Mark Bratton has been selling commercial real estate for years on Hawaii's island of Maui. But when the Honolulu-based senior vice president for Colliers fielded calls from outside investors after August wildfires decimated the popular Lahaina beach resort area, he shooed them off the phone by saying he didn't know of any opportunities.

What role non-islanders should play in the reconstruction of the west side of Maui — site of one of the deadliest wildfires in United States history — has made real estate professionals move with caution.

"Everybody's saying, 'Hey let's slow play it. We need government help. Everyone who's lost a property should be able to rebuild it,'" Bratton said.

Commercial and residential brokers have received interest, but aren't itching to market, fire-affected properties in Lahaina after an August blaze killed 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses. Damages have been estimated at more than $5 billion.

Roughly 2,170 acres, about the size of four Disneylands, burned in Lahaina, according to Maui County.

Real estate professionals say no one is sure how the rebuilding process will occur as government officials have responded slowly to the destruction. Brokers also acknowledge the longstanding sensitivity around outsiders to the island speculating and profiting on property that is considered sacred to Native Hawaiians.

Still, some fire survivors find themselves caught between heart and head after the flames leveled their properties. Some want to rebuild, and have the resources, while others cannot afford to come back and are tempted to sell.

Greg Gaudet, owner of residential brokerage firm Maui Home Buyers, received an unsolicited text from a woman who wanted to sell her burned-down residential property. Gaudet, a longtime buyer and seller of residential properties on the island, responded that he would hate for Lahaina residents to leave Maui. The woman then texted him back, thanking him and saying, "That was a fantastic response."

No deal was made to sell the home. But Gaudet said the exchange speaks to the conflict property owners are feeling as they wrestle with what to do with their desirable real estate as they face financial challenges.

Gaudet himself doesn't want to buy burned-down properties or help other investors do so. After all, Lahaina residents lost not only their homes but their entire town, creating an even bigger trauma for these property owners that he has no interest in profiting off of.

"Between the moral conflict and uncertainty, I'll pass," Gaudet said.

Few commercial or residential sales appear to have occurred in Lahaina since the fires. No homes or commercial properties have been listed for sale in Lahaina's burn area, based on a review of offerings on LoopNet and Homes.com, which are owned by CoStar News' parent, CoStar Group.

That lack of listings is remarkable given the demand for Maui real estate where the median home price is selling north of $1 million and where high-net-worth celebrities and business tycoons from Oprah Winfrey to Jeff Bezos have residences. Before the fires, Maui has faced a severe housing shortage due to demand and land scarcity.

For commercial properties, large institutional investors have long been buyers of West Maui's luxury resorts, and wealthy private investors have been attracted to small commercial properties and businesses in the area. For example, rock star drummer Mick Fleetwood lost his Lahaina restaurant, Fleetwood's on Front St., in the fire.

Government officials, though, have taken steps to protect the market from outsiders and help out private property owners who lost buildings in the blaze. In August, Gov. Josh Green made an emergency proclamation barring unsolicited offers to buy any property in ZIP codes 96761, 96767 and 96790. That's not an outright ban on property sales, however, and won't stop them from occurring, according to real estate analysts.

In another example, Maui County, which oversees Lahaina, considered a law exempting property owners whose real estate has been damaged or destroyed by the August fires from paying some taxes and penalties for three years beginning in January. However, these properties would lose this exemption if the real estate is sold prior to Jan. 1, 2027.

A representative for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told CoStar News in an email that affected homeowners should call a HUD-approved housing counselor to discuss their situation. But finding a place to live in Maui after the fires has proved difficult. HUD itself struggled to find residential space and has sent some displaced clients to vacant units on other islands, according to the spokesperson.

That said, HUD's role in building more housing in Maui is limited. HUD maintains rebuilding must be led by the local government, but it's in discussions to deploy funds for development alongside county and state agencies. Federal loans also are available for small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

"I've come to appreciate in the county that land is a very precious thing, and we at HUD in the entire federal department want to make sure that people do hold on to their land." Adrianne Todman, deputy secretary of HUD, told the news service Hawaii News Now.

There's still weeks of work to be done before rebuilding can occur in Lahaina. Cleanup is ongoing, and local officials have blocked off most of the affected areas in Lahaina due to safety concerns. A Maui County plan to rebuild Lahaina has yet to be discussed and approved. However, Gov. Green said in November the state was creating a $150 million fund to help fire victims who would agree not to sue the government.

