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Elizabeth Weintraub
Road to Hana from Wailea
We thought we had the Road to Hana tour from our home base in Wailea all planned out. I set my alarm on the clock radio at The Fairmont Kea. I called for a wakeup call at 5:45, followed by a 2nd wakeup call 15 minutes later. All of this was in addition to relying on my internal clock to wake up by early enough, because the last thing we wanted to do was be late for our 6:45 meeting time scheduled by the Road to Hana tour people.
As luck would have it, we raced out of our top floor suite at 6:30 without any wakeup calls whatsoever, on top of which the alarm clock had malfunctioned. We made it halfway down the hall before Barbara figured out she had left her cellphone on the table. We dashed back to retrieve her cell and continued on our way halfway through the second wing before I realized I had forgotten the tickets for the tour. What a circus. See, there was a reason that we had given ourselves an extra 15 minutes of time to meet the deadline. That’s the kind of real estate agents we are — planners — always on time. Back to the room to retrieve the tickets.
By the time we got to the Terrace level and rounded the corner where we were to meet the van, we discovered all of the other passengers were already on board, and even with being 5 minute early, we were still late. Which is probably why we got the last back corner seats.
617 curves, and 56 single-lane bridges. What part of motion sickness did I not predict? Oy. I could be stoic or I could speak up after 30 minutes of discomfort, and speaking up seemed like the better choice. I asked our cheery tour bus driver from Shakopee who, even though he has lived in Hawaii for 26 years still retained his Minnesota accent (don’t dingle dangle, hey) for a plastic bag. He was so polite he asked me what size. Size? Seriously? He spotted the look of agony in my eyes and quickly ripped off a kitchen-size trash bag. Then, he also handed me a piece of ginger, coupled with a frozen can of pop to alternate holding against my neck, under my ears.
My real life saver, though, was the guy sitting next to Barbara, who hailed from Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Wal*Mart and Tyson Foods, the fame of which I only know because of my agent friend, James Dray at Wise Realty. The dude from Bentonville handed me 2 dramamine. Jennifer, from St. Louis, was also gracious enough to offer us second row seats, which were a tremendous help.
By the time we got to the burial place of Charles Lindbergh, whom they say was buried standing straight up so he can look out to sea, all was right with the world again. On the road to Hana, sometimes you’ve got to rely on the kindness of strangers.
The Road to Hana Beats Out Ziplining in Maui
No trip to Maui appears complete unless you take the Road to Hana tour, with its 617 hairpin curves and 56 one-way bridges, which is our destination this morning. We had originally considered a Ziplining experience but that required a lot more energy than we seem to possess. Once you slow down in Maui, you slow waaaayyy down, so slow you almost crash and split your head open in the process. It’s amazing the fast pace at which we operate day-to-day in the wonderful world of Sacramento real estate.
Ziplining held appeal because it’s an activity that so many vacationers seem to gravitate toward and it looks harmless. Although, I did consider the fact that I could very easily climb up to the top of the tree before I completely freaked out. I imagine the view from the trees as I stand on our wrap-around balcony and look out at the ocean. We are on the 7th floor, which is the top floor at The Fairmont Kea Lani. Could I let myself be fastened to a harness, hold on to a wire and zoom down toward the ground?
I don’t know if I could. I am uneasy in a chairlift at a ski area, and this activity is faster and higher. In fact, I was pretty much unable to ski down a hill, even a bunny hill. I stood there at the top with skis on my frozen feet, poles by my side, goggles strapped to my head, ready to go, and I could not move. That is a real problem if you want to learn how to ski. It was apparent to me that I did not want to ski.
After I had bought boots, gloves, ski pants, a ski jacket, a long scarf, wooly hat and for what? To learn that I did not want to ski. I also did not want to water ski. I tried it once from the lake, and when the boat took off, it pulled me forward, my skis flew off, banged up and bruised my legs, and that was the end of water-skiing.
The other problem with Ziplining is you have to wear closed-toe shoes, and I brought only sandals. On top of that, Ziplining is expensive, about $150 per person. Also, there is no way to get to the Ziplining place without renting a car or hiring a taxi, and if I climb to the top of the platform and decide I absolutely cannot go Ziplining, I still have to pay for the privilege.
Call me silly, but it just doesn’t sound like as good of an idea as it does to relax in cushy seats inside a tour van on the road to Hana and be fed breakfast and lunch. Plus, I’ll probably shoot a few excellent photos of waterfalls and Maui’s Upcountry. Hey, there is a winery tour included, too. It doesn’t get any more lazy than that. There will always be another time to explore Ziplining.
