Archive for May, 2008
Honolulu Cliff Hanger Home
May 15th, 2008 categories: Rants & Riffs, Views of Honolulu
Blogging is great! The more I write, the more I become aware of things that, until now, never really stood out to me. The house in this picture is one that I have walked by many, many times! And then yesterday as I was doing my walk (from the top of Wilhelmina Rise to the bottom and back up to the top again), I looked up and saw this engineering feat. It looks precarious in the picture, but you should see it in person. It doesn’t seem that there is enough structural support for a house hanging this far over the edge. I wonder what it’s like to live in? Here’s to living life on the wild side!
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Honolulu Crash Pad Could Help With Mortgage Payments!
May 14th, 2008 categories: Reasons To Sell
Do you have an extra room in your home or apartment being used to store dust or junk? Given Honolulu’s International Airport, your room could be turned into a cash flow cow. A recent article in the LA Times talks about the need for “crash pads” for aircrew (pilots, flight attendants, etc.). Since Honolulu is a desirable location for senior flight crews, you may find that your renter would be in residence for a small portion of the month. In any case, if you are looking for a little additional income a “crash pad” might be just what the doctor ordered.
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“Despite a relatively low profile, crashpads are not a new idea and are nearly as old as the airlines themselves. Pilots, flight attendants and other airline employees may live in one city but fly out of another one, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Often this gap between home and base is the result of employees’ shifting schedules or changing to a different airline. Others find their base city to be too expensive to live in.”
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Click here to read the whole article.
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Can Honolulu’s Newest Safeway Change a Neighborhood?
May 13th, 2008 categories: Buying Honolulu Real Estate, Rants & Riffs
This past Mothers Day I had the chance to shop at the new Safeway on Kapahulu. As I drove to the convenient rooftop parking, I considered that this store is going to positively change the face of this desirable Honolulu neighborhood. Not only is this one of the nicest super markets I have seen anywhere, but it shows that Honolulu will patronize really high quality retailers. Every part of the store exudes excellence!
The deli is delightful. A bakery that will make your mouth water! How about a meat department that has everything you need. The produce department reminds me of Gelsons Super Market in California. Every fruit and vegetable looks like it is of the highest quality. Need sushi? Go to the sushi bar. How about a latte? Stop by the coffee bar. It is a good thing that there is an area to sit down and relax, because the store is so big that going up and down each aisle could be a work out for some. It is worth going to on a Friday evening to check it out and have dinner. Safeway is not the only tenant at this center.
Once it is completely full this mall will have many of the things that residents in this area had to go to other areas to find. Given the quality of this project, Read the rest of this entry »
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Using An In House Lender in Honolulu?
May 13th, 2008 categories: Reasons To Sell
Many local Honolulu real estate firms have their own “in house” lender, also known as an “affiliated” lender. When a buyer is making an offer through a firm that has one of these captive lenders there should be written disclosure of the relationship between the real estate company and lender. I have always been uncomfortable with “in house” lenders because of the less than arms length relationship between the two. I have never been able to clearly articulate my concern, but this past Saturday I came across a blog that has done a great job shedding light on the subject.
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“What do you think happens in the Toyota dealership when you are ushered over to the finance department and walk out with a Toyota Motor Credit loan or lease?”
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Read the entire post by clicking here.
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One-Dollar House For Sale?
May 12th, 2008 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101, Rants & Riffs
I have heard a great many strategies to create interest in a home, but this one takes the cake! A homeowner in Toronto listed their home for sale for $1.00. I guess the idea is to create massive interest and to have the price bid up to market. The move has created a buzz as it made the evening news in Toronto and here I am blogging about it. Read the entire post and you will see that the Blogger makes some good points as to why this might not be the best plan. The Honolulu market is strong and it is not necessary to play this game here.
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“It’s been done before and with not-so-great results. A quick check of the Toronto MLS shows these listings are often terminated or suspended. If this strategy wasn’t embraced when the Toronto real estate market was super hot, what are its chances of success today? And what a waste of time; think of all the qualified buyers who bought elsewhere rather than negotiate this type of offer, and the sellers who were aggravated with lowball offers (really, you were expecting something else?).”
