Good news in paradise!  It appears that the activity level has been picking up steam.  We are getting a lot more buyers that are looking here on Oahu. They are actually making offers and feel it is a great time to buy with the low interest rates. It may not be the bottom, but they feel with the low interest rates and the price adjustments over the past 2 years it may be a great opportunity to get a piece of Hawaii.

I have been speaking to few agents I know on Kauai and Maui. They are tell me that the are experiencing the same thing as well.

Hopefully this is a start to a recovery.

Obama has been staying in our home town of Kailua on Oahu here in Hawaii. He was golfing up the street in our neighborhood of Lanikai at Mid Pacific Country Club on Christmas Eve and word spread pretty quickly.

We were all waiting at the 18th green and he came over to greet us and wish us all a merry Christmas.

Reed more about Obamas Vacation in Kailua

Here is a picture of him shaking my son Justin Mansons hand.

The real estate market took a huge dive for the month of November on Oahu in Hawaii. It was the lowest number of sales for any November month since 1997. They say the prices are stable, but that just does not make sense. Supply and demand says the prices will continue to drop.

I was speaking with a couple real estate agent friends last week about the real estate markets in Northern California. Both reported that the Santa Cruz real estate market and the East Bay real estate markets were still adjusting down in price. Ther was some good news though. They reported to me that the number of sales went up from previous months. They both told me that investors and home buyers were purchasing foreclosures.

I guess that is good news if the number of sales can continue to rise. That way the inventory can start to decrease and hopefully start to stabilize the prices. Time will tell. 

I would love to hear how your market is doing.

I am trying to get an idea of how different markets are doing at the moment. I was speaking with some real estate agent friends from Santa Cruz real estate markets and the East Bay real estate markets in Northern California. They both reported to me that the real estate markets were still adjusting down, but the amount of sales increased from the month before due to investors buying up foreclosures.

I guess that is good news if the number of sales can continue to rise. That way the inventory can start to decrease and hopefully start to stabilize the prices. Time will tell. 

I would love to hear how your market is doing.

Well it looks like Hawaii is not isolated from the same problems the mainland is experiencing. Hawaii foreclosures rose a whopping 340% last month compared to the same month in 2007. The previous month had a huge increase as well. There were economists for Bank of Hawaii and the CEO's of the larger real estate companies that were saying that Hawaii was not going to be affected and was different. Well they were wrong and prices have been adjusting down since the peak in late 2006. Anybody that thought prices were not going to be affected and that Hawaii was different was either lying or just up incompetent. Not sure what is worse.

This should create some good buying opportunities for the buyers that are looking to purchase a home or foreclosure in the coming months. Banks and sellers that have to sell are going to have to compete for the already smaller pool of buyers. This will definitely give them some negotiating power they didn't have a couple years ago. The listing agents that would not call you back or were down right rude a few years ago are now begging you to show their listings now. How things quickly change.

Just secured all my areas and got them posted on a real estate agent directory Agent Preview. I was able to be listed as the exclusive agent for all my Hawaii areas that I serve. I think it is a pretty good deal if you can get your areas and be the only agent listed for your area. You may want to check it out and see if your areas are available before they get taken. I think it is very important in this market to get listed in as many places as you can. You never know where your next buyer or seller may come from.

 You can see my main islands and the areas that I was able to secure here:

Oahu

Maui

Big Island

Kauai

I am sure this will help my online marketing.

I would love to know what you are doing to generate business online.

1. Do you have a real estate website?
2. What percentage is your business from your website or other online resources?
3. Does your real estate website have a lead capture?
4.  What do you think a real estate website should have?
5.  What do you think is most important to the user of your website?

I really interested in what you have to say and can't wait to hear your response to what is important about online marketing.
 :-)

I would love to know when real estae agents think we are going to hit bottom.

1. How long has your market been going down?
2. When do you think your market is going to hit bottom?
3. What are you telling your buyers in this market?
4.  What are you doing to generate business in these tough times?

I would love to hear what you have to say. We can all learn and grow from each other :-)

I would really like to know if real estate agents think that the big Government bailout is going to help the real estate fall.

I would love to hear from real estate agents and consumers on this.

1. Do you think the Government should be interfering and bailing out these banks with tax payer's money?
2. Who and what do you think caused this mess?
3. Do you think they should just let the inflated house prices adjust where they should be or try and stop the values from adjusting down with government intervention?

Please let me know how you feel.  I would love to hear what you have to say.