We all talk about how we go above and beyond the call of duty in our businesses and there are many different opinions of exactly what that means. In a market that has been undoubtedly slow we have to be unique in our approach in doing the best we can for a Hawaii Home Seller and GETTING THE PROPERTY SOLD!
After viewing a property the Saturday before it was obvious there would be MUCH to do as the property was a rental for MANY years. The listing was signed with the contingency that it would not be shown until all repairs and cleaning were complete.
I started brainstorming and came up with a few ideas I thought would work to get it on the market and hold an Open House the next Sunday:
The painter finished up putting back the ceiling fans etc by Monday. The handyman started to do a few odds and ends and installed the new range hood.From Wednesday to Saturday many calls came in to view the property before Open House day but they were politely declined due to ‘work being done' and told to please attend the First Open House/Showing on Sunday.
Sunday's Open House proved fruitful and it turned out to be a great strategy for a highly desirable complex........21 groups of people (about 50+ individuals) came through and only 1 person signed in the guest book that DID NOT HAVE AN AGENT. By Monday morning (yesterday) we had an offer in hand. By the afternoon we had other calls from agents saying their clients came to Open House and considering putting in an offer.
The property is now in contract and in escrow.
Moral? Even though a lot of work in a short period of time (and at minimal price) went into getting the property ready.... it was well worth it to get the property sold!
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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.
Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com
Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!
The stone image of "Makapu'u " the supernatural woman and another one of Malei are no longer visible but it is said that Makapu'u (bulging eye) was in the form of a black rock. She was a female kapua (flower, blossom, child) who came to to Oahu (Honolulu County) with a famaous voyaging priest.
Malei, another female kapua was a stone set up to attract Uhu (Parrotfish) to the area. They made offerings of Lipoa (a type of seaweed) and also said to be a rock relative of Pele (the fire goddess)
But the Makapu'u Lighthouse is still standing and located on the East side of Oahu high above on the cliffs overlooking Makapuu beach. The lighhouse was established and first lit in 1909 and the light is still operational (as depicted in the picture).
The current use for the Makapu'u lighhouse is for "Active Aid to Navigation.
The owner is the U.S. Coastguard.
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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents. Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!
After working diligently the last few month with short sale buyers I am pleased to announce that recently two of my Hawaii Home Buyers finally got approved for short sale properties! For most of 2009 it's been hard to get Hawaii Relocation clients into contract. For one, they are just relocating here to Hawaii and it's been a long trip and they just want to get into a home.
On the other hand, local area residents are already in a home and in these two cases they wanted to REALLY buy a home and had time to wait for a good deal and a home they can call their own. Short Sales are no easy picnic for the seller or buyer. The process is lengthy and in many cases multiple offers are being submitted or homes are not appraising at the offering prices.
A few tips for Hawaii Home Buyers considering short sale properties:
The Lender most likely will request that the property be sold "As Is" and because of the sellers hardship they most likely will not approve any repairs or credits for repairs. They may not even approve of paying for the association documents, pest inspections, surveys and so forth. You may have additional costs to deal with so be prepared.My buyers were well informed and are on their way to be happy homeowners.
How about you?
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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.
Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com
Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!
Bob Stewart has some great ideas when it comes to a community challenge and the current one on Using Your Blog To Enhance Existing Relationships got my blogging juices running. His Theme?
How are you using your blog to enhance your existing relationships with clients and prospects?
The most important part of my ActiveRain blog is my Profile Page. Yeah, we all insert some information about ourselves and what we will do for our clients. But what sets my blog apart from others? A while back I decided to make my profile page a ‘one stop shop' for all posts that I had written for the Hawaii Relocations and Real Estate. A Relocation Packet for the consumer.
My Profile page gave the consumer all the information they needed to get started to learn about Hawaii the State, Local Area History, Businesses around my area, Points of Interest. I included basically ALL things Real Estate including market reports, community information and information for buyers and sellers. Of course I couldn't fit all nine hundred + posts I've written on ActiveRain over the years but I did a good job of focusing on my niche area.
‘It's not just about real estate...
it's about the community and making their transition just a little bit easier.'
Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and many of my buyers are Military Relocating to Hawaii and other Hawaii Relocations. I have to rely on my websites and blogs to keep them interested and eventually email or call me.