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Honolulu’s Paiko Lagoon
May 9th, 2008 categories: Views of Honolulu
I was inspecting a house that fronts on the the mauka side of Kalanianaole Highway and I was able to take this picture of Paiko Lagoon. Paiko is located just beyond Niu Valley and has homes on the ocean and fronting on a lagoon. If you wanted to buy in this Honolulu neighborhood, you could choose from three active listings priced from $1,977,000 to $9,750,000.
Here is a little known fact for fly fishermen, the oceanside of this area offers some of the largest bonefish in the world. One doesn’t get many bites, but a friend of mine has landed fish in the 9 to 12 pound range. Just another great thing about Honolulu.
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“Downtown” Honolulu Sizzles
May 8th, 2008 categories: Fun & Living
Congratulations to Chef Ed Kinney for making the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List! He was the only Hawaii restaurant to make this year’s list. It is the second time he has been on the list. The first award came for his Kaimuki shop aptly named “Town”. Lucky for me, “Town” is a half block from my office and has terrific lunches (my waste line can attest to this). Check out the recent article on “Downtown” in the Honolulu Star Bulletin.
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Honolulu Vintage Home Collage
May 7th, 2008 categories: Reasons To Sell, Views of Honolulu
Click here to see the youtube video. Here are a few more fine examples of homes that can be found in Honolulu. Enjoy the stream!
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Dramatically Reduce Your Honolulu Property Taxes!
May 6th, 2008 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101, Rants & Riffs
If you have a vintage Honolulu home, you may qualify to have it put on the historic register. The Hawaii Historic Foundation is a non-profit that helps to identify and preserve historically significant buildings. The benefit to residential home owner is that you can reduce your property taxes. To determine if your home qualifies, contact Historic Hawaii Foundation. The mission at their web site is below.
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The purpose of the foundation shall be to preserve and encourage the preservation of historic buildings, objects, sites and communities relating to the history of Hawai’i; to promote an awareness of and respect for all that is historically significant and architecturally distinctive in our State; and through these efforts, to keep alive and intact for the enrichment of present and future generations the inherent beauty of the Hawaiian Islands and its unique historic role in the development of the Pacific Basin.
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Lessons in Pricing Honolulu Real Estate
May 5th, 2008 categories: Reasons To Sell
This Manoa cottage closed at $800,000 on April 30th. I represented the buyer and it was originally listed for sale at $799,000. There are many great lessons that can be drawn for from this sale, but the most important lesson for sellers of Honolulu real estate is that pricing is the key to creating activity and ultimately selling your property. First some back ground.
Given its location, condition and quality, many sellers and brokers would have been tempted to pick a list price of $850,000. This would have positioned the home as a moderate value. No one will ever no how how well $850,000 would have worked, but in my opinion it may have created a lower selling price. To begin with, the property would not have seemed like such a good value. Secondly, the home needed remodeling and at $850,000, once the work was completed, the prospective buyer would have been over paying. Thirdly, $850,000 would not have created the initial energy or momentum procured by $799,000 and would have extended the days on market for the home. Generally, as days on market extend, the sellers can expect more pressure to reduce the price, long market times lead buyers to believe that a property is overpriced. Again, nobody will ever know, but I estimate that a price of $850,000 and extended days on market would have led to a selling price in the range of $750,000 to $775,000.
Here is what the $799,000 list price did.
1. The property had an accepted offer 7 days after coming on the market.
2. There were 3 offers at the same time (though I don’t know for sure, I am told they were all at or over full list price).
3. The closing of the sale occurred within 39 days of the accepted offer.
4. The buyer put $300,000 down and the loan was very easy to get.
5. Due to the multiple offers, the buyer’s offer was very clean, which means there were few contingencies (ways for the buyer to get out of the contract) and all of the time frames were very short.
6. There was a tenant in the property and the buyer agreed to buy the home without having the seller make the tenant move. This would have meant closing at least a month later.
7. After having a professional inspection, the buyer was more willing to overlook defects.
In many markets, it is believed that sellers are at a disadvantage. This is an example where a seller seized the initiative from buyers by proper pricing. The price created immediate interest, multiple offers and put the seller in the transactional drivers seat! When you are a seller, be aware that a higher price could put you in a bad position and a lower price may lead to you getting a higher offer.
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