Retired Army Veteran Buys Vacation Rental Property in Maui: Incredible Before and After Photos

Maui County does not experience nearly as many purchases by actively enlisted members of the military (we don’t have a base here, Oahu does).

However, we do see a very strong number of veterans who decide to move here full time or purchase second homes/investments properties. I have had the privilege of helping our service men and women throughout the years and such is the case for my friends and clients Larry and Teresa Heisen, who fulfilled their dream of island ownership on Maui in 2021. The Heisens have family members who live in Maui full time now, as well as own investment properties, who are very close friends of mine and also help with my real estate and vacation rental practice.

Royal Kahana 213- A Fixer Upper Vacation Rental Property in Upper West Maui

The Heisens focused their attention in upper West Maui as their family owns property here. They fell in love with the Royal Kahana Resort (search all Royal Kahana real estate here) directly on the sandy shores of Kahana Bay. The Heisens decided to move forward with a second floor, one stack back from the oceanfront, residence #213 at Royal Kahana. RK #213 is a larger one bedroom at a little over 700 sq.ft. with a fantastic ocean view, but needed a lot of work on the interior to bring it up to their personal liking, while also optimizing its appeal for vacation rentals.

Tough to beat this view from Royal Kahana #213 overlooking the pool, cabanas, and oceanfront grilling area right on the shores of Kahana Bay.

Pre-remodel photos of the property to give you a nice sense of the transformation.

Royal Kahana #213 Today

After several months of hard work by both Larry as well as some skilled sub-contractors that our team helped to arrange, we were able to pull together what is now a very attractive home away from home and lucrative vacation rental property. Among other things, the property was completely repainted, all of the flooring replaced with a beautiful wood grain luxury vinyl, a brand new shower, plus some fantastic new furniture and artwork.

Strong Financial Performance from Royal Kahana #213

Here’s a snapshot of how Royal Kahana #213 is performing thus far in 2022. The first two months of the year should have been on par or likely transcended both March and April but the central a/c at the resort of the Royal Kahana and some of our guests elected to cancel their stays rather than accept the discounts that we offered while still providing very solid portable A/C units.

We brought Royal Kahana #213 to the rental marketplace in late 2021 which was extremely challenging. The draconian measures that the State of Hawaii has pursued in its overzealous and, in my personal opinion, downright criminal restrictions of local businesses to operate and provide for our families. We live in one of the most incredible places in the world but there is no question that Paradise comes at a cost. This can be especially difficult to navigate if you have a mortgage on top of very healthy monthly HOA figures as well as substantial property taxes with the short term rental tier in place for all properties properly zoned for vacation rentals regardless of how an individual owner decides to use his/her own property (another brilliant decision made by the majority of our local county council members). I key in on some of the complexities and intricacies of said matters here in a previous post:

Maui Vacation Rentals: The Rotten Egg or the Golden Goose of Affordable Housing in Maui

Not only did our team need to navigate these measures from the government but we also dealt with extremely high tensions for myriads of vacation rental guests who were newer to the islands and do not properly understand the spirit of Aloha yet. Often times we felt like verbal punching bags but we did our very best to hold our heads high, treat people right with honesty, integrity, and a high level of service with a burnish passion to persevere and succeed.

R2D2 A/C Units Save the Day at Royal Kahana

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I am proud to share that despite the central A/C system being down at Royal Kahana for over 3 months that our team prevailed by installing multiple portable units in each of the properties to keep our guests comfortable.

Questions? Please reach out we’d love to help you with your real estate purchase, investment property search or vacation stay.