fbpx
 
Read word for word from our episode with Kiran Polk from Kapolei Chamber of Commerce below:
 

Announcer: It’s time to enter the world of real estate in Oahu with Hawaii’s only true real estate radio show, the Team Lally Real Estate show. Grab a pen and get ready to take notes. For the next full hour Hawaii’s premiere real estate leader Adrienne Lally and Attilio Leonardi will bring you the latest in real estate news and real world strategies on how they can guarantee to sell your home at a price and deadline you agree to, or they’ll buy it. Now here are your hosts, Adrienne and Attilio.

Adrienne: Welcome to the Team Lally Real Estate Show, home of the guaranteed sold program – or we’ll buy it. If you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or you can check us out on the web at teamlally.com.

Attilio: Well hey everybody this is Attilio. I was knitting a sweater for my pet pig and this lady came up and tapped me on the shoulder then asked me a bunch of tax and legal questions and I said “Those are great questions! Highly recommend you seek the appropriate licensed professional,” and then I said “But mom what other questions do you have? So if you hear anything on the show that sounds like tax advice – who should they run that by?

Adrienne: Their friendly tax professional.

Attilio: Friendly neighborhood tax professional.

Adrienne laughs.

Attilio: Or maybe Spiderman. And then if you hear anything on the show that sounds like legal advice, here’s who we recommend you call –

Adrienne: Yeah. You should run that by Myran Kamihara. You can call him at 352-6417.

Attilio: At Kamihara Law.

Adrienne: Yeah and you know what he might be calling in here today with a legal tip of the week for us.

Attilio: Legal tip of the week.

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: Don’t ride a moped blindfolded. That is your legal tip of the week for today.

Adrienne laughs.

Adrienne: Okay so I didn’t know that you had a pet pig.

Attilio: No, no. It’s like people – if you’re listening to this show you understand our format.

Adrienne laughs.

Attilio: I just kind of make the completely-

Adrienne: You just make stuff up.

Attilio: – most obtuse –

Adrienne: Random.

Attilio: – scenario that I can be in and then my mom taps me on the shoulder and starts asking me a bunch of tax and legal questions. See that’s a-

Adrienne laughs.

Attilio: That’s a much more entertaining way of getting our little disclaimer out of the way. Don’t you think?

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: Yeah.

Adrienne: I was definitely entertained.

Attilio: Yep.

Adrienne: The thought of you and a pet pig and knitting-

Attilio: Speaking of knitting and pet pigs you have some pearls of wisdom or quotes 

Adrienne: I have some quotes courtesy of Hawaii Pacific Property Management. So the first one is from the author unknown.

Attilio: No it’s anon.

Adrienne: Anon. “All things are difficult before they are easy.”

Attilio: You know he’s a very prolific quote writer this anon guy.

Adrienne laughs.

Adrienne: This next one’s from Coco Chanel.

Attilio: I think he’s from Kalihi. This Anon guy.

Adrienne: Okay. “The best things in life are free, the second best are very expensive.”

Attilio: Second best, very expensive.

Adrienne: Yeah.

Attilio: The best things in life are free.

Adrienne: And the second best are very expensive.

Attilio: See like the free is like you did something wrong and then the very second best, the very expensive is the bail money.

Adrienne: Mhm. Okay. “On your worst days be good, and on your best days be great, and on every other day, get better.”

Attilio: There you go.

Adrienne: And that one’s from Carmen Mariana

Attilio: Okay.

Adrienne: Okay so it sounds like we have uh –

[Off-mic]: Myran.

Adrienne: Myran on the line with his legal tip of the week for us.

Attilio: Hey Myran are you there?

Myran: I’m good. How are you doing?

Adrienne: Doing great.

Attilio: Good, welcome to the show. So we always start off the show by telling people if they hear anything on the show that sounds like legal advice they should give your office a call, ‘cause we’re not attorneys but we hear that you’re one.

Adrienne and Myran laugh.

Myran: I am, I am.

Attilio: So what’s our legal-

Adrienne: Give us a pearl of wisdom. A legal pearl that we can share with our listeners this week.

Myran: Sure, sure. So I’m assuming your listeners are interested in real estate. Duh.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: Yep.

Myran: So I wanted to give some legal advice that would be beneficial and so first off – and not to harp on what we talked about last time – but first is to avoid a probate at all costs and if you – and part two to that is if you pass away in Hawaii the law says that if you own property, then you have to go to probate, and my tip of the day is to avoid probate. Find a lawyer. Call me if you have to, but definitely put that property in a trust to avoid probate at all cost.

Attilio: You know call home – Obviously you want to be successful, you’ve got to go get the business. You have to be proactive. You can’t be passive. You’re going to have no results by just waiting for business to come to you so we’ll call homeowners and I get this response: “I’m going to die in this home.”

Adrienne laughs.

Myran: Right, right, right.

Attilio: Yeah, and I say “You know what, you don’t sound too healthy, so don’t be buying any green bananas either.”

Adrienne and Myran laugh.

Adrienne: But make sure they have a trust.

Myran: Sure.

Adrienne: If they’re going to die in the home, great. Just get a trust.

Myran: Sure.

Adrienne: Make sure you have a trust.

Myran: Right. Put your home, put all your property in a trust, and that way when you pass away the burden doesn’t fall on your children or any of your beneficiaries.

Attilio: Yeah ‘cause you know the first thing I tell them is, “Well whatcha going to do with the body?”

