The Robin Masters Estate (Pahonu)

[Rembrandt's Girl]

OK, I gotta' know...am I the only one who checks Pahonu's listing on a daily basis (ok, sometimes a few times a day ) to see if the Listing Status is still "Active"? Every time I do my heart starts beating a little bit faster!

http://www.oahureale.com/201400772-41-5 ... -Waimanalo

~RG

[Sam]

OK, I gotta' know...am I the only one who checks Pahonu's listing on a daily basis (ok, sometimes a few times a day ) to see if the Listing Status is still "Active"? Every time I do my heart starts beating a little bit faster!

http://www.oahureale.com/201400772-41-5 ... -Waimanalo

~RG

Hi RG...I check it everyday in hopes than we will see the interior photos...and Welcome to the forum.

[ConchRepublican]

I received a followup phone call from my real estate contact in Hawai'i and he said they are still hesitant to release any pictures. It seems there is upkeep being done to "pretty-fy" the place, specificaly the interior.

[ptran4]

Found this interesting video of someone driving around Oahu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDBzBL ... fknI-0OmCQ

He passes by:

Island Hoppers at 40:37
Robin's Nest at 41:39

Cool perspective of the neighborhood of Waimanalo and how far Robin's Nest is from downtown Honolulu.
I've never been to Oahu, but it seems that the estate is a little far out and not in a highly desirable area (not a real neighborhood feel or upscale shopping nearby) compared to the Kahala area or even Kailua (which has the Pali Hwy nearby).
Within the past year, homes near Robin's Nest have sold for 2.8 and 3.6 mil, and a 1/3 acre lot went for 2.1 mil which would make the land value of Robin's Nest about 18.9 mil.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-49 ... 5639_zpid/
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-97 ... 5917_zpid/
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41-90 ... 5732_zpid/

Unfortunately, the chances of someone buying Robin's Nest and restoring it to MPI days are very slim. I would say less than 5%. My guess is a developer will come in and divide the 3 acres into three 1 acre lots and build a 10k sq ft house on each

See below for an example.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/210-N ... 0414_zpid/

[308GUY]

Thanks for posting the links.

Welcome to the forum!

[Col.Sanders]

Ptran4, thanks for sharing the Oahu video. It was very neat and I liked the music as well. Brought back some good memories!

The wife and I went to Oahu in May of 2012 for nine days. Not knowing any better, we took the public bus and went to Waimanalo Beach for the day. I knew it was a beautiful beach and wanted to get away from Waikiki. At the time of our Waimanalo visit, I DIDN'T realize how close we were to Robin's Nest. We were only a few hundred yards away... OMG! I wish I would have known because I would have done some swimming in the Tidal Pool. After we retuned home, I ended up buying all 8 seasons of DVD's for Magnum . We watched every episode which took SEVERAL months... The "light" switch finally came on and I then realized on how close we were to Robin's Nest. I still can't believe how close we were and didn't know...

For the record, I love Hawaii! We went to Maui in 2013. Best vacation ever! I hope to get back to Oahu one day and swim in that Tidal Pool! Hopefully, the estate will remain after it's sold...

PS - I still catch myself watching Magnum on Encore several times a week... It's great, I still enjoy and learn stuff the second time around... ( I guess third time around since I watched it in the 80's) LOL

[legto]

If I'm repeating what others have said forgive me, I'm new to this forum and there are 90+ pages to this thread.

I agree that a problem is location. It's a beautiful property but Waimanalo, particularly the eastern end of it is a dumpy area with greasy diners and rundown shacks on the other side of the highway. Another issue is beach or lack of same, there is in effect no beach in recent years which is a must for many (but not all) ocean front buyers and the days of adding your own sand or pumping sand as a private owner are long gone! Since you are away from desirable neighborhoods (It's a long drive to Kahala or Waikiki for shopping and dinning of the non Styrofoam variety) you might as well move to another island and get way more for way less.

By the time the house and property is redone or replaced to expected standards of an 8 figure property you would be way into mid 20's minimum (for only 20 times that you could have bought the whole island of Lanai, imagine the subdivision possibilities there!!). There are piles of buyers in the low millions but when you get to ten times that the pool becomes super shallow and very fussy. Hard to imagine someone pouring $20+ large into that area with no beach.

