Real Estate Shark Plays Hawaiian Benefactor

[Mulboyne]

[Samurai_Jerk]

This guy sounds fucking cool.

[Taro Toporific]

This guy sounds fucking cool.

I smell some sort of PR scam since Kawamoto's plans to build in Kahala museums and ultra low-cost housing for multifamily clans violates all the zoning laws of that area---He's offering something that cannot be done.

All of a sudden there's investment interest growing for Hawaii, After 16 years of a real estate slump for Japanese investors. Even the turd Trump is interested....

[floatr][/floatr]
AFP/Getty Images, 30 October 2006 Tokyo, JAPAN:US real estate developer Donald Trump speaks at a press conference as his company will develop a 38-story hotel condominium in central Waikiki as a part of Waikiki Beach Walk redevelopment project, at a Tokyo hotel 30 October 2006. Trumph is now here for the promotion of his new project in Hawaii.

[dimwit]

I smell some sort of PR scam since Kawamoto's plans to build in Kahala museums and ultra low-cost housing for multifamily clans violates all the zoning laws of that area---He's offering something that cannot be done.

All of a sudden there's investment interest growing for Hawaii, After 16 years of a real estate slump for Japanese investors. Even the turd Trump is interested....

Could easily believe it. The Hawaiian real estate market has been full of these kind of shenanigans for years.

[Greji]

Could easily believe it. The Hawaiian real estate market has been full of these kind of shenanigans for years.

There were a lot of FGs selling a lot of Hawaiian real estate, sight unseen, during the bubble. Their customers are still trying to locate them, as well as the property they had purchased from them.

[Catoneinutica]

"Japanese investors - the true contrarian indicator?"

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=1734#comments

(scroll down about half-way). It does seem Japanese investors have a knack for being the Greater Fools, buying at the absolute peak of a bubble (in this case, the US housing bubble).

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: Billionaire rents luxury homes to Hawaii's poor

A Japanese billionaire has selected the first four of eight Hawaiian families that will get the chance to rent one of his multimillion-dollar homes in an exclusive Honolulu oceanside area for just $150 a month. The low-income families could move into the furnished Kahala Avenue homes, purchased in 2005 for up to $3.4m each, as soon as this weekend. "They will be living in heaven now," said Genshiro Kawamoto, 75, a real estate tycoon. Among Mr Kawamoto's four rental homes is one with five bedrooms. The 603 square metre home was built in 1989 and is more than three times bigger than the average house on Oahu. Mr Kawamoto bought it in August 2005 for $3.4m. The families were selected from 3,000 people who wrote him in response to his plan announced in October to rent to low-income Hawaiians. Mr Kawamoto said it was difficult to choose families because there was so much interest. He expects to select four more tenant families as early as next month...more...

[Mulboyne]

"Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto, left, and Dorie-Ann Kahale, both cry after Kawamoto handed over keys the to a multimillion-dollar home in the exclusive Kahala neighborhood for Kahale and her family to live rent free".



"Genshiro Kawamoto handed over keys to three Kahala homes yesterday, allowing the families he selected to live in them rent-free. Above, the Worley family moves in front of their home: Lyn Worley, left; Tori Kalama-Pang, daughter; Eryck Moler, Worley's brother; Kawamoto; and Tesia Worley. From bottom, Chaztin Worley, Starla Tai, and Jordan Tai, in light blue"

[Oradea]

Until he decides he has used them for all he can, and turfs them out to be homeless.......

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Japanese billionaire preparing 5 more homes for needy Hawaiians

The Japanese billionaire allowing needy Native Hawaiian families to move into his upscale Oahu homes rent-free said he hopes to have five more mansions ready by the end of next month. Genshiro Kawamoto moved three families -- either homeless or on the verge of homelessness -- into three of his homes in Honolulu's ritzy Kahala neighborhood in March. Kawamoto is currently having concrete gates, walls and swimming pools, "which can be hazardous to small children," removed from the five homes, he said Tuesday in a statement faxed to media. The real estate developer announced plans in October to have eight low-income Hawaiian families move into eight of his Kahala Avenue homes. Kawamoto selected the families from about 3,000 people who wrote him after the announcement. The homes are among about 20 Honolulu dwellings Kawamoto bought for about $115 million in the years since 2002. Many of the houses have been vacant since then. Kawamoto also has plans to transform four houses into public museums for his collection of Western and Oriental art. Kawamoto has said he's moving needy Hawaiians into his homes because doing so is fun and because he wants to liven up the neighborhood. Critics say he's trying to drive down land values in Kahala.

[Mulboyne]

[pheyton]

Someone needs to L2Walk.

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

KITV: Billionaire's Abandoned Homes Draw Attention

One of Hawaii's ritziest areas contains 24 abandoned mansions and empty lots all owned by the same man, Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto. "You can see that he doesn't care," said resident Carla Von Wiegandt. One property, owned by Kawamoto, where Carla Von Wiegandt grew up, is now empty and full of graffiti. Kawamoto tore the house down last fall. "There was no reason for it to become like this, no reason at all. It was a beautiful Hawaii house, and it had real character," said Wiegandt.

Records show the city cited Kawamoto twice in the last year for litter, overgrowth and debris there, charging him $1,300 in fines. He tore the house down in recent months. "He just ripped the house down and to see that go, it just tears your heart apart," said Wiegandt. In the last four and a half years, the city has issued at least 53 violations at Kawamoto's Kahala properties. "He should be cited and he should be held accountable," said Wiegandt.

Republican Barbara Marumoto represents Kahala in the state House. "The properties are run down. They're blighted. They're not well maintained. They're sometimes empty, vacant. They've got homeless people coming into them and it's really running down the whole neighborhood," said Marumoto. She's introduced a bill that would hold people personally liable for damages if their lot causes harm or even decreases property values: "You can then sue neighbors who have so little regard for their neighbors," Marumoto said.

The new law would only apply to someone who owns three or more properties in a one-mile radius if they've been cited three or more times by the city for building code violations. So it's tailor-made for Kahala's Kawamoto conundrum. "So, I think that's sufficient evidence to show a judge or a jury that this is a problem," Marumoto said.

[Mulboyne]