Pauleen Sullivan's Kapoho property

[bgl]

I just posted information about Pauleen's property in the "For sale" section, so anyone who's interested should check that out. However, there's also a link to a photo gallery, with PLENTY of photos of the various palms on the Sullivan property. Lots of great palm photos, so I'm posting the link here as well:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KapohoPalmGall...pohoPalmGallery

Enjoy lots of unusual palms!

[Alan_Tampa]

That is absolutely incredible. I'd give my left kidney for that place.

Alan

[rozpalm]

Wow! What a place! Those c.renda's are incredible. I can't believe there are over 900! If they are all near the size I saw, you could pay for the place just by selling those off, wholesale!

[Urban Rainforest]

WOW !!!!

[rthink]

What an incredible place!..It looks like heaven for me. Do you know why they'd sell such a place?

[Kim]

Very impressive collection.

[Walter John]

That is absolutely incredible. I'd give my left kidney for that place.

Alan

And I'd give my left arm to be ampidextrous.

[bgl]

Chalemchart,

Pauleen, who has been an IPS member for more than 50 years, lives in Ventura, CA (near Los Angeles) and has owned her Hawaii property since about 1990. Unfortunately, due to health issues, she probably won't be able to come back to enjoy her palms here in Hawaii, and that's the reason for the decision to put the property on the market.

Bo-Göran

[deezpalms]

Very sweet! I'm bummed that I didn't have the time to tour her garden last time I visited

[realarch]

I must be on somebody's list, had to have been the HIPS membership. I received the large glossy postcard from the real estate company that's selling the Sullivan property. What a gorgeous place.

Tim

[DoomsDave]

I'm afraid to ask, but how much are they asking?

[BS Man about Palms]

I must be on somebody's list, had to have been the HIPS membership. I received the large glossy postcard from the real estate company that's selling the Sullivan property. What a gorgeous place.

Tim

I think it was So Cal members? I got the same postcard.

[bgl]

Dave,

No need to be afraid - just check out the Palm Exchange/For Sale sub-forum!

Bo-Göran

[RainForestt Robert]

I just spend some time looking at the photos. My co-workers wanted to know why I was drooling so much. One looked over my shoulder and wanted to know if I had any of the red stem palms for sale. I said yes and sold three 25 gals. just like that. If I could I would cash in my assets and buy the estate. But then what would I do?

Robert

[TikiRick]

Pauleen's place was on the tour for the IPS Biennial (in 2004 was it?) along with Bo's place and a few others on the Big Island.

Her place is like no other. Being from Florida, I had never seen such lava 'gravel' in my entire life. It is much like walking around on Mars....only lava and luxurious, healthy, ultra-tropical palms. It was unbelieveable to say the least.

I think it is a far asking price for what you get. Hello, Florida Lottery? Just sent my winnings to Pauleen Sullivan in Ventura, CA!

[madagascarbob]

The Email address didnt work ?

[BS Man about Palms]

Bo, do you think any D. "white stem" ended up at Pauleens?

[madagascarbob]

Bo, do you think any D. "white stem" ended up at Pauleens?

I know she had one .

[Don Little]

I'm afraid to ask, but how much are they asking?

I got a flyer with my order from floribunda and it was listed ata a cool 1.2 mil which imo seems like a good deal still way to much for me

[madagascarbob]

I'm afraid to ask, but how much are they asking?

I got a flyer with my order from floribunda and it was listed ata a cool 1.2 mil which imo seems like a good deal still way to much for me

Thanks that will save me a phone call .

[redant]

Fantastic property, seems well priced for the amount of land. Is it zone 1 lava flow? (is that the highest or lowest). If I as mobile at this point I'd have serious interest.

[bgl]

Rick, yes that day when we had the IPS tour our gardens was indeed a memorable day. It was May 13, 2004, and we had right around 200 people here. They were on 4 buses, visiting our garden, Pauleen's in Kapoho and Lars and Leanne Swan's garden (also here in Leilani Estates). I have to assume everybody was on palm overload at the end of that day! Incidentally, Lars and Leanne sold their property a couple of years ago, and they now have 40 acres up on the Hamakua coast, where they're planting palms!

Bo-Göran

Oh, and yes, Kapoho is indeed in Lava zone 1, and that's the highest risk zone. An eruption in 1960 actually wiped out most of the little village of Kapoho. That could be good or bad depending on how you look at things. It may be several hundred years before the next eruption in the same area - if ever...!

