I apologize if you happen to have subscribed to this blog to get updates on the real estate market along the Kohala coast and North Kohala (Hawi) on the Big Island of Hawaii, only to experience a great silence lately! I know there are agents who would be getting up at 4am or staying up until midnight or both in order to continue to blog, when they are already working 5 am to 11 pm just to keep up with the business they have! But with three closings in the past 10 days (a developer unit at Halii Kai, a 2,000 sq ft ocean view condo at Kolea that was NOT a short sale or foreclosure, and a fabulous 13-acre parcel of raw land near the Kapanaia ocean access), a new escrow opened yesterday on 42 acres near Hawi...and daily showings to more eager buyers, something just had to give!
I find the most interesting part of this new development in our Big Island luxury market is that many of the properties I am selling are not short sales or foreclosures, just sellers who want or need to sell for the reasons that owners of real estate will always need to sell. They are aging and the house just seems too big, too far from grandchildren, the acreage too demanding. Or on the contrary, they want to take advantage of the great prices and low interest rates to trade up to something larger and are willing to price to sell. That has also kept me busy taking new listings...watch for two Hawi homes that will be for sale in the $1.4 million range with resort-level finishes and 280-degree ocean views!
I joined Hawaii Life back in May, and their model of empowering their web-savvy customers while providing solid representation by agents with local knowledge is kicking okole!
Here are our statistics as of December 1, 2009:
• Hawaii Life has brought the buyer 50% of the time for company listings that have sold on the Big Island.
• Of the 21 buyers we've closed transactions with (since the first one in April), 13 have been website leads from www.hawaiilife.com (that's 62%!)
• Hawaii Life Listings sell for (a median of) 93% of their List Price.
• When Hawaii Life agents represent Buyers on the Big Island, the buyers only pay an average of 88% of the list price.
• 175 real estate offices have listings in North Kohala, South Kohala and North Kona... only 9 brokerages have more listings than Hawaii Life.
Got to run!
A hui hou,
Beth Thoma Robinson R(S)
Direct: 808.443.4588 Email: beth@hawaiilife.com
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