Adrienne and Myran laugh.

Attilio: And that kind of like is – ‘cause they’re trying to put me off so I put them back off and then I just say, “Hey no but seriously when you pass on, what’s going to happen to this home that you live in?”

Myran: Right well “you can’t take it with you” is the famous saying.

Attilio: Yep.

Myran: So plan now and like I said, take the burden out.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: So all the relatives filing passed you in the open casket, you’re going to have a big smile on your face, they’re going to have a big smile on their face.

Myran: Right, right.

Myran laughs.

Attilio and Adrienne: Okay.

Attilio: Well thanks.

Adrienne: Well thank you so much Myran for that excellent tip of the week.

Myran: No problem. Alright you guys have a nice day.

Adrienne: Alright you too.

Attilio: Bye, thank you. So that’s Myran Kamihara. We can reach him at what number Adrienne?

Adrienne: We can call him at 352-6417. That’s 352-6417.

Attilio: I bet you if you – I don’t know if – I think his website has gotta be kamiharalaw.com. Right?

Adrienne: Yes. You can find him on LinkedIn too.

Attilio: Yeah, Google it.

Adrienne: Yep.

Attilio: Okay.

Adrienne: Okay so do we want to talk about a property management tip of the week?

Attilio: Yeah unless we’ve got Duke?

Adrienne: No Duke.

Attilio: No Duke? No Duke. You know why? He’s out there busy serving his clients ‘cause this is his #1 – You know what Duke, so we talked to Duke the other day with Hawaii Pacific Property Management and his number one tip was this: There are two primary objectives that they have for all of their clients. Every single one of their clients and number one is what?

Adrienne: To take care of the property.

Attilio: Take care of the property, and number two is?

Adrienne: To collect the rent. Get the money to the owners.

Attilio: And then number three is see rule number one and number two.

Adrienne laughs.

Attilio: Take care of your property and make sure that your rent’s coming in.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: A couple things that they have. You know what? Let’s run through real quick their guarantees. There’s five of them.

Adrienne: So they have-

Attilio: That’s a test for you. Do you know what they are? Number one.

Adrienne: Okay so they have a rent guarantee.

Attilio: So you say the guarantee and I’ll describe it. So if they can’t get your home rented within thirty days, if you guys both come to an agreed upon rental rate that they cannot achieve within that thirty days, they’ll pay the rent. For more details book an appointment with his team.

Adrienne: Okay and then the next one’s an eviction guarantee.

Attilio: Eviction guarantee. If they don’t like the way your tenant dresses, if they’re like “They just have bad-”

Adrienne: That’s not it. No.

Attilio: “Bad,” you know, bad clothing style, they’ll kick them out no. No no.

Adrienne: No.

Attilio: The eviction guarantee is they have certain parameters to screen tenants. If that tenant meets their parameters, they put them in place and for some reason they stop paying the rent, Duke at Hawaii Pacific Property Management, at their expense and time, will get that tenant out, legally, through the eviction process.

Adrienne: Then they have the communication guarantee.

Attilio: Communication guarantee. So every time you call them they will call you back and swear at you profusely.

Adrienne: No. That is not the guarantee.

Attilio: That’s not it? No no.

Adrienne: No.

Attilio: No they guarantee to communicate because the number one complaint that consumers have with real estate is what?

Adrienne: Especially when the property is vacant.

Attilio: Yeah, they do a Monday-

Adrienne: Every week. Every week update.

Attilio: Yeah, Monday vacancy call. Letting you know what’s going on with the marketing, what’s going on with the tenant screening, tenant interviews, ‘cause obviously that’s top of your mind when you’re making a mortgage payment on an empty home. So that was how many already?

Adrienne: That was three.

Attilio: That was three?

Adrienne: Then they have a hundred percent return to agent guarantee.

Attilio: Yep. So if you’re an agent and you don’t want to have all the-

Adrienne: The hassle of property management.

Attilio: Well it’s not the hassle. It’s the risk-

Adrienne: The liability.

Attilio: It’s the risk management.

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: Of property management.

Adrienne: And hassle. They work really, like-

Attilio: Being sued is a hassle.

Adrienne: Yes. There’s a lot of hassles with property management. So just-

Attilio: So brand new-

Adrienne: Just call Hawaii Pacific.

Attilio: So you brand new agents out there, you newbs. This is for all the newbs. Come closer, we’re going to tell you some great advice here. Majority of the litigious situations that occur in the real estate industry happen in property management.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: So don’t be one of those people. Don’t be one of those people. Just refer it out. If that’s not your specialty don’t try and be the jack of all trades master of nothing. Refer it out. Who do we recommend?

Adrienne: Duke and his team at Hawaii Pacific Property Management.

Attilio: Now I’m going to tell you right now. This has happened to us before. We’ve referred clients to other property management companies.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: And lo and behold we see that they list it for sale as our client gets ready to sell. That’s a big no no. We don’t do the – Hawaii Pacific Property Management. That’s why we send all our clients over there, because when that tenant – no when the tenant, when the seller’s getting ready to sell, they’ll –

Adrienne: They’ll pass it right back.

Attilio: They pass it right back. 100% return to agent guarantee. Two more.

Adrienne: That was four.

Attilio: There’s two more though. Because you came up with the extra one with the agent guarantee.

Adrienne: Oh I don’t know the other two.

Attilio: Oh real quick-

Adrienne: You’re going to have to just quiz – you’re going to have to just tell them.

