Know Your Realtor
Good morning. By way of introduction, my name is Alistair Paterson. I’ve been in real estate on Kauai since 1987. Prior to that I lived in Colorado and prior to that I was on the north shore of Oahu from 1969 to 1978. Those of you with finely tuned ears will detect a slight accent and indeed you would be correct. I was born and raised in Africa in northern Zambia but at the age of 16 I set off in search of fame and fortune. Neither of those have been forthcoming unless of course you share my feeling that I am rich beyond measure to live in such a beautiful place.

Before going further I need you to know that the thoughts and suggestions I’m going to share with you are my own. They have not been sanctioned by the Board and indeed some of them may be contrary to their own. I am solely responsible for this subject matter and I commend the Board for having the courage to allow me to share my feelings from this platform.

Over the 25 years that I’ve lived in the islands, I’ve seen many, many changes. Regrettably most of them have not been for the better although there are some happy exceptions, most notable amongst them being a tremendous resurgence in recent years of the Hawaiian culture along with it’s language and it’s music. Kauai has been spared from much of the development that has forever changed the face and personality of Oahu and, to a lesser degree, Maui. I think you’ll all agree however that this island is at a critical crossroad, and the next few years will serve to determine how its future is shaped and how it’s past is preserved.

We, as Realtors, have a critical role to play. Outside of whom one marries, the purchase of a home is undoubtedly one of the most significant decisions in the course of most peoples lives and we are the catalysts and tour guides. After a quick four to six week course we are somehow magically transformed into reservoirs of wisdom, sufficiently deep that the general public trust us to assist them with financial decisions so large and critical that most of them will be encumbered with the obligations of them for the greater part of their adult lives.

Unfortunately most of us start our real estate careers woefully unprepared for the responsibilities that come with our license, and its small wonder that our industry as a whole is regarded with a great deal of suspicion. Surveys confirm that we enjoy a credibility rating that is only marginally better than used car salesman and it is certainly true that in recent years, the general public of Hawaii has come to regard us primarily as proponents of development at any cost – as silver tongued, fast talking, hustlers intent only on procuring another commission. Very few of us are indigenous to this island. As a matter of interest, please raise your hand if you are an active real estate person and you were born on Kauai. It’s a fact that we have several brokerages on the island where the majority of the agents are new to the island within the past five years, and oftentimes their broker is just as green as they are.

The image the public has of us is not a pretty one. However I believe it doesn’t do us justice or come close to presenting a real and accurate picture of how hard the majority of us work at providing our clients and customers with the service they deserve and need. At this critical time in our islands growth, I asked myself what is it that we can do to better project an image that we can all be proud of, and, after giving the matter a great deal of thought, I came up with a list of ten key items that I personally am going to strive to include in my business life.

Here then are what I have chosen to call

“Ten Keys to having a successful Real Estate Career on Kauai while still being able to sleep happily at night!”

1. I will strive to pronounce Hawaiian place names correctly and I will learn to understand their meaning. I am continually amazed at how few people in our industry make this a priority. I would be prepared to bet that the majority of our membership can not pronounce even half of the place names of this island correctly. On numerous occasions I’ve heard agents absolutely butcher even the most basic of Hawaiian words. Not only is it embarrassing, it’s disrespectful.

2. I will learn as much as possible about this land and try to understand the most appropriate uses for it. Most of us are great at “talking the talk” and we can preach at great length about the all the features of a home, but how many of us have made a real commitment to understanding the nuances and character of this aina?

3. I will promote the concept of “de-maximising” density. The first question most of us ask when presented with a new listing for vacant land is “how many homes is it zoned for”. Many of us, myself included have promoted and benefited from CPR’s. We have successfully used this vehicle to divide and sell off parcels to multiple owners with the result that there are many many areas where homes are literally crammed onto tiny parcels with inadequate roads and sub-standard improvements. If we continue to promote this concept on every parcel, we shall have no one but ourselves to blame when the golden goose dies, and our island is covered with postage stamp parcels and back to back homes. With very, very few exceptions, it is impossible to have a viable, legitimate agricultural operation on a two or three acre parcel. I believe if we focus on encouraging our clients to build less rather than more, we shall be acting in the best long term interests of this island.

4. I will promote both myself and my listings accurately and honestly. In just this past week alone I have seen no fewer than ten listings promoting their land or home as the finest property on Kauai. We all have a tendency to embellish but our credibility with the general public is increasingly suspect. I also find it questionable when agents feel the need to advertise themselves as honest and trustworthy. By implication this infers that the rest of us are not and, as we are all sworn to abide by the NAR Code of Ethics, this claim should be both superfluous and redundant. Imagine if you will a heart surgeon who promoted himself as “accurate” or a chef who advertised himself as “hygienic” Most of us would be suspicious of a used car salesman who described himself as “honest Abe” and yet we’re beginning to do the same thing. And here’s another thing I believe presents us in an unfavorable light to the general public. We insist on telling everybody how much money we’re making with press releases that announce the millions of dollars worth of property we’ve sold. Not too long ago I sold almost $30 million in one year. I was elated! Stories about Al Paterson, multi-million dollar agent to the stars appeared on the front page of the business section and I religiously sent copies of the articles to everyone I could think of, both in Hawaii and on the mainland. And here’s what I discovered. It didn’t generate one bit of extra business for me, not one. And it cost me some from people who thought I no longer wanted to sell their half a million dollar home or two hundred thousand dollar condo. And several prominent local business people and clients actually stopped referring business to me because they thought I was too much of a high profile figure. Additionally local people who value a humble approach and dislike arrogance were offended. Yes – I know it works well on the mainland, but it certainly won’t serve you well over here.

