Selling Homes During A Pandemic

The Story Behind Our Clients

It’s not everyday a brokerage gets to help both the buyer and the seller on a single glorious property. Then again, it takes a very specific, special kind of people to truly fall in love with Peaceful Manoa at 2746 Kalawao Street #34.

Let’s start with the most obvious: The stairs! There are dozens of zig-zagging stairs, so whoever lives in this abode has to be in decent shape. This ascent/descent feature creates an incredible 7-level home built right up against a mountain. The guaranteed privacy is enviable as the property faces preservation and state-owned land. That means there is only one next door neighbor and the views in the other directions will never be obstructed. Original owners, Neil and Yuko Bowie, built and customized their Shinto Temple-inspired 4-bedroom home replete with a traditional Japanese garden and an infinity black tile pool, so you know it is near and dear.

Remarkable Features

“Peaceful Manoa is really remarkable first and foremost for the uniqueness of the property,” explains Team Lally’s selling agent, Keli’i Lum. “My client, Neil, was the architect, engineer, designer and builder of this property, he created his dream home and it was his baby. He and his wife, Yuko, put so much effort into it, it felt like something you want to protect and preserve with all these unique features—it will be interesting to see what the new owners decide to keep and change.”

Neil was all about the diversity of materials, using different types of wood — mango, koa wood, and the now endangered ohia wood. 

“You can’t create a home like this anymore,” says Keli’i. “The bad news is the wood is irreplaceable, but the good news is that it is all in great condition.”

Buyers Who Fell In Love

Mitzi Santayana of Team Lally represented the buyers, Steve and Robin Cheng, retired engineers from Silicon Valley, who were ready for some aloha and who don’t mind taking the stairs! ”Steve, he grew up just one mountain behind where this house sits,” said Mitzi who describes the property as very intricate. “It has stairs with a door behind it, some rooms aren’t permitted or wouldn’t be today— that’s what you get when the owner is a general contractor who built as he went and wanted.”

Another unique detail about this listing was that it was a quick sale. Life has a funny way of being sudden and unexpected at times. The owners had to quickly leave the island for the mainland for family health reasons, so they made that hard decision to leave behind what they thought would be their forever home. That also meant the price point had some sacredness to it. Because there weren’t any comparable homes selling at their listed price, the pressure was on! This home would set the tone for future high net sales in the hood. It was definitely a moment!

“We knew this home would have to fit a very particular set of buyers,” said Keli’i. “It had to be someone fit, someone who appreciated the quirkiness, and someone who could afford spending $500K more than the last high sale in the area.” Peaceful Manoa, listed higher initially, ultimately sold for a record-breaking $2.592M.

In the case of this property, COVID19 didn’t really hurt the sales opportunity. Truthfully, for a property like Peaceful Manoa, lots of people likely will pass through out of curiosity to see what this special home is all about, but a very few will ever ultimately put an offer down. 

A Unique Find

Mitzi’s buyers found the listing on Facebook and bought it sight unseen. “We had an advantage with being the buyer on this property, because we had the seller also on our team, so I had access to more information than other brokers, and that ultimately helped the buyers make their decision,” says Mitzi. “It’s kind of exciting to think that they have never seen the property in person, but that they made their decision over Facebook and FaceTime in just two hours!”

Neil was all about the diversity of materials, using different types of wood — mango, koa wood, and the now endangered ohia wood. 

“You can’t create a home like this anymore,” says Keli’i. “The bad news is the wood is irreplaceable, but the good news is that it is all in great condition.”

How did they do this during a pandemic?

What hooked them?

“Well, they loved how unique and not cookie cutter the home is,” shared Mitzi. “This is truly a million type of home.” (Or, rather a 1 in a $2.592M home!) 

 Steve and Robin had to wait for the travel ban to lift and once they arrived mid October, had to quarantine for two weeks in the 1300 sf home (5,700sf if you include all the land). We have to say that’s one not so bad way to get to know and really fall in love with your fabulous investment right away!

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