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Abalone and Purchase Offers Are Hot in Hawaii
View from dinner at the Coast Grille, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel
All it takes in the Sacramento real estate business sometimes is to leave town and your real estate business will suddenly heat up. The reason I chose this particular time period to visit Hawaii is because of Labor Day, reasoning that things will be fairly quiet and not quite so hectic. Of course, homes that for one reason or another have been difficult to sell are suddenly HOT. I’ve received offers for 3 of those homes. And one of them has multiple offers.
It means I will lie on the beach later today and not quite so early as I normally would, but that’s perfectly fine. I can hardly complain that I’m typing away on my computer when the view just over the monitor is of those fragrant Tahiti trees and rolling surf pounding the shore.
Later today I have a lomilomi massage lined up and a crabfest tonight, so you’ll probably hear about that tomorrow, while I move into the events from yesterday. First, my room has a somewhat musty smell, no wonder since it’s located the other side of the South 40. I am as far away as a person can get from the main activities. I checked at the front desk to see if there was a better room available and was offered a room with queen beds, but the same room with queen beds instead of a king wasn’t enough to make me pack up everything and move. Besides, that room has been overly deodorized and it smelled terrible.
I can settle the issue by opening all of my windows and balcony doors and leaving them that way. Problem solved. They checked the filter and it is brand new. The carpeting is new. The room has been remodeled, and the poor maintenance guy had to listen to me carry on about why didn’t they install hardwood flooring when they remodeled or hang drapes over the plantation shutters? Well, that’s probably why this hotel is rated 4-star and not a 5-star hotel.
It seems every time I deviate from a 5-star there are disappointments. But I can find things wrong with 5-star hotels as well. LOL.
Marinated abalone sliced in the shell and served on a bed of sea greens.
Check out the abalone I had for dinner last night in the photo above. This was an incredible dish that I almost did not order because abalone are endangered and I prefer to support sustainable fishing. I was assured this particular abalone is renewable and farmed locally, not grown in the wild. It was marinated, meaning it was raw, and complemented by a spicy sauce, sliced very thin. I waited until I was down to the last forkful before shooting a photo.
I considered taking the shell with me but that wasn’t a practical thought. Seriously, what would I do with an abalone shell?
Back to the Real World of Sacramento Real Estate
View from oceanfront room at Hotel Molokai
Everybody in my cabin on the plane home groaned when the pilot said we were leaving Hawaii. It’s a completely different atmosphere inside the cabin going home than it was on the flight out to Hawaii, and then eventually later on to Vanuatu. I guess even if you were going to the islands for work and not pleasure, people are in a better mood than they are returning to the mainland. Nobody wants to go back to reality, especially not me, although returning to Sacramento real estate is my job, and it’s a job I love.
Part of it I suppose is the fact when you’re on vacation, you don’t have to allocate much time to taking care of yourself because somebody else does it for you. They make your bed, pick up your wet towels from the floor and empty your waste-paper baskets. They knock gently on your door, bringing you muffins and hot coffee. All of your meals are catered and made for you. Your laundry arrives, folded.
My last day at Hotel Molokai
Come to think of it now, that’s not much different than my life at home. Well, the difference is it is foggy and cold outside in Sacramento this morning. My view is not that of palm trees and the ocean. And I was so discombobulated last night that when a seller called me to say she had locked herself out of her house, and I drove over to help her out, I managed to drive all the way back to Land Park without my lights turned on.
Nobody honked at me or waved or yelled to let me know that I didn’t have my lights on. Fortunately, it was just down Broadway a little bit, but still. I noticed it when I passed Target, that it was fairly dark. Oh, duh. That’s because my lights weren’t on. See, it’s been a long time since I’ve driven in the dark. Longer than the month I had been gone on my winter vacation. I turned on my lights at my garage when I pulled out, but turned them off when I pulled into my seller’s driveway. It wasn’t an autopilot thing to turn them back on as I fumbled for my bluetooth device to stick back into my ear.
Well, tomorrow it is back to work in full force and back to Sacramento real estate for this traveler. I’ve been halfway around the world and back over the last 30 days. Hope you’ve enjoyed the photos and stories.
