We look forward to seeing you all who can make it for our April meeting. 

As the lower patios finish up, it is important to remind owners that the upper balconies are the property of the Homeowners Association and will be maintained by us. If a tile is broken, it will cause a leak, please don’t have your property manager’s handyman fix it, the HOA will do the work and send you the bill. We cannot tolerate leaky tiles on the balconies. Broken tiles and worn out grout caused the rotted beams..

The lower patios on building one and two are finishing up. Building four and five will be started soon and then we are done. We can open up some of our parking spaces from the construction project, but we still have repairs and painting that need to be done, so one of the parking lot tents will stay.

Long term heads up: a price estimate for new roofs for Po’ipu Sands and Manaloha with similar roofs as ours are close to four million dollars. Po’ipu Sands needs new roofs now. We have a good five years on our roofs, probably more, BUT we haven’t saved enough money in our reserves. We are not allowed to borrow for “routine” expenses. Remember, the balcony rebuilding was an emergency and the rules allowed us to borrow. We are mandated to have enough reserve money. Be prepared for long term dues increases.

The Board is quite concerned about faulty plumbing and sewer clogs and losing our insurance because of flood claims. We are cleaning the sewers again and we are going into each unit again to inspect the plumbing. Remember, your water heaters should be replaced every eight years.

The rental market was hot over the holidays and the island still feels full of visitors. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

November is a quieter month on Kauai. They are working on the Poipu Kai pool, on the tennis courts, owners remodeling and the patios are being ground down and tiled.

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First the bad news, our monthly dues are going up almost 17%. We have among the lowest dues increase of any of the Poipu Kai properties. The main reason for the increase, besides inflation, is that the costs of roofs have gone WAY up and we are required to save for a new roof in our reserves.

Heads up!

Tourist season is in full speed. Everything is going well, Building eight is almost done. The Kahala pool is now salt water (cheaper and healthier), the Po’ipu Kai pool is still chlorine, but plans are to convert it.

We finally found someone to clean our gutters. We plan to tree trim this summer to prevent roof tile damage and to clear your ocean views if necessary. We ordered new walkway lights.

The Po’ipu Kai Association has decided to fix the tennis courts one by one. They did courts five and six and they are now planning to do court four. There will be a little bit of landscaping change around the courts to prevent stormwater run-off. The Po’ipu Kai Board decided to lower the price of the Lanai Room under Kalapaki Joe’s because they weren’t getting any offers.

Feral cats and wild chickens are an Association expense because your guests feed them. A little sign in your unit might help.

Our trees are blooming beautiful flowers. Sweeping the stairways and the front steps are NOT the purview of the homeowners association, please tell your property managers to include the outside as part of their cleaning service.

It is 2024 budget time. The most difficult part of HOA Board duty is trying to figure out next year’s expenses and try not to raise the dues too much. We definitely have to budget for our new balconies to be protected and sealed. Let me know if there are other big capital expenses that we need to budget for.

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Gordon LaBedz 

808 634 8535

Not much to report. That’s good. No news is good news.

On behalf of your Board of Directors, I want to thank 95% of Kahala owners for not giving us a hard time on the balcony project.  Considering what a pain it was for all of us, your cooperation was amazing. It was a structural safety emergency. We had to do it. 

We have had a very rainy winter and we are finding a few problems with stormwater run-off at Kahala, but the original designers did a remarkable job of flood control. 

The vacation rental business has been quite good. Property values have skyrocketed. Po’ipu condos stay on the market less than half a day. Japanese tourists are returning. Businesses are having a hard time finding workers (they aren’t paying enough.) There are tourists everywhere. Local politicians are talking about “managing tourism” and raising taxes on vacation rentals.

The last of the balcony project is still not finished because building eight has had trade wind exposure and has considerably more dry rot. The downstairs patio tile project will probably start in September. Remember, the upstairs balconies are the responsibility of the home-owners association. If your guests wreck the tiles, however, the Association will charge you for the repairs… The downstairs patios are the owner’s responsibility, after the Association puts new tiles on them, you are on your own.

The Po’ipu Kai Association Board incumbents have all decided to re-run for election, so Shawn Cohen and I have withdrawn from the Po’ipu Kai election. 

We have noticed that five and six guests are still packing into one bedroom units. Please tell your property managers to stop renting your unit to big crowds, it increases the wear and tear on your unit and it over burdens our sewage system. It is also very annoying to downstairs units to have so many people stomping around upstairs.

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Gordon LaBedz 

808 634 8535

Although October is usually “slow season,” the resort is quite full with lots of visitors on the island. The weather feels like summer and it doesn’t cool down much in the evenings yet. The big waves are coming back to the north shore and we saw the first humpback whales September 28.

Condo property values have gone up through the stratosphere.

The balcony rebuilding is almost done, only a few more months… We still want to resurface the downstairs lanais and replace damaged landscaping. The reconstruction project hardly affected our monthly fees at all. The project was a nightmare for our Board and we are glad it is almost over.

The Kahala Homeowners Association Board had its annual budget meeting and it was a tough one. We have got a forty year old roof with concrete tiles that are no longer being made, a pool that needs repair and our painting is three years overdue. Owners and property managers are complaining about the health of our stairwells.  Previous Boards have grossly underestimated the cost of replacing the roofs and the reserves are inadequate. Inflation in Hawai’i is higher than the continent and we are looking at an 18% due’s increase next year. The Po’ipu Kai Association is raising their dues also. The idea is to avoid huge special assessments or loans in the future. It is simply a question of saving for the future. Our management experts are telling us the dues increase should be at 25%. We just simply couldn’t take it and hope Hawaii inflation lightens up next year.

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Gordon LaBedz 

808 634 8535

It is awesome here. I hope you can visit soon!

The Lanai Replacement Project is nearing completion.  Our contractor is now working on Buildings 8 and 9. The light at the end of the tunnel is visible. The two last buildings also have the most structural damage. Should be done early next year.

For those of you who may have units with storage lofts now converted to a bedroom, this is a friendly reminder that unpermitted modifications are illegal.  The PKA sewer system is 40 years old and operating above its capacity.  A one bathroom unit should be rented to two people, not four. 

Another concern your Board of Directors has is fire. Our wiring, outlets and circuit breakers are also 40 years old in a damp, salt laden environment, and are starting to experience failures and causing fires in other nearby condos. Please have your electrical panels and wall outlets checked regularly by your maintenance representative or electrical contractor.  Also remember the air conditioner rules and the NO instant-on water heaters.

Our budget preparation meetings were very challenging, and we look forward to the October 17 Kahala Board Meeting to discuss with the owners. Some of the challenges we encountered, is that many of the upcoming “planned“ projects that were identified by previous Boards budgeted far less than what it will actually cost in upcoming years.  Other Poipu condo associations have found roof replacement, exterior painting, and other major projects are costing far more to complete. The dues will be going up. (Please don’t kill the messenger.)

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Gordon LaBedz 

808 634 8535