Beth Thoma Robinson - Hawaii Island Luxury Real Estate

The National Association of Realtors chose an interesting theme for their Rose Parade float:

NAR's float celebrates the Dream of Homeownership for 100 Years, taking its inspiration from the Johann David Wyss novel Swiss Family Robinson. In the story, the family is shipwrecked on a deserted island. Together they build a unique home among the trees, which becomes their strength and solace.

I took this as a great omen and theme for 2009! I happen to be married to a Swiss (and by virtue of that, a naturalized Swiss citizen myself)...and although his name is the "Thoma" and mine the "Robinson", we jokingly refer to ourselves as the Swiss Family Robinson since we live on a beautiful, thankfully not deserted, island.

In the current economic and real estate climate, there is a blessing. I'm now working mostly with buyers who have a Dream of Homeownership, rather than a Dream of Quick Profit.

As in many super-desirable markets, local working people have found it difficult to buy a first home in recent years. Today, thanks to the once-in-a-lifetime conjunction of falling home prices and historically low interest rates, a new generation of islanders may be able to raise their families in their own home.

And other buyers have a dream of spending their retirement in a warm, sunny climate, or of finally moving to a place that has drawn them for many years of ever-lengthening vacations. The light that goes on in their eyes when they find their unique home or piece of land flashes hearts rather than dollar signs.

Like the Swiss Family Robinson, newcomers have to adapt in unexpected ways to life on the Big Island. And when they do, this island home offers them its strength and solace.

Thanks to NAR for renewing my sense of purpose as we move into 2009!

Aloha,

Beth

Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)

beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com Cell: 808-443-4588

Hawaii Palm Properties, Inc

Office in downtown Hawi near Bamboo restaurant

The Kohala Coast and Vog-free North Kohala--We know this market by heart!

This is a short post in honor of my father Frank. Visitors to Hawaii associate our state with white sand beaches, hula and helicopter rides over an erupting volcano. Today I am reminded that annually 1,500,000 visitors to O’ahu visit the USS Arizona Memorial and steep themselves in the history of the Pearl Harbor attacks. My late father was a young soldier at Schofield Barracks on that day in 1941 and two years ago we made his last visit to pay respects.

Despite the traumatic events of December 7th and the months that followed, my father’s time stationed on Oahu and Kauai left him with an enduring love for the Islands that was part of my upbringing and a big part of the reason I live here today.

Today the military presence is much more visible on O’ahu, but if you are a veteran—or someone in your family is- you will also find a warm welcome and VA services here on the Big Island. My father lived his last three years at the Regency at Hualalai, a continuing care retirement complex in Kailua Kona that is literally down the road from the VA medical clinic. The entire staff there made him feel like the someone special he was, while providing top-notch general and geriatric care. Our county’s representative from the state’s Office of Veterans Affairs was always available to meet with me or answer my questions about navigating the benefits maze. There is also a brand-new State Veterans Home in Hilo, the only such facility in the state.

Today my father enjoys a privileged ocean view from the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery, the same view golfers from Kukio enjoy on the adjacent course. If you are driving up Highway 19 from the Kona airport to the Kohala Coast resorts or North Kohala, look for the sign and give him a salute.

A hui hou,

Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)

Or maybe not!

We've been advertising in local real estate magazines "come up to vog-free North Kohala" and so of course it had to happen. Earlier this week the trade winds disappeared and for a few days we found our views masked with the dreaded "vog"...the volcanic smog generated by the ongoing eruption of Kileaua on the south side of our island.

We sweated it for a couple of days. And then yesterday, driving home after appointments with our doctors and veterinarian in Kailua-Kona, we were cheered to see the skies clear as we hit Kawaihae. In fact, from Highway 270 we not only had our big Maui view, it was so clear we could see Lanai on the horizon!

That is still quite different from how it has been to the south of us. My mom, who used to enjoy a nightly sunset from her apartment lanai in Kona, complains it has been months since she could actually see the sun reach the horizon.

I did find a source of daily air quality updates from the State of Hawaii (it blows on the prevailing winds westward along the entire island chain).

A hui hou,

Beth

A "summer kitchen", barbecue area or wetbar on the lanai of your Hawaii resort condo or home is an important part of the lifestyle. But unless you or your property manager are dliligent with the stainless steel polish, your fancy appliances will soon be showing rust. The closer to the ocean, the faster the rusting process.

I just sold a 2-year old oceanfront condo and one of the items on the buyers' inspection report was the rust on the lanai refrigerator. This was a 2-week closing timetable and I barely had time to hire professionals to get the bigger deferred maintenance items done. Cleaning the stainless steel fell onto my own plate.

Luckily, I discovered a product in the paint section of Home Depot called "The Must for Rust". Perfect name for this product! It took a bit of patience and elbow grease, but with a soft cloth and a toothbrush every trace of rust vanished.

I will now be using this fabulous product on my own gas grill at home.

A hui hou,

Beth

Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)

beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com

Cell: 808-443-4588

“How is the medical care on the Big Island?” and “How do I bring over my dog/cat/horse when we move?” are two questions I’m asked at some point by almost every buyer who plans to use their new home as a primary residence, now or in retirement, or at least spend significant amounts of time in their second home*. Surprisingly though, I’ve never been asked the question, “How is the medical care for pets on the Big Island?” The short answer is that we are extremely fortunate with the quality and level of veterinary services available, at least in West and North Hawai’i.

This is a blessing I have been personally obsessed with lately, as our 7-year-old canine “son” was diagnosed a few weeks ago with osteosarcoma in his left front leg. You may have heard that humans in North and South Kohala are served by North Hawaii Community Hospital, which is rated in the top 10% nationwide and best known for its holistic approach to patient care and community service. The “healing island” as Hawai’i is sometimes called, embraces a wide range of medical approaches: traditional Western and Eastern medicine as well as complementary and alternative health care.

We residents want the best of both worlds for ourselves, and apparently for our animal companions as well. In North Kohala, our dog’s regular vet, Dr Robin Woodley, has a holistic practice. When x-rays confirmed her suspicions, she put our pup on a diet to bolster his immune system, gave him laser therapy and prescribed Chinese herbs to manage the pain, and referred us to a surgeon, Dr. Jacob Head of Keauhou Veterinary Clinic, to perform the recommended amputation.Dr. Head is a native of the Big Island who trained at Colorado State University (known as one of the best vet schools in the country) and returned home to offer state-of-the-art expertise here.

Both vets have brand new offices with top notch equipment and well-trained, caring staff. If you have a canine, you can appreciate how rare it is to have a vet office your dog actually loves to visit! By the way, here is another benefit of moving to Hawai’i. The evidence that we are over-vaccinating our animals appears to be less controversial than the debate about vaccines for human children. Although your dogs and cats will have to prove they have rabies antibodies and have their full set of vaccinations to enter the state, you can be pretty comfortable dropping most of those shots once they get here.

My horse also has a medical team. For routine stuff, including dentistry, we are lucky to have Dr. Brady Bergin, another Big Island-born vet with a CSU degree and fabulous experience on the Mainland who recently returned home to follow in his father’s footsteps. His practice is in Waimea, but as a large-animal vet he travels to North Kohala to see patients there. On the complementary side, Dr Kim Henneman visits from Utah once or twice a year to give her equine patients acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and nutritional counseling. You can find articles by both of them in the November issue of our Hawaii Horse Journal . And if you really are only interested in the state of the human medical care or how to get your animal here in the first place, feel free to give me a call and I’ll direct you to all the relevant resources.

A hui hou,

Beth Thoma Robinson R(S) www.hawaiipalmproperties.com 808-443-4588