Aloha -
As American families gathered for the 1976 Thanksgiving Holiday Season, Whalers Realty Inc. opened its doors to serve a growing number of visitors and residents seeking the American dream of home and real property ownership. Kaanapali Resort, acclaimed as the world's first and best-planned resort community, was thriving. Tess and I joined Whalers Realty Inc. in 1982. It was our goal to help continue Kaanapali on its course as one of the world's foremost places to live and play. Through good fortune, a strong work ethic, positive thinking and the help of many, we became the owners of Whalers in 1994. Please join us as we celebrate over 30 years helping people to successful Maui real estate ownership.
A Hue Ho,
Bob Cartwright
Robert J. Cartwright,
Principal Broker - Whalers Realty Inc.
Founding Partner, John E. "Jack" Kelley (1936 - 1994)
Affable, St. Louis-born, Jack Kelley signed on with Mike McCormack Realtors in 1974 and became their Sales Manager for the first luxury condominium on Maui, The Whaler on Kaanapali Beach. Whaler units were priced at then unheard of levels up to $145,000 Leasehold. With the promise of the exclusive marketing contract for the Papakea Beach Resort, forty-year-old Kelley resigned from McCormack to establish Whalers Realty Inc. with partners Jim Cane, Mark Brown and Toby Hay. They named their new company Whalers Realty after its location in Whalers Village on Kaanapali Beach.
Robert Cartwright meets Tess Hallmark
In 1974, twenty-year-old Robert J. "Bob" Cartwright transferred from the Coronado, California Charthouse Restaurant to open the Charthouse in Lahaina, Maui. Encouraged by a frequent diner at the restaurant, he obtained a real estate sales license in 1976 and went to work with Blue Water Properties and then Mike McCormack Realtors. In 1981, Bob was in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii working on a new condominium development when he met an artist and new licensee with Kona Realty, Tess Hallmark. They pursued a long distance romance until Bob persuaded Tess to join him on Maui. They went to work with Kelley at Whalers Realty in 1982 and soon became the firm's top producing agents.
Asking for the Best
Bob and Tess admired Kelley's integrity and desire to help others. To this, they added their own commitment to excellence in the soon to be famous phrase "Ask for the Best." Today, more than ever, "Ask for the Best" embodies the essence of Whalers Realty. Based on the Biblical verse, "Ask and thou shalt receive", "Ask for the Best" is rooted in the idea that good things happen to those who dedicate themselves to excellence. The commitment was to ask of themselves the best in order to attain the best for themselves and those they serve.
THE JOURNEY
- 1962 Kaanapali Beach Resort opens with the first PGA Seniors Golf Tournament
- 1975 Maui's first luxury condominium, The Whaler on Kaanapali Beach, opens
- 1976 Jack Kelley and partners establish Whalers Realty Inc.
- 1976 Visitors to Maui surpass 500,000 for the first time
- 1978 Whalers Realty Inc. sells Papakea Beach Resort
- 1979 Whalers Realty Inc. sells Kaanapali Royal
- 1980 High interest rates cool real estate market, and Jack Kelley becomes sole owner of Whalers Realty Inc.
- 1981 Robert Cartwright meets Tess Hallmark on the Big Island
- 1982 Robert Cartwright & Tess Hallmark join Whalers Realty Inc.
- 1984 Japanese continue investing in Maui, pushing prices up
- 1986 Kelley opens a vacation rental division at Whalers Realty Inc.
- 1987 Bob and Tess launch major "Ask for the Best, Ask for Bob and Tess" ads on local
Cablevision CNN and ESPN
- 1989 Bob and Tess marry, making their partnership official
- 1990 Gulf War slows booming real estate market
- 1990 Jack Kelley's health declines, and Robert J. Cartwright becomes Broker-in-Charge of
Whalers Realty Inc.
- 1993 Tess Cartwright discovers Bud Burrid locked in the walls of an empty bleach jug.
Meet Bud at: www.mewe-creations.com
- 1993 On Thanksgiving Day, Kelley offers to sell Cartwright Whalers Realty Inc. The deal is made on a handshake with papers signed shortly before Kelley's passing in January 1994
- 1994 Robert Cartwright secures exclusive marketing contract with Amfac to sell their homesites within Kaanapali Golf Estates' planned community in Kaanapali Resort
- 1994 First Whalers Realty Inc. - Jack Kelley Memorial Golf Tournament is held at the Royal Kaanapali North Course
- 1994 Whalers Realty is one of the first Maui firms to develop a web site
- 1994 Whalers Realty moves its vacation rental division to the Amfac Professional Center in Kaanapali to give more space to its sales agents at their Whalers Village office
- 1995 Whalers Realty sells six estate-sized oceanfront parcels for Amfac at Kai Ala Place priced from $1.9 - $2.2 million Fee Simple
- 1995 Kaanapali Shores' AOAO Board of Directors choose Whalers Realty to open a sales center at Kaanapali Shores
- 1996 Whalers Realty sells thirty-two lots at Ke Alii residential subdivision within Kaanapali Golf Estates for Amfac
- 1996 Whalers Realty secures exclusive marketing contract with the Hawaii Omori Corporation to sell 77 units at the Kaanapali Alii beachfront condominium
development
priced from $340,000 to $670,000 Fee Simple. All 77 units sell within 18 months after the market had been at a standstill for Hawaii Omori the previous year
- 1997 Whalers Realty's successful marketing of home site programs encourage developers such as West Maui Development, KM Land Investors LLC, South West Value Partners and Kirkland Development to purchase land from Amfac
- 1998 Whalers Realty grows to 24 agents and 8 support staff from 16 agents and 4 support staff five years earlier
- 2000 Whalers Realty begins offering Kirkland Development's 13 home sites at Kahua Kai on the golf course within Kaanapali Golf Estates.
