The National Association of Realtors chose an interesting theme for their Rose Parade float:
NAR's float celebrates the Dream of Homeownership for 100 Years, taking its inspiration from the Johann David Wyss novel Swiss Family Robinson. In the story, the family is shipwrecked on a deserted island. Together they build a unique home among the trees, which becomes their strength and solace.
I took this as a great omen and theme for 2009! I happen to be married to a Swiss (and by virtue of that, a naturalized Swiss citizen myself)...and although his name is the "Thoma" and mine the "Robinson", we jokingly refer to ourselves as the Swiss Family Robinson since we live on a beautiful, thankfully not deserted, island.
In the current economic and real estate climate, there is a blessing. I'm now working mostly with buyers who have a Dream of Homeownership, rather than a Dream of Quick Profit.
As in many super-desirable markets, local working people have found it difficult to buy a first home in recent years. Today, thanks to the once-in-a-lifetime conjunction of falling home prices and historically low interest rates, a new generation of islanders may be able to raise their families in their own home.
And other buyers have a dream of spending their retirement in a warm, sunny climate, or of finally moving to a place that has drawn them for many years of ever-lengthening vacations. The light that goes on in their eyes when they find their unique home or piece of land flashes hearts rather than dollar signs.
Like the Swiss Family Robinson, newcomers have to adapt in unexpected ways to life on the Big Island. And when they do, this island home offers them its strength and solace.
Thanks to NAR for renewing my sense of purpose as we move into 2009!
Aloha,
Beth
Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)
beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com Cell: 808-443-4588
Hawaii Palm Properties, Inc
Office in downtown Hawi near Bamboo restaurant
The Kohala Coast and Vog-free North Kohala--We know this market by heart!
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