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Fred Haywood

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Displaying blog entries 1-10 of 31

Open House

by Fred Haywood
Funny Story
 
When you start your real estate career, open houses may be your best access to buyers for the experienced realtors do less of this since they have acquired larger snowballs of folks calling to do business.
 
There was a new realtor who I will call Jill, who was anxious and to get her business started and she asked her office broker if she could do a Sunday open house in her new listing. Jill was told that the home would be opened for her when she arrived but that the owners would be gone for the day and that she could work as long as she wanted.
 
Jill pulled up to the neighborhood and placed a dozen or so open house directional signs out along the major access roads leading to the home. She tied up helium balloons to the sign she placed in the yard and went to the front door. It was locked so she knocked for awhile and then went around to the back door which was also locked. She noticed a window open and was able to squeeze into the space with her nice new outfit on. She was quite shocked at how the owner had left a mess with dishes on the table, clothes thrown about and the living room with kids toys everywhere. Jill spent 30 minutes cleaning and even made beds before the first folks arrived but was happy that she had had the time to clean the place.
 
In fact, it turned out to be a very busy open house with about 15 couples although she did not sell the home. Jill closed down the home in the late afternoon wrote a note to the owners thanking them for the wonderful open house and how excited the many folks who viewed the home were! She left and picked up the many signs (she made notes on where they were) and returned to the office the next morning. 
 
When her broker came in to the office, Jill jumped from her chair to tell her how her first open house had gone. Her broker listened with great interest and then told her how she had just received a call from the owners letting her know that there had not been a Sunday open house as no agent had shown up! Jill went to the wrong address to do the open and had broken into a home, cleaned it up and then wrote a nice note to the folks about what a wonderful home they had and how many people had just loved it. I am sure that those owners were happy about the free cleaning!
 
I don't clean homes but if you are thinking about selling your home, give me a call 808-870-4904 or email fred@fredhaywood.com and I would be happy to talk to you about value, the market, the current interest rates, the competition, the activity and perhaps want to list it too! The internet is doing 24/7 open houses nowadays with virtual tours and great photography so we can get it sold with good pricing and someone else cleaning it!    Love Life. Live Maui. Fred Haywood

Maui Buyer Rush

by Fred Haywood
There are fewer homes for sale on Maui today than over the past few years mainly due to the Buyer rush created in part by the low interest rates coupled with low home prices and inventory reductions. This rush to buy has created multiple offers over asking prices on many newly listed homes. This demand increase coupled with low new building inventory and lack of existing supply is fueling the upward price of homes and bidding wars. The north shore of Maui has been in a water moratorium for years with no new subdivisions in Kula, Haiku, Makawao, Pukalani and Spreckelsville.
 
Currently there are 473 homes single family homes for sale on Maui with 464 homes sold over the past 6 months and there are another 262 homes pending for sale on the island... The market is on fire and buyers have instant electronic access to inventory changes with email alerts to their inbox (www.MauiHomefinders.com to sign up) and are making electronic cash offers on sight unseen newly listed properties at over asking prices within hours of the listing appearing (You might lose if you look first!). I talked to one realtor who had presented 11 financing offers at full price or higher on the first day of listing for the same buyer and was denied on all 11 offers! They were beat out by cash offers at asking price or higher.
 
The ratio of active homes to sold homes is almost even and with huge pending inventory the challenge to buy with be more stressful than ever with the coming months. Buyers need to do their homework with their Lenders before offering on properties by getting "Pre Approved" rather than "Pre Qualified" so that their position on a bidding war improves. This way they too can offer cash with an appraisal contingency only.
 
Many think that there is much "Shadow Inventory" to come forth in this market. Not so!  The major banks are quietly bulk selling off their foreclosures to huge investors who will probably hold them for rentals until the market goes even higher. The short sales are slowing down and with prices going up our inventory is shrinking.
 
Better buy now and not wait. With my forward looking glasses on, Maui is a good buy as the Pendings and Solds and low inventory are forcing prices upwards, especially on the lower end of this market which is interest rate dependent. If you have to sell to buy, why not get a cheap equity line on your current home, use it for a down payment and with your "Pre Approval" letter and you too are a cash buyer! 
 
It is not how much of a discount you might get but whether you will be able to get something. Make higher offers to win!