Attilio: Real quick so we can get on with the show.

Adrienne: Okay, yes.

Attilio: They will do a video tour of your property.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: Most property managers won’t even take a bunch of good photos. So they’ll do a video tour and professional photos because that’s the best way to present your property to potential tenants.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: And then the last one is – What is the last one?

Adrienne: I dunno I said I my four guarantees and I know.

Attilio: Oh! Yeah, in the beginning of the process they will do a professional property analysis –

Adrienne: Is that a guarantee though?

Attilio: Guarantee they’re going to do it.

Adrienne: Okay so you’re tricking me with your guarantees.

Attilio: They guarantee to do a full property analysis. They’re going to make recommendations if any to get your property up to a certain level to get you higher rent and better tenants and then they’re going to do a rental analysis.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: 9/10 homeowners or property owners, they’re renting their properties too low because they haven’t bothered to do any comparisons-

Adrienne: Adjust rent.

Attilio: Yeah.

Adrienne: Or to price watch.

Attilio: So literally they could probably do a rental analysis for you, I don’t know, no guarantee on this one, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: Where it would pay – the extra rent they would get – would pay for their services, and then they’re dealing with the call with the kids who threw the teddy bear down the toilet on Super Bowl Sunday. They’ll deal with that call as opposed to you.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: Especially if you was a Patriots fan. You want to be dealing with some blown up toilet for your tenant’s property? No! You want to have Hawaii Pacific Property Management take care of that. That’d make a good Super Bowl commercial.

Adrienne laughs.

Adrienne: So give them a call. You can reach them at 445-9223. That’s 445-9223 or online at hipacificpm.com.

Attilio: Stay with us. We’re going to take a break. Coming back from the break we’re going to be talking about the Kapolei Chamber.

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: We’re going to talk about hiring.

Adrienne: Jobs.

Attilio: Jobs in the Leeward side.

Adrienne: So stay with us.

[Commercial Break]

Announcer: The Team Lally Real Estate Show continues.

Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally Real Estate Show. Home of the guaranteed sold program. I’m Adrienne.

Attilio: And I’m Attlio.

Adrienne: And if you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or you can check us out at teamlally.com.

Attilio: Well hey everybody our guest today is an experienced leader and management executive as well as a seasoned public relations and marketing professional.

Adrienne: Her areas of expertise include bridging relationships within the community, creating dynamic community events, creating marketing, advertising, branding, and business development.

Attilio: So here with us today to talk about the Kapolei jobs initiative pilot program, is the executive director of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. Let’s welcome our guest, Kiran Polk.

Kiran: Thank you for having me on your show today.

Attilio: Sure.

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: Welcome.

Kiran: I appreciate it.

Adrienne: Welcome, we’re excited to have you. So yeah, I mean there’s a lot that’s happening on the west side.

Kiran: So much happening on the west side. Most people know in this last year alone we have a new mall.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: We have a new mall.

Kiran: Four Seasons of course in Ko Olina, I mean just so much happening and continuing to happen, and things in the pipeline, too. It’s exciting. Exciting time for Kapolei.

Attilio: You know they had to call in pest control ‘cause all those – we have an abundance of Mallrats now.

Kiran and Adrienne laugh.

Attilio: It’s teenage kids hanging out at the mall. You know what? Better at the mall than something else bad, right? ‘Cause they’re over there watching movies and eating food and-

Kiran: Watching movies in very nice theaters.

Kiran laughs.

Attilio: Yeah, yeah.

Adrienne: So like with all of this growth that’s going on over on the westside, like how does this tie into your job initiative program?

Kiran: Yes. Okay so you know, Kapolei growth is expected to expand out to, I think, it’s 170,000 by the year 2035.

Attilio: Uh-huh.

Adrienne: Oh wow!

Kiran: We’re at 115,000 right now. So I mean that’s just a tremendous amount of growth. You know with all that expansion and people moving into the area, of course we all know the H1, on any given day the traffic is – 60% of our workforce are commuting out at this point. So even with the jobs that we have and what has moved into the area, there’s still a gap, and we as the Kapolei Chamber looked at that several years ago and said, “Okay so what can we do to help, you know, promote the jobs on the Leeward Coast?”

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: And specifically looking at professional jobs, living wage jobs-

Attilio: Yes.

Kiran: -To help support that gap. So we sat down with various different agencies in the state. We looked at a current initiative that the state has called the enterprise zone.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: It’s been established for many years, statewide, and the enterprise zone, it actually was created for economically depressed areas to provide incentives for businesses for – to promote jobs in those areas but it’s very restrictive in the sense that it has – there’s specific business categories that business must qualify to be in-

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: -to participate in the enterprise zone, and then those zones are dictated by census data so once we have more-

 Adrienne: Updated date.

Kiran: Data.

Adrienne: Yeah.

Kiran: The areas get knocked out. So another issue kind of relating to that business category is – one of them, you know there’s no retail allowed – permitted to use the enterprise zone or participate in the enterprise zone.

Adrienne: What are the benefits of the enterprise zone?

Kiran: They have several different benefits. One of them is an income tax credit incentive.

Attilio and Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: And an unemployment insurance credit incentive. And then on the stateside there’s also a G.E.T. credit.

Adrienne: Oh!

Kiran: So we looked at this and said okay, you know let’s look at elements of this program, really bring in evolution to it, and meet the needs that we’re – the growing needs expansion in Kapolei for these jobs. So we kind of extracted out the income tax credit incentive piece and the unemployment insurance credit, and created this new piece of legislation and this new program – pilot program – to help bring some more of these jobs. So we stayed away from the G.E.T.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: And, you know, in the enterprise zone you cannot participate if you’re in retail. Well there’s a lot of businesses that are business to business retail. They have products or services that are selling business to business.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: So with our program we wanted to look at and see if we could, you know, accommodate those-

Adrienne: Just broaden.

Kiran: Broaden it. Exactly.

Adrienne: Yep.

Attilio: Well just to clarify – So Kapolei is not an enterprise zone?

Kiran: Parts of Kapolei are.

Attilio: Parts of it.

Kiran: But again, like I mentioned, it’s driven by census data. So once that census comes out there’s areas of it with a growth where it’s going to actually, you know, drop off.

Adrienne: They won’t qualify, yeah.

Attilio: Mhm.

Adrienne: Because there’s too much, it’s too dense.

Kiran: Exactly, so – or the income levels exceed their qualifications. So the Kapolei jobs initiative pilot program is really, y’know it has three different purposes. The first one is obviously to increase jobs and it will in turn reduce the traffic.

Adrienne and Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: And then it also realizes the state’s long standing policy of pushing growth to the west side.

Attilio: Yes.

Kiran: Years ago back when Kapolei was established – 25 years ago now –

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: – that was the premise, that if there’s growth that it be, y’know pushed out to the west side where –

Attilio: You have a plane.

Adrienne: The second city.

Kiran: The second city, exactly.

Attilio: Yeah. So we can kind of recap and understand that for our listeners, is that you know, I think the main objective – if we had to put into a sentence – is to reduce traffic.

Kiran: Absolutely.

Attilio: That’s the big one ‘cause anybody who – You know we’re – as business people, we work and live in Kapolei and if we have appointments in town we purposefully just-

Adrienne: We don’t go.

Kiran laughs.

Adrienne: If it’s before 10 or after 2 it’s like we’re off the road.

Attilio: Well it’s like your hands on the steering wheel. Ten and two.

Kiran: It does. It’s quality of life, really.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: Some of our families on the Leeward Coast are spending upwards of three hours a day on average away from their families, their kids aren’t able to be in sports programs, or they’re not able to go watch those games, or be at practice because they’re in traffic.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: I mean all of these things, so it’s really – It’s serious traffic but it’s really about improving the quality of life –

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: For our residents.

Attilio: Yeah we’ve had clients come in and they’re actually selling their homes to move into town because of traffic.

Kiran: Mhm.

Attilio: So that’s a huge financial decision for a family and it’d be nice if they, like you said, if the home that they were living in, they could have a job, like you said, that matches up to a living wage that could allow them to make that mortgage payment in Kapolei.

Kiran: Yes.

Adrienne: So Kiran with this initiative pilot program, is it something that you’re presenting to the legislature or has it been approved? Like, what’s the status?

Kiran: So we actually introduced this piece of legislation last session.

 Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: And most people don’t realize this, there’s over 2,000 bills that are introduced every legislative session.

Attilio: Oh wow.

Adrienne: Oh.

Kiran: And less than 200 of them make it into law.

Adrienne: Wow.

Kiran: It’s an extremely tight process. So last year our bill did well.

Attilio: Okay.

Kiran: It went through – of course you go through the house on one side and then crossed over into the senate and then it was deferred and killed before it made it all the way to the end.

Adrienne: So it almost made it.

Attilio: Is it just like that Schoolhouse Rock cartoon?

Attilio [singing]: I’m just a bill.

Adrienne and Kiran laugh.

Kiran: Exactly.

Attilio [singing] Sitting here on the state capital.

Attilio: No no.

Kiran: Exactly, it is. It’s a process so, you know, we’ve regrouped. We’ve had meetings with our leadership, our legislators, really reached out. We did some workings to the bill-

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: – from last year just to kind of finesse it and really accommodate what we’re trying to do and incorporate suggestions. So we reintroduced it this session. There’s a house bill that was just passed out of the finance committee last week actually, and it will cross over into the senate next week. At that point the next step where we’ll wait for a senate hearing to be scheduled, and of course it’s – you know – it’ll be referred to a committee. That committee chair then will schedule that next hearing, but there’s so many steps to it and pieces. It’s done very well this year, we have a lot of support. You know, thank you to all of you who might be listening. 

Attilio: Sure.

Kiran: If you sent in support, that’s what it takes. It takes really – y’know, hearing the voices of our residents who sit in traffic, saying hey.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: “You know I support this.”

Adrienne: “We need this.” Yeah.

Kiran: And the businesses.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: Yeah.

Adrienne: So is there anyway that our listeners can still support the bill or is it kind of past that deadline?

Attilio: Yeah what’s some specific things they can do?

Kiran: So on my website, kapoleichamber.com, there is a news story that outlines, has links to the bill, and everything you’ll see, talking about Kapolei jobs, but even easier you can subscribe to my website.

Adrienne: Okay.

Kiran: I have sent out notices as we get the hearing notices, with sample testimony, all of the details, and then that way they can respond to it and press a couple of buttons and submit the […]. Come in person and testify at the hearing. So that’s probably the easiest way just to get the information to log right onto kapoleichamber.com.

Attilio: They can stand on the side of the road doing traffic hour with signs.

Adrienne and Kiran laugh.

Attilio: “Hey legislators, please support the jobs initiative for Kapolei.” So if you’re just tuning in we have Kiran Polk, she’s the executive director of the Kapolei chamber of commerce and we’re talking about the initiative for the jobs pilot program, and I see in here it’s an evolution of the enterprise zone.

Kiran: Yes. So as I was just talking about, there is an existing enterprise zone but we’ve found that we just need to evolve it and take it to the next level, and really meet the needs of what we’re trying to do in Kapolei. So the Kapolei jobs initiative pilot program, it encompasses the zipcodes of 96707 and -709 which is Kapolei, and then it also includes Ewe.

Attilio: Mmkay.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: Ewe Beach at 96706. So it’s driven by the zip codes of that region area.

Attilio: Okay.

Kiran: So the qualifiers is that once this is passed, the business will have to be establishing in Kapolei.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: As a new business, or they must be expanding a new location into that area. So we can’t have a relocation unfortunately. That was something that, y’know – feedback that we had.

Attilio: They wanted to avoid – Yeah.

Kiran: Yeah and moving.

Attilio: And moving stuff around.

Adrienne: So like a business that’s in town, and then they want to open up a second location in Kapolei would be an example.

Kiran: Exactly, exactly, and the business has to have a minimum of ten full time jobs that it will create as a result of that establishment, or expansion. So because the whole purpose of it is to create more jobs, of course.

Adrienne and Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: So ten full jobs minimum and then 50% of those jobs must be making over $25k, so over the minimum wage.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: Again we’re looking to get some of those little more professional level jobs.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: On that level. And then as far as retail, which I mentioned in the enterprise zone, they don’t allow it at all. We do have an allowance for business to business retail. So – and a good example of that is, let’s say you had an equipment leasing operator, where they lease out

Attilio: Copy machines or-

Kiran: Whatever, yeah. They’re doing business to business, and then under the enterprise zone.

Adrienne: it’s consider retail.

Kiran: It’s considered retail and they’re excluded.

Adrienne: Mmm.

Kiran: So it allows for those types of business to participate 

Attilio: So if something’s – So, a nonretail, just to talk about businesses that people can wrap their minds around, I mean like – is a law firm or something?

Kiran: Absolutely.

Attilio: Okay.

Kiran: Yeah. As long as they have the full time, the ten full time. And y’know, so really in the medical – I mean as far as –

Attilio: So a medical clinic. Yep.

Kiran: Doctor’s offices, expanding to a second office for instance.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: I mean there’s all of those professions would fall under this or be qualified to participate in this program.

Attilio: So you know I’m a constituent. So help me wrap my simple mind around this. Why wouldn’t they make those parameters as low as possible? It sounds like, from a legislative standpoint, this initiative is reducing taxes coming into government.

Kiran: Mhm.

Attilio: And that’s probably something that they – It goes against what they are –

Kiran laughs.

Attilio: It supports legislation but it’s kind of like I’m – as a legislator I’d be supporting a program that’s going to reduce the income coming into the entity that I’m part of. So it’s kind of like-

Kiran: And the – in the devil’s advocate.

Attilio: There’s a conflict there?

Kiran: Yeah the devil’s advocate, the other side of it of course, it is a tax credit, but you look at the revenue that will be generated into the state coffers in the long term. We’re not – We did not put the G.E.T. exemption into our bill

Attilio: Okay.

Kiran: So, you know, they would still of course have to make those G.E.T. payments. So think about it this way: Any startup business, those first few years.

Attilio: Uh-huh.

Kiran: Very hard to get out of the red and into the black. This allows that business to have a little bit of an incentive just to get into the area, get established, and we also have a carry over written into the bill.

Attilio: Yep

Kiran: So if you have a loss year that first year, you’re not able to use the tax credit of course.

Attilio and Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: You could carry it over into the next year when you do have that revenue and utilize it then, and it’s a seven year program but that does mirror the enterprise zone. The enterprise zone is seven years. So it deducts every year.

Attilio: Uh-huh.

Kiran: So starting at 80%, deducting 80% tax credit, 70% for the remaining years.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Attilio: So the whole program is going to sense it after seven years or just for the individual business that participates? That’s the length of it?

Kiran: As it’s written today-

Kiran laughs.

Attilio: yeah.

Kiran: And as it’s proposed, the program is seven years for the participating.

Attilio: Okay, gotcha.

Kiran: You know there’s no sunset date as of right now, but again, going through the legislative process, there’s a lot of amendments that go through and that’s why we – again – need the support and testimony to make sure that we encompass these pieces and it doesn’t get changed along the way, and hear that voice of “This is what we need.”

Attilio: I’ve got a quick question. Are all our legislators on our side of the westside, are they supporting it?

Kiran: All of them are supporting it.

Attilio laughs.

Kiran: Every single one as a matter of fact. On the senate side Senator Gabbard introduced a senate bill.

Attilio: Okay.

Kiran: And that bill has actually died on the senate side. It’s not uncommon where you put in one on the house side and one on the senate, but he’s supporting this measure and then on the house side, representative Ty Cullen has been great support. He’s a champion of this as well.

Attilio: Alright. So we’re going to take a break?

Adrienne: Yes, we’re going to take a short break but stay with us because we do have some more questions-

Attilio: For Kiran Polk, executive director of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce.

Adrienne: So-

Attilio: Stay with us.

Adrienne: Stay with us.

