We are scratching our heads on this one as we look back at passenger arrival data in Hawaii for the week ending April 8, 2020. Of those who disembarked here (by plane and not by outrigger canoe as pictured above), 393 were intended residents. It struck us as an odd time to be moving. Or maybe not.
A couple of interesting developments shed light on this. Then read on for another twist, and see why this might come to an end this week, at least here on Kauai.
The news today may have helped clarify what seemed like such strange behavior – to be relocating to Hawaii, now. Let’s face it, life will never be the same as it was before. Everything has been upended, including life in big cities, like New York. The charm is gone at the moment.
1. A renowned NY real estate agent has been helping his ultra high end customers escape the city and transplant themselves here in Hawaii. Michael Bolla, who has rich and famous clients, has been quietly moving some of them out of multi million dollar Manhattan homes and into rural Hawaii. One just rented a $20k/month home on Maui.
2. The real estate agent himself wasn’t far behind, and is said to now be getting his Hawaii real estate broker’s license. He said, “you are doing everything you can to help people figure out their lives…. Many of my clients are now in their 60’s and 70’s. They understand that they are not going back to life as usual any time soon.”
3. We do know that coming to Hawaii and using a vacation rental as a launching pad is not enough to be considered an intended resident. There could be another thing happening too. Those who have a second home or condo in Hawaii, perhaps otherwise used as a vacation rental when not occupied, are now coming to Hawaii with the idea of making it their new permanent home. Since they already own property in Hawaii, that would be easy to do.
Why you might want to think twice about moving into a vacation rental on Kauai.
Starting this Saturday, Kauai will largely put the kabosh on situations similar to the one depicted above. Effective April 11, Kauai vacation rentals are closed for the duration of the current emergency. That includes Airbnb and home stays too. Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami said yesterday that they “must cease all operations.” There is one exception, however, and that allows those currently in a vacation rental to complete the stay they paid for. While Kauai started this policy, we may see it implemented soon on the other islands too.
If you had the financial resources to move to Hawaii, would you do that now or stay put where you are?
Beat of Hawaii photo at Kanaha Beach Park, Maui.
This sounds like another upper-crust scam. Pretend to be a “new resident” until it’s safe to bail out. They’ll probably all rush out to acquire kama’aina cards to get discounts, too. We’ve all seen this type before. Just like all the rich Americans (and others) who bought homes in New Zealand to ride out the financial and political storms (created by them) that might arise, while the rest of us are left to carry on. The irony here is that a lot of the
outbreaks in various parts of the world have been due to rich folks going to their parties and events all over the world and then bringing the vi rus home with them.
should be 10 million us citizens starting over again in a couple months. why not start again in Hawaii. should be less tourism for a year or 2. offer a years rent up front.
As big city people, we made the decision to retire in Honolulu 20 years ago and never looked back. Hawaii loves its kapunas. Everything we could possibly want or need is within walking distance. I suppose when we cannot live independently anymore, we will have to move back to San Francisco to lessen our children’s burden of looking after us.
Aloha, Judy L.,
Can I ask which island and which neighborhood you chose? We’re on the mainland now after years on O’ahu but we had been considering a move to the Islands until all this stuff started. But when it’s over…
One of the things we like about Hawai’i is that it’s halfway to Japan. We lived there for years and loved it, too.
Dave R,
Living on Oahu overlooking the ocean and bay. Very good for kupuna. Contact me if you wish at [email protected].