The adventure begins

Hawaii was never on my bucket list. Or David’s. But when I got to go on a business trip to Honolulu in January, 2013, we decided that, well, there would never be a better time. So we did a little research, took an extra week off and spent it on the Big Island. We were both surprised. Guess we’d only seen luaus and grass skirts and such, but what we found was a rich, amazingly beautiful world, where possibilities abound. We loved it!

The Puna district especially captured our imaginations. What a kaleidoscopic, “live, let live” place! Pahoa seemed like something out of the Wild West (but friendlier), where gray-haired couples, dreadlocks and tie-dyed T-shirts are all peaceful cohabitants—as well as differently gendered couples of all types. Reminded us of our beloved UP (Michigan’s upper peninsula), too, albeit more liberal, and, of course, a good bit warmer. On our return, David started waking up in the middle of the night, dreaming of lava. After a couple weeks of that, I knew it was serious.

Fast forward to January 2015—now our third trip to Puna. We’d been looking at real estate online, but were not sure about either the wisdom or possibility of buying a place there. We started praying for God’s guidance: whether, where, when… The areas we liked best were all in Lava Zone 2, not the easiest spot to finance or insure a home. And the lava that had been flowing into the ocean back in 2013 was now flowing toward Pahoa,  threatening to cut off the only major highway artery of the region. Lava Zones 1 and 2 were both completely out of the running by the end of 2014.

What Bramalani looked like 1-2 years ago. Neighbors have since built on the 1-acre lot to the west.

All right, so we had to back up a bit and take another look… Several places in Hawaiian Paradise Park (HPP) caught our eye, and we put together another wish list. By the time we arrived in Puna, one spot on 7th Avenue (aka Hina Hina) was haunting us. We drove by, peeked in from the dirt road, and sighed in unison. Seemed like a little bit of heaven.

When the time came for our realty appointment, Mark Cox and Ron Wood of Coldwell Banker graciously carted us all over HPP and beyond. We saw some beautiful (and not so beautiful) places, but nothing could quite measure up.

Our favorite view of Bramalani as we found it, February, 2015.

We loved the midcentury modern look of the house, the many large windows, and the unusual in-ground concrete swimming pool. David grew up with a pool, so the prospect of having one again—especially in a place where it’s warm enough to use it all year round—was exciting to him.

And the lot! An acre of paradise. Not too manicured, but well loved and well cared for, with several areas for improvement. Inside, there were several, too. In fact, I think Mark and Ron thought we were a little crazy the way we were already talking about getting rid of this and putting in that. They subtly reminded us of the good points of some of the other contending properties. But we put in an offer. Less than asking price, due to the extensive work required, but not as low as we really wanted to go. To our great disappointment, the owner couldn’t bring herself to accept the offer, so we went back to the drawing board.

After a couple more days and another round of showings, we found another possible project. But our hearts were still tethered to the golden house with the pool. We kept telling ourselves that the new place made perfect sense. More sense than the other, in fact. But we couldn’t quite make ourselves believe it.

Just about the time we were getting close to convincing ourselves it was all for the best, Mark and Ron called with a surprise. The owner had decided to accept our offer after all! A few days, a few papers and one inspection later, the golden spot on Hina Hina was ours.