[Commercial break]

Announcer: It’s the Team Lally Real Estate Show. Here’s Adrienne and Attilio.

Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally Real Estate Show, home of the guaranteed sold program – or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne.

Attilio: And I’m Attilio.

Adrienne: And if you have any questions you can reach us at 799-9596 or check us out on the web at teamlally.com.

Attilio: Alright so we’re going to talk about Leeward Hire.

Adrienne: Hire Leeward.

Attilio: Hire Leeward.

Adrienne laughs.

Kiran: Yes. Hire Leeward.

Adrienne and Attilio laugh.

Adrienne: So we have Kiran Polk here from the Kapolei Chamber and we have been talking about the Kapolei Initiative Pilot Program here, but we want to know like how does it tie into this –

Kiran and Adrienne: Hire Leeward.

Kiran: So the Kapolei Jobs Initiative like I’ve been talking about will bring more businesses into Kapolei but we have all of these established businesses out on the Leeward Coast right now, today, that of course we want to connect with our residents outside. So about five years ago councilmember Kymberly Pine – at the time a state representative set up an initiative called Hire Leeward.

Adrienne: mhm.

Kiran: And it’s about connecting Leeward residents with Leeward jobs. After the closure of Saint Francis West there were about 400 without jobs at that point. It really made her kind of look and say “Well what can we do to connect our residents with the jobs that already exist?” and so she set up this job fair, and the Kapolei Chamber joined forces with her. It’s been – This will be our third year partnering with her as a presenting partner and the physical sponsor for the event, but you know the first year – Going back to that first year when we had the job fair – we thought “Okay we might have about 800 participants,” that’s about, you know – in search of jobs. Six to 800.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: But we had 3,000 show up.

Adrienne: Oh wow!

Attilio: Holy cow!

Adrienne: I think we participated in that one too.

Kiran: I guess, I think you participated.

Adrienne: That was a lot of fun.

Kiran: Yes. So it was crazy.

Attilio [off-mic]: Two or three times

Kiran: Yes, several times Team Lally’s been there, but yes, it was a crazy time and we realized “Wow this is larger than life.” So we moved the event. It was at the Kroc Center the first year

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: There was traffic all the way up Kalawao Kai Parkway.

Attilio: Yep.

Adrienne laughs.

Kiran: And so we moved to UH West Oahu, and so we’ve had it there for three years now, and we still have on average two to 3,000 attendees.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: Many of them aren’t just – you know, without a job. They may be working currently.

Adrienne: Looking for new opportunities or a new career.

Kiran: Yes, and so just this last fair – It was in June of 2016, I had this mom come up to councilmember Pine and myself and she had tears in her eyes and she said, “You know, I drive in traffic everyday and I’m here in search of a new opportunity so I can spend time with my daughter and take her to soccer practice and do homework with her because today I can’t do that.”

Adrienne: Oh. Wow.

Attilio: That’s a perfect testimonial for the importance of having that out there, because I think – I think the key thing too is that people can’t – What are they going to do, go take a day off and go – How many employers?

Kiran: We had 80 this past year.

Attilio: Yeah, what are they going to do? Take a – You couldn’t even do that in a day, go see 80 employers

Kiran: And even the larger job fairs are set islandwide.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: This is focused just – you have to have Leeward positions available to participate.

Attilio: Yes.

Kiran: And so I mean it’s a great opportunity. It’s funny, the first couple years – now we have the job fair on a Saturday but the first year we had the job fair during the week and we actually had job seekers calling in sick.

Attilio: Uh-huh.

Adrienne laughs.

Kiran: So I had the media there and we had to have them dodge the media because they –

Adrienne: They don’t want to get found out.

Kiran: Yes but now we have it on a Saturday. This year’s job fair will be Saturday, June 24th.

Adrienne: Okay.

Kiran: And so it’s on the kapoleichamber.com website, the date.

Adrienne: But do you guys typically have them like once a year or twice a year or how often?

Kiran: We have this big job fair once a year but in between council member Pine’s office actually facilitates posting Leeward jobs throughout the year.

Adrienne: Okay.

Kiran: So on hireleeward.com you can go on there if you’re an employer, you have Leeward side positions, you can actually post them on there and it’s updated weekly.

Adrienne: Oh wow.

Kiran: And we have an incredible amount of traffic to that website so it’s really been a great tool the job seekers and the employers both.

Adrienne: So the big job fair is – you said – in June?

Kiran: June 24th.

Adrienne: And then like is there a spot on the website to get signed up to have a booth there or how does that work?

Kiran: Yes if you go on to hireleeward.com you’ll find information. We’ll be opening up registration coming up in April.

Attilio: Yes.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: Usually about two months prior and you can always, you know, go on there and check and you can also contact me through the chamber and I can put you on an interested list.

Adrienne: An alert.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: But yes we have a diversity of employers, and you all – like you mentioned – have participated.

Attilio: Sure.

Kiran: But we have everything from some of the retail all the way to the administrative, you know, clerical, professional. It’s really, we’ve had-

Adrienne: I think some of the unions are out there too.

Kiran: The unions, yep. So it’s really, you know, a lot of different choices. We actually helped Four Seasons resort at Ko Olina with their hiring last year as well. The Hire Leeward Initiative did, and of course that brought in 700 jobs.

Adrienne: Oh wow.

Kiran: Into our area. So they had a separate fair right before they opened. So we’re really, you know, this is a huge thing but it ties into what we’ve been talking about: more jobs and also making sure that our residents find jobs so that, like you mentioned, to live, work, and play.

