Kamohai Kalama stars as the co-host of HGTV's Renovation Aloha, a house flipping series based in Oahu, Hawaii. Ahead, learn more about Kamohai, his upbringing, his real estate career, his photography business, his family life and more.

History and Background

Kamohai was born in Kaneohe, Hawaii, on September 20, 1981. His family has lived in the area for 64 generations. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools in Oahu in 1999 and went on to become a substance abuse counselor and the owner of a clothing store (Aloha Beach Club) with his brother.

“My brother and I had three retail locations, but brick and mortar was just getting so hard,” he revealed in a 2024 interview with MidWeek. “We were able to pay the bills and pay our employees, but we weren’t able to survive. We had our first child and my wife [Tristyn] looked at me and she said, ‘Hey, I think it’s time we figure something out if we’re going to stay here in Hawaii.’ She said, ‘We’re going to this real estate seminar that I saw on television and you have no choice.’ The rest is history. Real estate it was.”

Kamohai’s Real Estate Career

“We’ve always been entrepreneurs. [But before real estate] we just hadn't found our thing yet,” Kamohai told HGTV. “I was hesitant in the seminar. They were telling me, somehow, I could buy million-dollar houses. Then something clicked, and I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’”

At the beginning of their real estate venture, Kamohai and Tristyn were just trying to make ends meet, but as time went on, their business flourished. "We find these very dilapidated houses, sometimes unlivable," Kamohai told TV Insider. "We are in a unique place because we’re surrounded by the ocean, so our homes just get beat up. They are very succumbing to the natural elements. I think because of who we are and where we are from, we have the capability to find these homes and breathe aloha back into them in the most beautiful place, without changing them too much. Paying homage to the community and neighborhood these houses are in, but then bringing a product to life the local community can be proud of.”

The Kalamas have made it clear, they are working to keep as many local families in the area as possible. As for the houses, Kamohai is ready and willing to tackle just about any project, so long as it’s profitable — he’s the one that crunches the numbers, after all.

“If the house isn’t falling down, then it’s fixable,” Kamohai said in an interview with HGTV. “We don’t discriminate against any part of the island as far as potentially buying a house. If the numbers make sense, then we’re going to buy the house. Most of the houses we buy are all single-walled, redwood tongue and groove and full of stuff because one thing we bring to sellers is you don’t have to do anything. We’re buying the worst of the worst.”

Kamohai's Love for Oahu

“We feel blessed,” said Kamohai in an interview with TV Insider. "For us, this is home. This is where my family has been for 64 generations. This is where I’m going to raise my kids."

Kamohai also makes a point of hiring locals to work on his projects.

Kamohai’s HGTV Shows

Since 2018, Kamohai and Tristyn have flipped more than 70 homes, establishing themselves as experts in the Hawaiian real estate market and earning the attention of HGTV in the process. On February 20, 2024, Renovation Aloha — a show where the couple buys dilapidated, rundown homes and transforms them into Oahu oases — premiered on HGTV.

“When you own the real estate, you can control the real estate," Kamohai said. "[We want] to keep local families here in Hawaii. If we can control who the home goes to, then we try to do that. There’s so much more to Renovation Aloha than buying a house and selling it. It’s about the culture and the people we’re interacting with.”

Tristyn and Kamohai also compete in Season 6 of Rock the Block in Utah.

Kamohai’s Photography Business

When Kamohai isn't in front of the camera, he can often be found behind it — shooting landscapes for his business, Kamohai Kalama Photography.

“We actually use a lot of my photography in our houses when we stage them, which is pretty cool because I showcase a very unique perspective on Hawaii and the special places we have here,” he revealed in his interview with MidWeek. “I like to bring that into the finished product of our houses.”

Kamohai’s Relationship

Kamohai and his wife, Tristyn, have been married for nearly a decade. How they met, however, is quite unique. The duo documented the story on their real estate podcast Deals & Aloha, which aired on their YouTube channel in 2022.

Despite growing up in a supportive family — with a self-proclaimed skill of being good at almost everything — Kamohai fell into a party lifestyle, adopting alcohol and drug habits that landed him in jail on more than one occasion. As a result, he had to serve time in a treatment center. There, he not only got sober and started working for the facility — he met Tristyn. Tristyn’s mother was the executive director of the facility and Tristyn was an intern. As a former addict herself, Tristyn’s mother assured her Kamohai was a good man.

Kamohai’s Family Life

The Renovation Aloha hosts have two children: a daughter born in 2018, Yasiel, and a son born in 2020, Vale.

Beyond their immediate family, Kamohai has an astounding 87 first cousins (his father was one of 11), many of whom have home improvement skills of their own.

“In the family, we have contractors, cabinet makers and garbage collectors,” Kamohai said. “We have someone to help with every aspect of our business.”

Fun Facts About Kamohai

• Birthday: September 20
• Height: 6'2"
• Ethnicity: Hawaiian
• Hometown: Kaneohe
• Education: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Keep Up With Kamohai

Follow Tristyn and Kamohai's flipping journey on Instagram at @kamohaiandtristyn.