Surf Report – I Mean, Market Update – in Puako Beach Hawaii

Sometimes the “Life” part of Hawaii Life is exciting and invigorating, like last night’s giant surf in Puako Beach.

Last night’s surf in Puako Beach on the Big Island’s Kohala Coast is pounding—and loud!

But I digress…what was that about a market update for Puako Beach? (Which of course will include some Puako homes for sale.)

In 2010, 6 properties changed hands in Puako—the exact same number as 2009—5 homes and 1 bare parcel of oceanfront land (Puako One sold for $5.6M on Nov. 30th). Of the five homes, four were oceanfront—and conveyed from a low of $1.8M for a small beach cottage on a public access, to a high of $4.2M for a beautiful oceanfront home, sold by Jan Nores, R(S), to a very happy Hawaii Life client. I’m also very happy to report that Hawaii Life successfully sold #58 on Dec. 23rd, for $2,050,000—in under 10 months—another set of very happy sellers.

Only one mauka side property sold last year—the lowest price we’ve seen in years—$665K for a two-story cottage on a CPR’d lot, subservient water meter on a beach access. Unless another truly distressed property comes onto the market, I believe it’s possible we’ve seen the bottom of the mauka side values. With two land sales in 2009 at $500K, and a house on a half-lot (CPR) selling for $665K in 2010, and the lowest priced parcel of land now asking $875K, and the lowest priced house on a full lot asking $9.25K, I’d say market values are holding, if not increasing.

My pick for Puako Beach best buys for sale?? For oceanfront, in my opinion, you can’t beat the King Estate asking $4.2M, down from $4.65M. On the mauka side, well, I’m still partial to my own house—(MLS# 240224) asking $1M—as the best value for the money along the Kohala Coast.

Went to dinner last night at the Fairmont Orchid’s Brown’s Beach House (booked online through Open Table), and took the video below. Unbelievably, the surf was even higher here than in Puako—probably the biggest waves I’ve seen on the west side of the Big Island…Enjoy.

I left the audio on this video so you can hear how truly loud the surf was last night—and still is, today

It’s never too late to live your best Hawaii Life!!