Adrienne: And not have to sit in the traffic.

Kiran: And not have to sit in the traffic.

Adrienne: In the butt numbing traffic.

Attilio: Alright so now we want to talk about the benefits of being a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Adrienne: Oh yes.

Kiran: The Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. Well you know we are, as a fairly young Chamber – we were established in 2008 – We’re growing, as we’ve mentioned. Many businesses moving into the area, but we’re an advocate for the businesses in Kapolei and in addition to the things like the job fair and advocacy that I’ve been talking about, we also have events for our businesses to connect with other businesses.

Attilio: Networking!

Kiran: Networking! And I’m telling you, it has been huge.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: We have about four to five networking events a year.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: Pau hana networking events, and we’ve found that a lot of businesses – You know all of the networking events are in town. So we have provided a venue or a way that businesses can connect with other businesses, meet new connections, I’ve had everyone from the small business owner to the executive say, you know, “I was able to meet someone at your networking event,” –

Attilio: And be home for dinner!

Kiran: And be home for- Yes!

Adrienne laughs.

Attilio: Without sitting in traffic.

Kiran: And it’s directly pointed to, you know, the needs of our businesses out there.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: So our next pau hana networking event, we actually have registration open. It’s in a couple weeks on March 15th.

Attilio: March 15th, okay.

Kiran: And it’ll be at Ilima at Leihano. They’re hosting it in partnership with the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which will be relocating out to our area soon as well. So-

Attilio: Now is it going to be in the main facility or still at their model area?

Kiran: No, Ilima at Leihano actually recently opened. They’re a senior living facility and so it’s actually in their facility

Attilio: Oh nice.

Kiran: They’ll be providing food. Some of their chefs actually came from some of the Waikiki hotels.

Adrienne: Oh nice.

Kiran: Delicious pu pus.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: But, yes, they’re actually hosting it. They’ll have tours and usually our networking events are hosted at various businesses in the Kapolei region so that it gives people a chance to go check it out.

 Attilio: Sort of like an open house.

Kiran: Exactly.

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: And network at the same time. We give prizes away, you know-

Attilio: It’s fun.

Kiran: It’s a lot of fun, so..

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: We also have some other programming throughout the year. We have several luncheons, informative. We’ve had our governor speak before at our luncheons.

Attilio: Mayor candidates.

Kiran: Yeah we had a mayor candidate forum last year before the race.

Attilio: Yep.

Kiran: So we really tried to provide also […] businesses moving into the area, give updates on that so businesses are well informed of the growth and what’s happening in Kapolei.

Attilio: Yep.

Kiran: So we do a couple of those here. We have in one in June, June 2nd.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: That we’ll be hosting. And then several panel events, partnerships with other groups like PBN and their West Oahu Means Business Event. So we really provide all of those programs as benefits for our members so-

Attilio: Yeah.

Adrienne: So if our listeners want to get more information do they just go to the-

Kiran: Kapoleichamber.com. You can subscribe to our notifications.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: You can also find out more information about what it takes to join as a member. We still have a membership special running so it’s 50% off if you get an individual membership or corporate membership.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Kiran: And the corporate membership is normally $300 a year so it’s only $150.

Adrienne: Nice!

Kiran: So it’s a great deal and it’s a way-

 Adrienne: Great time to join the Chamber

Kiran: It’s a great time to join the Chamber.

Attilio: Alright. Well thanks so much.

Adrienne: Is there anything else that you want to touch on before we have to go?

Kiran: I just want to recap one more time about the Kapolei Jobs Initiative.

Adrienne: Okay.

Attilio: Yes.

Kiran: And I mentioned before earlier in the program that you can also go onto our website and you’ll see a news story on there about the jobs. Click onto that you’ll find to House Bill 943, HB 943. For those of you who are savvy on the state government website, you can go of course to the Hawaii State Legis-

Adrienne: The gov one.

Kiran: Yeah the gov one and plug it in. But we expect that within the next week to two weeks, coming weeks, that we’ll have some notices going out. So if you subscribe on my website you’ll get a notice from me about the hearings. Upcoming hearings.

Attilio: Mhm.

Kiran: And I just encourage the listeners, anything you’ve heard today, you’re an advocate, you’re supportive, just take a few minutes and send in some testimony. Your voice matters.

Attilio: Sure, and go get ten of your friends to do the same thing.

Kiran: Exactly.

Adrienne laughs.

Kiran: It does make a difference. People don’t realize. “Oh I’m just one voice.”

Attilio: Yeah.

Kiran: Well one voice of many makes a huge difference in the numbers, especially when you have 2,000 bills going through the legislature.

Adrienne: Need all the help you can get.

Kiran: Exactly.

Attilio: You know one voice can be very impactful, especially if you’re in a crowded movie theater and you yell “Fire!”

Adrienne and Kiran laugh.

Attilio: You just never know what kind of impact that one voice can have.

Adrienne: Okay well thank you so much Kiran for being our guest today.

Attilio: Thank you.

Kiran: Thank you for having me today.

Attilio: Yes.

Kiran: I appreciate it very much.

Attilio: Sure.

Kiran: And thank you for all you do on the westside.

Adrienne: Of course.

Attilio: Alrighty.

Adrienne: Okay so I think we’ve got Brooks on the line to talk about some coming soon properties.

