Email ElizabethExclusive Buyer’s Agent Josh Amolsch Arrives in Kona!
We’re so excited that our exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch arrived in Kona yesterday with the beautiful Vika! This is the first time that my husband and I have had the opportunity to welcome guests during our stay at our house in Hawaii. We tell all of our friends that they can come to visit us anytime but so far nobody has taken us up on that offer.
Of course, I have gone to Hawaii with exclusive buyer’s agent Barbara Dow in the past, but that was before we bought our house. Being with Barbara in Maui was a blast. One summer, Barbara and I spent 10 glorious days on the top floor of the Fairmont in Wailea on the lovely island of Maui. I will always treasure those memories and photos. See, the thing about the Elizabeth Weintraub Team is everybody is like family to me. We are not just real estate agents in Sacramento. We share common values and believe in always, without fail, doing the right thing.
For the clients who have been fortunate to work with our exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch, well, I hear over and over how grateful they felt working with Josh. He always goes that extra step. Each client is unique and special. Plus, Josh has an abundance of compassion for our clients. He loves to receive 5-star reviews from his buyers and works tirelessly toward that goal.
Sure, he might be a punk rock star at times, playing lead guitar at clubs about town in his spare time, but his heart is in real estate. Doesn’t matter if he’s selling million-dollar homes in El Dorado Hills or an investment property in Oak Park, I never tire of listening to his successes. His eyes light up when he talks about how much money he saved his buyers. He prides himself on his ability to negotiate, and we often discuss strategies together. He soaks up knowledge like a sponge.
If you’re looking for exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Amolsch and wondering why he doesn’t answer his phone at 8 AM, it’s because Hawaii does not adhere to daylight saving. We are three hours behind California. We are still working through the Labor Day weekend, even though we are all in Kona. More adventures are sure to follow.
Fishing in Kona with Captain Bobby on the Cherry Pit
Elizabeth Weintraub caught an Ono fishing in Kona.
When my friend Linda mentioned she had plans to go fishing in Kona, I pretty much invited myself to go along. She seemed a bit surprised to learn that I love to fish. Perhaps because I am more of a lake fishing person than an ocean sea-going mama. Although, I did go deep-sea fishing 7 years ago in Kona on the Fire Hatt with Captain Chuck.
Above is my 21-pound ono. I’d like to say I caught it but the truth is the boat catches the fish. I just reeled it in. We don’t bait our own hooks and we don’t pull our fish out of the water. Captain Bobby on the Cherry Pit handles the entire boat without a deck hand, and that is part of his duties.
But hey, this is the fish I caught. And you should note that I am not left holding the bloody head like my friends. Nope, I got the slimy tail to hold.
Sunrise over Hualalai fishing in Kona
This fishing in Kona trip was set up by Vern Bowen from Roseville, CA. Vern and his wife Pam are a hoot. Last enjoyed their company during the Sunday Stroll in Kailua Village. They used to live next door to Linda in Roseville, but then Linda moved back to Kona. Small world. Only deal was we had to be at Honokohau Harbor by 5:00 AM.
As we chugged over small waves heading north along the shoreline, I watched the water curl into those unnatural pointy shapes you see in bad oil paintings. Every white crest resembled a shark. I was definitely hallucinating and this was not my free flash back we were promised and never got.
Linda Lynn caught an Ono fishing in Kona.
Linda made it look so easy when she reeled in her ono. That fish practically swam toward the boat. Captain Bobby said the stripes on the ono tend to fade once they are out of the water for a while. In fact, Linda’s ono had more stripes than my Ono but hers weighed a little under 12 pounds.
Vern Bowen pulled in a male mahi-mahi fishing in Kona.
When we saw this fish that Vern caught with live bait, we didn’t know what it was. Despite the fact that the back of Vern’s shirt features an illustration of mahi-mahi eating small fish. But yes, it is a very emerald green and glittery fish. Their brilliant color fades after it is out of the water.
Vern Bowen caught the biggest Ono fishing in Kona.
Here is Vern’s 23-pound ono. We trolled with lures for a long time. Probably left the harbor around 5:45 and headed north toward the airport, arriving near the Makai Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant. That structure, which turns sea water into energy, was part of our visit to the Kona Natural Energy Laboratory tours a year ago.
Vern and Pam Bowen, Elizabeth Weintraub and Linda Lynn pose with ono and mahi-mahi from fishing in Kona.
Right after I reeled in my ono, I began to feel a bit seasick. It was tough reeling it in. Toward the end, I was doing a two-fisted reel, and then I collapsed on the bench, panting. Still, I would do it again. Fishing in Kona is one of the great experiences in life. Now we have fresh fish to serve our houseguests, Josh Almosch and Vika, when they arrive in Kona today.
If you don’t know, Josh is an exclusive buyer’s agent on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team. Work hard. Play hard.