- 2000 Whalers Realty launches exclusive marketing efforts under the Kaanapali Golf Estates' master plan for The Vintage at Kaanapali, 73 detached single family condominium homes priced from $450,000 to $725,000 Fee Simple, The Summit at Kaanapali, 55 condominium style homes selling from $800,000 to $1,375,000 Fee Simple, and The Pinnacle Kaanapali, 33 estate-sized home sites priced from $500,000 Fee Simple
- 2000 Whalers Realty expands and completely renovates its Whalers Village office
- 2000 Whalers Realty renames its vacation rental company vacation-maui.com. A separate web site is developed, www.vacation-maui.com
- 2000 Whalers Realty closes the first year of the new millennium with a gross sales volume in excess of $170 million
- 2001 Whalers Realty closes the final developer sales at The Vintage at Kaanapali and is now marketing resale's
- 2001 The first phase of The Summit at Kaanapali is nearing completion with 11 of the 17 homes sold
- 2001 The first phase of The Pinnacle Kaanapali is under construction with 10 of the 33 home sites sold
- November 17, 2001 Whalers Realty Inc. celebrates its 25th Anniversary serving Maui with 32 sales professionals and 10 support staff
- July, 2001 Whalers Realty closes the final developer sales at The Vintage at Kaanapali and is now marketing resales
- December, 2001 The first phase of The Summit at Kaanapali is nearing completion with 11 of the 17 homes sold
- December, 2001 The first phase of The Pinnacle Kaanapali is under construction with 10 of the 33 home sites sold
- November 17, 2001 Whalers Realty Inc. celebrates its 25th Anniversary serving Maui with 32 sales professionals and 10 support staff
- January 2002, Whalers Realty Inc. opens its new Fairway Shops location
- June, 2002 Begin sales at The Summit Phase III
- April, 2003 Sales at The Summit Phase II begin
- October, 2003 All three phases of The Summit are sold out
- March, 2004 The Pinnacle is sold out.
- August, 2005 Construction begins at aina nalu, and Whalers Realty begins sales of Phase I
- September, 2005 Construction and sales begin for Lanikeha Phase I
- December, 2005 Lanikeha Phase II sales begin
- March, 2006 aina nalu Phase I is sold out, and Phase II sales begin
- April, 2006 Lanikeha Phase I is sold out
- October, 2006: WRI starts an affiliation with Luxury Real Estate.com
- November 17, 2006: Whalers Realty Inc. celebrates 30th anniversary with 33 sales agents and 8 support staff. A charity donation drive held in honor of this anniversary culminates with $1,000 each donated to 30 different charities.
- Whalers Realty Inc. closes their 30th year with a gross sales volume in excess of $350,000,000
- 2007: WRI creates affiliations with The Real Estate Book & Pinnacle Magazine
- 2007 Whalers creates affiliation with LuxuryRealEstate.Com
Our Guiding Principles
Make a positive difference in the lives of the people we serve and the community of Maui.
Practice the highest degree of integrity to serve clients and elevate our industry to ever greater levels of professionalism.
Provide superior market knowledge by keeping our clients informed of current events and market conditions.
Unite Whalers Realty's associates into a crew of professionals who cooperate to serve their clients' needs, enabling them to achieve personal goals.
Today, more than ever, "Ask for the Best" embodies the essence of Whalers Realty Inc. - Integrity coupled with positive action makes the difference. For twenty-five years, Whalers Realty has been a leader in sales and marketing using all forms of media available to insure maximum exposure to the market for the clients they represent. A full schedule of advertising appears on local radio, cable television, the Paradise Television Network, and in monthly Maui real estate publications as well as The Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune and others. Whalers Realty's worldwide coverage is available on their website that features instantaneous access to new properties as they become available including site maps, floor plans, virtual tours, progressive photographs of new developments and special free reports. Whalers Realty's sales web site, www.whalersrealty.com, was developed in 1994. In 2000, Whalers created a separate web site, www.vacation-maui.com, to promote their vacation rental business, vacation-maui.com.
Based on the principles of integrity, Bob's vision and uncanny ability to understand market dynamics and set goals, Tess' talent for organization and marketing, and their crew of professional support and sales people, Whalers Realty Inc. has built a reputation as a leader in the industry.
