The real estate blog.

I’ve taken a few questions recently about the numbers behind my theory that population is driving house prices more than low interest rates or excess speculation. Readers are questioning the numbers I used. So I did a little research and found some charts on another site that corroborate my data. Funny enough, the charts mirror each other quite well.

Median House Prices

There was an informal presentation made by the owners of about 200 acres of property right smack dab on the spot where the proposed Kingman Crossing interchange along Interstate 40 might go (hopefully in the very near future). Representatives from Vestar Development and Vanderbilt Farms introduced themselves to the council at 5:00pm before the scheduled city council meeting starting at 6:00pm.

Neither representative offered any specific developed plans to the public or the council, it was more of an introductory affair. The guests stated what their vision is for their property if the city manages to get the go ahead to build the new interchange. It would be a large commercial project for retail, business, dining and entertainment complex to the eventual tune of nearly 900,000 square feet of space.
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1,681 sft.,2 bedr. $139,900, This well maintained 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,681 square foot villa is located on a large corner lot with fruit… Classifieds

One of our personal homes, lovingly referred to as “Kahi Kainalu”. We ended up selling the property this month. It was a great property. To view the feature article in Hawaii Home + Remodeling Magazine’s June 2005 issue click here.

Visit: http://www.nyloft.net/kitchens/kitchens_all.html

Let us know what you think about this Italian line of kitchen cabinetry.

Hilton, Astrida and I are getting ready to leave for San Francisco on Wednesday. I am so excited because we went to the National Association of Realtors Convention in 2003. It was in San Francisco as well and we had a blast. 2004 was in Orlando so we skipped it. We went to Orlando earlier that year for a mortgage finance convention…and didn’t really like the city. I personally love going to conventions. It’s great to meet people in your business from all over the country…or world. Not to mention the education courses, panel discussions and trade shows are killer. There is always something new to know. The 2003 convention was when I was first introduced to International Brokerage. Hilton and I had sat in on a panel discussion about International Brokerage. What was great was that they were
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From the second we landed in SFO to the moment we left for LAX was insane. So, this post is going to be the short version of a very long (and fun) week in San Francisco. Our first convention event was the International Welcome Reception at the Palace Hotel. We met Jason and Kona at the reception, both real estate agents in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii…

The education sessions started the next day, Friday. I attended all the International and luxury home sessions. Hilton learned more about technology and Astrida learned about memory power and organizing. I also ran into Angela E. at the International Networking Center…

For Happy Hour on Friday we accidentally crashed the North Carolina Association of Realtors party thinking it was the Resort & Second Home party that
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All the girls participated in the Gingerbread Festival this year. We created the first Gingerbread Condo in Hawaii (we were told). We were bummed to find out there was no contest but it was to benefit Easter Seals so that’s cool.

P.S. Can you tell we woke up at 2:30am to walk the Honolulu Marathon earlier that morning? I think it was Melissa’s idea to do a double-header.

View this clip on Vimeo

While scoping out investment properties in Vancouver and Whistler, BC. Canada we had a great chance to go Snowmobiling in the back country of Whistler. Perfect conditions with lots of fresh powder and sunshine. This is our favorite sport when we are up here. We highly recommend it!

This is a 1 minute clip Sakara shot while we were cruising. She shoot it with the movie mode from the still Canon elph camera. Uploaded on my Powerbook to Vimeo.

Aloha…my name is Sakara Blackwell…I am a Real Estate Broker and Investor. I also consult on mortgage financing and real estate design. My husband Hilton and I run Optimum Marketing & Management Corp. It is the exclusive management company of Optimum Realty LLC and Optimum Island Design.

We decided to start this blog as a way to give our clients and customers a more personal look at who we are and what we do. We are in a very competitive industry. It is important to us that you see how we are different…and know that different is OK.

We are young and open-minded. We are 24/7 real estate and our clients are always top priority. We do what we say. We actively invest in real estate and this gives us more knowledge than 10 years of sales could ever give us. We think making money and having fun go hand in hand.
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