Hawaii Finches and Visit to Poi Dog Deli
For a Monday leading up to Labor Day weekend, it was very busy for Sacramento real estate as well as visiting Poi Dog Deli. Worked on 3 offers yesterday. Two I am certain are moving into escrow for my sellers and the third sale has a better than average chance of acceptance as well. Usually this time of year the market slows until the weekend after Labor Day weekend. At which point, I will be back in Sacramento.
Seemed like a good time to try out Poi Dog Deli. We’ve watched them put up the signage for this place and waited a long time for it to open. It is across the street from Safeway on Henry Street. Henry Street is named after a famous person in Kailua-Kona. Henry Opukaha’ia, who is credited with bringing missionaries in 1820 to Hawaii to convert native Hawaiians to Christianity.
Although I had good intentions to visit Poi Dog Deli during my last trip to Kona in June, just never got around to it. Always so much to do in paradise. Since I’m going fishing today, though, seemed like a good place to pick up a sandwich for the boat. So we popped over yesterday for lunch and to get a take-out. I really had my eye on the Pig Notorious, but it’s hot sandwich and I preferred a cold sandwich for the fishing charter.
The bacon-and-turkey sandwich filled the bill. Plus, Poi Dog Deli gives you a homemade pickle. It’s worth going there for lunch just for the pickles. You can also choose from a good selection of beers. I opted for a salad with a generous scoop of chicken salad, oranges, strawberries and half an avocado. Did I mention the Voodoo HOT potato chips?
Felt like somebody dug through my old record collections from the 1960s and plastered them on the walls. Allen Toussaint, Jefferson Airplane, Chuck Berry and Janis Joplin. There is also an element of New Orleans on the walls.
Then I spent a good part of the afternoon working on identifying this bird in the photo above. It is a photo I shot at Kailua Village Sunday Stroll of saffron finches and pigeons scurrying below the lava wall pecking seed. In the center of this photo is an odd bird out. He has a black cap, a gray body, white blotches on his cheeks and a red beak.
I’m the kind of person who cannot let this go. I need to identify that bird. And I finally did. It is a Java Finch. Sometimes referred to as a Java Sparrow or Paddy bird. Do you see him in the photo?
Can You Put Bananas in the Refrigerator?
If you think you cannot put bananas in the refrigerator, there is a way to do it. Who knew? Certainly not me. In fact, when I was at our neighbor’s house in Hawaii during my last visit, my neighbor dumped a bunch of ripe bananas in my arms. How she thought I would be able to eat them any faster than she could is beyond me. Although, I probably could have made banana bread. Yum, nothing like Tutu’s Hawaiian banana bread.
The main reason I have all of this fruit is because we have company coming. Josh Amolsch, my exclusive buyer’s agent extraordinaire on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team, is arriving in Kona this week with his fiancé. For some reason, I did not check my calendar and thought Josh would arrive on Monday but he’s not. Naturally, before I realized this, I bought a lot of fruit on Saturday at Safeway in Kona.
Then yesterday, during a conversation with my sister, I bemoaned the fact the apple bananas might be too ripe by the time Josh gets here. Papayas and mangoes will hold a few days but the bananas will be tricky. My sister said I should put bananas in the refrigerator only when they turn ripe. If you do it before the bananas are ripe, they will rot in the refrigerator.
But if the fruit is ripe, and you put bananas in the refrigerator, they might turn brown a little bit, but the interiors will be sweet, firm and yellow.
So go ahead and put bananas in the refrigerator after they have fully ripened. OK, I might have to eat one just to make sure.
When Buyer’s Agents Make Promises They Cannot Keep
What do Sacramento listing agents call it when buyer’s agents make promises they cannot keep? I know some people would call it lying. But with the way the world is going today, with all the crazy crap like truth is not truth and fake news accusations when the news is factual, it can make a person nuts. We want to believe our fellow agents, but sometimes, you just can’t.
I hate to say that, but you get good and bad in any profession. There are people whose word you can trust, take to the bank, and others who say whatever they have to say to accomplish a directive with little regard for the truth. No wonder agents have such a bad reputation. They have a bad reputation in part because they deserve it.
Now, when I had buyer’s agents make promises they cannot keep in the past, it was usually over a short sale. In retrospect, I was a lot more hard-nosed then than I am now. A buyer’s agent could weave a love story about how her buyers are madly in love with this house. Could not see buying any other property. They will gladly wait for the bank’s approval. When none of that crap they spewed forth was true. It was wishful thinking.
It is rare when one of my team members needs to cancel an escrow. They are educated, trained and skilled in real estate. If one of their buyers decides to cancel, it’s generally for an excellent reason. Every so often, though, the buyer is just not committed. However, I’ve never known any of my team members to be dishonest. Ever. And we discuss how to break the news to the listing agent without burning bridges.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve seem to have noticed a large number of buyer’s agents make promises they cannot keep. You would hope an agent’s word meant something. That there was honor. But that’s just my wishful thinking.
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