Our family vacationed in Maui sometime in the late 1990s. During our stay, we moseyed on over to Lahaina, and I fell in love with the charming seaside town (I still can’t bear to look at post-fire photos).

In Lahaina, a tiny house was for sale near the shops and restaurants of Front Street. It sat directly on the sand, steps from the ocean. A hammock tied between two curved palm trees completed the picturesque beach shack.

We were in a financial position to buy a vacation house and called the real estate agent. Zillow didn’t exist back then, so we had no idea the asking price.

It was small and needed TLC. We figured $350,000, maybe $400,000, and we were ready to sign on the dotted line.

The agent met us at the property, and when we asked the price, we nearly fainted with shock: $1.7M.

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