Península de Maraú- Rare Atlantic Tropical Rain Forest behind beach.
The first property tips I ever received came from "Shorty". The first I paid attention to, anyway. "Shorty" was an old renegade on the side of a remote hillside on Kauai, the most northeast of the Hawaiian Island chain in the late 60's.
I lived with my Hawaiian 'kumu' on the North Shore of the island, between Hanalei and Haena where the road ends. One day I spotted a crudely lettered 'For Sale' sign up the gorge from Wainiha Beach. And I met "Shorty"....
A powerful, muscular fireplug, "Shorty" was terrifyingly manic. Balding 70 years old, he seemed much taller, as well as much bigger than 5 foot 5. He had a dominanting voice, a young black daughter from a liaison in the Caribbean, and many, many stories.......
Once he had been in a Mississipi jail and the Governor paid him a personal visit. It seems "Shorty's" case had received plenty of attention. "Shorty" was in jail for murder- age 14.
At 12, "Shorty" had been employed to supervise a road gang of 'darkies'. His first day on the job, he picked up the biggest stick he could find, handed it to the biggest buck 'negro', as they were called: "Here, bo. Ahm settin rat down undah thet tree ovah theah. You in chawge. You take ovah!" "Yesuh, massa!"
Lots of stories....
He had recently put his beautiful, view "mauka" (mountain) acreage a couple miles up the power house road at Wainiha up for sale. $10,000- remember, it was 1968. But it was "Shorty"'s simple property tips that stuck with me forever.....
#1. "Buy what they ain't any of!"
"Wherever I go in the world, it's what I do. Hard to find beachfront? Buy beachfront! On Kauai, there's plenty of beachfront, but nothin mauka. So go up country! Since arriving in the 1800's, missionary families like the Robinsons and Wilcoxes grabbed everything up country they could get their hands on to run cattle. So you know what I did, here, dontcha? That's right, I bought mauka."
#2. "Buy the best!"
"You know what this means, right? With a choice and the money, buy the best as you can. Whatever there ain't any of- a course!"
I went off that day, hemmed and hawed and surfed Hanalei Bay until springtime. Then went back up old Wainiha Road to make the deal. The price had gone up, "Shorty" said. 14 grand! Outraged, I complained it had only been a few months. Laughing at me, "That's the price, sonny. Take it or leave it." I left it.
And that's how I learned my own Rule #3:
#3. Don't quibble, it's just money. Do it.
But if you do choose to quibble, make sure you don't queer the deal! Because whatever it costs today, as Will Rogers said, "They ain't making anymore." Before you know it, the property's market value will be double what you paid. If it's "the best", it hardly matters what you paid.
True: A year or so later, Joey Cabell, champion surfer-skier, founder of The Chart House restaurant chain, bought it, instead of me. Joey sold it a few years later for 5 times what he paid.
To these three rules, I ended up adding a fourth. Works for marriage, too......
#4. Buy your passion. But don't forget the practical stuff.
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Ever since then I've recalled "Shorty"'s simple rules. And in the process, got a little carried away......
Costa Rica: My girlfriend from Rio and I spent 12 months traveling the country, looking for land and having a great time. Surfing and exploring those wonderful back roads, beaches, mountains, forests, jungles... Finally, we bought a government sponsored model dairy farm, the owner was after cheaper land to do beef cattle as this was going up. The place was the best we had seen, and there was nothing else like it. So, no quibbling over price, we bought it.
Kona, Hawaii: An exception that proves the rule. Just a "stop gap" place to live, we bought a house in a suburb high above the town. But here there was no passion- suburbia. We left for Brazil and sold it a year later.
Margaret River, Western Australia: The leading local real estate agent took four years. The brief was simple: "white water views". "Huh", he said, as he'd never heard the term. I explained ocean view property in California was priced by proximity as well as by how broad and close were the views. At last, he phoned me from Australia to advise the property we had been waiting for had come along. After a few phone calls to friends in Margarets, we bought it sight unseen. No quibbling.
Maraú Península, Bahia, Brazil: We raised a growing family in Rio, and for a time on the (recently trendy) Island of Florianopolis, Santa Catarina. 15 years later two of our children born in Costa Rica graduated from high school. We left to spend 10 years in Australia and Molokai (Hawaii). By this time, we knew the southern coast of Brazil pretty well.
On our return to Brazil four years ago, we spent 4 months exploring the coast of the northeast of Brazil we had previously known knew little about. From San Luis de Maranhao all the way to the Bahia-Espirito Santo border. Three quarters through our trip, we stumbled on the Península. An incredible Bay, sandy trails through the village, rain forests and lakes- it was love at first sight. Planning to spend the day, we had left a rental car back on the continent accumulating daily rates. We lef, unwilling to make a decision before seeing the rest of the South of Bahia. We continued on through Itacaré, Arraial d'Juda, Trancoso, Espelho, Caraiiva, etc. And came back as fast as we could. Four months more of research and at last we found what is, for us, the best of the Peninsula de Marau.
You may be thinking, is it really worth the time and energy, the endless looking? Definitely not for most people, if only because few have the the time it takes to do so. But the sort of places we love have nothing to do with square footage, gables, number of bathrooms, etc. It's about sense of place, landscape, topographic features and the magnetic beauty of the perfect place.
The time it takes to find an ideal is extreme. But the Search is a calling.
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