Walk to the Beach from your Puako Home

Tucked in between the upscale Kohala Coast resorts of Mauna Lani and Mauna Kea, are the cottages, homes and even a few condos of the beachfront community known as Puako. Compared with the hustle and bustle of the Kailua Kona beachfront, Puako feels like an oasis, a step back in time to the Old Hawai'i. The just-renovated Mauna Kea Beach Hotel inaugurated the era of tourism on the pristine Kohala Coast when it opened in 1965, but kama'aina (local) families had been swimming, fishing, and relaxing at their tiny beachfront Puako cottages for decades before.

Puako is the kind of sheltered beach where children, turtles and surfers share the sands.

There is only one two-lane street running the length of the community, with a row of houses on the ocean side, and a row of houses across the street. Near the beginning of Puako is a small market, and next to it is the three-story building with the only condominiums in the community.

Many people first discover Puako when they rent a cottage or stay in a B-and-B there. It is a friendly community, where neighborhood children of full-time residents run between each other's houses, and people walking their dogs stop to exchange news.

What will it cost to own a vacation home or residence in Puako?

That depends on whether you need to be ON the beach, or can settle for being across the street from it!

At the top of my dream home list right now is a property that "unique" does not begin to descibe. Whereas most lots here are 15,000 sq ft, this is a true estate parcel of 1.6 acres with 355 linear feet of oceanfront and 4 anchialine ponds that encourage the native trees shading the 4-bedroom main house and 1-bedroom cottage.

If you want a modern resort-style home, there are other options at Puako in the $6.5 million price range of this historic property. The right buyer for this one is someone who cherishes the history and the simpler unpretentious lifestyle of its day.

On the off-side of the street, there are offers flying on an eccentricly remodeled foreclosure on a half-size lot offered for only $822,800! You'll pay more than twice that for the best house in that side of the street, a classic pole house on a nice lot.

Then we have the Puako condos, of an earlier vintage, but shall we say it again, where as but at Puako can you live across the street from a quiet family beach? Call or email me if you want to hear about a cute 3BR Puako Beach Condo ready for your remodel, offered at only $350,000!

A hui hou!

Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)

Hawaii Life Real Estate Services

Direct: 808-443-4588 Email: beth@hawaiilife.com