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Elizabeth Weintraub
The Kona DMV is no Picnic but the State Workers are Great
Very few people have a good feeling about the DMV, much less the Kona DMV. However, from what I read about the long lines and problems lately at the DMV in Sacramento, I am much happier going to Kona DMV. You should know, too, that if you ship a car to Kona, whether it is from a neighboring island like my vehicle or from the mainland, you need to eventually register it in Kona.
The upside is the Big Island has the cheapest rates. It costs almost $300 to register my car in Maui, but in Kona, it is only $175.
Silly me, I thought Hawaii was its own state so it wouldn’t matter which county I registered the car in but it does. The dealer in Maui had the car inspected in Honolulu. That vehicle inspection is worthless in Hawaii County. Owners need to have the vehicle inspected again, even if the existing inspection has not expired.
I discovered all of this shortly after arriving at the Kona DMV. The deal is you line up outside. Granted, you’re covered overhead, but it is still HOT, little air circulation. Because everybody is in the same proverbial boiling pot, there was much conversation in line. Hey, I yelled out, do you guys remember the DMV sloths in that movie Zootopia? High fives.
At one time, the “greeter” was stationed outside but when I met her, she seemed like a relatively intelligent individual, which is why she is stationed inside the air-conditioned building, I imagine.
After you stand in line for 30 minutes (to an hour), you get a ticket number. I did not realize that after buying a car in Hawaii that I would have to go to the Kona DMV in person to register it again. Assuming your paperwork is in order. My paperwork was not in order because I had a registration from Maui. I also had a renewal notice and a perfectly valid vehicle inspection certificate from Honolulu. The greeter gave me directions to the Vehicle Inspection place down the street.
Of course, I cannot follow directions. Especially when they are given as take a left and after a driveway take another left and go two blocks from the end before you turn right. All I hear is it’s by Costco. So naturally I turned into the wrong driveway. As a person who is not afraid to ask for directions, I accosted the fellow in the sign shop.
He pointed me to a Subaru mechanic shop a few doors down. What the hey, I say to myself, I own a Subaru, how lucky is that? Turned out that was not the Vehicle Inspection place. But they could do it for their own customers. Not only did they give me a vehicle inspection, but they gave me the phone number of the senior inspector at the Kona DMV so he could sign off on it as I entered the crosswalk.
See? My life is now back to normal, and the fairies or angels or whatever forces of nature tend to continually sprinkle goodness in my path, well, they have returned. Not like a few days ago when everything went wrong because life threw curveballs at me. One after the other. Which was so weird and unusual.
The inspector gave me a ticket number so I could begin my wait. A really nice thing about the Kona DMV is there is a sandwich store between the waiting area and the parking lot. The guy who runs the store is blind so, since he doesn’t pay sales tax, he doesn’t ask his customers to pay it, either.
When I sat down in the waiting area, which you can see in the above photo, I gobbled my sandwich. Shortly, a young Asian girl toting a Coach bag, dressed in designers, dripping bling attached to her Apple Watch and presenting a perfect purple and pink manicure spoke to me. She wanted to know if all of the road tests had been canceled.
She had no ticket for entrance and did not want to stand in the line. I encouraged to just walk in the door. You can do it, nobody will say anything, I said. Just open the door and go in. Approach the greeter to deliver your quick question. I am such a troublemaker, always looking to find a way to buck the system. Most people are sheep. My methods only work because people are sheep. Can’t have everybody being a rebel.
She didn’t want to do it. It was disrespectful to all the people waiting in the line that she did not want to wait in.
The woman across from us also pitched in. You can’t sit there and do nothing, she admonished. Either go in the door or stand in the line. Sitting here is pointless.
Just before they called my name, at the 90-minute mark, the young girl bravely stood up, took a deep breath, smoothed her hair and marched in the door. She emerged two seconds later with a big smile on her face. Question answered. Road tests were not canceled. And this is what you have to do in Hawaii to get answers.
Photos of the Central Bark Dog Park in Kona
As I finished putting the finishing touches on my open houses for Sunday, Linda presented me with the opportunity to hang out a bit at Kona Haven Coffee and then go to the dog park. It is called Central Bark Dog Park, and is sponsored by the Kona Humane Society, among other donors.
Now you may find this difficult to believe, but this Sacramento Realtor has never been to a dog park. Hey, I don’t have a dog. Why would I ever go to a dog park? But I was up for an adventure. The tiling guy was at our house in Hawaii working away, so he didn’t need me. We already discussed wrapping the tile corners and the focal point.
Which leads me to a funny story about my dead brother. He tiled my sister’s bath, and it was obvious to me that he used the wrong focal point when tiling. When I asked my sister why he chose the corner he chose, she said he picked it because that’s what you look at while on the John.
What a doofus.
So, yes, I was game for going to the Central Bark Dog Park in Kona. They have benches donated to the space, chairs for tired people, and a place to chat. It’s just like hanging out at Kona Haven Coffee without the coffee service.