The Faces of Maui - Kula

by Fred Haywood

Kula is where the old Maui kaamaina families would move to when they retired prior to air conditioning. Now folks choose to retire even in the hottest of climates like Kihei, Wailea, Kaanapali and Lahaina where air conditioning is the norm. It was the great calm weather that was the attraction as Haleakala Mountain creates an eddy, bringing light winds uphill from the Kihei direction during the day time much like the eddy behind a boat bringing water back towards the stern. It can be 35 knots in Paia or Maalaea but Kula may only have 5 knots of uphill draft keeping it very pleasant. There is often a cloud cover that appears above Kula during the hottest time of the day from around 11 am to 3:30 pm and then views clear up for sunsets. This makes it the perfect weather for gardening all day!

The charm of Kula is the comfortable days and cool nights for good sleeping and wonderful island and sunset view. Kula greens up in the winter and generally dries during the summer months and is where some of the best farm lands are located due to the rich volcanic soil. Homes here are built from 1,000 foot to 4,000 foot elevations and the favorite elevation seems to be near the middle of that range.

When I was a kid living on the beach in Kahului Harbor, it would take almost 2 hours to drive to Kula on the old 2 lane winding road. It was such an adventure and still is as I have never experienced as many magical moments anywhere on Maui as I have living in Kula. The clouds are near, the views are immense, the 4 island view are stunning, the double shoreling views are amazing and the sunsets are incredible! Sunrise rocks too! I look forward to the action of the morning sunrise and watch my organic farming neighbors working their fields. Oftentimes, they will work their plows in the moonlight until 10 pm! I make it a point to be home for every sunset and watch the day turn to night with the swirling clouds overhead dancing colors across the sky. I am lucky to live Kula!

Love Life. Live Maui.

The different faces of Maui - Haiku

by Fred Haywood

I am very familiar with the areas of Maui and Haiku is always a favorite of many folks coming out this way. The rainfall ranges from perhaps 50-100 inches per year. The closer you are to the ocean (lower elevation) the less the rainfall. The winds are strong on Maui averaging over 20 knots for 7 months a year blowing east to west around the summer months so you want to face construction towards the NW or W views. Normally, you do not get a good sunset from Haiku and being that it is not a steep slope, the ocean views would be somewhat limited. It is very tropical so one has to be careful of planting since everything will grow and grow so one often finds yard work increasing with growing plants. The grass stays green almost year round without watering. If you ignore the yardwork, it turns back to jungle!
When I was a kid, I actually rode a train from Kahului into Haiku and across Maliko gulch which was impressive. It was the last ride on the sugar cane train and I was about 9 years old or so. My favorite swimming hole was at Twin Falls where I had my 12 year old birthday party where we had fun bothering a giant honey bee nest underneath the wooden bridge on Hana Highway. Now there is a new bridge and there is a juice stand for the tourists!

 

What are the best real estate deals on Maui?

by Fred Haywood
I am asked this question every day as many folks are looking for opportunities to place cash. This is an interesting phenomena as the stock market is topping and scary, the banks do not pay anything in relation to inflation, bonds make folks nervous but real estate may be the right move in this market where the government says they will keep rates low through 2014 and the Feds have the printing press a pressing!
 
Since 2007 until 2011, I was telling most buyers to hold back from investing money in real estate but then interest rates dropped to the lowest levels since I started selling on Maui 40 years ago in 1973 when the lowest was 8%. Today as I write this, I saw a report that there is 3.55% money for borrowers buying real estate!!! What do you think this news does???... it freaks out the buyers and they start jumping in over each other creating multiple offers on many of our lower properties. So higher and higher prices come very quickly and we have seen some of the lower end condo properties here on Maui jump 30% in the last 6 months in my opinion with even more buyers calling now. I had one realtor friend write 11 financing offers at asking price or over asking price for 11 different homes with the same buyer in the past 3 months and did not get one deal accepted as there were multiple offers and the cash offer wins! (Ask me how to become a cash buyer with financing...good trick!)
 
So the best deals on Maui may be the ones on the market right now. Yes, just buy right now and watch what your future yields.. as rates will remain low and your smile will grow...
 
Buy the best location and forget the fixers unless you have less money and need to just get in. Buy the best of views as this is what sells the easiest at the highest price. Buy the cleanest and properties that just need paint and flowers. Oh yes, just buy into Maui, the best location in the world with the best weather too! 
 
