About Oceans
We build what we broker.
Oceans Real Estate is a Honolulu brokerage that also develops. Founded in 2012, we have built eight Bill 7 rental communities in urban Honolulu and manage them ourselves — which means that when we advise an investor on a Hawaii property, we are describing work we have actually done, at our own risk, with our own capital.
Schedule a consultationSee the track record
Oceans Real Estate LLC · Principal Broker Evan Amakata · RB-22133 · Honolulu, Hawaii
What we are
Three sides of the same business.
Most Honolulu firms do one of these. We do all three, and each one makes the others better: developing teaches us what a site is really worth, brokering keeps us in the market every week, and managing the buildings tells us what an income projection looks like once tenants move in.
Developer
Eight Bill 7 rental communities in urban Honolulu — 320 homes built or underway — carried from site acquisition through entitlement, construction and lease-up. Investors participate directly from $3,000,000, or acquire completed, stabilized portfolios.
Brokerage
Investment condominiums, multifamily buildings and homes across Oahu — including new development at Ward Village and the other master-planned addresses Japanese buyers ask for. The principal broker stays on the file from first showing to closing.
Management
In-house management of our own buildings and of client properties — leasing, maintenance, compliance and clear monthly reporting, in English or Japanese. Ownership from abroad without the hassle of running it yourself.
2012
Founded in Honolulu
8
Bill 7 projects developed
320
Rental homes built or underway
EN·JA
Bilingual practice
Evan Amakata · Principal Broker · RB-22133
The principal broker
Broker. Developer. Author.
Evan Amakata has invested in real estate since 1998, following a sixteen-year technology career at IBM that took him to six Olympic Games. He came to Hawaii the way many of our clients do — as an investor first — and licensed as a broker because he wanted to control the whole transaction rather than hand it to someone else.
In 2012 he founded Oceans Real Estate. When Honolulu passed Bill 7 to encourage small-lot rental housing, he did not simply recommend it to clients: he bought the sites, took the entitlement risk, built the buildings and leased them up. Four are complete and occupied; two more are under construction today.
He has written two books, in Japanese, on building a life in Hawaii through property investment, and he works with clients in both English and Japanese. Every listing, every investor conversation and every closing at Oceans runs through him personally.
The record
Eight buildings, and counting.
Every one of these is a building we acquired, entitled, built and now operate. Four are complete and leased; two are under construction in urban Honolulu.
1427 Ernest Street 26 homes Completed 2023 Leasing
1226 Kinau Street 25 homes Completed 2024 Leasing
1751 Algaroba Street 25 homes Completed 2025 Leasing
1568 Pensacola Street — Makiki Banyan 90 homes Completed 2026 Leasing
1617 Alapai Street 53 homes In construction Building
1525 Piikoi Street 34 homes In construction Building
The plan from here is deliberate: 1,000 units in the development pipeline by 2028, and up to twenty buildings completed by 2030. Investors who work with us are backing that pipeline, not a single deal.
How we work
Four commitments.
01
Our own capital goes in first.
We do not package other people’s deals. We buy the sites, sign the construction contracts and carry the risk alongside our investors.
02
Numbers before opinions.
Rent rolls, cap rates, zoning and construction cost, in writing, before we tell you what we think. If a deal does not work, we say so.
03
The principal broker stays on the file.
You are not handed to a junior agent after the first meeting. The person who underwrites your purchase is the person who closes it.
04
Two languages, one standard.
Contracts, reporting and negotiation in English or Japanese, to the same standard. Owning from Tokyo should feel no different from owning from Kahala.
1226 Kinau Street — completed 2024, 25 residences
The Team
Who you will be working with.
Start with a conversation.
Whether you are considering a Bill 7 investment, buying or selling an Oahu property, or looking for someone to manage what you already own — the first step is the same. Tell us what you are trying to accomplish.
