08-24-2026, 07:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-24-2026, 07:19 PM by punikahakaiferret.
Edit Reason: Clarification, spelling
)
"Ghost owners" to me are those who bought a vacant lot waaaay back when-whenever (like in Hawaiian Beaches, there were a *lot* of these lots that were marketed and sold to literal busloads of Japanese buyers brought to the subdivision back in the...'80s? per my parents who had a house in that area.)
The owners continue to pay property tax on these lots but chances are very good they have never laid eyes on them since purchase, and quite possibly they never even saw them in person, but just on paper.
The Hawaiian Beaches water company office has an amazing map on the wall showing what the "plan" had been for the subdivision way back when. Several shopping centers, a golf course along the shoreline (which is why the utilities are buried along that stretch), of course the polo field and stables that are still standing, parks, pools...just a crazy amount of development that never came to fruition.
Invasive trees and plants have taken over these lots, posing hazards to adjoining lots, utility lines, and poles. Even if you treat your property for fire ants, you will continue to get them because the adjoining lots aren't being treated or maintained.
So, as far as assessing and taxing these lots, I am all for it. Maybe it will impel the ghost owners to actually tend for/caretake the property they bought, or opt to sell it so people who want to build on them and care for/landscape appropriately can.
I, as we all should know, am a huge fan of tiny homes. Would love to see zoning allow for multiple tiny homes with common areas on a single property...use the available land in beneficial ways by providing multiple homes.
But I digress.
The owners continue to pay property tax on these lots but chances are very good they have never laid eyes on them since purchase, and quite possibly they never even saw them in person, but just on paper.
The Hawaiian Beaches water company office has an amazing map on the wall showing what the "plan" had been for the subdivision way back when. Several shopping centers, a golf course along the shoreline (which is why the utilities are buried along that stretch), of course the polo field and stables that are still standing, parks, pools...just a crazy amount of development that never came to fruition.
Invasive trees and plants have taken over these lots, posing hazards to adjoining lots, utility lines, and poles. Even if you treat your property for fire ants, you will continue to get them because the adjoining lots aren't being treated or maintained.
So, as far as assessing and taxing these lots, I am all for it. Maybe it will impel the ghost owners to actually tend for/caretake the property they bought, or opt to sell it so people who want to build on them and care for/landscape appropriately can.
I, as we all should know, am a huge fan of tiny homes. Would love to see zoning allow for multiple tiny homes with common areas on a single property...use the available land in beneficial ways by providing multiple homes.
But I digress.