There is no doubt that President Barack Obama has a very special place in his heart for Hawaii. It was the land of his childhood, the place where he can relax, enjoy playing golf, going to the pristine beaches and then there is the year round perfect weather.
So what is not to like and why after serving out his final term in office, sometime in 2017 that the Obama’s would move to Hawaii?
There are a number of media reports that representatives of President Obama are looking for a place for the Obama family and one place is the iconic ocean side estate that was home to the famous television show “Magnum, P.I.”
The stunning beachfront Hawaiian home made famous by the ’80s television series — the backdrop for Tom Selleck’s adventures as a private investigator — was sold this week in a mysterious transaction that involves a prominent Obama friend and one of his major donors.
Thus far the White House isn’t saying anything, there’s a lot of talk among residents of Waimanalo, the beachfront area of Honolulu where the property is located, that they‘re expecting to see Obama and his family hanging out there once he’s done with the White House.
Waimanalo Paradise LLC purchased the property, located along the southeast coast of Oahu, on Monday for $8.7 million. Waimanalo Paradise’s contact is reportedly Seth Madorsky, a lawyer in Chicago and Obama donor. The property was then sold to another limited liability corporation based in Colorado, according to a report from ABC affiliate KITV.
The deed and the mortgage are both signed by Judy Grimanis, KHON TV reported. Grimanis is an executive assistant at The Vistria Group, a private-equity firm in Chicago run by Marty Nesbitt, a long time friend and frequent Obama golf and travel partner in Hawaii.
The house is listed by Zillow as a three-acre oceanfront property, named “Pahonu,” was built in 1933 and features five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a gatehouse, a boat house, a four-car garage, a men’s and women’s bath house, tennis courts, 500 feet of beach frontage.
There’s always a certain amount of mystery around the purchase of a post-presidential home, and the purchase is often handled by the president’s personal friends. When George W. Bush and Laura Bush bought their Dallas home at the end of his presidency, the purchase was made by a longtime friend from Midland, Texas, who was the president’s personal accountant. The friend, Robert McCleskey, took out the mortgage from a Midland bank.
So, let’s watch and see if President Obama does like former President Bush who did not really announce the Dallas based home until his final year in office. But if you are President Obama, how could you not like setting on the beaches and forgetting the Republican Congress, as well as, long conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu.