A Hawaiian company is offering real-estate speculators some really, really long-range opportunities. ANDREW TOLVE sees what's bubbling up.
Future prime real estate? (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory)
The newest member of the Hawaiian Archipelago is the island of Lo'ihi, a mound of hydrothermal vents, rift zones, and nascent lava fields that sits some 22 miles to the southeast of the Big Island -- 3,200 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The island's march from seafloor to sunlight will likely be a long one (most scientists say about 40,000 years), which means the latest spate of luxury homes, golf courses, and yacht clubs will have to wait for now.
Or so you'd think.
A company in O'ahu called Lo'ihi Seaview Estates has already laid the groundwork to put Lo'ihi up on the auction block in 2007. In the coming months anyone with 40 bucks will be able to purchase a deed for a plot of the world's hottest real estate.
"Everybody's looking for an island paradise," says co-chair of Lo'ihi Seaview Estates, Norm Nichols. "So what if it's (several thousand) feet below surface?"
Nichols says Lo'ihi will be subdivided into five planned communities, each of which will offer buyers unparalleled waterfront properties. In time a homeowners association will decree the names of underwater streets, the location of submerged clubs and other such essentials for a budding tropical community.
"(Eventually) we'll have a convention or conference of homeowners," Nichols muses, "and we could get helicopters and fly over (Lo'ihi) and look at the ocean and say, 'Down there somewhere is my lot.'"
___
PAPER LAND
If all of this sounds a bit far-fetched, it should. Lo'ihi Seaview Estates has about as much traction as a real estate company selling deeds on Mars. The island of Lo'ihi resides entirely in U.S. territorial waters, which means that if Nichols wants to sell it, first he has to sit down with the federal government and make an offer.
Nichols says that isn't about to happen.
"It's more the concept than the reality of it," he concedes. " Your lot is a square inch of something. It's really a virtual purchase more than anything else."
In other words, Nichols' company will be selling deeds for Lo'ihi worth nothing more than the piece of paper they're printed on, which is legal as long as buyers know exactly what they're getting -- and potentially explosive as far as the company's bottom line.
The Lunar Embassy, a company that sells deeds for extraterrestrial real estate, nets between $750,000 and $1.2 million in gross sales each year, according to its founder Dennis Hope. Hope says that his sales force reels in 15,000 new owners a day, with each deed fetching $36.50. High-profile owners include Presidents Reagan, Carter, and George W. Bush and celebrities like George Lucas, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Meg Ryan, not to mention Barbara Walters and Queen Latifah.
"I get phone calls from all walks of life," Hope said in a phone interview from Gardnerville, Nevada, where his "galactic government" is headquartered. "Our demographics run the gamut. Our youngest property owner is a newborn and the oldest that we can verify is 97."
Just as popular as The Lunar Embassy is the International Star Registry, an Illinois-based company that lets customers name stars in their own spitting image -- for $54 plus $9 shipping and handling for the certificate. Rocky Mosele, the company's president, said he sells more than 100,000 units a year, bringing the total number of customers close to 2 million. The vainglorious include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Madonna, Andre Agassi, and every US President from Jimmy Carter on.
___
LINING UP CUSTOMERS
Such popularity is easy to imagine for Lo'ihi Seaview Estates, even though the company is still in its infancy. With just a crude Web site to their names, Nichols and his business partner, Linda Kramer, have already been contacted by prospectors in Texas and Germany. The two say they're planning on churning out deeds, T-shirts, hats, and floatable chairs and coasters in the next few months. Once the company's inventory is set, Nichols envisions making his marketing push locally and then abroad through the ever-zealous network of Hawaiian expats.
"People buy lots on the moon," Nichols says. "They buy lots on Mars. But we have this tropical paradise right here. You don't have to leave Earth to have a nice oceanfront view."
___
asap contributor Andrew Tolve is a freelance writer based in San Francisco.
___
Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org .
©2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
