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Hawaii Life once again holds a spot in the top 10 selling offices on the Big Island—coming in on June 30th, 2010 at #8 out of 191 offices, and the 6th highest company in dollar volume. That’s quite an achievement for a company that’s been on island just over a year! More importantly, it represents an enormous number of satisfied clients and customers—people—who (we believe) are raving fans of Hawaii Life’s innovative business model.
Out of the $28,000,00 of real estate sold by Big Island Hawaii Life in the first six months of 2010, we represented 34 buyers and 19 sellers, all of them well-served by the Smart Marketing and Solid Representation of our highly skilled and trained Agents and Brokers. We successfully closed just about every sort of transaction: from REO’s to short sales, land of all sizes, condos, single family homes, oceanfront estates, even a Bishop Estate leasehold coffee farm acreage. We work together at Hawaii Life to ensure that despite the many differences, we stand as one for the clients and customers we represent. As Winston Welborn, Hawaii Life Creative Director says, “Our sum is greater than the parts.” Mahalo for your continued kokua, Big Island Hawaii Life!
Hold onto your hats, there is going to be yet ANOTHER auction held at the Four Seasons Hualalai resort on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii's Kohala "Gold Coast" July 1st 2010.
With an original list price of $13M and a reserve of $5.9M, this seems like a deal too good to be true. But is it??
Buy this view – with a reserve way below original listing price
It's hard to say how great of a "deal" this property will wind up being. First of all, Cher's home - located just a few doors down - sold for just over $8M at the last auction in January. Funny how that sale doesn't show up in the local MLS stats as it was sold by the auction house, and not a Big Island Broker. Reason #1 to always hire a local Broker who works the neighborhood - they know the "inside scoop."
Of the four homes that have sold at Hualalai so far this year, the least expensive was a 6,000+ sqft custom home a few doors down on Lau'eiki Street, orginally listed for $10.9M, sold for $8.7M in February. Then, there was the 5,500 sqft "front row" home that sold for $9M also in February. The former owner of that home bought it for $15M in December 2003. Assumedly, the new owner will spend a pretty penny "upgrading" this "older" home. Then in March, another "front row" home sold for $13M - previous owners bought for $8.4M in 2001. This was in much nicer shape the $9M front row estate, and was originally listed at $17M. And then, finally, another front row (if you haven't figured it out yet, "front row" is the equivalent to "oceanfront" at Hualalai, although not all the homes on the front row are technically oceanfront, they are as close to the water as it gets at this resort) house originally listed for over $21M, sold in April for $14.5 - this estate actually being oceanfront.
Interpretation? Properties in the best locations are selling, and at a discount. Are they a "deal?" I believe that's a subjective determination from the standpoint of the buyer, depending on how they interpret the statistics. Whatever the final auction price on July 1st, I do know for certain that one lucky buyer will have invested in one of the most amazing spots in the world - the Big Island's Kohala Coast.
72-140 Lau’eki Street | Hualalai Four Seasons Resort, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
Located a few doors down from Cher’s previous estate home (Sold in January for just over $8M), here are some of the features included in this property that will be auctioned on July 1st, 2010.
- 6,502 square feet under roof
- 800+ square feet of lanais
- expansive sliding glass pocket doors
- hand-chiseled limestone flooring
- cane-inlaid ceilings
- fully- equipped outdoor kitchen, infinity pool and spa
- Zen-like courtyard
- media room
- private guest house
Want to get some Hualalai Four Seasons "Life?" Contact me today to register for the auction, or for additional information.
"This is like Old Hawaii!" is often the response when someone “discovers” Puako Beach on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii for the first time. Don your pareo, we’re going back in time with recently sold property prices as well. 
New Oceanfront Listing in Puako—coming soon!
While 2010 first quarter volume shows improvement over 2009 for Puako Beach sales (no sales in Q1 2009), prices have continued to decline. Two second floor condo units sold for $275k and $225k. These would have traded for $400k-$500k in 2005/2006.
There haven’t yet been any mauka (mountain) side properties sold in Q1, but as far as oceanfront property sales go, we’ve seen one 750 sq ft traditional beach cottage conveyed for $1.8M and a bare oceanfront parcel sold for $1.6M. Um. Wow.
These are 2001-2002 prices, peeps. Have we hit the bottom yet?
"This feels like 'Old Hawaii'" is a statement we often hear when someone “discovers” Puako Beach on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii for the first time. Don your pareo, we’re going back in time with recently sold property prices as well.
New Oceanfront Listing in Puako—coming soon!
While the first quarter volume of 2010 shows improvement over 2009 for Puako Beach sales (no sales in Q1 2009), prices have continued to decline. Two second floor condo units sold for $275k and $225k. At the market high, these units would have traded from $400-500k.
There haven’t yet been any mauka (mountain) side properties sold in Q1, but as far as oceanfront property sales go, we’ve seen one 750 sq ft traditional beach cottage conveyed for $1.8M and a bare oceanfront parcel sold for $1.6M. Um. Wow.
