RE: Pride of Ownership/Shattered Dream

[Dennis]

Thanks everyone for your input.

Dennis

[Dot]

Hi Dennis, sorry to hear about your lot, but don't let it take away your dream! Glad you had a good trip other than that, best wishes - Dot

[Dennis]

Thanks Dot. Maybe we will get to meet you some day. Yes, the rest of the trip was great and nothing like a few Mai Tai's to make you relax! []

[MarkP]

This is the nature of Puna. It is what it is. It is the cheapest land in Hawaii and back when I first bought almost anyone could afford it and many low budget characters did, as was evident from the extremely variable character of many neighborhoods. This makes building in Puna a gamble. My neighbor to the south is a strange character who quickly put up a few token strands of barbed wire and multiple no trespassing signs as soon as I began clearing my property, as well as angrily accusing me of trespassing, which I did not do. Boy I really began to regret my naivety in thinking this was a place for me. However after that some much more desirable neighbors built on the other side and up on the corner.

Neighborhoods in Puna are in flux. Properties in Eden Roc used to sell for only 3 or 4 thousand dollars an acre. With such low prices ya gotta know you'll get some strange neighbors.

I say this not for the sake of criticism but to avoid being a yes-man who only reinforces the viewpoints of a closed community. There is a reason some people pay 10 times as much for a small plot in a gated community. They get something for their money. If I were wealthy I might be tempted. Meanwhile I am glad of what I have got.

Punawebbers seem to be mostly transplanted mainlanders, often recently arrived. At any rate the traditional long term Puna residents are almost totally unrepresented. There is a sense of settlers moving into a foreign land. As such the settlers bear the brunt of conflict between the different cultures. It sounds like the original posters had their head on straight and had some sense that these things could happen. For that matter I am guilty of assuming that the builders of the other house are people who belong to that "other" cultural group of wild west types who bought cheap land so they could build without permits and live like they were in the third world. They could just as easily be mainland investors who decided they could no longer flip the property and are renting it out as absentee slumlords.

Not sure of my point except that Puna is like kimchee. It has a very strong and distinctive flavor that will not appeal to everyone and that often takes a while to appreciate.

[lquade]

dennis you might find time fixes the problem. last time the hawaiian economy took a dive in the early 80's the same thing happened. even "good" neighborhoods went south, as people moved to the mainland in search of jobs, their homes became rentals, things got bad. the economy improved, home values went up, absentie landlords evicted tennants to sell high and neighborhoods cleaned up. now we are in another down cycle. my established, formerly "good neighborhood" is a really different place than it was 3 years ago. multiple families in rentals that formerly housed nice families. if you can hold on to the property it might come back up again. i think the recovery happens in the less expensive neighborhoods first frankly. best of luck enjoy your vacation.

[Kapohocat]

Just a sidenote: Please do not assume tenants are the issue. We took good care of the house we rented for 4 yrs. We always have. My credit might suck but my rental references dont!

The one house we bought was disgusting - dont know how the owners lived here for so long in the filth. The other house we got was not *quite* as bad but owner had pulled most of electric out of various parts of the house for the Puna grow room. We did take Dead solar polars, etc - 4 loads of rubbish - from around house to the dump.

I'm just saying...

[missydog1]

Very true, it depends a lot upon your standard of living that you hold, not whether you own or rent.

[mdd7000]

Lot sizes (and prices) are cheap enough in Nanawale that buying the lot on the "back-side" of the lot you want to build on is the way to go.

[Dennis]

Good idea Mdd7000! Didn't think about that. I spoke to the neighbor aboout a year after we bought. This is not a rental. I called her because we were having a junk Octopus tree cut down and wanted to make sure they knew what was going on. The lady seemed nice and so did her son. Never dreamed that they would have built what they did.

[Carey]

Things to remember:
The owner & son had seemed nice...
So with a positive spin, perhaps they got caught with a lemon, and maybe will be trying to make lemonade of it in time...

I know that there is no way I approve of how our place looks, and would hate to be judged by it... but we got a home that had been remodeled by a contractor from Hades (our assurance when we bought was that the remodel was permitted... we had the house professionally inspected, but could never have known the shenanigans this guy pulled.... framing was not on his "to do" list...we now know that a permit can mean less than the paper it is printed on)

We are working to rectify this mess, but it does have cost$$$ to do so, and some people spend all they can just to buy a new house....

Judging by the fast deterioration of your neighbors house, I am going to venture that they MAY have been ripped off, and are stuck....
As for the yard??? without seeing it, I will not judge... but that may also have to do with being ripped by a contractor....or not...