Recently Sold – Haiku Bed and Breakfast Property on Maui

Jeremy and I would like to extend a heartfelt “Mahalo” to Ron and Barbara Wilbur for placing their trust in the hands of The Stice Team to assist them with the salve of their very special Haiku property. We were able to successfully sell the property to a wonderful couple from England, Peter and Helen Sole, closing the property at $1,475,000.

Background Information

Ron and Barbara have been friends since 1985 when they were building this home. 1985 was not a banner year for real estate. Jeremy was is in diapers, nobody was buying property, and I was painting condos and homes to survive.

I met Ron and Barbara as a painter with a real estate broker’s license. I painted and stained the interior of this home, so I knew it very well. Coincidentally, I had also milled all of the Koa that was used in the kitchen cabinets that were made by Haiku master craftsman, Mike Gagne.  

The year prior (1983-84), I owned and ran a sawmill on the Big Island at Pa’uilo on Mauna Kea Ranch at the old dairy site. I had shipped back 10,000 board feet of koa that I had traded for the sawmill.

160 Nahele Rd. is the bottom middle photo on this marketing piece

When Ron and Barbara called me to sell the property, I was stunned. This was a family property, one that had been in the Wilbur family for over 100 years. This was not my standard inventory and when they asked me if the Stice Team would be willing to help them sell it, I was deeply honored.

We had some challenges along the way. With the property being a permitted Bed and Breakfast, it took some careful marketing not to misrepresent that we were in fact selling the real estate, not the business. Our marketing, blogging, video and photography, combined with the co-marketing by the Wilburs on all of their websites, Facebook, and 61 testimonials from their satisfied customers made web traffic almost viral. We were buried with interested buyers.

Here is what Barbara Wilbur had to say about our efforts:

What a rewarding experience. One piece of property sold in less than five months. Once the difficult decision to sell was made there was no hesitation, we called our friend, Tracy.

As it turned out we needed all the expertise that Tracy offers. It was a very difficult potential sale, followed by an equally difficult sale. Negotiating skills were called for repeatedly: with us, with potential buyers and with the other agents who were involved. We not only wanted to sell our property, but we wanted to have our caretakers retained. He accomplished all of the above and we are even better friends.

Thank you, Tracy and Jeremy.
Barbara Wilbur

This Sale Was About Teamwork

1. Ron and Barbara did a wonderful job of enlisting their friends and clients who had stayed at the property to comment and share the initial blog post that we had created on HawaiiLife.com. As of today, this is the most commented blog on Hawaii Life and one of the most widely read to have ever been published. 5 Acre Oceanview Haiku Bed and Breakfast for Sale, Maui.
2. The Stice Team was able to get our fantastic professional photographer and videographer on site and we built our next property video blog here: www.160Nahele.info 
3. We actually had to sell this property twice as the initial buyer backed out of the transaction a couple weeks before closing. We were able to negotiate on behalf of the Wilburs to get the present day owners who previously submitted an offer at a much lower price to step up to the plate and put the property under contract with them. We would like to extend a big Mahalo to Maria Ginnebaugh of Coldwell Banker Island properties as she did an incredible job as a buyer’s agent and we would be very pleased to work with her again.

Considering Selling Your Haiku Property? Here’s Why You Should Talk to the Stice Team First