A home in the islands, palm trees, kids playing outside, BBQs all the year round.  Life in Hawaii is good and as we get ready to buy a home or sell our home and buy a bigger one or one closer to town or closer to mom's house or in a better location, we start to play the, "I want the most money for my house I can get and I want an Excellent Deal on the new house" game.

If the home values are going down in your area, it generally means that you could have got more money for your home if you sold it some months or years ago.  If the housing market is going up, it means that you might get more for your home the longer you hold on to it, but then your new home will cost more as well.

What to do...Hmmm.....This is one of those questions that have puzzled people from the beginning of time.  No no no, not the specific question of should I sell my home now or not, the question is how does one tell the bottom or top of the market so as to know when to jump in or out?  Let's come back to this question in a minute.

Many people think of their home, the place they live and raise their children as an investment.  Do You?  What is an investment?  I was trained that an investment was something that made me money and added to my monthly or annual income.  This would be an Asset.  Something that makes me money.  What is a Liability?  A Liability is the opposite of an Asset.  It costs you money each month to have it or to buy it.

With this in mind, is a home that you live in an Asset or Investment?  I'll wait....go ahead and think about it....Correct!  It is not.  A family's primary residence is most likely the biggest liability they will ever have.  Mom and dad bought the family home when Jr. was just a kid and mom and dad raised their three children there and have long since paid off the mortgage.  Today this 5 bedroom 3 Bath home in Kailua is worth $875,000.  Do you think that they wish they waited to buy the home until it hit the bottom of the market way back then?  I bet not. 

The key here is not to buy just to buy.  When you walk into a home that speaks to you and you know that this is the one, then GET IT!  I see more and more people trying to get the proverbial "Best Deal" and while doing so, their dream home slips away.  Let's get back to our original conversation.

Selling your home to "trade up" to a better one can be challenging financially.  Well, I have some wonderful news for you.  There is little doubt that the Real Estate market on Oahu or in Honolulu (they are the same thing) is going to soften over the next year or so.  Moody's Economy.com thinks it will start to recover in 2011 and will drop another 30.9%.  Just about everyone disagrees with them as far as the length of time and that the fall will be that far.  But, here's the point, there is a great deal of supply on hand of properties for sale on Oahu.  Prices are not going to start to move up until the supply goes down.  If you want to sell your home to buy another one, DO IT NOW.  Rent a place until you find the next home of your dreams or until you see the supply of homes on Oahu start to go down.  This will tell you that prices are about to turn and go up.  If by this time you still have not found the next "Home of your dreams" then you better start dreaming more or dreaming wider, because as sure as my name is Michael Ramsey Fujita, as prices go up, you might just get priced out of the market!

Michael Ramsey Fujita (RA) is the Vice President of Realty Executives Oahu in Honolulu.  Gayle Fujita Ramsey (RA) is the Director of Training for Realty Executives Oahu.  Mike and Gayle work as a team and have built their successful Real Estate business by providing "Small Town Service & 24/7 Availability For Their Clients".  http://www.GreatHawaiianHomes.com (808) 630-1828 Mike@GreatHawaiianHomes.com or Gayle at (808) 388-1485