What's going on in Honolulu?

Aloha from Biz on Lanikai Beach!

Well, if people didn’t believe it last quarter, they can't ignore it now. Oahu is totally a Buyer's Market right now! If you've got money there are some great deals out there.

January Oahu Home sales came in at 281 closed and recorded; that breaks down to 122 single family and 159 condos. That’s out of an inventory of 1,903 SF and 2,494 condos (4,397 total homes) on the market in the Multiple Listing Service. We now have around 10 months of inventory remaining. And to top it off 496 single family and 674 condos came on the market to add another 1,170 to the inventory. So yes, there is a huge amount of property on the market right now.

However, when I look in the Multiple Listing service I see that the vast majority of these have been on the market over 60 days! Looking at the data of sold and recorded homes since the beginning of February, those that closed in under 45 days were priced correctly to begin with and sold for almost full list price. Some even higher! The ones that closed in that time period for far less than asking sat on the market for longer than 60 days. Why? Because they were not priced correctly to reflect the market to begin with!

Some agents play the game of taking the home off the market after it has been sitting for a long period of time then re-list it so it appears to be a new listing and generate interest, but those kinds of games do not do justice to the seller. Cute tricks in this market do not sell homes, aggressive pricing sells homes.

In the Commercial sector the “Experts” are finally admitting what I’ve been talking about for months: the Tenants are in charge! The tenants have more options open to find multiple move alternatives if they are unhappy with their current space or the landlord is asking for too much rent when the lease comes up for renewal. By forcing the landlords to compete for tenancy they can negotiate better base rent, and I am seeing more free rent and build out allowances in my commercial tenants. Keep in mind that if you don’t have to move, work with your existing landlord to get a win-win situation. Moving to a new office or warehouse is costly for a tenant, including downtime.

This time of year in Hawaii is known as Hurricane Season and we all need to remind ourselves to be prepared. Not only with sufficient food and water supplies and emergency evacuation plans; a key component many people don’t think about is light. Yes, emergency lighting.

I was prepared for the Christmas Blackout with no power for 18 hours at my house. I had plenty of batteries, radio and lighting to keep me cozy. A solar charger for my cell phone and an old fashioned chorded phone for my landline. After the power came back on I made sure everything was recharged, replenished and replaced if necessary. What I didn’t have was a full tank of propane for the BBQ..I do now!

So when a car hit a Hawaiian Electric pole in my neighborhood a few weeks ago I was ready for another night without power. Not so two of my neighbors: they didn’t even have flashlights! I lent them each one of mine and I don’t expect to get them back. I just want to remind everybody to be prepared, as we never know when we may be stuck in the dark!

Upcoming Bizness: Century 21 Paradise International is hosting a First Time Buyers Seminar at 10:00AM , Saturday, March 14th. If you or anyone you know is interested, register by calling my office at 521-4200. We have Mortgage and Title people there to get you heading in the right direction to purchase a home.

I will be giving a Commercial Tenants Seminar, “Care and Feeding of your Commercial Lease”, at the Hawaii Women’s Business Center later in March. This will be an overview of how to lease Commercial Property and how to protect yourself as a Tenant. The date is not firmed up yet but I will keep you posted as that firms up. Aloha and have a GREAT day! Biz