These are 2001-2002 prices, peeps. Have we hit the bottom yet?
"This feels like 'Old Hawaii'" is a statement we often hear when someone “discovers” Puako Beach on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii for the first time. Don your pareo, we’re going back in time with recently sold property prices as well.
New Oceanfront Listing in Puako—coming soon!
While the first quarter volume of 2010 shows improvement over 2009 for Puako Beach sales (no sales in Q1 2009), prices have continued to decline. Two second floor condo units sold for $275k and $225k. At the market high, these units would have traded from $400-500k.
There haven’t yet been any mauka (mountain) side properties sold in Q1, but as far as oceanfront property sales go, we’ve seen one 750 sq ft traditional beach cottage conveyed for $1.8M and a bare oceanfront parcel sold for $1.6M. Um. Wow.
These are 2001-2002 prices, peeps. Have we hit the bottom yet?
The country was apparently all "aflutter" over the government dignitaries visiting Hawaii this winter season. President Obama vacationed on Kailua’s gorgeous beaches for the holidays, and Oahu LOVES the “Obama bump” economy. Proving this phenomenon exists, I received a President Obama bobble head for my car as a gift this year. (Yes, he’s wearing an aloha shirt, lei, slippahs and giving the double shaka.)
President Obama bobblehead
Last week, Nancy Pelosi made a run for the Big Island’s Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. Besides the obvious, “who can blame her, it’s one of the best hotels in the world?” The press seems to have forgotten that Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is originally from the California Bay Area, and during “festivus” the Four Seasons is FULL of people from California. She’s networking with her constituents!! And why not mix business with pleasure? (Do you think the Speaker knows there’s a no-reserve auction on five luxury homes in Kukio and Hualalai on January 18th?)
No reserve price for this estate, previously asking $8.45M
All the fuss over the Speaker’s visit and who is paying for it and how she got here…such obvious political posturing from partisan players (ahhhh… alliteration - thanks, UCLA). What I see is simple local economics: the more high-profile people that visit the Big Island, the more other people are drawn to visit here too. The more people who visit the Big Island, the more who love it and the more who come back to visit every year. We are an island community, one whose economy depends very heavily on both tourism and government. It’s natural for us to embrace visiting dignitaries, they bring us hope, infuse the economy with money, and make us feel that we’re not quite as separate as 5,000 miles, and a lot of big, beautiful blue ocean might suggest.
Big Island real estate is hot right now! For more information on Hualalai real estate, Kukio real estate, Puako real estate or any other luxury properties along the Kohala Coast, the professional Realtors and Brokers at Hawaii Life are ready and eager to assist you with your Big Island property needs. www.hawaiilife.com.
2009 year-end results for Puako Beach, show that neighborhood sales are looking positive! Out of the six properties sold in 2009, 4 were mauka side and 2 on the makai (oceanfront) side of the road. Compared to 2008’s two properties sold - 1 mauka, 1 makai, and 2007's 8 properties - 2 mauka and 6 makai, I would say it looks as if Puako beach has come through the economic crisis intact, and is on the upswing again.
It appears possible we’ve hit the “bottom” of pricing in Puako, at least on the mauka side of the street. The lowest-priced mauka sale since #35 sold in April, 2003 for $499k*, lot #27 went for $500k in May, and comparable sold property prices indicate an increase in value since then. This is good news for the “desirability” of Puako in general.
As for the makai side of the street, two sales hardly indicate a trend, compounded by the fact that they were entirely different sorts of properties. #56, a 972 sqft, 3/2 traditional puako beach cottage was sold by Pattie Freeman of Hawaii Vacation Rentals, for $2,650,000 in May. The second sale was two side by side oceanfront properties lots which sold together for $6.5M in August. The architecturally significant luxury home on lot 20 has a lap pool and gym, while lot #18, next door, was designed to operate as the “yard” for #20.
MLS#218052, asking $2,500,000
Currently on the market for $2.5M is a 751sqft, 1/1 traditional beach cottage which has been making me wonder if we’ve yet seen the “bottom” of pricing on the makai side of the street? On the other hand, oceanfront choices are few and far between in Puako, with only two other homes on the market today, and one oceanfront home offering a "half share" - #10. I currently have three clients who want to buy on the makai side of Puako right now, but nothing available suits their needs. It’s an interesting position to be in during this “buyer’s market.”
To see all the properties currently on the market in Puako Beach, please see the gallery I’ve created: www.puakoproperties.com. Or email me katie@hawaiilife.com and I’ll send you a brochure.
*In the interest of full disclosure, I am the owner of #35 Puako.
Via Jason Burkholder, Broker/Sales Manager, ABR, e-Pro, Lancaster Pa Homes for Sale (Weichert, Realtors - Engle and Hambright):
NAR has recently released the 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The report compiles the results of 9,138 surveys returned by buyers and sellers who sold or purchased a home between July 2008 and June 2009. The surveys were sent to buyers and sellers based on deed transfers and other public records. The complete report is available for purchase at www.realtor.org . Here are some highlights I found interesting:
•· 47% of all buyers were first time buyers.
