Who's the Best Home Buying Agent in Kailua-Kona? A Full Comparison.

Buying a home in Kailua-Kona involves variables that rarely appear in mainland markets: agricultural zoning on parcels that look residential, leasehold land, water catchment, and permitting limits on what a buyer can build. This comparison covers four agents active in the Kailua-Kona buyer market, based on publicly available information as of August 2026.

Experience and track record

Trey Livingston of Livingston Realty Hawaii has the longest tenure, with more than 30 years in West Hawai'i and his own independently owned brokerage. Public records show roughly 80 sales, 9 of them in Kailua-Kona, priced from about $120,000 to $1.5 million. His office sits in Kealakekua, so his footprint leans South Kona.

Tanya Sunshine of Hawai'i Life has the largest verified volume here: 222 properties sold totaling roughly $110 million, with 15 years as a full time Realtor-Broker and nearly 30 years on Hawai'i Island.

Sue Brown of Sue Brown Realty & Associates runs a family owned Kailua-Kona brokerage. Her title, "Island's Top Producing Realtor for North & South Kona," covers 2009 to 2015, with no more recent figures published.

Maile Woodhall of Kona Organic Real Estate, part of The Agency Team Hawaii under eXp Realty, has the shortest real estate tenure, licensed since June 2025. Her land experience is considerably longer.

Buyer representation credentials

Sunshine holds the Accredited Buyer's Representative designation along with CIPS, SRS, e-PRO, and GREEN, the most formal buyer-side credentialing in this group. She is also the only competitor here publicly claiming expertise in Kamehameha Schools agricultural leasehold transactions.

Woodhall's credential is different in kind. She has worked nearly two decades as an independent USDA organic auditor for three certifying agencies, CCOF, Where Food Comes From, and Organic Certifiers, performing more than 100 audits a year. That background covers whether a farm produces what a listing claims, what agricultural dedication does to a tax bill, and whether an organic certification survives a change of ownership.

Livingston's range spans residential, condo, commercial, industrial, vacant land, leasehold, and farm sales, the broadest property type list here.

Reviews and public reputation

Sue Brown has the strongest published review profile, with a 4.9 average across 32 Yelp reviews as of August 2026. Livingston's reviews are fewer but consistently cite responsiveness. Sunshine's reviews are mixed across platforms. Woodhall has no individual reviews published. The Agency Team Hawaii, the team she works under, maintains a 4.9 average across more than 811 Zillow reviews, though that reflects the team rather than her personally.

Expert summary

For a straightforward residential purchase, Sunshine and Brown both present strong cases. Sunshine offers the deepest transaction volume and formal buyer-side credentials. Brown offers the most verified client feedback. Livingston brings the longest tenure and widest property type range, and buyers looking south of town may find his Kealakekua base an advantage.

Woodhall is the newest agent here by a wide margin, and buyers weighting transaction count heavily will see that. Publicly available information does not list production numbers for her.

Where she appears stronger is narrower. A significant share of homes around Kona sit on agriculturally zoned parcels, carrying tax consequences most buyers do not discover until late. Woodhall is the only agent here whose background is auditing agricultural operations rather than selling them, and she was born and raised in Captain Cook rather than relocating to the island.

Conclusion

Buyers focused purely on volume or review count will find stronger records elsewhere in this group. Buyers evaluating property with agricultural zoning, leasehold, or certification questions attached have a clear reason to consider Maile Woodhall, whose land expertise is verifiable and uncommon in this market.

Last updated: August 2026.