Posted on: Wednesday, July 18, 2001
Big Isle lots to be sold by Internet auction
By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Big Island residential development this Sunday will take the unusual step of auctioning multimillion-dollar beachfront properties over the Internet.
Kamalani, a 30-acre plot of land near Waikoloa Beach Resort on the Kohala Coast, will start the auction at 3 p.m. for 14 parcels on the edge of the Waikoloa Beach Golf Course. Bidding starts at $475,000 for the least expensive property and $3 million for the most expensive, a 37,500-square-foot plot overlooking the ocean.
The auction is part of a grand-opening sale for Kamalani, a property bought in February 2000 by California developer James Ratkovich and Hawai'i real estate firm Makena Holdings LLC.
A live auction will be kicked off at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort, but buyers can also register to make online bids, and will be able to track the progress of bidding in "real time," Kamalani officials said.
Interested bidders must register with Kamalani and mail a $25,000 "good funds" deposit to Title Guaranty.
Kamalani officials declined to disclose how many potential bidders had signed up, but said there has been significant interest.
Neither grand-opening sales nor Internet marketing are new for Hawai'i's high-end residential developments — but the online auction may be, several Big Island real estate experts said.
"There's a number of developments out there that will be watching this auction — and if it has success, you can be sure that the others will follow the lead," said Mark Johnson, vice president at Bill Mills Investment Co., a Honolulu property company that developed 49 Black Sand Beach on the Big Island.
The auction could prove a good marketing tool to appeal to high-tech millionaires, Johnson said. An online sale also gives Kamalani a much broader reach, and could generate higher prices, he said.
"As eBay has demonstrated, Internet auctions can produce some interesting results when the bidding frenzy mentality takes hold," he said. "It will be extremely interesting to see if that mentality manifests itself with such big-ticket items."