And I checked an e-mail from Joy last night - it shows joydillon01@yahoo.com so probably best to use that one for any serious offers!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Ok, that was a beautiful slidehow of the property...

One question... Why aren't there any weeds?

[bgl]

Ahhhh, Bill, that's a special story! And I hope Terry (Pauleen's son) won't mind me telling it.... When you walk around the property Terry will always be checking for weeds, and they are VERY easy to spot in the black cinder. On those few occasions when a weed is indeed found, Terry will instantly spring into action and remove it. I believe Terry is on constant weed patrol when he's over here (he lives in SoCal)!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Cool story. Terry, if your listening, you are welcome to my shadehouse anytime you'd like.

I'm saving my pennies Bo. One day...

[TikiRick]

Bo,

A few questions for you:

a) is Pauleen capable of conversing on PalmTalk?

is Terry, her son, on PalmTalk?

c) are you aware if they imported lava gravel to create the mounds?

d) are most of the palms planted as seedlings and if so, is Jeff Marcus (Floribunda Palms) her main supplier?

e) is fertilizer really necessary with the rich, organic lava rock?

f) do they have irrigation?

Sorry for so many questions. I am formulating a final exam as I type this!!

[Kim]

Rick, this link will answer a few of those questions:

http://www.clarkhawaii.com/mapsearch/?acti...&mls=202754

[LJG]

1.2 Million might be a good deal if you are a palm nut. But this is not a good deal if you want 11 acres with a 2 bedroom/1 bath house on the east coast AND do not really care for palm value. I have done a lot of research on this matter and this to me is not priced within the standard. So obviously their value of the house was also calculated with their idea of worth on the palm trees. Would you agree East Coast Hawaiians?

This is kind of like if you are part of the "Jelly Bean of the Month Club" and you hang out with Jelly Bean collectors. One person in the club builds a Jelly Bean house and puts it on the market for well above the norm. All the Jelly Beaners eeww and awweehh about how awesome it is, but no one else finds the value in it. When I showed a few people this listing (who we are working on getting something together with), they were like "why all the rock? Where are the trees? 1.2 Million!!!???" Stupid non-palm people.

[bgl]

Kim,

Thanks a lot for posting that link.

And Rick, I'll attempt some additional answers; no, I don't believe Pauleen would be up for participation here on PalmTalk, and I'm fairly certain that Terry is not a PalmTalk member. But I'll send him an e-mail and see if I can encourage him to register! I have no idea what percentage of the plants came from Jeff Marcus, but I'm sure it was a substantial number, and he may very well have been the main "supplier". Terry may not even have this information. And yes, I believe an overwhelming number were indeed planted as seedlings. And yes, fertilizer is necessary.

Bo-Göran

Len - just saw your post after I had added the above. I don't believe it would be appropriate for me to comment on whether $1.2M is a good price or not. A good way of judging how realistic the price is would probably be to check prices for 5 acre farm lots in the Kapoho area without a structure, and thus find out what the approx average price is for one acre and then multiply that with eleven and add the estimated value/cost of a 1100 sq ft house. I don't know what the going rate is for a 5 acre lot in Kapoho, but shouldn't be difficult to find out.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Len, sounds like you'd be buying more than just a house with acerage... It seems your stepping into a working (profitable?) farm.

[Mark@PalmBeach]

Wow, What a fantastic place, but a little too mono-culture (IE just palms) for my tastes (as if I really had the $$$$ to buy it).

What totally amazes me is there is not one weed, or grass clump to be found. Do weeds not grow in Hawaii? (yeah I know they are called palm trees!) I can't believe someone is managing that place so meticulously or maybe just spraying the heck out of it with roundup.

Right now with all the rain we are having in Florida, it is a real challenge to keep ahead of the weeds, and wild grape vines.

That really baffles me. Someone enlighten me

<<< I just saw that the weed question has been answered. I am still BLOWN away by that, Amazing!!!! >>>>.

[LJG]

A working farm can easily be made. And cheap. Much easier to do in HI then here in SoCal or FL.

---

Understand I am not beating her up. She has an amazing place that I would love to own. She can sell for whatever she wants! My point is that only a plam person would pay 1.2 for that. Just my hunch.

Len, sounds like you'd be buying more than just a house with acerage... It seems your stepping into a working (profitable?) farm.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Agreed, and if I had 1.2 in my back pocket, I'd already be enroute!

[bgl]

I can't keep up here...! But, yes, the working farm & all the seeding C. renda AND the C. renda seedlings/young plants in the nursery operation is obviously an added value. How much? All depends on who you are I guess and how interested you would be in pursuing this. But I can think of worse things to do than to grow and sell Cyrtostachys renda on the Big Island!

