Whoa, just did a price check on Maui RE, my have things changed in 10 years.
I contemplated retiring on Maui but chose the Big Island instead, and I'm a hard-core windsurfer. Yes, the windsurfing on the Big Island is marginal, but real estate is much more varied and affordable. Choosing your exact climate is easy: just look at rain-fall maps and average temps. We have horses, so we needed at least 10 acres, which was no problem even walking distance to the ocean. Big Island roads are very Ferrari friendly, there are plenty of places to do triple digits, but be aware of Hawaii's "excessive speed" law. The Ferrari Dealer tech comes here too if requested, but there are a few shops that can do standard things, one shop owner even personally owns a 599. Maui has a higher density of tourists as it is a much smaller island, but we have better skiing on Mauna Kea! Anyway, either place is great.
Your info may be dated. We want to be in West Maui...a condo with a garage is much higher than 500k. Heck, a condo with no garage is higher than 500k. We check listings daily and have for a couple years. We have a very involved realtor but we all know it’s still 5 years away. Things may change. I’m not opposed to Upcountry...a/c bill will be lower. But we do love West Maui as we can walk to everything we enjoy. So time will tell.
I am a Maui real estate investor and keep updated. There are plenty of listings under $500K for condos with out garage,but not the ones perfect for you,I guess. Same for houses in the $500K to $800K range.
We don’t want a studio...yea, I’m picky. So we want a 1 or 2 br. Houses that aren’t shacks needing tens of thousands of dollars worth of renovation on the West side are over $900k. There’s one listed at $485k and you’re right...not perfect for me. While I appreciate that you’re an investor, I’m working with a realtor in addition to my own daily research.
It is changing monthly over here currently --- way more folks wanting to move to the island than homes/condos on the market to support. People paying crazy prices for things and most are bidding wars. I'm just glad we bought in 2010.
We thought about buying a few years ago and renting. But we knew there was a risk of HOA assessments, slow months for rentals, etc. which would make paying 2 mortgages challenging. And last year would have sucked if we had a place there. Hopefully the market here will continue to improve and somehow keep up with the market in Hawaii.
Aloha! My customer is planning on taking his Mondial qv over there, I just finished supercharging it and did an extensive engine out and all maint due (53k miles). I suggested he find a euro shop that is proficient in CIS, either vintage BMW or Mercedes. IMHO, the 308 / QV / 328 is simple enough that an experienced euro tech that speaks CIS should have no issue performing maintenance, just provide them with a FSM (although the 80's FSM leave much to be desired). If there is a Ferrari tech over there I would love his info to forward to my customer, in case something comes up (though we tried to avoid issues with the extensive overhaul, fuel vapor lines, saddle tank hose, suspension bushings, clear bra, fiberglass repair on spare tire bulge and so on). I will be sending him over with extra oil filters and a couple cases of castrol tws motorsport 10w60 and redline MTL.
We use Autotech like most high end owners. You can get anything you want on Maui,including those things you listed.
I'll vaca in Maui but could not imagine living there. People have trouble finding things like good dentists, mechanics or handymen. Visiting there I think of Maui as all the charm of a 3rd world country in the United States. That's not bad. It's a great escape from city living. It's just weird that the guy at the Chevron gas station sells the best spam musubi. But, that's the charm. Taking a Ferrari to Maui in my mind means take one you can diy like anything pre-F1 shifter. Anything you need can be shipped from the mainland but talent to keep the Ferrari running cannot. Even back in my 308 carb diy days pro mechanics looked at my Ferrari as a mystical unicorn. It was just a car with Italian quirks. If you thought about it you could figure out how to fix it. That was just a foreign concept to a mechanic on the clock who's only goal was to pump out repairs. In that era he tuned your 4 Weber's in the time it took for him to tune a 1 barrel Holly and we all know how well that turned out if you lived through that time. A guy unfamiliar with Ferraris, on or off Maui, will grossly underestimate the time it takes for even the simplest job and quality will suffer. So when you move to a place like Maui with less choice it gets a good bit tougher.
You mean you check the MLS daily? Did you know the best listings are often sold before you see them on the MLS? There is a system for local investors. At my own home there were 47 showings the fist day it appeared on the MLS. They were there for a second position, I had already bought it.
When you live in a place it looks a lot different than when you are a tourist.This place attracts a lot of talent, unlike most small towns on the mainland. I have no trouble finding excellent Ferrari mechanics or talented workers in my construction business, .The best dentist I ever had....etc. I think the tourists may have trouble finding those things.....
