Orion Barels

For over 22 years, Orion has been a dominant force in Hawaii Real Estate sales. Having personally sold close to half a billion dollars in Hawaiian real estate, and ranked in the top 100 realtors in the State by sales volume for more than 10 years, Orion's extensive experience puts him in an elite, small group of Island Realtors. Prior to joining COMPASS Hawaii as a Founding Agent, he was named one of the top 2 Realtors in all of Hawaii at his previous brokerage, Coldwell Banker. Orion is an expert in every facet of real estate sales. In 2024 he was ranked in the top 20 realtors in the State of Hawaii by volume, and in 2020 he was ranked #8 in the State and was awarded the prestigious "International Society of Excellence" at Coldwell Banker, an elite award given to the top 1% of agents worldwide - and Barels was ranked in the top 10% of this prestigious group (top 100 agents in all of Coldwell Banker nationwide). Orion and the Coastal Hawaii team are a trusted, proven resource to give you a distinct advantage in finding, listing, or negotiating your next home. In 2021, Orion joined COMPASS real estate as one of the founding agents for the state of Hawaii, a technology and marketing leader in luxury residential real estate in America (and ranked #1 in the US by sales volume for many years in a row).

Orion specializes in coastal properties, and has sold over 35 waterfront properties in his career. His focus on lifestyle properties, the North Shore, and Diamond Head real estate reflect the coastal property qualities that present unique benefits and challenges. Due to this specialization, Orion has a profound knowledge of the complexities and nuances of shoreline and flood zone requirements. Due to Orion's business and academic background, he is keenly aware of how macroeconomic trends affect the residential real estate market. He has completed the course work for the most difficult real estate designation, CCIM (commercial investment studies), which augments his ability to guide clients on pertinent economic trends that are affecting Hawaii property. He has earned many professional designations, such as Ecobroker, SRES, E-Pro, and graduated from U.C. San Diego with a degree in Management Science/Economics.

Many moons ago while at a previous brokerage, Orion won the companywide ‘Salesperson of the Year' award in 2009 and in 2016 (out of roughly 300 licensed agents), as well as the ‘Listor of the Year' in 2016. Sales success is important, however Orion's ethos also embodies the belief that customer service and satisfaction is tantamount to sales results. He has been nominated by his clients for outstanding customer service over 10 times for the island wide Aloha Aina award, and he prides himself on his honest and constructive approach to the real estate business, as well as going the extra mile and working diligently on his clients' behalf. He earned a spot in Honolulu Magazine's ‘Best in Real Estate,' which ranks the state's top real estate professionals based on a survey of over 10,000 home buyers – a true cream of the crop rating system that no professional can buy their way into. Orion and the Coastal Hawaii Group have a 5 star rating on Zillow with over 50 reviews – all of them 5 star. Client testimonials are available upon request. One of the Coastal Hawaii team specialties is the North Shore of Oahu, where they are a clear market share leader, having closed significantly more sales volume than any other agent or team in the previous four years.

Orion is happily married to Lilly, a teacher, yoga instructor, and author. They have two children that love to explore and adventure in all that Hawaii offers. The Barels family lives on an avocado orchard that Orion planted and landscaped himself. He has deep knowledge in the construction discipline, having overseen the construction of a handful of his own projects, including on his property as ‘owner builder' with green features such as photovoltaic solar, passive cooling, and solar hot water heating. Orion's interests include the financial markets, surfing, yoga, snowboarding, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, diving, and sailing.