Updating and Creating: Update, create, update, create. It's a lot of work but hey...it's well worth the results. Old news does not keep a reader engaged. My blog is a continuously moving ad and constantly updating my blog and website with FRESH content will keep me on the first page of Google with many keywords for my niche market. (My Website is my own creation and I can keep it fresh because I don't have to rely on others to do it)
My ActiveRain Outside Blog: My outside blog is a great additional tool (extended from ActiveRain) and all you have to do is subscribe, pick your own domain name, update your theme and add links and so forth. All the rest is transferred over to www.cheesemanhomes.com from my ActiveRain blog when I choose to publish public and consumer posts to my outside blog. I currently have the link to my outside blog in my signature for emails as well.
MY OUTSIDE BLOG IS A NEWSLETTER IN ITSELF!
Connnect to Facebook and Twitter and all my public posts are linked directly in as well.
Creativity and Using My Own Voice: There is nothing better than a reader reading something and they can "feel" the writer in the story. You could be writing a great localism post about the history of your area or real estate related material. If you are ‘talking' at them instead of ‘talking' with them they won't listen. So I write the same way. I write as if I'm walking with them and talking with them.
It's a conversation that is continuously moving with words.
Pictures, Virtual Tours and Video: Pictures that are tastefully inserted into my article or post shows the reader the area I live in and enhances my blog tenfold. I happen to think it's my blog's best trait for visual appeal. I enhance my blog further with video and virtual tours from www.realestateshows.com. Real Estate Shows is my all time favorite for listings, tours around Hawaii and anything I want to use it for...including inserting a show in the PHOTO GALLERY on my website.
Local Area and Business Posts: What better way to engage my readers than showing them I am the local area expert by writing about Hawaii history, sites, businesses and neighborhoods? Real Estate is talking about ALL THINGS REAL ESTATE and if you are your local area expert you show them you have information by writing about everything in your community. www.localism.com is another part of ActiveRain where you can ‘sponsor' your local areas and connect with businesses in your area as well.
Utilizing all the ActiveRain challenges and writing my best industry related posts is the best part of ENHANCING those RELATIONSHIPS. Another recent challenge by Bob Stewart and his 1000 Point Challenge For The Rest Of Our Members.....'The Series' which allowed me to redo my HAWAII HOMES MARKET RELOCATION AND REAL ESTATE INFORMATION ONLINE and currently put the first three parts (links) on my MILITARY/VA Information page of my website.
My efforts have informed many about all aspects of the Real Estate Industry including but not limited to Real Estate Transactions and Information, examples of real estate trials and tribulations, Hawaii Local Area History, Sites, information on relocations across the Pacific, Neighborhoods, City, Points of Interest, Businesses, Entertainment and more.
And all was obtained by communicating my thoughts through....blogging.
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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.
Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com
Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!
Some may tend to believe that Real Estate talk means only short sales, buyers, sellers, loans and so forth. I'm a Real Estate Industry Professional but I'm darn sure human. And that means I can adjust my thinking and my attitude to any market, conversation, challenge because I AM a chameleon.
Being a chameleon means I can adapt to my surroundings.
Regardless of where I am ....when it comes to ‘All Things Real Estate'..... I can take into consideration what real estate means at any given place and time. While blogging on ActiveRain, I grasped the concept that ‘All Things Real Estate' meant to write about ‘All Things Real Estate' too.
Open your mind to the possibilities of what "All Things Real Estate" really means.
My Local Area: No matter what branch of the Real Estate Industry we are directly connected with our communities, counties and state and everything happening in our area. We have to have knowledge about the businesses, events, history, neighborhoods and more. We need to know where to direct the consumer when they want to know where the elementary school is in conjunction with the geographical location of the home they're thinking of purchasing. What about the local restaurants and the gym?
Yes, it's a lot of work to research and write about our local area but in the end.....
I AM THE AREA EXPERT.
I opened my mind to grasp the concept that ‘All Things Real Estate' went beyond the scope of just Real Estate knowledge. It meant that I had to know more about everything and anything in my area. It meant that I needed to get more educated on not just Real Estate...but my local area of expertise.
Are you adapting like a chameleon with "All Things Real Estate"?
Are you the LOCAL EXPERT?
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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.
Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com
Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!