And Mark - yes it is indeed "mono culture", but that can easily be changed since there's plenty of space in between the palms to add other plants. A "plant person", as opposed to a "palm person" wouldn't have any difficulties transforming the place into a garden with more variety if he/she would choose to do so.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

MMMMmmmm... Lipstick hearts of palm salad.

[paulgila]

i agree with len although i think it would have to be a very LAZY palm person.most of the fun of this palm thing is designing yer own garden & planting the palms yerself.if thats already done whats the point?

[Kim]

Lazy? Are you kidding? I look at that property and see WORK written all over it. A person would have to have the money to buy it AND the money to maintain and run it. If you want to plant more palms, there are four empty acres, and in the meantime you can enjoy those that are already mature.

It's funny, when I looked at the price compared to other listings in the immediate area, I figured the palms were essentially 'free', if all the equipment and outbuildings are included, but perhaps the other listings are high as well. Not the same as actual sales.

[Matt in SD]

I'm with Kim on the price. I think they have dropped it quite a bit from where they first listed it at. Kapoho is a pretty expensive area with many $1million+ houses and there are two separate/buildable lots here. There are slightly larger homes for sale on 5 acre parcels that are over $1 million, but then there's a lot of stuff listed over there that is just not realisitic in this market. But while I don't think it's too far overpriced, they're going to have to really luck out to find a buyer anyways. The last I had heard, in lava zone 1, banks will not loan more than $300K. So whoever the lazy/or not lazy palm nut that wants to buy this place is, they won't need to worry about a monstrous house payment, they just need about $900K cash lying around. I am not a realtor nor a mortgage broker so any potential buyer should obviously check mortgage possibilities, but I have heard many times there are flat limits on max loans in LZ1.

I've been to the garden, and it really is amazing. It is by far the best garden to go to if you want to decide what palms you like best, what their true form is, how best to use them in a lansdscape etc... You can really see each plant in it's entirety with not distraction of surrounding stuff. My wife really liked it for this reason, and she had a list of the palms she most wanted after visiting (other garden's were just a total blur to her). The garden is a tremendous resource for us palm freaks to say the least, someone should go through there and photograph every palm with the ID for an addendum to Genera palmarum or something.

I'm curious about this general issue of long time palm nuts having to sell their places and hoping/expecting to get lots of money back on their hard work and expense in creating their garden. There is, as most of us know, a similar situation in SoCal where a famous palm garden is for sale at a really astronomical price. I can understand the sentiment of the owners that their places have had so much more work put into them than "comparable" properties in the area. And I personally think what these people have done is amazing and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to see these places. But like Len said, how many "normal" people really find value in that work, and as Paul said, most palm growers want to do their own gardens. When I started my garden I was not a plant freak, and I expected that the work I was doing was a good investment that would more than pay for itself if we ever sold. But, the moment I went beyond the Home Depot selection and planted enough plants to say I had "canopy" I was fully aware of the fact that all further work on the garden would not be paid back in the event that we ever had to sell...it could even be considered a liability, most people don't want a high maintenance yard. I have no problem with this fact, and I think anyone creating a garden because they love the process and love the planes would feel the same way. I guess it doesn't hurt to try to sell for a extra high price, maybe they'll get lucky and stumble upon a rich palm nut that wants to buy something like this. But is there any precedence for a property like this to fetch well over the standard market value? I'm sure this is not the first time a property with millions of dollars spent and 1000's of hours of work put in towards a singular obsession that has gone for sale.

I do want to repeat...I love Paulene's garden and totally admire what she's done. I hope there is someone with money out there that sees this as a dream opportunity, it would be great for them and great for Paulene. It's just an issue I've thought about and I'm really curious what will happen to both this garden and the SoCal one that is for sale.

Matt

[madagascarbob]

Karel made very good money selling his palms out of the ground before moving to the Big Island . Then just sold his house for a normal price .

[rozpalm]

Len, I don't know what those c.renda's sell for where you live, but here in S.Florida there is a nursery near me that has the large ones like I saw in the picture for up to $5000. I read she has 900 of them. Let's say the average price price is $500. That's $450k right there. I think you have to look at this property as others maybe have said as buying a business that comes with land. Now the big question is, can you ship the c.redna off the island with dirt on the roots or do you have to bare root them, which knowing c.renda and its love of water, probably is a death sentence for them.