5. I will avoid profiteering. Here’s one I’m sure you will have mixed emotions about (and you know of course how we define mixed emotions – it’s rather like watching ones mother-in-law drive over a cliff in one’s brand new car!) but one I feel is extremely important. In a vibrant and quickly accelerating market, it’s not that difficult to purchase and flip properties for a healthy profit. After all we have the advantage of legitimized insider trading and I’m certainly not opposed to agents buying and selling property. I am however very concerned when millionaire agents and their immediate family members purchase properties in working class neighborhoods and then immediately attempt to re-sell them at a huge profit. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth and does nothing to improve our image with the members of that neighborhood.

6. I will endeavor to understand the challenges faced by government and county officials. It’s easy to get very frustrated by the ever increasing delays both we and our clients are faced with at the Building and Planning Departments, and I’m not saying that there isn’t room for huge improvement within these departments. However, by observation I can tell you that the vast majority of these employees are faced with an intimidating workload and constant public ridicule. I, for one, would hate to do their job, and I feel if we all made an effort to appreciate the challenges they face, they in turn will respond positively.

7. I will respect the privacy of my fellow brokers. Because we are in an industry that requires us to be on call 24/7, some of us tend to forget that we all need quiet time to re-charge our batteries and to enjoy our families. I expect my clients to call me at all hours of the day and night but I get upset when an agent calls me on Christmas Day to say they’d like to show a listing of mine that afternoon. This past 4th of July I got a phone call at 6.30 in the morning from a very unapologetic agent who wanted to preview a property at 8am just in case he wanted to show it the following week. Needless to say, my best wishes to him were not exactly the most benevolent!

8. I will strive to do what is morally right and to honor and respect the rights of my fellow brokers. In this industry we are often faced with challenging choices, some of which while legally acceptable are morally questionable. What do I mean by this? Well let’s take the case of a broker who has a property listed for several years. Through no fault of theirs, they are unable to sell the property and ultimately lose the listing. Anybody in this business for any length of time will have had this happen to them, after all it’s all the brokers fault that a property doesn’t sell – right!!! It’s never the seller! In any event they lose the listing and lo and behold, the very next day another broker presents the seller with an offer! They learned about the property through the other broker and indeed actually used the other broker’s advertising material to promote the property to the client. Now legally they’ve probably done nothing wrong but morally I would question their judgment. And it’s also questionable as to whether they will have served their clients best interests. The ex-listing agent will almost certainly have in depth knowledge about the property that could help consummate the transaction. I could think of several other examples but my time is running short. Suffice it to say that we should all strive to deal with our fellow brokers in the same fashion as we would like them to deal with us.

9. I will learn to say no to clients and customers whose needs and desires do not match our community vision for Kauai. This may sound very judgmental but ask yourself this – what do the vast majority of Kauains, both old timers and newcomers, value above all else? The obvious answer is the natural beauty and the aloha lifestyle that still remain. And these are finite qualities that are going to come under increasing pressure in the next few years. As an associate of mine is fond of saying “These are the good old days” and, if we want to maintain the quality of them, for the long term, we’re all going to have to do our part. Being in a commission based industry makes it very difficult for the new agent to financially survive their first few years, and the temptation to compromise one values is a very real one. There are thousands of morally irresponsible developers who look to Kauai as the land of opportunity, indeed some of them are within our own ranks, and it’s up to us to act as a first line of defense. I encourage all of us to walk away from people whose actions are contrary to the best long term interests of Kauai. A prime example of this is the current “Green Belt Fiasco” in Princeville. People were encouraged to buy and sell land that everyone who lives there knows full well was promoted and intended as parkland and open space. And yet some of our leading realtors were more than happy to participate in the transactions even though they knew it was a divisive issue that would change the personality of whole neighborhoods within this community forever.

10. I will work to promote the long term best interests of the island and the community in which I live, even if these interests are contrary to my own financial gain, and I will commit myself to doing business in a fashion that preserves and promotes our unique island lifestyle. If we can all do this, not only will we have served our community and our clients well, we will also be well rewarded. We may sacrifice short term gains, but what we lose we shall more than make up for in the long term. I once saw a trade union banner that exclaimed “We inherit the past – we design the future”. Kauai is a very small island with incredibly gorgeous but fragile resources. We can continue with business as normal, ignoring our past mistakes and making more of the same, or we can collectively move up to a higher level and become a powerful promoter of a future we can all be proud of.

Thank you.


"Ten Keys to having a successful Real Estate Career on Kauai while still being able to sleep happily at night!”