Hawaiian Airlines is increasing flights to Japan, Korea and now opening up flights to Shanghai, China this year. There are many more billionaires on that side of the Pacific...and they are starting to appear here, mostly on Oahu. We have always relied on the West coast and Canada for most of our buyers so perhaps the Hawaii buyer pool will be in the whole Pacific region in the future. 
 
Just imagine. The smartest buyers are coming to my site at www.mauibyfred.com and signing up for email notifications which gives them leverage of immediate listings and price changes over other buyers.
 
Love Life,

Why is now a good time to purchase a better home?

by Fred Haywood
We currently have flip flopped from a Buyer market (falling prices, high inventory) to a Seller market (rising prices, low inventory) in Hawaii which has happened quite rapidly with the Fed's decisions lower interest rates and keep them low for well into 2014? This low interest rate environment is the perfect time to easily sell your home (more buyers!) and trade up into a newer home in a nicer neighborhood (you an afford more home with lower rates). The benefits may include the lower interest rate payments, a better home, better school district, a second rental on property, or perhaps a faster pace of inflation in the nicer neighborhood, especially if you buy under the norm value of the neighborhood and can improve it with paint or flowers?
 
If you sell now this is a relatively easy move as there are buyers and rates are low. If you wait to sell your home in a year so as to maximize it's value you may have missed the boat! If your property has gone up 10% that should sound good to get more equity, but what has happened to the neighborhood (or island) home values...are they up 10% or more? Have the interest rates gone up so that you end up paying more for the purchase price and more for the interest rates?
 
Purchase a better home now while your interest rate window of opportunity is here. Do not ponder or hesitate. I am also suggesting that you might consider going down to your local bank and obtaining an equity line from your current home to use as a down payment and flying to Maui to look before your home sells since it is becoming easier to sell your current home in most neighborhoods. Of course, you need to talk to your lender of choice and your local and Maui realtors before acting to review the options and opportunities to be safe.
 
Come to www.Mauihomefinders.com and sign in for new listing updates which will keep new listings and all price changes coming to your inbox on the same day they appear here. This will give you a competitive advantage and leverage over other buyers who search manually. Just put your search area, price and any other parameters and we will taylor a custom search for you for free. 
 
Live Maui,

 

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies... Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.  Check out the things that you can do  with it: 

FIRST 
Emergency 

The Emergency Number worldwide for all Mobile Phones is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and your mobile will search any existing network in your area to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. This works on all phones worldwide and is free. It is the equivalent of 000.


SECOND 
Have you locked your keys in the car? 

Does  your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good 
reason to own a cell phone: 
If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call 
someone at  home on their mobile phone from your cell phone. 


Hold  your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your  home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. 
Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be thousands of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). 


THIRD 
Hidden Battery Power 

To activate, press the keys *3370# (remember the asterisk).  Do this when the phone is almost dead. 
Your mobile will restart in a special way with this new reserve and the instrument will show a 50% 
increase in battery life. This reserve will get re charged when you charge your mobile next time. 
This secret is in the fine print in most phone manuals.  Most people however skip this information without realising.
 

FOURTH 
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone? 

To  check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your  phone: * # 0 6 # 

Ensure you put an asterisk BEFORE the #06# sequence. 

A  15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone ever get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at  least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody done this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. 
This secret is also in the fine print of most mobile phone manuals.  It was created for the very purpose of trying to prevent phones from being stolen. 

Also -ATM   PIN Number Reversal - Good to Know  !! 

If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you  can notify the police by entering your PIN # in reverse. For example, if your pin number is 1234, then you would put in 4321. The ATM system recognizes  that your PIN number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the  machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown  to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to the location. 
All ATM's carry this emergency sequencer by law. 
 

 

Follow Your Dreams

by Fred Haywood

One never knows where opportunity crosses your path and came from following my dreams, great coaching, competitors, friends, and  family … I think I learned how to stay out of judgement and in curiosity as I grew up with a humble start in Kahului, Maui and traveling from the slowest pool to the fastest pool in the world.

