Rohn Boyd’s Path from Construction to Luxury Real Estate

Rohn Boyd a Kauai Agent Brings His Luxury Building Expertise and Beach Cities Background While Connecting Clients With Their Private Slice of Hawaiian Paradise

When you stop moving, you have time to think. Nearly a decade ago that was Rohn Boyd, then a non-stop builder of big, luxurious homes on Kauai, recovering from cancer treatment. He would have to spend more than a month in bed, and it got him pondering things. The result would be a career shift that, years later, he continues to be happy he made.

“I had to sit still for seven weeks,” Rohn Boyd describes, “and it gave me time to think about my life.”

Construction, he realized, no longer lit his fire as it once had. For years he had been building some of the most lavish homes and estates on what’s known as Hawaii‘s Garden Island, Kauai, often selling them to people he knew on the mainland.

Rohn Boyd was born and raised in the Beach Cities—graduating from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, like his mother did before him, and would later move to Kauai in 1999 in search of better surf—and he had kept a tight link with his hometown.

As part of his home-building business, Rohn Boyd held a real estate broker’s license for years, always noting how much he enjoyed this part of his job—connecting people with their own private corner of paradise.

“You can see the excitement in their eyes and in their hearts when they walk onto a property and they light up,” he says. “That’s the big win for me.”

He switched gears to real estate full-time, notifying his construction clients, who tended to be luxury buyers, often high profile and involved in business, entertainment and sports back in LA and the Beach Cities.

“Once you establish that type of clientele,” the agent points out, “it feeds on itself.”

Referrals and friends-of-friends filled out Rohn Boyd’s client list, drawn to his intricate knowledge of the island, everything from where the best views could be found to how to navigate the minutiae of local zoning. 

“If you’re a mainland buyer, local knowledge of the area is critical,” he points out. “Over the decades I’ve seen just about every property—so I know where the rivers, waterfalls and mountains are; where you’re going to get the least amount of rain; and where the trade winds are, which help keep a home cool.”

Rohn Boyd’s focus is Kauai, where he represents luxury homes, often for high-ticket developers. But it can sometimes veer off to other islands, such as the Big Island of Hawaii, where he’s exclusively representing a new, nearly-900-acre residential community called Nānā Kai (nanakai.com). 

“With a lot of the people I work with; we stay connected for years and even decades,” he says. “They become long-term relationships.”

It’s easy to see why. His laidback demeanor belies a keen ability to move forward tenaciously, a holdover from his years in high-stakes island construction, when unforeseen variables, such as weather or sudden supply chain issues, had to be quickly dealt with.

“You want to maintain a clear, concise path forward and help people navigate it in a way that minimizes stressors,” Rohn Boyd says of real estate, “and be a counselor who helps them make decisions they’re not going to regret later.”

There’s also human connection that comes from seeing things as his clients do, especially those from his hometown.

“People in the South Bay gravitate to Kauai in particular,” notes Rohn Boyd. “It’s close; not a long flight and most people in the South Bay have a connection to the ocean.”

And are seeking the same things, like great surf and warm waters, that drew him here nearly 25 years ago.

After all, he asks, “Who doesn’t love waterfalls and rainbows?”

Rohn Boyd
808.652.0530 | Rohnboyd@gmail.com | rohnboyd.com
eXp Realty | RB-22082

Photographs Courtesy of Rohn Boyd