How a HUD Section 8 Rental Receipt Can Mess Up Closing
Nothing like a HUD Section 8 rental receipt to mess up a buyer’s mortgage closing, and listing agents are often the last to know. Most people, for example, have little idea of what a Sacramento listing agent actually does, apart from lounging about Maui over federal holiday weekends and sticking a sign in the seller’s yard before leaving. They also often assume that once an offer has been accepted by both parties, most of the work is over when that is actually when much of the work begins.
There are often more negotiations after a purchase contract has been signed. That’s just the beginning in some cases. When a buyer can’t close escrow or attempts to renegotiate, that’s when most sellers are very happy to have a strong negotiator representing them. It’s when an agent earns her full-service fee. As a listing agent, I have to be fair to all parties, but I owe my fiduciary duty to the seller, always and foremost.
We were ready to close a concurrent transaction the early in the third week of June. A concurrent closing means the seller is buying another home and both the existing home and new home will close simultaneously. We matched the closing dates. Suddenly, without warning, the buyer’s file was kicked back from underwriting. Turns out the buyers, who had been living in a hotel for a while, had rented their previous home to a Section 8 tenant. The underwriter needed to verify receipt from HUD for rents paid and HUD had not even inspected the home yet.
This is when the buyer’s agent, like many agents, looks around for a simple solution. The simple solution was to extend closing another 30 days. Since the sellers were purchasing another home, a 30-day closing delay was not a satisfactory solution to the sellers.
Dan Tharp, my preferred mortgage lender at Guild Mortgage, helped to devise a strategy. He wasn’t involved in this transaction but he had the answer for us. The answer was to provide security for the underwriter and close the file pending post-HUD receipt, and advance part of the rent pre-closing. After delivering proper documentation requesting specific performance, we closed a day ahead of schedule, and the seller received another 48 hours to move. Crisis diverted.
Photo: lounging on the grass in Maui, by Elizabeth Weintraub
Four Seasons VS The Fairmont in Maui
It can be argued that the Four Seasons is better than The Fairmont due to the level of service provided by Four Seasons. If I were giving the two resorts star ratings, I’d give Four Seasons 5 stars and The Fairmont 4.5 stars because it doesn’t quite measure up to the ridiculous attention to detail standard offered by Four Seasons. The rooms are probably much bigger at The Fairmont (suites) but the service is remarkably different.
The guy at dinner last night said he had a request to chill each tomato slice individually on ice before serving a customer. My husband once offered a comparison that made me laugh so hard my guts ached. As though speaking to a waiter at The Fairmont when asked: “What do you need?” I need you to chew up my food and puke it into my mouth like you are feeding a baby bird. What? They would do it at Four Seasons, you know. Yup, it’s Four Seasons vs the Fairmont.
Except, I ordered a glass of champagne that did not arrive. Barbara did not receive her drink, either. But they did twice bring a salad that we expected to be served with our meal. They served steamed vegetables when I ordered roasted, and the roasted veggies were mushy. The waiter then topped off my glass of champagne, bought us a drink and sent over the manager to apologize. It’s not so much that a person can mess up, it’s how they fix the mess up.
Between Spagos and Duo, the service and the food was a notch higher at Spagos, we discovered. It’s such a big decision to decide where to dine. But we had no complaints about the skinny colada martini, rimmed with roasted coconut. We toasted our two closings yesterday. If you had to choose between the Four Seasons vs The Fairmont, you can’t go wrong with either one.
The Rolex Store at the Shops of Wailea
It was very unlikely that Barbara, my team member, nor I would buy anything in the Rolex store at The Shops at Wailea, but that didn’t stop us from entering. I enjoy looking at small trinkets to adorn my wrist that cost $30,000. To buy a Rolex, I imagine a person would need to develop either a blatant disregard for money or have lost all concept of money. The thing could cost $30 or add another 3 zeros, and it would make no difference because the price tag probably carries little meaning when a person has billions.
That’s why it’s a bit fun to let the salesperson show you items when you know that never in a million years would you ever buy it. You can say that to the clerk’s face, but they know better. They know even though you might never in a million years buy it, you are holding a credit card, therefore, it is possible that you might.
The lights in the store are designed to display the wares in all of their glittering goodness. I asked the clerk how they can sell a Rolex when so few people even wear a watch anymore. I wondered out loud if this was a business doomed to head some other direction, like IBM or Kodak.
That’s when the other salesperson in the store blurted out: It’s a legacy. It’s a timeless piece of art and beautiful jewelry.
They showed us a gold necklace made from smashed peas. Look, the clerk smiled longingly at the piece, it’s so pretty you want to pet it.
No, we didn’t buy anything. But I enjoyed their sales techniques.