Growing up on Kahului Harbor in the 50’s provided me a great water experience with the ocean at our doorstep with fishing, surfing, diving and swimming. A couple tsunamis were a bit unnerving as we evacuated one evening from what is now canoe storage to see Puunene Ave waist deep in water rushing in like a river..I even rode a train to Haiku from Kahului. My first swimming coach was Benny Castor in Puunene where we heard his stories of swimming upstream in the irrigation ditches for workout and we were lucky to have a pool although there were no gutters so it was bouncy. There were two pools in Puunene and one near Kanaha that we called Naska…and now only the Kahului pool remains. I remember Benny’s dedication and sense of humor when he once asked me if I brought a lantern in on that last  repeat as it had taken so long to complete.

At Hawaii Prep Academy coach Gerry Damon made a makeshift pool in the ocean at Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island with 60 gallon drums, plywood and telephone poles. The pool was constructed and moored in the Harbor and I used to sneak out of school at 4 am with coach Damon who parked the car with the motor running and lights on one end of the pool. I would light a lantern and hang it on the other end to see the turns. I swam alone in the early morning and one day I had too many box jellyfish stings to continue. Of course, picking up lobsters out of the pool was a special event.

It was during a 50 day swim trip with coach Souichi Sakamoto to the mainland one summer at the age of 16 where I met Mark Spitz who encouraged me to come and swim in Santa Clara. Our trip from SF to NY and back to LA was by greyhound bus and cost $99 for as many stops in 50 days while we stopped for swim meets and stayed with swimming families.

I left HPA for the summer before my senior year upon the encouragement of coach Damon who said that if I swam my senior year with Spitz, that I would go to a better college than if I stayed and got straight “A”s at HPA. We only had trained 3 months a year in Hawaii and it was now meant starting double workouts at Santa Clara 6 days a week year round with the best of the best.  The workouts totalled about 5,000 to 6,000 meters a day in short interval training with 4 large poolside clocks on the four corners of the pool so you knew every split. The pool was 50 meters long and we split the team to each end and started both ends with the fastest first with 5 seconds between each person swiming to the right side of each lane. Every repeat was by the clock A typical workout might be 4 x 400 meters (30 sec rest), 8 x 200 meters (15 sec rest), 16 x 50 meters (10 seconds rest), This was the first of two workouts each summer day and I was so tired having come from a 6 months layoff  while watching my teammates set world records in workout. It was awe inspiring.

We moved to our 25 yard pool during the swim season at Santa Clara High School coached by George Haines and our high school team was truly remarkable with incredible depth and  talent. By the end of my senior year this high school team owned 9 of 11 national high school records. One day we were doing 40 X 100 yard repeats with 15 seconds rest and I swam next to 16 year old Mark Spitz the number one high school swimmer in the US who could negative split which means he swam the second 50 faster than the first. I judged how well I was doing by how large the bubbles were next to me as he swam at least two body lengths faster than I could for the each first 20 repeats.

I decided to swim the next 20 repeats with Mitch Ivey, the number one high school backstroker in the nation. Again, I was in his bubbles and after the first set of 10 repeats we had a 5 minute rest where Mitch remarked  “You have the worst backstroke that I have ever seen…you are bobbing and weaving and hitting the lane lines” I clenched my fist underwater and took several deep breaths to keep my composure and replied “Mitch, you have the prettiest backstroke that I have ever seen and what do I have to do to look like you?” He said to get out of the pool and he would show me.

Mitch bunched up a towel and instructed me to throw it down at the pool deck to show my stroke to him. Standing there, I raised the towel and threw it down to the deck landing the towel 6 feet to the side of my stance. He said the proper stroke was to land the towel next to the baby toe so it took a lot of upper body twist to put one shoulder over my nose while my stoke elbow would tuck well behind my back with the wrist just clearing or grazing the hip. I had been swimming with a flat body and straight arm stoke which was inefficient.

We jumped back in the pool for the last 10 repeats and I stood up after the first one and watched Mitch finish. I did it again and again going about 5 seconds faster than my last set of 10 beating Mitch each repeat. Frustrated with my instant success, Mitch challenged me to race the 40th repeat and I swam my fastest time ever beating him to the wall again. The coach, George Haines put us together the next weekend where I beat Mitch in  dual meet setting the high school 100 yard backstroke record at 54 seconds (I was second to Aaron Picadura in Hawaii at 57.4 seconds the year before). So coach Haines had a meeting with me to tell me that he was going to take me to the indoor nationals in two weeks with Spitz.