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A Hawaii Real Estate and Relocations Blog. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs your best interests are at the core of every transaction.
I was fascinated by the Hawaii Real Estate Industry back in the 70's when my mom went to Hawaii Real Estate School and passed....but never pursued a career in the real estate industry. My dad lasted two weeks in Real Estate School and quit ...claiming that "it's a whole different language and world!". 
Let me be a little transparent for a minute. My passion lies within life itself, the beliefs and values I hold in every aspect of my life transfers to my profession in the real estate industry.
In 2004 my father passed away and he was proud to see how successful I became in Hawaii Real Estate Residential Sales. The last thing he told me was, "Sal, no matter what- your life has to continue".
The passion I have for life, I carry through every transaction.
My husband used to tell me that I got too 'involved' and too 'personal', but as the years passed he saw the difference it made and now says, "That's what makes you a great real estate agent". I asked what he meant and he insisted it's because I take the time to listen to my client's needs. I have the determination to make sure every contingency in our contract is fulfilled. And then some.
This is what I do for you and allows me to sleep very well at night.
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After traveling around the world as a military dependent my parents decided to retire on the island of Oahu in 1967 (my mom is originally from Kauai) and we have been here since.
Past careers include being an Administrative Assistant for a Family Law Attorney and a Structured Supportive Living Skills Program.
My father retired after serving 22 years in the US Navy, my children's father retired from the US Air Force and my son came home in Fall of 2006 after serving on the USS Kitty Hawk in the US Navy.
I know what it's like to relocate to a different place....let alone to a totally different world across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii...Paradise. Knowing and experiencing many a Hawaii Relocation myself gives me additional expertise to assist the Military Relocating to Hawaii.
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Wife of Gary (Networking Engineer for PDC Systems Hawaii, mother of adult children, Michael, Dori and my new son in law Gerardo and proud daughter of Dorothy (who just turned 81 January 2009!)
Regardless if you're buying or selling your home your best interests are at heart.
I give you ....the "Spirit of Aloha" and a listening ear for all YOUR needs!
**Licensed Realtor Associate® in the STATE of HAWAII
Member of:
Relocating to Hawaii? With our warm climate and breathtaking scenery it's no wonder why everyone (including locals) call it "Paradise"! Hawaii is the choice of many people who prefer a tropical setting to live out their retirement years. It also becomes everyones favorite Hawaii Relocation spot when transferring to the military bases in Hawaii including the Schofield Army Base, Wheeler Army Air Field, Pearl Harbor Navy Base, Hickam AFB, or Kaneohe Marine Corp Air Station. Education, Information and a Good Realtor® is The Art of Hawaii Relocations.
Your Military Relocation to Hawaii and Purchasing Your New Home. The following information is basic but pertinent information to go over before you even pack for your transfer and before considering purchasing your Honolulu County (Oahu) home. Moving across the Pacific Ocean to such a diverse culture may be of a shock and you may want to brush up on a few tips to make your transition a smooth one.
Neighborhoods in Honolulu County and Market Report too! An insight into the different neighborhoods and what they have to offer. You will also get current market statistics in each community for which I wrote for that period.
Things to Do, History & Places to See - A three part series for a brief, condensed Points of Interest series to learn a little about our island and our so diverse and full of different cultures and ways of life.
Condo or Townhouse Living: Rules to Follow and Steps to Protect: If you are contemplating downsizing then condo / townhouse living may be an option. With maintenance fees for most associations taking care of the bulk of your homeowner's insurance (common elements), and repairs to the outside, roof, grounds and water/trash and sewere this may just be an option.
History of schools and links to Hawaii's Education System A brief look at the history of Hawaii and its school system as well as researching schools and neighborhoods suitable for your family and their Relocation to Hawaii.
Bottom line is this.
It's not easy moving across the Pacific Ocean let alone to a totally different "world" of people,
but you can do it with a little effort, motivation and a great Realtor®!
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If you're Relocating to Hawaii (regardless if it's near future or just wanting to be proactive for the future) contact me to get started with your search for Hawaii Homes for Sale!
© 2007-2009 Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman's Hawaii Real Estate and Relocation Blog.
All rights reserved.
