A feed-in tariff is a policy mechanism to encourage renewable energy use where it is as affordable as grid power (known as grid parity). Doug McLeod is Maui's incoming energy administrator and he has installed a photovoltaic system on the roof of his commercial property in Kihei. This happens to be the state's first feed-in-tariff photovoltaic system...read more

On Wednesday, January 12th, South Maui Sustainability (SMS) will be presenting A Preview of the 10th Annual Maui Aloha Aina Body and Soil Conference. For those of you who are interested in getting off the grid in a tropical beach paradise location, a Wailea home may be just right for you, and you will probably get a lot out of the upcoming conference... read more

It must have been strange for some Kihei residents to have found themselves knee-deep in water without a drop of rain having fallen there. If you are shopping around for a Kihei home, the recent flooding should serve as a warning that you should opt for real estate with a little elevation to it. Of course, flooding isn't much of an issue for Kihei condo units above the first floor, but it's a good idea to make sure that if you are looking for a ground floor residence, you don't want it to be sitting in a low, flat area.

Even floods like the one earlier in the week don't scare off devoted Kihei residents like Jim Boulton, who was interviewed in a recent Maui News article. His property has flooded five times, but according to him, this last one was the worst. Boulton is 72 years old, and refuses to live anywhere else after 38 years of residence on his property. In a statement he made to the Maui News, Boulton explained, "I can't move, I live here. I built this house. I built everything here." He has even filled the property with sand in an effort to raise the ground level, but to no avail.

So what happened exactly? Haleakala got rain. A lot of rain. The National Weather Service calculated 4.17 inches of rainfall in Pukalani in a 24 hour period. That's another oddity. Pukalani is a notoriously dry area. Kula got 0.83 inches and Haiku got 0.81 inches. If you know Maui, you're probably aware that this is one of the funny things about it. You can be sitting in the sun on your back porch while it's raining on the front porch. Literally. That's why we have so many rainbows. In this case, Pukalani was visited by a slow-moving storm that brought thunder and lightning with it, and enough rain to bathe Kihei in muddy water.

[Full Story - "Maui Upcountry Storm and Kihei Flood"]
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Normally, we recommend that everyone get out to the lush jungles of Hana once in a while, just to enjoy its supreme natural beauty,  although it's all the way on the opposite side of the island from the South Maui homes we are so fond of. (We won't hold it against you if you are looking for a home in Hana, though!) On December 28th and the 30th, there will be an extra special reason to make the intrepid journey. Hana Arts will be holding Little Women The Musical, demonstrating the surprisingly spectacular abilities of such a small community.

It has been about six generations since Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was published, and Hana Arts intends to wow audiences with the bold, musical representation of the beloved classic from Broadway, which held 137 performances of the show.

Kelly Kristofferson will play Jo, the children's mother will be played by Joyce Mitchell-Maynar who is co-directing with Linda Enriquez Meyer, who will play Aunt March. Keawala'i Church Choirmaster Stephen Haines will be on keyboard and Huffington Post's Christopher Radko from New York will play Professor Bhaer.

[Full Story - "Hana Arts Performs Little Women The Musical"]
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Barbara Steinberg will be holding a series of after school art classes at the Maui Bridge Center in Kihei for kids aged 5-10 years. These classes will begin on December 29th and will take place between 3-5pm. What kind of art class is it? They've titled it the Maui Kindness Club Animal Painting Class.

Students will learn how to use both painting and drawing mediums to create their own vivid images based on many lovely animals. The class will begin with presentations of the animals that will be their subjects, and then the students will get to flex their creative skills while getting instruction on technique.

When the session is over, there will be a class "critique" consisting of positive feedback only. The purpose of this is to keep confidence high in these blossoming artists, but also help them develop communication skills and vocabulary in a socially welcoming environment with other kids.

[Full Story - "Kid's Animal Painting After School Class"]
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In our last blog, we went over how to gauge how much Maui home you can afford, and ways to offset your expenses, like renting out a cottage on the property. Here is some more advice.

First of all, don't be scared off by prices on homes that are being advertised. Those prices include the high costs of advertising! Less expensive homes likewise aren't advertised because it isn't cost effective to do so. What you should really do, especially if you have a specific set of criteria in mind, such as a home with three bedrooms and an ohana in Wailea, is try the online Maui real estate search tool on this website. You can get extremely specific, as you'll see. This way you'll easily be able to figure out how much home you can afford with the budget you outlined based on our advice in the previous blog.

[Full Story - "Paying for a Maui Home - Part 2"]
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The economy is slowly recovering from recent lows, but despite spikes in Maui home sales this year, prices remain incredibly affordable. If you are still managing your finances with caution, here are a few tips about purchasing Maui real estate, particularly with regard to what you should be able to afford.

1. Money now and money over time. When planning to own real estate, you have to keep both the down payment and also the long-term cost over the duration of the loan in mind. This is where excellent job security comes in handy.

2. What is your upper limit? The standard method to determine the most you could afford is to multiply your current annual household income by four, assuming you can make a down payment of 20%.

[Full Story - "Paying for a Maui Home - Part 1"]
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Hal Holbrook is an Emmy Award-winning television and movie actor who has been specializing in performance of the dynamic character of Mark Twain for no less than 56 years. At the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Holbrook will demonstrate the best parts of 19 hours worth of Twain material that he has perfected over these many long decades.

The best part of this performance is that it is being held as a benefit for the Rotary Club of Maui, whose wide variety of members consistently work hard for the benefit of the Maui community on behalf of its people as well as its environment.

Another detail that makes this performance special is the fact that Mark Twain spent several weeks on Maui long ago in 1866. He actually climbed to Haleakala Crater to see the sunrise and take in the awe-inspiring views. His statement about the experience: "It was the sublimest spectacle I ever witnessed, and I think the memory of it will remain with me always."

[Full Story - "Hal Holbrook Plays Mark Twain in Maui Performance"]
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Hawaiian Airlines was awarded top rankings for its September performance by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report. The great job the airline is doing, along with its subsequent public praise, isn't just good for the airline itself, but for visitor travel in general. For many visitors, air travel is considered one of the biggest obstacles to the possibility of getting out here to the islands.

So what exactly did Hawaiian Airlines do right in September? Well first, they led the industry in punctuality nationwide with 95.8 percent of flights arriving on-time. Secondly, they had the best record in the industry for fewest canceled flights, as they only canceled two out of 5,484. Thirdly, the airline reported a perfect zero for involuntary denied boardings in the third quarter. The fact that they did so well in all these categories is no small feat!

[Full Story - "Hawaiian Airlines Gets Top Rankings"]
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Hawaii visitor arrivals and spending were up in September, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). The peak summer travel season got us some impressive momentum, and September's success is presumed to have been riding off it.

As for the actual numbers, compared with the same month last year, total arrivals were up by 8.9 percent at 538,516 visitors, while total visitor expenditures jumped a whopping 22.2 percent to $880.2 million. The spending increase is particularly important, considering that for a while there, we were getting a fair share of arrivals, but they weren't spending enough for those arrivals to amount to much benefit economically.

[Full Story - "Good September Numbers for Maui Visitor Industry"]
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Specializing in Luxury Homes in South Maui.