Paul Kyno and Andrew “Drew” Vento took very different paths last year in arriving at a similar destination atop the real estate world on Kaua’i. Kyno, a Realtor Associate with Sleeping Giant Realty, Inc. in Lihu’e, led the industry on
Paul Kyno and Andrew “Drew” Vento took very different paths last year in arriving at a similar destination atop the real estate world on Kaua’i.
Kyno, a Realtor Associate with Sleeping Giant Realty, Inc. in Lihu’e, led the industry on Kaua’i last year in terms of total sales volume, over $32 million on just eight transactions, an average sale price of $4 million.
Vento, a Realtor and Graduate of the Real Estate Institute with Makai Properties in Po’ipu with his own real estate Web site (www.drewsnews.com), sold more properties than anyone on the island last year, 24 for a total of around $4.7 million, or $199,000 per average sale.
Some of Kyno’s current listings are on the market for total prices over what Vento sold all of last year, and the differences in chosen clientele seem as much purposeful as something the men simply fell into through their love of selling.
One of Kyno’s 2001 sales was a 350-acre parcel at Ko’olau near Moloa’a on the North Shore, sold to a California investment guru for $22.5 million. It was the top single vacant-land sale in the state last year in terms of dollar value, and Kyno appreciates the fact that it was not sold to a developer seeking to build hundreds of homes or a resort complex.
Vento said he didn’t think one of his sales last year was over $500,000, and that’s fine with him. While closing 24 deals representing buyers, he also was Realtor of record representing 45 sellers, making him the busiest Realtors on the island in terms of number of transactions.
With 69 transactions, Vento averaged more than one closing a week last year.
That doesn’t mean that Kyno with his eight sales of 13 listings made him any less busy. The Ko’olau deal was 18 months in the making. Another 2001 sale for Kyno was a luxury home along ‘Anini Beach, which sold at the beginning of last year for $5.5 million and was the highest home price ever recorded for a single-family residential transaction on Kaua’i.
It was also the second-largest single residential transaction in the state last year, behind only a large condominium project resale in Kona on the Big Island.
Not surprisingly, Sleeping Giant and Makai Properties were one and two in sales volume last year, respectively, with Sleeping Giant recording 69 sales for over $46 million, or an average of around $671,000 per sale. Makai Properties sold 131 properties, for a sales volume over $41 million, and an average transaction of just over $319,000.
Several of Vento’s Makai Properties’ office mates continued 2001 on the torrid pace set in record-breaking 2000, with Terry Kamen recording 10 sales for over $10 million, Makai founder Robert “Bob” Keown closing 19 sales for over $5 million, Rick Shaw selling 21 properties for over $4.7 million, and Brenda Nieto selling 15 properties for over $3.7 million.
Coldwell Banker Bali Hai Realty, Inc. was third in terms of sales volume, with over $31.5 million in sales on 53 transactions for an average sale of $594,000, and Century 21 All Islands was second to Makai Properties in total sales with 77, and fourth in sales volume of $31.3 million, with an average sale price of $407,000.
Both Kyno and Vento either are of have been involved in real estate development, Kyno having to his credit some international condominium development experience in Japan, Canada, the Mainland, and Hawai’i both Kaua’i and beyond.
In January, Kyno completed development of a 200-unit project in Kihei, Maui.
Vento and Makai are in the middle of developing for sale residential lots in Kalaheo in the Kakela Makai subdivision off Pu’u Road, near where Kyno while working for the County Housing Agency started the local nonprofit Kauai Housing Development Corporation, which in turn developed a 28-unit apartment project for very-low-income seniors.
Around the same time, Kyno also helped transform the historic Lihue Theater into one-bedroom apartments for low-income seniors.
Of the 79 Kakela Makai lots, 36 sales closed, and 10 were in escrow as of late last month.
Kyno was third on the 2000 list of top-producing agents, selling seven properties for over $16 million, and with the market as it continues to be and the listings he has been showing already this year, seems poised to be at or near the top of the list for 2002 as well.
Vento was 20th in 2000, selling 39 properties for just over $8 million.
Both men quickly credit their office brokers in charge, Keown at Makai Properties and Debra Blachowiak at Sleeping Giant, with aiding their outstanding sales results. Both also talk with pride about how important it is to be surrounded by caring professionals as co-workers.
It was neither one’s goal to reach professional pinnacles in terms of sales volume or numbers of sales. They just like getting people onto property they really want to own, or selling property if sellers are motivated to do so.
“I just look to do a good job, and have satisfied customers,” said Kyno, 52, single, and a Wailua Homesteads resident who twice had the Coco Palms Resort in escrow over the last few years before different events kept those deals from closing.
“I’m respectful for every sale,” said Vento, recalling the lean years of the mid-1990s after Hurricane ‘Iniki and a generally spiraling national and state economy sent the island’s real estate market tumbling as well. He sold just 10 properties in 1993, the first full year after ‘Iniki came in September of 1992.
“I’ve been selling real estate on Kaua’i since 1986, and it’s a good feeling when the results of all your hard work and effort finally materialize,” said Vento, a Kalaheo resident, married to Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School teacher Dina Vento. They have two children at the school, John-Louis and Megan.
“Selling 69 properties is a lot of work, but there is a great feeling of accomplishment when a sale is concluded and your buyer or seller have reached their real estate goals,” Vento said.
“It’s still gangbusters,” Kyno said of real estate activity on the island so far this year. There was a dip after Sept. 11, but the market is brisk once again. Kyno, in fact, had to leave the interview for this story to bolt to Kilauea to show one of his multi-million-dollar listings.
Kyno, who didn’t even know he was the top-volume Realtor on the island until one of his peers called to congratulate him, has a $22-million listing on 64 acres of land overlooking Secret Beach (Kauapea Beach) in Kilauea; a $6.4 million home for sale in Kilauea’s Seacliff Plantation (Crater Hill); and a $4 million vacant lot overlooking ‘Anini Beach along Anini Road.
He has had his real estate license hanging at Sleeping Giant for 16 years, started out selling commercial real estate, and learned very early on that single-family home sales wasn’t going to be his niche.
Sleeping Giant being the exclusive Kaua’i agent for Sotheby’s International Realty means the little Lihu’e firm gets huge international exposure where others can’t, like inside Sotheby’s auction brochures and other marketing tools.
“Word of mouth means a lot,” and that spreads faster with Sotheby’s reputation for spectacular, high-value properties, said Kyno.
Kyno figures the reason Kaua’i remains such a hot property with the rich if not the famous is because of the continued volatility in the stock market, with that volatility encouraging people to “park” some of their money in Hawai’i and Kaua’i real estate.
When these rich, busy people come looking for property for sale, Kyno knows they are instantly serious buyers, with no need for bank financing to support purchases, and usually with their own accountants, lawyers and other necessary experts in tow.
It’s simply a matter of finding them something they like and want. But that also means a lot of preparation work, catering to their needs and their very busy schedules, because an unorganized seller will quickly drive these types of people in another direction.
Though Vento deals more with quantity than Kyno’s multi-million-dollar clients, he also understands the need for diligent preparation and follow-through, and the need to match motivated buyers and sellers. “If there’s product, we can sell it.”
Both also have developed lasting friendships with many of the buyers and sellers they have helped over the years.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