As for redeveloping; say you chopped it up into seven 60-75 foot wide lots you'd have to fetch $2M+ a pop for land just to break even, doesn't look like local land values support that (When talking land values on ocean front you must remember that the deeper the lot the lower the per foot value for obvious reasons). So just to hope to make money you'd need $4M a copy with a modest (relative term) home included. Just the taxes and interest cost for the 2-4 years you'd need to get permitted, demo, build and sell would cost a few million. Lastly hitting the small local market with several listings at once would hurt and slow transactions.

I think the price will have to drop substantially. Based quickly on the other listings I saw in this thread I think the Zillow number is about right. At that price I could see it work several ways including a hybrid where someone buys the whole thing to keep the area around the house (eastern half) and subdivide say 3 lots on the west and still be left with a generous wide frontage property with either a renovated historical house with a Hollywood history or a big ugly McMansion for a cost that makes sense.

Just my 2 cents!

[KENJI]

If I'm repeating what others have said forgive me, I'm new to this forum and there are 90+ pages to this thread.

I agree that a problem is location. It's a beautiful property but Waimanalo, particularly the eastern end of it is a dumpy area with greasy diners and rundown shacks on the other side of the highway. Another issue is beach or lack of same, there is in effect no beach in recent years which is a must for many (but not all) ocean front buyers and the days of adding your own sand or pumping sand as a private owner are long gone! Since you are away from desirable neighborhoods (It's a long drive to Kahala or Waikiki for shopping and dinning of the non Styrofoam variety) you might as well move to another island and get way more for way less.

By the time the house and property is redone or replaced to expected standards of an 8 figure property you would be way into mid 20's minimum (for only 20 times that you could have bought the whole island of Lanai, imagine the subdivision possibilities there!!). There are piles of buyers in the low millions but when you get to ten times that the pool becomes super shallow and very fussy. Hard to imagine someone pouring $20+ large into that area with no beach.

As for redeveloping; say you chopped it up into seven 60-75 foot wide lots you'd have to fetch $2M+ a pop for land just to break even, doesn't look like local land values support that (When talking land values on ocean front you must remember that the deeper the lot the lower the per foot value for obvious reasons). So just to hope to make money you'd need $4M a copy with a modest (relative term) home included. Just the taxes and interest cost for the 2-4 years you'd need to get permitted, demo, build and sell would cost a few million. Lastly hitting the small local market with several listings at once would hurt and slow transactions.

I think the price will have to drop substantially. Based quickly on the other listings I saw in this thread I think the Zillow number is about right. At that price I could see it work several ways including a hybrid where someone buys the whole thing to keep the area around the house (eastern half) and subdivide say 3 lots on the west and still be left with a generous wide frontage property with either a renovated historical house with a Hollywood history or a big ugly McMansion for a cost that makes sense.

Just my 2 cents!

Welcome aboard legto!

It's always great to hear someone else's opinion on Pahonu. You make some valid points and a few funny ones too....( dining of the non Styrofoam variety - good one).
I agree with you in that finding a buyer at that price point, who is then willing to sink millions into Pahonu to fix the place up will be a longshot. Bottom line it's a lot of money and I think Eve is in no rush to sell hence the price.....she can test the waters and see what happens for the next 3 to 6 months and maybe she gets lucky or maybe she slowy adjusts the price over time or even stands firm. She is in the driver's seat which is only fair. It's one of those strange things though.....she actually has the fate of Pahonu in her hands.......keep the price high and Pahonu is probably no more or lower it and it MIGHT be saved. Having said that, it's hard to say NO to more money when it is in the millions, even if it is Pahonu. We would all do the same with our own homes.....money talks. What will be, will be.......it's out of our hands

[KENJI]

Here is another example of don't believe everything you hear or read..............this article states Eve Anderson passed away in 2007......REALLY!
http://www.hlntv.com/slideshow/2014/02/ ... um-pi-sale

[legto]

Just watched the video; looks like the place was left to pot in 1988. Actually even in the Magnum era the place had already slipped.... Watch a early H5O from say 68-70 that featured the property and compare it to how it looked in the 80's.

