Now that my hotel is open, the culinary team is in place, and the pool is well on its way to completion, I feel that I can finally ease my foot off the gas after nine months of torrid pace to reflect. Why take such a big risk? Did I make the right decision?
I bought the Hamakua Hotel Hawaii property in July 2020 for $2.95 mm. I put 20% down and financed the rest at a lovely 3.25% interest rate (remember those?). I purchased the property for three reasons:
One, I was looking for a new home in a place that was not California. I strongly felt that the State’s government totally abandoned the mental health and business sectors of its citizens during Covid, and I was pissed. Trust had been lost. This made me feel uninspired to stay in my beautiful home state, and you guys know how I feed off of inspiration.
Second, I desired a unique property in an equally beautiful state to host my personal development retreats. Hawaii was my #1 choice.
Third, as a real estate speculator, I thought that properties on the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island of Hawai’i were severly undervalued and would appreciate over time. I saw it as a very good investment.
Four years later, all my boxes were checked. It became a lovely home for Lori and I. I got to host over fifty joy filled retreats onsite. And, the property appreciated over 100% in just four years, increasing in value to nearly $6mm.
So what changed?
In September of last year, my Chef of seven years, who also served as the year-round catetaker of the property, informed me that he was moving off island. I was devastated.
Lori and I had been splitting time between Hawaii and another home in Florida, so it was critical that we had somebody take care of the property year-round. Further, we had decided to move within Florida from Destin to Miami and we’re looking to increase our time spent in the state.
Losing Joseph as a caretaker meant we had nobody to care for and live on the property. Losing Joseph as the Chef for my retreats meant that my seven year run hosting retreats was coming to an abrupt end.
My closest friends and family weighed in giving the same advice one after another.
“Just find another Chef Eric!”
“Ask Val to be to be the caretaker!”
Both great suggestions, but they did not address the emotions I was feeling. They did not fully realize the profound impact Joseph’s decision had on me. I had lost my inspiration.
You see, without inspiration, I become dead on the inside. Inspiration, for me, is like oxygen. When I lose it, my peace, my joy, and self-love go out the window.
Earned wealth, respect, and accolades from past accomplishments don’t inspire me. They are in the past. Meaningless to this moment or the next.
What actually inspired me to take on this gigantic project to transform my property into Hamakua Hotel occurred on a long roundtrip drive to Kona one day. In the car was Valerie Mendoza, my employee and fantastic mentee of four years.
My wife Lori Lochtefeld and another mentee Mike Whitlatch were a 1000% confident that I should pivot to Val for the caretaker job and prompted me to talk to her about it.
I was hesitant, not because I disagreed, but because I had just promoted Valerie to the property manager job at Waterfalling Estate. I assumed that was what she really wanted and that she was glad to be done with my other property after half a dozen years working there (she predates me on the property). So, I was hesitant to ask Val to ‘jump off a cliff with me’ by replacing Joseph as my business partner.
One thing I knew for sure is that asking her to just care for the property wouldn’t be enough for me as her mentor, or for her. I would be better off just selling it and banking the $3mm gain. Val and I both needed to be inspired. For that to happen, we needed a new direction. We needed a vision. We needed a dream.
On the four hour drive, I broached the subject and was elated to hear that she was very interested. From there, we started to positively brainstorm. A plan was hatched that inspired both of us. My grieving heart started to replenish, and I felt encouraged and excited about the state of the property for the first time in months.
As soon as I got home, I called Lori to share everything. It inspired her as well. She enthusiasticly said, “I will do the marketing!”
This was equally huge because the last time Lori and I teamed up with her being the head of marketing, we had our greatest success in business co-running the Fox Theater.
I then called my best friend Patrick Combs, and he loved the idea as well. He said he wanted to be involved too.
I thought to myself, how could a guy turn down an opportunity to work with his incredible wife, his multi-talented best friend and his immensely loyal and capable mentee on such an inspired project?
This is how Hamakua Hotel came to be. Pure, unbridled inspiration, as the guide.
Now you have the answer as to why I was willing to risk it all. Did I make the right decision? Time will tell. At this present moment though, I feel peace, joy, and loved. But most of all, I feel inspired.
