Sometimes it’s Not All Leis and Mai Tais at the Beach

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The image that turns beachfront dreams into nightmares

The image that turns beachfront dreams into nightmares

With Darby in the rear-view mirror, it seemed an appropriate time to remind readers that second homes aren’t all worry-free fabulousness.  If you can’t bear the thought of seeing this picture aimed at your vacation paradise, renting may be the way to go.

Second home living is almost always wonderful, but you have to understand what Mother Nature can toss your way … be that hurricane, earthquake, forest fire, blizzard, flood, tornado, or even a volcano. I say this because many popular vacation home locales are in more precarious areas than our main homes … because often these precarious settings are also beautiful.

What’s “lucky” for Hawai’i is that Darby  dropped from hurricane to tropical storm and only drenched Hawai’i with flooding and minimal power outages. When Darby passed my home Sunday night, it produced a ton of rain, nearby minor power outages, and definitely a day of window-rattling, but being a solid concrete structure, it didn’t sustain significant damage.

Thankfully, it’s not 1992’s hurricane Iniki which was the most powerful hurricane to hit Hawai’i in recorded history. It’s also important to realize sometimes damage goes deep.  It’s only been in the last few months that the Coco Palms resort on Kaua’i, destroyed by Iniki, was demolished with a plan to rebuild … 24 years later.

Sun, surf and sand are enticing, but as Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting said …

Be Prepared.

Remember: When I’m not stirring up trouble in Dallas, Texas or Honolulu, Hawaii for Candysdirt.com and SecondShelters.com, I’m off scouting interesting locations for a second home.  In 2016, my writing was recognized with Bronze and Silver awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors. If you’re a Realtor with second home clients who’d like me to feature their journey, shoot me an email sharewithjon@candysdirt.com

Jon Anderson

Jon Anderson

1 Comment

  1. Candy Evans on July 25, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    We spent the night on an estate in Kona The Big Island during a tsunami in the fall of 2011. It was a friends’ birthday party. The GM of the Four Seasons (where we were staying) was sitting at the table behind me. My kids had forced me to turn off/put away my phone (why are they always doing that?) I heard him talking about when it would hit, turned on my phone to have people from Dallas texting me about the tsunami headed for Hawaii. Then I texted my cousin who is a meteorologist in Honolulu. He advised we stay put at the estate since it was high and everyone from the Four Seasons was being relocated to the Golf Clubhouse. I begged to go down to the hotel and see it, I really wanted to see the huge waves. Alas, they said no, and I think we passed out in the Love Shack until 4 am. Moral of the story: who cares about the weather as long as you are in the Love Shack!