Founder's Story - Transforming Hawaii: Lailan Bento on Affordable Housing and Community Development | S2:E60

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

In this episode, Daniel Robbins interviews Lailan Bento, the owner of Hawaii Development Group, who is at the forefront of addressing Hawaii's affordable housing crisis. Lailan shares her journey ...from a career in politics and hotel sales to becoming a real estate developer. She discusses the unique challenges of building in Hawaii, including navigating the strictest building regulations in the U.S. and the high cost of living that drives local families to leave the islands.Lailan delves into her current project—developing a city of affordable housing in Hawaii—and her commitment to helping native Hawaiians stay in their homeland. She also talks about her work with her family, the importance of community, and her initiatives to support education and preserve local parks. Lailan's passion for her home state and dedication to making a positive impact make this episode a powerful listen for anyone interested in real estate, community development, and social impact.Key Points Discussed:Lailan’s background in politics and real estate, and how she transitioned into development.The challenges of building in Hawaii, including strict regulations and high costs.The critical need for affordable housing in Hawaii and its impact on local families.How Hawaii Development Group is addressing the housing shortage with new developments.The cultural and community aspects of growing up and working in Hawaii.The significance of working with family in the business and the rewards it brings.Lailan’s nonprofit initiatives, including a scholarship fund and park adoption programs.The role of local culture and community support in her development projects.Future goals for expanding affordable housing and supporting native Hawaiians.How to connect with Lailan Bento and learn more about her projects.Relevant Links:Hawaii Development GroupOur Sponsors:* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacyOur Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, welcome back to Founders Story. Today we have Lailan Bento, who is the owner of Hawaii Development Group. And there's something about Hawaii that I find is very interesting around the housing there. How difficult and challenging it is to even create development. And she's going to dive into all that. She's even building what is a city of affordable housing in Hawaii, but I can't wait to dive in. So let's just start with why did you even get into real estate? I got into real estate. I come from a political family, so I did work for
Starting point is 00:00:37 a former governor for eight years, and then knowing how to navigate through the departments, I went into sales in the hotel industry, selling Hawaii for many, many years. And I did fairly well doing that. And I thought, you know, I've always had an interest. I had an aunt that was a very big real estate broker in the state. And I always admired her growing up. And I thought, you know, if I can do this for a corporation, I think I could try to do real estate. I've always wanted to get into it. And I just took the leap of faith, $8 in my pocket and started real estate
Starting point is 00:01:11 and started selling to, you know, started off with my family and friends and went from there and then went off to co-found Hawaii Development Group, which is a real estate company here in Hawaii with my mom. And it's been exciting. It's been an exciting journey so far. Yeah. So it sounds like you started as more of the agent selling real estate and now you're diving more into the development side. How was that transition? That transition? It's, it's actually a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. There are many, many challenges. Hawaii has the strictest building regulations in the country, in the US. So there's so many layers of red tape between our county and state government to be able to build in Hawaii. We're currently on a
Starting point is 00:01:51 development it's taken about, my mom has been the listing agent spearheading that for about 10 years now, just pushing it through from public hearings, environmental, statements, to just financing, lending, permitting, all of it over the last 10 years. And so we're finally excited to go into development, but it's definitely different from general real estate. Development is a whole nother animal. It's a lot more work, but to me, it's worth it at the end of the day.
Starting point is 00:02:21 It's fun to see dirt turn into buildings finally, and to be able to hand over keys to, I'm to be able to hand over keys to my own people right my own hawaiian people which you know at the end of the day that just is why i got into real estate too to help my own so let's talk i'm curious about the state of the market in hawaii so why do you feel like there's such a big need right now for affordable housing? And how has that helped the people of Hawaii? Right now, Hawaii has the most people, our population is decreasing because we have the middle class. We have people actually born and raised in Hawaii, like myself, that cannot afford, you know, they're working two or three jobs. You know, you have eggs at $12, you know, for a dozen eggs.
Starting point is 00:03:03 You have bread at $11 for a loaf of bread. I mean, a gallon of milk is $15. So you're starting to look at families and the cost of living, they're seriously struggling, even working two or three jobs as parents. So they're moving to cheaper states like Texas, you know, Arizona, Las Vegas, just to be able to make it and buy a home. And so there's definitely a need, There was a need way before COVID. Our island in particular is short 13,000 homes and we have a population of about 200,000 people. So not every person living on the island currently
Starting point is 00:03:36 as a resident can even afford or even there's not even a home for them to live in. So we're trying to meet that need. We have a current mayor's administration that's trying to push that through, especially with things like Lahaina that have happened. It's kind of put all of our politicians at the forefront of we need housing, right? People are leaving one natural disaster and that just takes out the market even more with housing. So that just is a little snippet of it. Yeah. Yeah. I imagine. I mean, if you have to get everything imported and shipped in, such as food,, which some people don't know where before we were, you know, a state ships from other countries could just stop