Is this little guinea pig dog the cutest dog ever?? He is 5 years old, if I recall correctly. Not a baby, in other words. The black chihuahua is Mel’s dog, and his name is Cowboy. There was a time, Mel said, that she could carry Cowboy in one hand to introduce him to people. As a busy Realtor, I don’t have time for dogs, but it doesn’t mean I can’t go to Central Bark Dog Park and hang out.
This dog park in Kona is located by Hawaii County Water Department in Keauhou Mauka. As for the Humane Society in Kona, I had never been there, either. Later in the afternoon Linda and I went to Reflections Glass to order a glass wall for my shower. Along the way, I stopped at the Kailua Kona transfer station at Kealakehe to get rid of boxes the contractors left at my house.
The Hawaii Island Humane Society is located up the road to the Kealakehe transfer station. Hey, I said, why don’t we stop at the Humane Society? Linda wasn’t overly excited. She had been there before and found the personnel a bit off standish.
Well, they ignored us when we walked in. One woman was talking with a couple, and the other was glued to her computer. Nobody said welcome, or come in. Nothing.
We went into the room where the cats are, and every single cat was lying in a cage sprawled out, some of which were severely overcrowded, very hot. Paws hanging out the wires. There was no AC in that room. Just a few fans. Those poor cats. The woman at the front desk ignored us again as we walked out the door.
You would think every person who walked in that door at the Hawaii Island Humane Society in Kailua-Kona would be greeted and issued an invitation. Either to:
- Donate.
- Adopt, or
- Volunteer.
Oh, man, if only I ran the world.
Why Buyers Will Not Make Offers on Overpriced Listings
Overpriced listings are not the best thing for a seller, yet some sellers are simply too close to the product to be objective. They struggle. Well, we don’t want to leave money on the table, is a common comment. Another: buyers can make any offer they want, right? And both of those ideas are myths. It is pretty much impossible to leave money on the table in a competitive bidding situation. Followed by buyers won’t offer at all.
In my 44 years of experience in real estate, overpriced listings can happen because the agent is watching for clues from the seller. Those clues might tell the agent if she doesn’t appear enthusiastic about the seller’s suggested sales price, the seller will list with some other agent. No wonder so many people do not much like real estate agents. Some agents only want the listing instead of what is best for the seller.
I’m not saying that this Sacramento Realtor never takes overpriced listings because I certainly do now and then. There are times I can show the seller all the comparable sales, invest a considerable amount of my time not only providing statistics but my reasoning as well. And sellers will still say, “I think we should start at XYZ price because we can always come down.”
Sure, but that strategy most often hurts the seller. Agents spot the price drops, the days on market, and they want to take advantage of the seller. Human nature. I always tell my sellers the price I believe the market will bear. Then, they can make their own decisions based on facts. If they choose to enter the realm of overpriced listings, at least they know they are going against my advice.
This keeps me from feeling too badly about overpriced listings because I know in my heart I have been honest with my sellers. I don’t ever want a seller to ask: why didn’t I tell them? Because it is my job as a listing agent to convey that information.
More often than not, though, buyers just won’t make an offer on any overpriced listings. They feel the seller might be unreasonable. Or stubborn. Plus, they don’t want to offend. It really is in the seller’s best interest to be priced appropriately. But I don’t shove that sentiment down their throats. Some already do a good enough job slicing their own.
When Life Throws Curveballs, Duck and Resolve
When life throws curveballs, there is no way to be prepared. Because you can’t always predict what can go wrong in your world as opportunities for failure are abundant. Which is why I start a list of problems to solve when I get more than three curveballs to deal with at one time. Toss into the mix the fact I multi-task and always try to pay immediate attention to priorities that pop up. Well, that’s a recipe for stress if things get out of hand.
Who could predict so many situations could require direct attention? It’s not bad enough that my AC is not working at our house in Hawaii. Oh, yes, I can hear you now. Like my sister who scoffs because she lives in Minnesota and turned off her AC months ago. I get no empathy from her. This will mark the third motor in 2 years. ECM motors by Carrier are so energy efficient that they cannot operate for very long before giving out. Too much technology.
Today is Day 6 without AC because Mike at Kona AC could not get over to the house. When he did show up, he threw $740 cash on the table as a refund. Claimed bad ductwork and faulty electrical wiring, too many surges and power shut downs. Three motors over 18 months is kinda nuts. I wonder why he doesn’t think it is the blower motor itself?
My new gardener says we have slugs and to buy slug bait. The bath remodel guys came back to plug the quartz and move the badly installed waterfall faucet over to the side. Fortunately they didn’t install the faucets wrong on both quartz countertops. They also had to fix the receptacles that were not relocated high enough.. You don’t want to hear the particulars of everything else that went wrong but is now fixed.
Suffice to say it was a lot. The new GFCI doesn’t work, so I went to Lowes to exchange it. The drivers sent to me by Lamps Plus to stop the LED flickering in our new light fixtures don’t fit the housing.
