Help!

I%26#39;m trying to locate Kona Shores condos on Alii Drive, but I can%26#39;t get a map or location. Can anyone help? Where abouts is this resort? How far is it into Kailua-Kona?

Thanks for any help. Judith.

Help!

Resort?! It%26#39;s a very old wooden condo complex of small units, with no amenities and most of the units are rented on a long-term basis to transients. It%26#39;s about two miles from the center of the town. I hope you are not planning to stay there on your vacation.

Help!

TT was being generous and kind in his description...

they are calling it a resort...really!

Look at Kona By the sea, Magic Sands, Kahalulu Villas

Thank you both for your replies.

Are we talking about the same place?

Please go to www.vrbo.com and look up Kona Shores. It doesn%26#39;t look awful. Maybe I%26#39;ve got the wrong street address and I%26#39;m sorry I called it a resort! It%26#39;s a condo complex.

I really appreciate the prompt replies and the help I%26#39;m getting.

Judith.

I submit the rate that the KS owners are requesting seems to be so under the average condo rate for the area, that caution is prudent.

Bill

well its your vacation........ and I know where it is very well.

4 red flags

1. TT%26#39;s personal description as a real estate professional and travel expert

2. No laundry in unit coin laundry, and only a window mounted AC or a little standup unit in the living room or Most units have central air, and in condo laundry..free washer and dryer.

3. VRBO.... the managemnt and person you are dealing with lives 3000 miles away.... if anything goes wrong. tough... you have no resourse and a cleaning fee. most condos have none, nor a deposit....and use a credit card.

4. Price.....50% below the area...why? Its a very old wooden building... bugs love wood in the tropics.

In further support of TT and HD, two more points:

1. Not only is the project old and without amenities, the units are not just small most are incredibly TINY. The large majority of the one bedroom units are well under 500 square feet (equivalent to a spacious hotel room), and the two bedroom units range from 500 square feet to about 700 SF...about as small as one can be physically designed.

2. As Dan pointed out the cheap rental rate should raise suspicions. Another comparative quality indicator is their current selling prices. Kona Shores units are presently listed for about $175,000 to just over $200,000; at the bottom for units in the Kailua-Kona to Keauhou Corridor, at least $100,000 and up to more than $300,000 below the general market.

These points remind me of the Waiakea Villas condo project in Hilo (they are wooden too). They were (maybe still are) the cheapest condo to buy in Hilo, far below anything else.

They became a haven for drug dealing and users, transients, there were fights, just a horrible place.

In an area where the cost of living is so high, the very cheapest accommodations are going to attract not only the budget traveler but the transients. Unless the management is extremely on top of it, and still, they have to be careful about telling unsavory people they cannot stay. (discrimination laws).

Such units also attract youth who just want a room to party in.

It is really best not to seek out the cheapest of all.

I don%26#39;t know this complex, but I know the general pattern.

Similarly, with camping on the Big Island, the low cost attracts people who are very marginal.

Judith, I didn%26#39;t look at the pictures on the VRBO link because I don%26#39;t have to, I know the complex very well. It%26#39;s not vacation rental place, I wouldn%26#39;t stay there even for free.

I want to thank you all again for your honest opinions and advice. You have saved my husband and I alot of money and a holiday that would have been very unpleasant, to say the least. It will be our first time in Hawaii and we want it to be wonderful. Many thanke for such a great web-site.

Judith.

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