Independent investor and author Kim Kiyosaki bought a single rental home in 1989 and has 2,000 today. Here’s how she did it. 1. Prepare well Invest in an area you’re familiar with, where you know the market. Also, read about real estate investing so you understand the numbers and know how to perform due diligence on every property. If you…
Q. I’ve just sold some assets and am looking for good investments, but I don’t want to be taken in by the nextBernie Madoff. What should I watch for? A. Many investors share your concerns about protecting their hard-earned nest eggs from fraud and scams. Follow these four steps and you will avoid many of the pitfalls that could put your…
Al Medeiros tilts back on a folding chair in the shade of his panel truck as the crowds line up at his Paniolo Popcorn booth, lured by the smell of warm butterscotch. The sun is climbing high, but business is still bustling for the 60 vendors at the farmers market in the shady Kapiolani Community College parking lot behind Diamond Head. Japanese…
Oh Wow, Lau Lau! 11:25 A.M., Friday, Highway Inn, Waipahu >> Highway Inn owner Bobby Toguchi, son of founder Seiichi Toguchi, still hand-wraps the lau lau at his Waipahu eatery. About 150 to 190 lau lau are prepared each day. The family-owned business opened in 1947 off Farrington Highway, moved to Depot Road and settled into its current location on…
Green Car Hawaii is the first car-share service in the state and the nation’s first aimed at tourists, say founders Warren Doi and Justin MacNaughton. Concept Rather than rent a vehicle for whole days or an entire visit, Green Car Hawaii customers only pay for the time they use it. They make reservations on the phone, online or at a…
That’s me, the luckiest journalist in the state. And not just because I got out of the newspaper business in January 2009, after 22 years with the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser. No, my luck is much more about what I came to than what I left. Hawaii Business lets me and our writers cover the major economic issues that affect everyone…
Kealoha, a retired Air Force brigadier general, has been with Hawaii’s Better Business Bureau since 2006. This year, the Hawaii BBB marks its 65th anniversary and Kealoha says it is strong and healthy. “Who’s getting old?” he asks. Not the BBB, which has kept up with the times in many ways, including adding Twitter to the various tools it uses to communicate with businesses…
When the real estate market was taking a beating last year along with the overall economy, Rob Kildow didn’t back down. “I like a challenge, and when the market got sketchy on us, I throttled up as much as I could go,” Kildow says. “My wife, Barbara, and I have been together for 21 years, and she said last year…
What’s It Worth? $135,000 What is it? A lightly used, 1995 version of the classic carnival ride, Tilt-a-Whirl. What makes it special? Sellner Manufacturing Co. has been making the Tilt-a-Whirl since 1926. Today, more than a thousand Tilt-a-Whirls delight kids (and many adults) at carnivals and fairs around the world. Why it’s a bargain: The original Tilt-a-Whirl was a wooden…
You’re on your way to Honolulu International Airport and you just remembered your flight doesn’t serve a meal. You’re a penny-pincher (and right now, who isn’t?) and you don’t want to pay high airport prices. Lucky for you, there are options. The closest is at the Airport Trade Center on Paiea Street, the feeder road between the airport and Nimitz…
Ernest Nishizaki, executive VP and COO of Kyo-Ya Management Co. Ltd., which owns the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and four other Sheraton hotels in Waikiki and on Maui, is a local boy and Leilehua High graduate with deep roots in the Islands. Coaching Ernie played youth baseball, coached in college and now coaches his 8-year-old son Ryan’s Pony Pinto baseball team….
Lanikai Juice’s most popular smoothie is the Pacific Passion, which is made by blending passion fruit, pineapple, mango, papaya, banana, yogurt and honey. “We use fresh yogurt and we don’t use any concentrate juice,” says Pablo Gonzalez, owner of Lanikai Juice. “I mean, bingo. Heavy with the fruit, not too much ice. Delicious.” Gonzalez says locals and tourists alike love…
We usually call them chores. But in the broader perspective, they’re a sensible way to share the load of a household among all its members. Call it skin in the game for kids. Call it helping everyone get through the day so no one ends it dead tired. Mary Ann Nemoto, a project administrator at the Center on the Family…
There are major differences between the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act and the national legislation signed into law by President Obama in March. The national law — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — lets Hawaii retain its distinctive system in areas where federal benefits are less than Hawaii’s. However, the national law will eventually apply where the federal…
The Hawaii Foodbank and its network feed one of every seven people in the Islands — a dramatic increase in just three years, the charity says. The Foodbank completed its Hunger in Hawaii study in 2006 and again this year, each time based on the previous fiscal year. “We were alarmed to see there was a 39 percent increase in…
Chason Ishii, president, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. Best advice you received that you live by? My parents stressed that life is about growing inside a little every day. Every time you learn something new you grow a little; every time you help someone you grow a little; every time you step out of your comfort zone you grow a little…
Most pet owners would agree that if there’s something wrong with Fido or Fluffy, it’s hard to wait for an answer. That’s why VCA Family Animal Hospital in Pearl City is open around the clock, with a veterinarian onsite. “Our philosophy is, ‘Come in now,’ ” says operations manager Wayne Marques. That translates into a steady stream of walk-in customers,…
Most companies deal with hard times by cutting costs, laying off workers and focusing on their core business. Richard Schuman, owner of Makani Kai Helicopters, took a different path. For more than a decade, Schuman says, his company enjoyed strong, steady growth. But, when visitor arrivals plummeted in the recession, his business fell nearly 45 percent. “By the latter part…
BOSS METHODOLOGY The Business Outlook and Sentiment Survey (BOSS) was conducted by QMark Research using a list of Hawaii companies purchased from Equifax Polk Business Directory. The sample of companies was stratified based on number of employees. Small businesses were divided into two sub-groups. Businesses with 3 to 9 employees were designated as “very small” and those with 10 to…
Waikiki and other resorts statewide are more crowded these days. Visitor arrivals are up while beaches, stores and restaurants are filling again with tanned people spending their money. But there is a cloud on the horizon: Union contracts covering most of the major Waikiki hotels and many on the Neighbor Islands expire this month and tourism leaders fear that labor…
A vast, illegal economy operates just beneath Hawaii’s legitimate society, and many people who earn their money in the legal economy spend part of it in the black one. The narcotics trade serves both street-corner junkies strung out on crystal meth and respected Bishop Street professionals who smoke pot on weekends. Illicit gambling indulges addicts who bet their paychecks on…
So, you want to be a real estate tycoon? If there’s one thing we’ve learned from two years of stagnation in Hawaii’s real estate market, it’s that there’s more to investing than simply buying low and selling high. That’s speculation. Experts will tell you investment is much more calculated. That means if you want to be a real estate investor,…
One billion dollars a year. That’s the estimated taxes in Hawaii that don’t get paid by contractors and waiters, accountants and attorneys, hairdressers and everyone else who hides all or part of their cash income. Just about everyone contributes knowingly or unknowingly to Hawaii’s underground economy. Maybe your mechanic cuts you a deal if you pay cash, or you buy…
List of Top 100 Realtors, in alphabetical order: First Name Middle Initial Last Name Agency Island(s) Scott Adams Prudential Advantage Realty OAHU Tracy P Allen Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties OAHU James F. Allison Coldwell Banker Maryl Realty Inc. Big Island Frankie Anderson Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties OAHU Dolores P Bediones Prudential Locations LLC OAHU Steven W Blackington “Maui Lifestyle Properties,…