January 2010 E-mail Update

This is my 01/06/10 E-Mail Update. I send an update out near the beginning of each month after the statistical data for the preceding month has been posted on the Honolulu Board of Realtors website. For newsletter mailing months (like January) I also wait until we have posted the Oahu Update newsletter for the preceding quarter on our website at stott.com where it can be downloaded. Our staff automatically adds most new e-mail addresses we receive to our distribution list for the monthly e-mail update. To be removed, hit reply and tell us to remove you. Please include your first and last name to make it easier for us to find you in our database. If you want us to change your e-mail address, please include your old address along with your new address.

This will be the Year of the Tiger. According to the Chinese Zodiac, it begins 2/14/10 and ends 2/2/11. The Tiger is the 3rd of 12 animal signs and is a sign of courage. This fearless and fiery fighter is revered by the ancient Chinese as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household: fire, thieves and ghosts. The Year of the Tiger is 2010, 1998, 1986, etc. People born in the Year of the Tiger are generally well liked with a charming personality. They tend to be very competitive and take pride in being different from others. Their two main features, though, are rashness and hesitation, a pair of contradictions.

The city mailed real property tax assessment notices in December. Island wide land values fell 6.7%, a drop that is likely to trigger an increase in the property tax rate for the second year in a row. http://tinyurl.com/yh2h6at <http://tinyurl.com/yh2h6at>  is a link to a front-page article in the 12/16/09 Honolulu Star Bulletin discussing the decrease in property values. Included is a map showing the reduction in various areas of Oahu. The assessed value for taxes is based upon June–June, while the calendar year data is Jan–Dec. Total sales for calendar year 2009 were down 9.3% from 2008 . . . houses were down 5.7% while condos were down 11.8%. The median (mid-way) sales price for houses was down 7.9% ($575,000 compared to $624,000) while the median sales price for condos was down 7.1% ($302,000 compared to $325,000).

Dominating the local news in late-December/early-January has been the President and his family vacationing on Oahu. President Obama came home for his 10-day vacation a day later than originally planned, as he remained in DC until the 24th when the final vote was taken on the health care overhaul. The President grew up in Hawaii and now vacations in a house on Kailua Beach, about a mile from where Mary Lou and I have lived for over 30 years. For those of you familiar with Kailua Beach, the President stays in a house on Kailuana Place at the northern end of Kalaheo Ave., the street that parallels Kailua Beach. Beachfront houses in Kailua are actually on the beach; i.e., you can walk from the house to the beach without having to cross a street. Access to Kailuana Loop is near the back gate of the Marine Base and/or the Aikahi Park Shopping Center. Our house is located on Dune Circle at the mid-point of Kailua Beach. Fortunately, we’re far enough away to avoid most of the additional security.

Making national news were the large waves that hit Hawaii in early-December, qualifying Waimea Bay for the “Quicksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau” big wave surfing contest for the first time since 2004 and only the 8th time in 25-year history of the event. Eddie Aikau (1946-1978) was a well-known lifeguard and surfer. He was the first lifeguard assigned to Waimea Bay on Oahu where he saved a number of lives. As a surfer, he became famous for surfing in the high waves off the North Shore where he won numerous contests and awards. In 1978, he was hired as a crewmember for the Polynesian canoe Hokule’a for a 30-day, 2,500-mile journey between Hawaii and Tahiti. The double-hulled voyaging canoe developed a leak in one of the hulls shortly after departing and subsequently capsized about 12 miles south of Molokai. In an effort to obtain help, Aikau went into the water with his surfboard and paddled towards Lanai. The Coast Guard rescued the remainder of the crew, however, Aikau was never seen again. The ensuing search was the largest air-sea search that had ever been conducted in Hawaii.

A bumper sticker sometimes seen in Hawaii is “Eddie Would Go” The famed surfer is also honored by a high-wave surfing contest named the “Quicksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau” that can only be held with a wave-face height of at least 40 feet at Waimea Bay. Is an honor merely to be able to compete in the event as only 28 big-wave surfers from around the world are invited to compete each year (with alternates). There was plenty of notice this year as high waves were predicted about a week before the event. A crowd of about 25,000 people braved the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the North Shore; some of the attendees came in the wee hours of the morning with blankets to sleep on the beach. Others brought bicycles with them and were able to park some distance from the event. The $55,000 winner was a surfer from San Clemente, CA who was a decided long shot, as he was participating in his first Aikau.

The UH football team upset Navy (8-4), a bowl bound 9-point favorite. So, UH was 6-6 going into a season ending game with Wisconsin, a 12-point favorite. Unfortunately, UH lost. If UH had won, they would have been bowl eligible and would have played SMU in the Christmas Eve Sheraton Hawaii Bowl with former UH head coach June Jones now the SMU coach. It might have been a marvelous match between the old and the new.

The 3rd-ranked Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (28-2) was seeded 12th in the NCAA postseason in view of the fact that their end-of-season wins were in the very weak Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Even though UH had beaten several top teams, those wins came at the beginning of their season. The fact that UH had won 28 straight matches after two early losses was discounted by the NCAA in seeding them 12th without a home game, the only “Final Four” team so treated. The Wahine didn’t let that faze them as they swept New Mexico and then topped host USC in four in the sub-regional. Then in the regional, they defeated Illinois in four and swept Michigan in the final. That put them into the final four against two-time defending national champion Penn State with an NCAA-record 100 consecutive wins. Penn State is the Goliath in women’s volleyball. They are both very tall and very good while UH is merely very good. The Wahine played well but with their height disadvantage, lost the very important blocking stat by an unbelievable 15-0 margin. UH managed to win the first set but still lost in four to Penn State 3-1 who went on to beat Texas in the finals and establish a new NCAA unbeaten record at 102-0 over a three year period.

We are incorporated as Stott Real Estate, Inc. and do business as The Stott Team for listings and sales and as Stott Property Management for handling rentals. We now manage over 400 rental properties on Oahu, with over 100 of them being in Kailua. For additional information, contact my son-in-law, Tim Kelley (tim@stott.com <mailto:tim@stott.com> ). For information on selling a property, contact my daughter, Tracey Stott Kelley (tracey@stott.com <mailto:tracey@stott.com> ). Either of them can also be reached by phone toll-free at 1-800-922-6811 or locally at 808-254-1515.