A few days before the nationals, I had dinner with the Spitz family where Mark and his dad were talking for an hour about winning 6 events but could only enter 3 and I was just thinking how lucky I was to be here with my idol and experiencing this moment and what would my friends back in Hawaii think? Arnold, Mark’s dad leaned across that table and finally asked me how I was going to do. I said that my recent time had placed me in 9th in the nation but if I could swim a half a second faster, maybe I could get a 3rd place.. Arnold said he didn’t understand what I was saying so I repeated myself. He replied that he still did not understand so I explained in more detail for the 3rd time. Arnold raised his voice to me at said, “There is no such thing as 2nd through 6th place and that there is only one winnner in the pool and all the rest are losers”. He raised his fist and slammed it down on the dinner table shaking silverware and plates and screamed “AND DON”T YOU EVER FORGET THAT!!!” I melted in my seat as my own dad would have been thrilled with whatever the outcom.

Oh well, from my humble beginnings, I thought I was being head strong for saying that I could possibly get a 3rd place…Boy, had I underestimated Mr. Spitz and I was in a daze for 3 days with all this information. First the stroke tip with Mitch Ivey, then the emotional schooling with Mr. Spitz who helped me believe I could win. A few days later I awakened from a dream that I had just won the 100 yard backstroke in the nationals that I was about to attend.

Fortunately, I won the 100 yard backstroke in the Indoor Nationals that next week with a time of 52.6 and within the next 2 weeks I had 25 scholarship offers to attend colleges wherever I wanted to attend. Since Stanford wanted a financial statement, Dad said that his financials were none of their business and said that he would pay for it and to let the scholarship go to someone who needed it as he was proud to pay for me. I attended Stanford and won 3 more NCAA titles and after graduating as team captain of Stanford swimming and a BA in Economics. Some of the greatest swimming tips came from Don Scholander who said to swim freestyle with a very high elbow and from Mark Spitz who said that you want to lead your freestyle stroke with your index finger pulling towards your belly button. If you put those two together…who knows what might happen.

I sold real estate for 8 years all over the island until my closest brother Jim died in a traffic accident and I decided a fun change was in the works as Jim would also have approved. I opened Sailboards Maui in 1980 where Jim and I had lived (where the new Mercedes dealership is located) where along with Mike Waltze, Bill King and Jimmy Lewis we helped the pioneering of windsurfing with other Maui and international friends and started the first windsurfing waveriding and racing contests on the island. I felt that I could either make this business work or I could find a windsurfing sponsorship along the way. It felt like we were pioneering the sport and one day Mike Waltze put footstraps and a sail and rode all my small surfboards. This was incredible as we had started the sport riding big plastic 12 foot boards and now we were making our own wave boards with Jimmy Lewis which we rode in the waves of Hookipa daily.

Working with Barry Spanier,Geof Borne at Maui Sails along with Demitri Milovich a carbon fiber wing mast was developed and equiped with the latest sails. I found sponsorship with the sport’s inventor, Hoyle Schwietzer and son Matt Schweitzer and then with Neil Pryde Sails who developed the wing mast. I entered a speed contest in 1983 in Weymouth England where I broke the world speed record with this Maui Sail and board built by Jimmy Lewis at Sailboards Maui.  This opened another sporting career with sponsorship to travel to speed events and trade shows and give talks around the world for the next 8 years.

I returned to the real estate world in 1990 here on Maui and since have opened my own company, Fred Haywood Realty where we market and sell property across Maui. Although property sales are currently slow across the nation, I continue working as a national real estate speaker and trainer where I have applied the same work habits and moral ethics I learned from these coaches, friends and family that have inspired me in following my dreams…

The Bailout - Wy We Need to Spend

by Fred Haywood

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.   I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, 'If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?'   'No, I had to stop drinking years ago', the homeless woman told me.  'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked.  'No, I don't waste time shopping,' the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.'  'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked. 'Are you NUTS!' replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'  'Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'  The homeless Woman was shocked. 'Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.'  I said, 'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.' 

View Maui properties:  www.MauiHomeFinders.com

The Three Best Things.....

by Fred Haywood
What are the three best things in life?
1. To be the first born son.
2. To be the second wife.
3. To be the 3rd real estate broker.

Displaying blog entries 1-10 of 31

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Fred Haywood
Fred Haywood Realty
215 Pulehunui Rd.
Kula HI 96790
808-870-4904
808-579-8848
Fax: 808-579-6210

Contact Fred!  Fred@FredHaywood.com