•· 62% of first time buyers reported that the primary reason for buying a home was the desire to be a homeowner, 35% of all buyers reported that as the number 1 reason.
•· The median age of all buyers was 39, same as last year.
•· 83% of all first time buyers are under the age 44.
•· 62% of all buyers are under age 44.
•· 68% of the buyers surveyed in the Northeast make less than $100,000 per year.
•· 63% of all buyers had no children under the age of 18 residing at home.
•· Buyers in the Northeast moved an average of 10 miles from where they currently lived.
•· 90% of all buyers used the internet to search.
•· 84% of buyers reported the photos to be the most useful information.
•· The number one action taken after viewing a home online was to drive by or visit the home.
•· 66% of buyers reported that they used a print ad to search, but only between 84% to 90% (depending on the print medium) reported that those sources were "not useful".
•· 36% of buyers found the home they purchased through an agent, 36% found the home they purchased online, less than 3%found the home they purchased in a print ad.
•· 77% of buyers purchased their home with an agent.
•· 85% of sellers sold their home with an agent.
•· 39% of the mortgages were FHA loans.
•· 87% of buyers viewed real estate as a good investment.
So, besides making a handy list, what else does the report tell us? It tells us specifically who the buyers and sellers are, what they want from us, where they want to go and most importantly, what their priorities are. Valuable information for any customer service professional!
I'd like you to be part of the conversation, so if you like what you read here please comment, forward The Lancaster Connection.com to your friends, subscribe and as always, if you have questions, need real estate advice or want to buy or sell a home, you can call or text me at 717-371-0557, email me at Jason@JasonsHomes.com or contact me at the office at 717-490-8999!
Your Friend in Real Estate,
Jason Burkholder
Weichert, Realtors - Engle & Hambright
Search for Lancaster County Homes for sale at www.JasonsHomes.com by clicking here!
Want to see what's happening to home prices in your neighborhood? Go to www.RealEstateCrystalBall.com !
I've always been an "early adopter" - especially when it comes to technology. So what took me so long to get here? Probably living in Hawaii and making "going outside to play" a priority in my adult life... but here I am, a Social Networking success story! Yeah! Go team!
Six months ago I started "getting serious" about social networking and spent significant amounts of time doing research and writing on other people's blogs all over the place and subscribing to a bunch of different social networking sites. It's been a ton of fun, a lot of work, and it just got me a commission check yesterday.
You see, I live very, very, very far away from most of the rest of you - and naturally a large component of my market is made up of second home owners, people who don't live here. Those owners who do live here typically are friends with about 5 Realtors on average, and so breaking into the listing game as the "new kid in town" is not easy when you've "only" lived on the Big Island practicing real estate full time for six years, and when, like me, you don't have any lifelong "connections" in this relationship-based society.
In November I was contacted directly by a property owner who found me on the internet, had read a bunch of my posts and started asking me questions, as an "interview" or "listing presentation" of sorts. She and her husband live in Florida and this property was in Kona, 20 miles from my home. We put the house on the market at about 15% lower than what we saw as true market value because of my client's desire to sell quickly, and we received 9 offers in 2 days. We were under contract in 8 days and closed 65 days later, sold to first-time homebuyers who got a great house at an affordable price, 15% higher than list price. Hmmm... I can almost guarantee you that had I put the house on the market at the price we sold it for, it would have taken at least 30 days (or more) to go into escrow and it wouldn't have been at full price.
Was this a perfect transaction? By no means, as my Seller really wanted to close by the end of the year and we were extended by 32 days because of the Buyer's loan. But my Seller could have cancelled, and didn't, and wound up with significantly more money than the best cash offer, so clearly it was worth it to wait. It was also a crazy-difficult thing for me - to be back in a multiple-offer scenario in this market environment was challenging both professionally and personally in many ways (not to mention my frustration with the banks, which believe me I will continue to comment about). But it was worth it because of the opportunity to expand my knowledge and my skillset, to prove that online social networking does pay off, and yesterday - a paycheck!
I'm hooked. And still figuring out how to allocate my time most effectively, and yet still have this all be more "fun" than "work!"
Mahalo nui loa to everyone in the AR network for all the times you've inspired me and you didn't even know it! You know who you are... ;)
Happy Aloha Friday!
Katie Minkus, R(B)
It Takes Courage to Live on a Rock!
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Katie Minkus
Kamuela,
HI
More about me…
Hawaii Life Real Estate Services, LLC
Address: 7 Puako Beach Drive, Kamuela, HI, 96743
Office Phone: (800) 667-5028
Cell Phone: (808) 895-4327
Email Me
All things related to real estate, the Big Island of Hawaii, luxury property and living on an island.
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