Just giving you a heads up. I know others have said this, but I can really give you some perspective. Living on the islands is definitely not for everyone and many people from here are not welcoming to outsiders due to the past here, whether right or wrong. I've seen many people come and go and far less people actually come and stay. Even me, as someone who is actually part Hawaiian, in my 30s with a young growing family, and bought and owns a nice house in Kauai and a nice house in Texas, I still am thankful to spend about 9 months a year on Kauai, but the other 3 months in Texas. Again, I say this as someone who literally has 1,000 relatives on this small island of Kauai with ancestral history here, and fond childhood memories here, and know people everywhere I go.....I love it, yes, but I can't even imagine ONLY living in Hawaii. Retired or not. Just my opinion. You're mileage may vary.
I lived on Maui from 2009 to 2018 and I had my TR with me the whole time. I now live on the mainland because my kids grew up and there isn't a future for youth in Hawaii. So, we followed them back to the mainland. I do not recommend anyone move to Hawaii. Period. Why? Because you're not welcome. It may not seem that way for several years but once you get dug in, you see it, you feel, you hear it, you experience it. Now, if you're a bit darker skinned than I am, maybe you can get away with it. There are a great deal of people living there that try to make you think they are "kamaaina" or locals but they are just brown skinned so they think they fit in. My biggest complaint is the crime and law enforcement. The crime is frequent even though it's mostly petty. They steal everything. It's kind of a "everything belongs to everybody" attitude. But the bigger problem is the corruption of law enforcement. You have zero rights there. If you are white you have even less. I personally had my civil rights violated. The cops kidnapped my underage daughter and forced her to talk to them. And they threatened us if she didn't. The popo is under federal investigation for corruption. It's such a good old boy organization nothing is going to change. I truly hate that entire state after all my experiences and I'll never go back. There are better places to vacation. Oh, and the white people there have a high concentration of crazy. So, to sum it up, if you want to live with uneducated people who don't care about being stupid and poor, thieves, crazy white folk, law enforcement that is more out to get you than protect you, then Maui is the place for you.
Lived there many years ago. I'd never consider it now. Besides all the down side already mentioned its very much like the currents washed all the mainland white trash up on the beaches there. Even Austin has fewer bums per capita. Expensive, high taxes and the locals hate the whites, especially white mainlanders.
I'm sorry to read of others unfortunate experiences in Hawaii. I grew up in Texas (4th generation) but I have lived in Hawaii for over thirty years. For me, Hawaii has been a wonderful place. I have been accepted with open arms by every level of society here, and my efforts to contribute have always been welcomed. In my experience, the warmth of the Hawaiian people persists in the broader culture today. There are certainly substantial issues here, the cost of housing and homelessness among them. But for me, this has been an extraordinary place to live and I will stay here happily until I die. We came for the physical beauty of the place, but it is the beauty of the people that I now love. And that is why I will stay.
Bob, It is a beautiful place and a great place to visit. I'm glad you're happy there. Home is where you make it. Shaka's to you.
My experience is that the people who have such hate and contempt for Hawaii, see above, never respected the people or the Islands, so they got what they gave.
Sorry to hear about your experience, but I’m a pretty good judge of character…and if those are your experiences, I suspect you received the same treatment you gave. Your characterization of people on Maui as uneducated stupid poor thieves says a lot more about you than it does Maui residents. And I don’t worry about law enforcement as I AM law enforcement…so I must be corrupt as well, according to you. But if you’re seeing someone who is uneducated, stupid, poor (character)…you may be looking in a mirror.
And what are the prices today? I ask only because I was looking at condos on the beach/gulf side of South Padre Island Texas (SPI), in 2020 I could have bought a decent one for $160-170,000, and the SAME exact ones today are $375,000. Now, SOME of that is because SpaceX is a mile away, but it was there before 2020. I have had several people tell me owners of gift shops are pretty negative to the customers, they expect you to spend a LOT of money on crap, and can judge you in 30 seconds if you are going to do that or not. Crime in SPI is pretty rampant, too, but it's all theft. Leave anything outside - a fishing pole, a pair of boots, a grill, a surfboard, chances are good it will be gone in a day or two. Leave a surfboard on your car roofrack? Buh-bye....
Sorry things are like that where you live. . My 430 lives in an open carport in maui along with my tools. It is the same for everyone I know . Crime has been dropping every year here. Pickups are popular so you see surfboards in the back everywhere. Not sure about gift shops since locals dont go in them. I think tourists have an experience here different from locals. It depends on them more than Maui.