That’s because when life throws curveballs, I try to duck. Just put it on the list and take care of it myself, is my MO. I have 6 days left to renew my car registration. Since the Maui dealer registered the car in Maui County, I have a problem in Kona. However, if you think the California DMV is bad, try Hawaii. Their procedures conflict with each other.
At a listing in Sacramento yesterday an agent set off the security alarm. Agents and security alarms are a bad combination. Didn’t read MLS and get the alarm code. I could place a note in the lockbox itself but I know what happens to those. The notes end up crumpled in agent’s pockets. Fortunately for that guy, I answer my phone, so I gave him the alarm code.
Further, the number of new leads jumped into high gear yesterday. It’s been very quiet for the past 3 weeks but Monday, all hell broke loose. On top of that, as I tried to grill my dinner, I couldn’t stop the text messages from coming. Did you know if you get a text message on your iPhone, you can no longer access the timer on your iPhone?
My fish and vegetables were placed on the grill, and just when I opened the app to press “start” on the timer, I got a text message from one person. Followed by 3 more. My husband started sending text messages, too. And someone else texted me. One after another. The clock kept ticking and I had no idea how long I had been grilling because I could not access my timer.
When life throws curveballs, sometimes you’ve gotta laugh out loud. What are the odds I would get 3 people sending multiple text messages all at the same time? California time would have been 9:30 PM. Perhaps all of this activity is indicative of the Sacramento real estate market picking up a bit.
Further, after I received my new credit card last month due to Uber fraud, what else happened yesterday do you think? I lost the card. Sometime between Thursday and Monday. I used it at one store on Thursday, and that store could not find it when I went there. Oh, well, another day in the future will be spent notifying automatic payment creditors.
It is also true that when multiple problems happen at one time, it’s usually isolated incidences. Some people blame it on the full moon. Although, our next full moon is October 24. But gosh darn it, I got back to every new lead, spoke with every agent who called and worked on 3 new Sacramento listings. Still a very productive day in paradise.
Vacant Home Showing Tips for Sacramento Buyer’s Agents
This blog is about vacant home showing tips for Sacramento buyer’s agents. It’s a blog I feel compelled to write in hopes it will help other agents in Sacramento, mostly newer agents, with how to show vacant homes. But my next piece of advice really applies to every single agent who puts together home tours for buyers. That piece of advice, which often falls on deaf ears and blind eyes, is please, oh, for the love of god, please read the data contained in MLS.
MetroList constantly refines and tries to improve its system. Recently it added locations for the lockbox, which can be a pet peeve of buyer’s agents. Agents do not like to trudge through the mud or forage through a maze of bushes to find the lockbox. This is great improvement. Tells an agent right where to find the lockbox.
Although, sometimes I still get calls asking me where to find the gas meter. Since the gas meter is my favorite spot to attach a lockbox. Well, let’s just say the gas meter won’t get far on foot. Or, if you were a gas meter, where would you hide?
Now if you are a fairly new buyer’s agent about to fret over vacant home showings, please don’t. For one thing, you do not have to make an appointment unless the listing specifies and that would be rarely. Yes, that is true. When you see vacant with lockbox, that is your clue that you don’t have to call anybody, nor text nor ask for permission. Why, you can pick any old time you want to show that vacant home and just go. How easy is that?
But agents do not seem to know this. I received an email from a discount broker, won’t say which, asking if the date and time requested would work for a showing. The agent also asked if there was a better time to show than the time the agent had selected. In that email was also a request to let the agent know if I would be present at a vacant home showing. I was very curious as to why I would receive this type of email, so I inquired.
I mean, the house is vacant. It says there’s a lockbox. There is no reason the listing agent would be present at a vacant house or any house really, other than maybe a $2 million home in El Dorado Hills. Which means I can only presume the agent just wrote down the address and didn’t bother to read the directions or any information.
The agent replied that sometimes listing agents get upset if they don’t know a showing had happened. Seems very odd. The whole reason for vacant with lockbox is so agents do not need to make an appointment. Further, because there is a lockbox, SUPRA notifies me of every agent showing. So I know the minute an agent enters a vacant house. It sends the agent’s name, phone, broker name, email and time of entry.
But then my eyes fell on the license number of the agent. All new agents, those licensed within the last year or so, have a DRE license number that is numbered in the 2 million. Meaning in comparison to my license number, for example, which is 00697006. It means I obtained my license in the 1970s. Today’s new agents might have a license number like 0204256. Dead giveaway.
May I suggest a better way to let the listing agent know of plans to show, if that is a concern, is to compose a different email template. Perhaps an email that seems more professional, to wit:
This is a courtesy notice that I am planning to show 123 Main Street today at 3 PM. MLS states the home is vacant with lockbox. If that data has changed, please let me know.
How hard is that? It doesn’t require correspondence back and forth. The listing agent does not need to confirm a vacant home showing. Just lock up the house, leave a card on the kitchen counter. If the listing agent contacts you to ask for buyer feedback, it is considered a professional courtesy to send it.
