Continuing the theme from last month, we invested in a home in Hawaii on the Big Island in 2024. Why HI?

The story starts in early 2018 when we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary with our first cruise. We chose an island-hopping cruise in which we visited 5 of the HI islands. We loved the vibe, culture, weather, and pace of life on the islands. So we started house hunting after narrowing our search to the Big Island. This patient hunting when on for 6 years before we found what we thought was the perfect single family home on the west coast of the island.

In summer of 2024 after our initial offer on the house was accepted, we flew to KOA so that we could be present during the onsite home inspection. We quickly learned why the home was affordable: electrical problems, plumbing problems, structural problems. As we were deep in the process for our Napa landscaping and permitting (more on that in the next entry), we felt that this remodel/rebuild would be too much to take on. So we backed out of the offer. We went back to our hotel room feeling dejected because the neighborhood that the house was in was perfect for us. We were killing time until our flight back to the mainland when Maggie happened upon a just-listed condominium near to the same neighborhood. Since we had nothing else to do we asked for a tour.

We arrived at this gated community with beautiful landscaping and views next to the Waikoloa Golf Course in late afternoon as the sun was setting. The entire rear wall of the condo is glass and this is facing west so the Wow! Factor upon entry for the views and warmth of the sun was powerful. When entering the condo, everyone is drawn to the large lanai. The immediate foreground view is the golf course and the background view is the Pacific Ocean.

We completed the perfunctory bathroom, bedroom, and living space tours, but Maggie and I knew this was our ideal space. This was for a few reasons: 1) obviously, the views from the lanai; 2) being a condo, our risk and ownership responsibilities were much less than a single family home; and 3) we felt confident that we would be able to rent this space consistently thus mitigating our mortgage costs.

Upon closure of the transaction, we began strategizing on décor and use-case. How much time would we spend onsite? What clientele were we seeking for the vacation rentals? Would it have an 'island-theme', an 'asian-theme', a 'post-modern' theme, or some hybrid therein. You can see from the pictures that Maggie chose a quiet, under-stated, and sophisticated style that emphasizes the quality of materials while not distracting from the center-of-attention: the lanai views. (If you are interested in having her consult with you for a similar interior design, please reach out).

We have now owned this property for almost 2 years and have stayed there multiple times. It is a sanctuary where we can slow-down and decompress, but also work remotely should we choose to. We have been fortunate with our rental occupancy as well in that most of 2026 is committed. This allows us to accumulate the equity without as much financial burden.

Island Escape

Slow and Mindful Living