Starting point is 00:04:30 at our ports, but now they have to go to US ports in the mainland and come back here. So we're actually, that's why goods are so expensive because we're taxed twice in Hawaii. So with that, coupling with now, you know, the supply shortage out of COVID and then the manpower. A lot of people have moved, right? A lot of businesses closed up in COVID. So just to find even the manpower and then you're going to pay top dollar to get, you know, a crew of construction workers to actually show up. So, you know, it's a little bit of a challenge, but. Hey, everyone.
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Starting point is 00:06:48 It's kind of like most islands. There's the island feel, and it's just a nice culture. And hopefully this will help a lot of people. How is it working with your family, like working with your mom? How has that been? I actually enjoy it. We have the same, you know, not the same personality, but we like to do the same things. And it's been, you know, she is my mom, sometimes, sometimes, you know, she's a
Starting point is 00:07:13 business partner with at the end of the day, you know, she's still my mom, right? So she'll scold me. And but I've had actually a great time working with my mom. And a lot of the businesses in Hawaii, because it's such a small state, you get to grow up and you know, everyone, right. And governor might've been your neighbor growing up and the lifeguard also, you know? And so I think that's the beauty of being from here also that we're all mixed ethnicity. So when you're growing up here, you really don't see a different race. You're all riding bicycles together and growing up and eating each other's foods. And that I had to explain that to our developer. He was like, I've never seen this, you know, anywhere else in the world. I said, well, I think that's what draws people to Hawaii, right? We're
Starting point is 00:07:52 all mixed and we all know how to live together. And that goes back to the plantation days, right? When Hawaii had plantations and you had, that's where what we call the mixed plate, right? Where everybody eats that lunch plate where it's all different types of, you know, ethnicities and that one plate that comes from plantation days. So we are used to growing up together with, you know, your Japanese friend next door and the Filipino friend, right? And your families all know each other and you share each other's foods. And yeah, it's I think that's something that is special about growing up here and being from here. Hawaii always has a special vibe. I can tell. I was just talking to someone yesterday from Honolulu, and they were telling me the same thing of how they felt now that they've moved out and how much they miss it.
Starting point is 00:08:38 So what's the future for you? So you got this development. You're building essentially this new city of affordable housing. On the personal brand side, what do you have in the future for yourself? kids for higher education because there's such a need and lack of higher education on the islands especially in the on the outer islands as we call them um here and especially for middle class i'm a native hawaiian kid that was in the middle class my whole life and there's always you know you don't even qualify for a free pencil so for me creating that scholarship fund i did this year and to grow upon that and then i'm creating a creating a nonprofit to be able to help, you know, local kids be able to, you know, go to private school and also for higher education,
Starting point is 00:09:30 because I find that's where we need what to do with our kids, right? If we can educate them, even though they're from the middle of the Pacific, right? You already have that grit growing up in the middle of the ocean, right? With you might not even have milk or, you know, bread at the store, but you just have to be able to handle and to educate those same kids that just need a chance. Cause I was one of those kids I think would be incredible. So I'm working on that nonprofit. And then I just recently, cause I didn't want to be just a real estate company, right? I'm one of the only realtors that's native Hawaiian born and raised here and understands the history, the culture, and just, this is my home, right? Where my ancestors came from. And so I also
Starting point is 00:10:10 just adopted a couple of county parks because I grew up playing sports. And so I thought the parks are also a big part of our growing up here, right? In our life. And so the parks are looking, you know, run down, the kids can't go swim in the pool, that, you know, what are they going to do? Then they're going to start getting into trouble, right? Because they're bored. So that's also something I just did was implementing adopting as a company, because the county has a private partnership, where you can adopt and take care of those parks for those kids. So that's also something I'm working on besides launching this development to be able to put my own people and keep them in our state, you know, and have housing and be able to live and work here, which I find is probably my most important goal. Well, as founders, right, if we can make money, do good, impact people, I think that, you know, that's the fulfilling part about why we're going to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, right, instead of working in a corporate job.
Starting point is 00:11:09 But thank you so much for sharing it. People want to get in touch with you. They want to find out more information. Maybe they want to see about this new development that you're doing. How can they do so? Sure. My Instagram is my name, at Lylon Bento. You could either message me there or my cell phone. We'll be able to provide that to you,
Starting point is 00:11:26 my website or my email address, which my email is Lylon at highdevgroup.com is my email address. Well, Lylon, thank you so much for all you're doing. I can't wait to see this new development in Hawaii.
Starting point is 00:11:38 I've never been to that part yet, so I'll have to make it out there once this is completed. And I'm so excited for your impact as well. Because that founder story that's we are all about impact. So thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for tuning in to founder story. Keep exploring, keep dreaming, and join us next time for more inspiring entrepreneurial journeys.

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