On the Big Island, a Place for PriceSensitive Home Shoppers

Correction Appended

PUNA is not the most obvious second-home paradise. It has a lot of rain, harbors a host (at least) of mosquitoes and is hard to reach from the mainland. Then there's the hard-to-ignore fact that much of its lava-encrusted land sits right in the flow zone of an active volcano, Kilauea.

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Even so, there is a magical quality here in this craggy, tangly, jungly region of the Big Island's southeast. The sometimes lunar-like landscape, dolphin-frantic shores and back-to-the-garden vibe consistently seduce the most casual visitors and turn them into starry-eyed homebuyers.

Paul Fishman, a Jungian analyst from San Francisco, first stayed in Puna in the late 1980s, visiting the earthy-crunchy Kalani Eco Resort. When he and his partner, Mike Kurokawa, who is a massage therapist, visited the black-sand beach of Kehena, they were smitten.

"We heard drumming as we climbed down the rocky cliff at sunset," Dr. Fishman dreamily recalled. Dolphins frolicked in the distance. "We at once felt so at home," he said. "So welcomed by the community, by nature."

After visiting for years, they bought a half-acre on the lava in 2003 for ,000. Last August, they finished building on it: a small, modern screen house set in a grove of monkey-pod trees.

Elizabeth Ziff also had a transforming experience while on a yoga retreat. "I saw a whale breach about 50 feet away," she recalled, "and that was it." Last year Ms. Ziff, co-executive producer of "The L Word" on Showtime and a guitarist-vocalist with the band Betty, bought a one-room wooden house on a half-acre lot.

"I love Puna because there are no resorts, and it has Hawaiian culture that hasn't been utterly destroyed," she said, speaking from her home in New York City (she also has a home in Vancouver). "I like the energy. I go there to heal."

But there is another, very grounded, reason to buy there: Price.

"Puna is the cheapest real estate statewide," said Denis Fuster, an agent with ReMax Island Surf Realty. While prices shot up more than 20 percent from 2005 to 2006, he said, the market has leveled. Buyers can still find plenty of acre plots in the ,000 range, and the median price for a single-family dwelling was 9,000 at the end of 2006. Those figures attract people from the mainland, but also those who live on Hawaii's pricier islands.

"Although we do own a nice home on Oahu that we love, it's getting a bit cramped, and traffic is often a problem," said Michael Tatzber, a massage therapist who is in the process of buying a second home on the Big Island for 0,000 with his partner, Cassandra Holmes, a graphic designer. They also run Punaguide.com, a Web site that offers advice to potential buyers.

"If you love peace and quiet and a natural environment," Mr. Tatzber said, "then Puna is the place."

The Scene

The village of Pahoa (population 1,037), a short strip that has a Wild West feel, is Puna's downtown - the place to buy basics like natural groceries, sun block and gauzy skirts. On weekends, the handful of restaurants, especially Luqins Mexican Restaurant, buzz with the energy of people eager to connect.

At a Sunday farmers' market in Makuu, you can buy everything from local papayas and rambutans to organic honey to handmade surfboards.

The activity is constant at Kehena Beach, where clothing is optional and people lounge in the black sand, watch for sea life and take part in Sunday drumming circles and parties. "There's a certain earthy, artistic lifestyle in Puna, which attracts countercultural types," said Liz Randol, a broker with Realty Executives Hawaii. Other activities include snorkeling in the warm Kapoho Tide Pools, soaking in a thermal (and slightly brackish) hot spring at Ahalanui Park and come nightfall, hiking across the field of lava that buried the fishing village of Kapalana in 1990. After about an hour and a half of hiking, you can see the glow of lava snaking to sea.

Pros

"I love the densely tropical sense of this place," said John Upton, 74, a photographer who lives mainly in Southern California but spends several months a year at his Puna home. Mr. Upton's latest body of work focuses on the rich color palette of Hawaii's tropical flora, which thrives in the moist, temperate climate.

"The population here is also more stable, with less snowbirds than on the Kona side of the island," said Heather Hedenschau, principal broker with Big Island Brokers.

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Correction: April 15, 2007

The Havens column last Friday about the Puna region of Hawaii mischaracterized air service available at Hilo International Airport. There are flights between Hilo and Oakland, Calif.; all flights are not routed through airports on Oahu or Maui.

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American Massage Therapy Association
International member-driven organization representing the massage therapy profession.