By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
TaishTomono, left, made this 5,000 gallon catchment tank
out of old roof iron. His wife, Mitsuko, looks on from the house.
The area boasts cheap homes amid
By Tim Ryan
a lush backdrop and a close-knit community
Star-BulletinThere you sit in your average three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,400-square-foot Oahu home on a 100-foot-by-75-foot lot listening to your neighbor's television on one side and a baby crying on the other. Out front is a busy street. You dream of space, peace and quiet, a mortgage that doesn't keep you just this side of bankruptcy, and maybe you even long for a view.
Well, how does this sound:
Three-bedroom, two-bath home on a landscaped 15,000-square-foot lot in a rain forest: $98,000.
While the Big Island's real-estate market is suffering, Volcano homes have held their value during the last six years, says Pat Halpern, Realtor for Savio Realty in Hilo. Average home sales in the village have risen about $9,000 since 1990. (The average sales price for a Hilo home dropped from $196,000 in 1990 to the current $150,000.)
Although the tiny community of Volcano numbers only 3,600-plus residents spread through the 4,000-foot elevation rain forest, this quiet, sheltered community seems to be a microcosm of Hawaii's diverse cultures, values and traditions.
Just how big is the "village"?
"Twenty minutes long by 12 miles wide," said Gordon Morse, 70, an ex-reporter and photographer and a 30-year resident. "The speed gossip travels."
Hanging out at the Volcano Store are newcomers and kamaainas; retirees and entrepreneurs; farmers and bed-and-breakfast owners; people who try to bring with them big-city "excess-ities"; and staunch environmentalists who shudder at the sound of bulldozers clearing a rain forest lot.
"Yes, there are a multitude of opinions here," says architect-photographer Boone Morrison says. "But we all have one thing in common. We dig Volcano."
Here's a place that has no major industry. It gets 12 feet - or more - of rain annually and sits in a lava-flow risk zone. You have to drive 45 minutes to have your oil changed, or go to a movie theater. Most of Volcano's streets are substandard and there are no street lights.
So why do people live here?
Residents recite in reverential tones the lack of traffic, small-village friendliness, an ability to impact community issues, the rural environment, the solitude and cool weather. (Winter lows drop into the 40s, and summer lows, into the 50s.)
"Life is very serene," said Morse, 70. "Volcano is a place where you can actually know your neighbor. Volcano is a kamaaina place.
"The easiest answer is: 'Look around you. Is anywhere more beautiful?'"
Most of Volcano Village is mauka of Highway 11, about a mile east - the Hilo side - of the entrance to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Volcano Golf Course is the newest subdivision. Some homes here sell for more than a half-million dollars, said Halpern. House lots are 11,000 to 13,000 square feet, and most are fee simple. The subdivision is surrounded by the national park and some Bishop Estate leasehold ranches.
"This is the most exclusive area in Volcano in terms of home price, when they were built, and the views, which are all spectacular," Halpern said.
The former ranch land is not nearly as forested as the village, five miles "down the hill" toward Hilo where there are 24 homes for sale in the $50,000 to $625,000 range. Average asking price is $176,000.
Looking for vacant land? There are 29 listings in the Golf Course subdivision, ranging in price from $35,000 to $69,500. The average lot price is about $50,000.
The 17 "vacant acreage" lots in the village range from $28,000 to $275,000; the average asking price is about $112,000.
Construction here runs the gamut from stuccoed rectangular boxes, multilevel wood-and-glass, architect-designed, to historic structures.
According to a 1993 study of historic homes in Volcano, about 25 percent of all structures here were built before World War II. The oldest surviving structure dates from 1886.
Called the Historic Building Inventory of Volcano and commissioned by the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the study identified more than 100 Volcano structures as historic. That means they are at least 50 years old.
Historic properties in Volcano fall into two groups: those built before 1927 and those built from 1927-41. During WWII, little private construction was undertaken, the study says.
Most of these structures are relatively lightly built wood-frame buildings, many with single-wall construction. Foundations are largely post and pier, and roofing is largely corrugated metal, though shingles were also common as the original roofing.
Many of the homes have wood-fired heating sources, with wood-burning stoves outnumbering traditional masonry fireplaces. Many homes built by early Japanese settlers had traditional furo baths.
Who were the people who originally settled Volcano?
There were two distinct groups who lived in the village in its earliest days. These include those who lived and worked there full time, and those who had summer and holiday homes.
Among the full-time residents, the early Japanese farmers formed a large group, many of whose descendants still live in the village. The part-time owners were many of East Hawaii's prominent kamaaina business and professional community.
Who buys in Volcano these days?
"Volcano is the best-kept secret for kamaainas," Halpern says.
"Buyers come from Oahu or Hilo. Most are retirees, but there are lots of artists, self-employed, who work at home, people who can go to work in Hilo at a leisurely pace, (national) park employees.
"They all come for the isolation, the beauty, inexpensive property."
Many new residents are in for a big surprise after a few months living in a rain forest.
There's no county water, so homes and businesses must have their own water catchment system. When the rain fails to fall for a few weeks, water must be trucked up from Hilo at about $600 a load.
But that doesn't happen often since average precipitation is about 12 feet a year.
Sewage treatment is by cesspool or septic.
The typical Volcano house is older and smaller than many new residents are used to.
"Most of homes here have been refurbished and are just two or three bedrooms with a single bath," Halpern said.
"They were built as vacation retreats xxx not intended for full-time use."
Most of Volcano's roads are substandard and the area is in lava-flow hazard zone factor three - as is Hilo. (The hazard scale goes from 1 to 9, with one the most dangerous. The last lava flow through Volcano was in the 1800s, Halpern said.)
The climate usually gets to newcomers first.
"People either love it or hate it," Halpern said. "If they want the forest, a cool climate, and lots of rain, then they love Volcano."