Attilio: Brooks! Hey Brooks!

Brooks: Hi you guys!

Adrienne: Hello!

Brooks: Hi! This coming soon property I want to talk about today is nestled up in the hills in Makakilo right above Kapolei, right above our office.

Adrienne: Mhm.

Brooks: And it has a tremendous, commanding view. You know that forever view that takes over the ocean, to Diamondhead. Unobstructable. It’ll never be lost. And these stories have from this house regarding the view is, they watched their son deploy out of Pearl Harbor on a ship and watch the ship sail off into the sunset.

Attilio: Oh wow.

Brooks: And they took pictures and videos of it, so a really cool located home. It’s got a power plant on the roof in the form of 32 […] panels, hardwood floor, you never hear of it, but you know, white oak, beautifully finished hardwood floors, to die for kitchen. I mean, an awesome place. It’s going to be going live, we’re going live with it at the end of this month, March 29th I believe.

Adrienne: Ooh nice.

Brooks: Yeah it’s super nice. It’s a great property.

Attilio: Alright. So come watch the boats sail out of Pearl Harbor.

Adrienne and Brooks laugh.

Attilio: Alright.

Adrienne: Okay, thanks Brooks.

Brooks: You’re welcome, thank you.

Adrienne: So if any of our listeners want to learn more about our coming soon inventory, you can always call our buyer hotline at 234-4421. That’s 234-4421.

Attilio: Alright, so hey we want to talk to you about another event that’s coming up. It’s called the 2017 Women in Ministries Luncheon. They’re bringing in a speaker. What’s her name?

Adrienne: Debbie Stuart.

Attilio: Debbie Stuart. Tell them more about the event.

Adrienne: So it’s a Women in Ministry conference and it’s going to be Saturday, March 11th, at Calvary Chapel, Pearl Harbor in Waikele and there’s going to be about a little over 300 of Hawaii’s leading women in ministry coming together from 10 to 2 for worship, prayer, lunch, and fellowship.

Attilio: Yeah.

Adrienne: So Team Lally’s going to be out there as well, supporting all these wonderful ladies.

Attilio: So if you want to register…

Adrienne: Yeah I think that there’s a – You can go onto thefish.com?

Attilio: Just Google The Fish. It’s a local Christian radio station here, with Salem Communications.

Adrienne:  Yeah.

Attilio: They have a banner right on that page. You just click on it. It’ll take you to the eventbrite, RSVP. I think there’s really no – The cost for it is nominal.

Adrienne: I think it’s like $10.

Attilio: It’s $10 and that is not paying for this event, that’s just getting people to commit to the RSVP and not blow it off and not show up because there’s still a cost involved in putting this together. Correct me if I’m wrong, I think lunch is provided?

Adrienne: Yes.

Attilio: And then they’re going to have vendors there as well, and great speaker. Again, Debbie’s going to be talking about women in ministry right here in Hawaii.

Adrienne: That’s right.

Attilio: Alright.

Adrienne: And then there’s another event that’s actually coming up on Monday, March 6th. Career night at our office in Kapolei. We have kind of like our little mini Leeward Hire event happening.

Attilio: Yeah. So we want to talk to you about a career in real estate.

Adrienne: Now everyone’s perception of real estate is what we see on TV.

Attilio: Well hey you know that’s not real. We learned even reality TV is produced.

Adrienne: We are everyday people providing exceptional levels of surface.

Attilio: And we’re always looking for superstars.

Adrienne: So please RSVP at teamlally.com/careernight.

Attilio: Now you’re going to learn how to get started, aspects of the industry, and how to succeed.

Adrienne: So we hope to see you at our next career night.

Attilio: They’re usually the first Monday of the – what is it? […] months of the year?

Adrienne: The first Monday of every other month, but it’s going to be this Monday, March 6th, so make sure you RSVP. Would love to see you there.

Attilio: Okay.

Adrienne: Okay, I think we’re coming to the end of our show now.

Attilio; You want to tell them about this MREA Event?

Adrienne: No we’ll save that for next week.

Attilio: Okay.

Adrienne: Well thank you for listening and thank you to our sponsors.

Attilio: Jodie Tonga and Derek Tonga of Pacific Rim Mortgage.

Adrienne: Bradley Mariama of Allstate Insurance.

Attilio: Nathan Baker of Pillar to Post Home Inspection.

Adrienne: Ben and Tony Mamuad of AAA Roofers Hawaii.

Attilio: Janyce Myrland with Dream House Drafting.

Adrienne: John Speed of Kilauea Pest Control.

Attilio: Duke Kimhan with Hawaii Pacific Property Management.

Adrienne: John Menard of Kama’aina Plumbing.

Attilio: Thomas Pattison with Pattison Land Surveying.

Adrienne: Myran Kamihara of Kamihara Law.

Attilio: If you want to get ahold of any of our sponsors just go to teamlally.com.

Adrienne: We also want to give a big thank you to Stephen and Kiran here in the-

Attilio: Not Kiran, Kiran!Adrienne: Kiran! In the studio

Attilio: Chee-ooh!

Adrienne: Make sure to tune in next week, we’ll have an awesome guest talking about something that’ll change your life-

Attilio: Forever! This is the Team Lally Real Estate Show, home of the guaranteed-

All: SOLD PROGRAM!

Adrienne: If we can’t sell your home at the agreed upon price and our time frame, we’ll have it bought for cash. 

All: THANKS AND ALOHA!