During this wait-and-see period, some private investors aren't demanding payment right away on loans for fire-damaged properties — something real estate analysts say that banks need to continue to do, too. Gaudet said he lent $100,000 to a friend to renovate a home in Lahaina for a rental property a few weeks before the house burned down.

Gaudet said he'll forgive the interest on the loan, but he's worried his friend is underinsured on the property and won't be able to pay back the loan. He said he isn't aware of a timeline to rebuild the home. His friend's family also lost their home across the street.

"There's a lot of grieving going on," Gaudet said. "I've been careful not to poke too much."

Rebuilding Lahaina is likely to be the biggest challenge in the island's history.

For one thing, people affected by the fires will need to find enough money to rebuild, which is challenging given that many were underinsured, according to real estate analysts. In addition, many residential properties had unpermitted structures for additional family members to live in, and the island government may need to make code changes to allow more dense living on residential sites, real estate analysts said.

Plus, it takes longer to build in Hawaii due to logistical challenges for materials as the island state is roughly 2,000 miles from the United States mainland, said Yifan Chen, assistant professor of finance and real estate for the University of Hawaii. There's a persistent shortage of qualified labor, too, and zoning and permitting, on average takes longer in Hawaii than on the mainland, she said.

Hawaii also is one of the most restrictive states when it comes to land use due to protections around wildlife, according to Chen.

Then there are the residents themselves. Many Maui denizens are Native Hawaiians who have personal connections to the island, Chen said. Selling their property won't necessarily mean they could buy another home in Hawaii due to the high prices for residential space.

"We need to respect their cultures and values," Chen said.

Jeremy Nova, founder of Louisville, Colorado-based prefabricated housing builder Studio Shed, said adding to the rebuilding complexity is that an entire new town needs to be created, not just new homes. Nova is a Maui resident who grew up in Colorado and has experience working with the government in Boulder, Colorado, after the Marshall Fire in 2021. That wildfire was the most destructive in Colorado history in terms of buildings destroyed.

Rebuilding after the Marshall Fire was simpler than Lahaina as it required mostly new home construction, according to Nova. So far, many of the affected homes there have been built back or are under construction, he said.

Lahaina, on the other hand, needs a massive skilled labor force to rebuild homes, businesses and public structures, Nova said. His solution is to have some building occur on the mainland before it's shipped to Maui to ease construction labor demands.

Of course, logistical challenges will prove thorny such as finding space to store and transport rebuilding materials. Plus, workers coming to the island will need places to live.

"It's going to be a long road back," Nova said. "But communities do recover."

David McCullough, owner of a San Diego-based landscape architecture firm, said that despite the challenges, Maui's government should take its time in crafting its vision for Lahaina's future. Prior to the fires, Lahaina was built in response to market needs over the years, resulting in haphazard development in some neighborhoods, McCullough said.

Now, Maui can carefully consider how it wants Lahaina's future public parks, streets, plazas and parking structures to look like, McCullough said. Maui could study the former elevated Embarcadero Freeway as inspiration. The highway in San Francisco was demolished after an earthquake in 1989. The area was later rebuilt into a palm-lined, pedestrian-friendly boulevard that has been more popular and has attracted a bevy of real estate investment.

"If done right, there are incredible opportunities, especially in the public realm, which could become some of the most valued and treasured aspects of Hawaii," McCullough said.

The question these days, though, is how many residents, workers and businesses will stick around Maui to see the future Lahaina. Javier Barberi, the owner of the burned down Lahaina bar Down the Hatch, has no plans to move from the island he's called home for nearly two decades.

Still, he hasn't been allowed to return to his business that was located on Front Street, ground zero for the flames, where shops, restaurants and bars were decimated in the oceanside tourist destination that once attracted millions of people annually.

Some of Barberi's employees have already left for the mainland while others have found different jobs. Barberi worries the most about the employees without shelter who are being asked to leave hotels as tourists return. His company has raised roughly $200,000 to help his neediest staff.

Meanwhile, the bills keep piling up for Barberi who said he's underinsured. His landlord is demanding he pay rent in a building he can't occupy, and he missed a payment to keep his liquor license for alcohol he can't sell. A representative for the landlord didn't respond to a phone call requesting a comment, and a Maui County representative didn't respond to an emailed request to comment.

The uncertainty of his future, and Lahaina's, gnaws at Barberi. Each day feels like walking through a dark tunnel not knowing when there's going be light, he said.

"I don't have that money right now," Barberi said. "I don't know what to do."