Part of transitioning from the military to the civilian life was finding the right placeto live. After having gone 
through a couple realtors unsuccessfully, we found Celeste. She treated us with the ohana spirit and made us a priority. She went above and beyond any expectations that we had for her, to help us find our dreamhome. Having a thorough understanding of our wants and needs, she found us ther ight house at theright price very expediently. We love the quite neighborhoodand close access to schools for our children.If you are looking for your dream home, Celeste is the right person for you! Karen and James D.
Thank you so much for all your help. I know I could not have found a better realtor to help me with the sale! It went very smoothly and I thank you for taking care of everything. Mostof all, I also want to thank you for being my friend (not just a realtor). Not a lot of people would take their work beyond business.. Maria M./Khamseng S.
What an amazing experience! Celeste is on top of it in the real estate market. Not only did she offer expert advice and professionalism,she became a great friend. The entire 30 day escrow experience was a smooth transition an never did we wonder what was going on, Celeste kept us up to date throughout the whole thing. Thank you, Sally...we miss you! The Wheeler Family
Sally...You're the best! Thank you so much for finding us not just a house but a home we can call our own. Take care and God Bless. You'll always be our great friend. Thanks! Jorge and Bless Y.
I found Sally on the internet while my fiance was still deployed to Afghanistan. We were preparing for a military relocation to Hawaii........ Sally was amazing! She made our transition to the islands easy and painless. Not only did we find a great Realtor, we made a new friend!"
Shelly and Chris LIVE on VIDEO: A Hawaii Military Relocation Story Comes to Life
Just wanted to inform everyone in the Whole World that Sally is the most knowledgeable, sweet, soft talking, professional, and hard working Realtor I've ever come across. She knew the answer to every question my husband and I asked. We are very pleased with our new home and cant wait to move in (in a few weeks). Sally always told us to keep our cool when the bank was asking for outrageous things that not even our broker was familiar with. But, we got through that with bright flying colors. In the end we are very blessed to have found Sally and have her work as hard as she did for us. Our family is always and will forever be open to her and her family we are family now. We owe her everything for all she has done. Now our transition from Cali to Hawaii will be very smooth without any worries. Thanks a million Sally and to everyone who is reading this Im not taking any other Realtor's thunder but Sally is the BEST and I would recommend her to everyone I know. We can never thank you enough.
Dewan and Keanya
Watch their live video!
A Hawaii First Time Home Buyer - Client Testimonial in VIDEO
Our experience with "Sally" from our initial contact to contract:
For many months leading up to our Hawaii move my wife and I had a number of places that we were interested in seeing upon our arrival to rent. During one of our internet searches we came across Sally's blog about buying real estate in Hawaii and how with her help we could actually buy a house and not throw our money away in rent. We were impressed with her qualifications and most importantly we liked the fact that she really listened to our desires, cared about staying in our budget just as much as we cared, and allowed us enjoy our first weeks in Hawaii without any hassles by doing 95% of the work while constantly keeping us informed.
Thanks to Sally really understanding what we wanted from the beginning we were able to see houses that met our desires and dreams. It was not long before we walked into the house we knew would become our home! With meticulous passion for getting things right all of the paperwork and documents that it takes to buy a home, which had originally kept us hesitating to even try to purchase, was signed and filed appropriately by Sally who also took the time to make us aware of certain steps of the process that we should pay particular attention to. It was obvious from the start Sally had been getting nervous families from the mainland into the Hawaiian community for years and not only planting them into a great house but welcoming them and accepting them into the land of Paradise allowing them to grow as new members in the community.
Our house closed on the exact day Sally said it would and we know that the only reason it did was due to Sally's diligence and passion for getting people what they have always dreamed of. As first time home buyers Sally has given us something we thought we were not going to have for many years. You would be completely short changed if you don't allow Sally to assist you in your move to Hawaii. Give her a call or send an email like I did and I can assure you of an adventure like no other on the face of this planet! Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could ever own a house in Hawaii. A place where people of all countries long to visit or live. Thank you again Sally for the present you have given to our family!
Robert & Zarina
11JAN09
"Sally" was very helpful and patient with us from the get go. She always followed up with us with any updates. She also gave us additional information regarding the units, about the neighborhood and schools, etc. Kudo's to Sally!
Ron and Zeny
(From left, Ron & Zeny (clients), Sally (me), and Bryon Tucker, Loan Officer with Everygreen Home Loans)
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