Maintiaining such a large property in a tropical environment and a maritime environment is not to be underestimated. Everything grows like weeds in Hawaii and the moist salt air eats up steel, aluminum and concrete as well as rotting wood. This is especially a problem on the windward side of an island. When a property like that is let go it gets away from you fast. Forgetting the buildings just redoing sea walls, fencing and cleaning out and replanting the landscaping will eat up a million in a hurry. Just a sea wall like that is a thousand a foot. (learned that the hard way with a beach house in Maine)

I smell a tear down in the future. How old is the owner?

[308GUY]

Welcom legto!

You bring up some interesting points. I don't see where you've listed your location and obviously you're not obligated to say, but am curious as to where you are located.

Not questioning the validity of any of your post, as it sounds very accurate and from a knowledgeable source, and I sure wish some of it wasn't true, but I'd guess it's closer to reality than any of us would hope.

So can we say that pahonu is located in what might be considered non-prime, borderline, "undesirable" neighborhood? Well, that might be pushing it a little and doesn't sound quite right. Maybe we can say that it was built to be off the mainstream path, kind of "out of the way" away from the hussle, a get-a-way spot? It would make sense, that may be exactly what the producers were looking for back in the original H50 days? Just seems like the shopping centers, schools etc. are not real close. I don't know, I'm asking.

Anyway, it'll be interesting, if nothing else, to watch this play out and see what becomes of "Robins Nest".

Were I to come into more money than I knew what to do with, I'm not sure I would spend any of it on the existing plot. Maybe buy property in FL. or Cal. and build a replica with the interior that matches what we came to know as that of the show, complete with guesthouse in the proper configuration. Hey, you can't take a man's dreams away!

It's been said that you should not judge a man so much by what he does, but rather by what he longs to do. Takes a little thought to get the meaning, but I think I understand, and agree.

[KENJI]

Just watched the video; looks like the place was left to pot in 1988. Actually even in the Magnum era the place had already slipped.... Watch a early H5O from say 68-70 that featured the property and compare it to how it looked in the 80's.

Maintiaining such a large property in a tropical environment and a maritime environment is not to be underestimated. Everything grows like weeds in Hawaii and the moist salt air eats up steel, aluminum and concrete as well as rotting wood. This is especially a problem on the windward side of an island. When a property like that is let go it gets away from you fast. Forgetting the buildings just redoing sea walls, fencing and cleaning out and replanting the landscaping will eat up a million in a hurry. Just a sea wall like that is a thousand a foot. (learned that the hard way with a beach house in Maine)

I smell a tear down in the future. How old is the owner?

Hi legto,

Eve is 76 or 77 this year.
I agree with you on the maintenance....it is fall all year round......leaves etc. fall daily which makes it almost impossible for anyone to keep it tidy for long (unless you have a crew of Kenjis). I'll take fall year round in Hawaii over fall and winter anywhere else any day! The salt air is another big one...loads of corrosion that you can see all around the island. Interesting about the sea wall at a thousand a foot. Removal of that wall would be extremely expensive not to mention replacing it. I'm wondering how you do it without making an environmental mess. You might have to build another one behind the existing wall losing some land along the way.......and that is if you can get the rubber stamp from the city, another huge headache. Another route would be to build a temp. steel wall on the tidal pool side and do the work that way, but I see way more red tape that way.......a decision will have to be one day down the road that's for sure.

[Rembrandt's Girl]

Hi guys,

I took this picture of the boathouse from the tennis court when I was a guest of Mr. Masters so I thought you might like to see it...

OK, back from la-la land. I found this just now on flickr. My apologies if someone has already posted it. There are a few more of the grounds (and one with Mrs. Anderson walking across the grounds ) but I'll hold off on posting them in case someone already has. Let me know if this is new to everyone, please. If so I'll post the other pics.

Hope you like it...I sure do!!!

~RG

[Doc Ibold]

Nice work! Please share if you have more!

[Rembrandt's Girl]

Nice work! Please share if you have more!

Happy to!

This one is similar to Sotheby's but with more clarity...


Mrs. Anderson stepping into the tidal pool...


The house photo 1...


The house photo 2...


My favorite, Mrs. Anderson walking across the grounds...