In January of 2001, we vacationed on 4 islands in Hawaii, starting on Kauai, then to Maui, then to the Big Island and Oahu. In the three short days that we were here, we fell in love with Pahoa town and the East Side of the Big Island.
In fact, this area made such an impact on us that we made a 5 year goal to move here. My partner had been to Hawaii 11 times by this trip, and every time he came, he tried to figure out “how can I stay and live in Paradise”. This five year plan was reduced to 1 1/2 years and we did NOTHING to make it happen.
We started our vacation rental business (Hawaiian Paradise Vacation Rentals) in January of 2003 with 3 homes. It quickly grew to 14 that first year. I obtained my real estate license and joined Coldwell Banker Day Lum Properties.