ReCasa Financial Blog

Wildfires recently decimated the Hawaiian Island of Maui, with many lives lost and a virtual complete destruction of the town of Lahaina. While the full cause of the fires will be gleaned in the coming months, thousands of residents are without homes and an entire community faces the challenge of a massive rebuild.

An estimated 86% of structures burned down were residential, leaving families without homes. While on-site reporting has been limited, rumors of deep-pocketed real estate investors attempting to take advantage of grieving homeowners are circulating.  These groups are reaching out to distressed property owners offering instant cash for their land. This has gotten the attention of local government.

Learn more here - Real estate developers try to capitalize off Maui wildfires - CBS News

Last March, Maui was struggling with a shortage of homes on the market causing bidding wars and causing selling prices to rise. According to the Realtors Association of Maui, the average price for a single-family home was $1,058,500 and $730,500 for a condominium.

As is clear to anyone who has visited the West side of Maui, Lahaina is sacred to the people who inhabit it.  As the community deals with the aftermath of the death and destruction, hopefully people can maintain their land, have support to rebuild homes and businesses, and Lahainatown will one day again be the serene, seaside hub it was before.