tax credits and rebates. As an example of Energy
Star appliances and their efficiency, qualified washers use 30
percent less energy and over 50 percent less water ...
CONTINUED >>>
Wondering
What
Your Home is Worth?
Let us show you
Daily News and Advice
Read about the events shaping the Real Estate
market today, find current interest rates, or browse the
extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some
of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
Market Snapshots Are Here
|
|
|
|
Upcoming
Island Calendar of Events
 MERRIE
MONARCH FESTIVAL (Live Feed)
Dates:
(Live Feed) 4/8/10 - 4/10/10
Admission:
Tickets are sold-out for 2010; there
will be a live feed of the event
Place: Live Feed:
www.k5thehometeam.com
Schedule:
http://www.kfve.com/Global/story.asp?S=12119582
Hawaii’s most venerable hula celebration and competition with
week-long festivities including exhibitions, musical
entertainment, arts and crafts fairs, the Miss Aloha Hula
Competition and kahiko (ancient) and auana (modern) hula
competitions. In-person tickets are sold out for 2010, but
there will be a live feed of the event.
Watch the 2010 Merrie Monarch
Festival in high-definition in Hawaii on KFVE or from anywhere
in the world via live streaming on
www.k5thehometeam.com!
All times are Hawaiian Standard Time (Hawaii does not spring
forward for Daylight Savings and is currently 3 hours behind
Pacific Daylight time).
 INDIGENOUS
HAWAIIAN ARTISTS
Date: 4/2/10 - 4/10/10
Time: Noon - 8pm daily
Admission:
Free
Place:
Next to Edith Kanakaole Stadium on the corner of Kalanikoa &
Piilani Streets in Hilo
Contact: Terri Napeahi at
(808) 345-4541,
tnapeahi@yahoo.com
The newly formed "grass
roots" organization now called PIHA (Perpetuating Indigenous
Hawaiian Artists) invites all to experience the feeling of
"aloha" by viewing individual freely expressed arts made by
Native Hawaiians. PIHA's mission is to encourage Native Hawaiian
development through the arts and their goal is to increase the
number of participants. Opening ceremony will start at 12:00
noon on Good Friday April 2, 2010 followed by entertainment. A
fundraising effort of a silent auction takes place on Wednesday,
April 7 for the organization. The exhibition will open daily at
12:00pm and will continue simultaneously during the Merrie
Monarch Festivities.
 MERRIE
MONARCH INVITATIONAL HAWAIIAN ARTS FAIR
Dates: 4/7/10 - 4/10/10
Times: Wed to
Fri: 8:30am–5pm, Sat: 8:30am–4pm
Admission: Free
Place: The Afook-Cinen Civic
Auditorium and Butler Building, Hilo, Hawai’i
Contact: Nelson Makua – Fair
Director (808) 966-4647;
www.namakua.com
The Merrie Monarch Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair is a one of a
kind event and the official fair of the Merrie Monarch Hula
Festival. This annual event selects Hawaii’s best artists, who
are invited to showcase the finest collection of Hawaiian art
and craft creations. Everything must be made in Hawai’i by the
artist and imported products are not allowed. The result is an
amazing array of handmade products including lauhala, Hawaiian
apparel, ukuleles, hula implements, fine art, feather-work, wood
work, Hawaiian shell jewelry and more. The annual Merrie Monarch
Invitational Hawaiian Arts Fair is one of Hawaii’s premier
cultural events that is an experience not to be missed.
 NIAULANI
NATURE WALK & FOREST TOUR
Dates: Mondays: 4/4/10 -
4/25/10
Time: 9:30am
Admission: Free; No advance
reservations required
Place:
Volcano Art Center's
Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village, (corner of Kalanikoa & Old
Volcano Roads)
Contact: (808)
967-8222 or visit
www.volcanoartcenter.org
Walking along an easy, 1/7-mile loop trail, the educational tour
introduces individuals, families, and groups to the native
plants and birds of Volcano. Tour guides focus not only on the
biological, ecological, and geological features of the area, but
also the cultural usages of flora and fauna by native Hawaiians
-- such as plants used for medicinal and ornamentation purposes
as well as for hula and sacred purposes. Located at 4,000', the
forest at Niaulani can be cool, so participants are encouraged
to dress warmly and bring wet weather gear, as walks take place
rain or shine along a gravel and dirt trail.
ONGOING:
There are
always special events happening in and around Hilo! Here
are a few ongoing Calendar of Events:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
