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What can you tell me about the process of buying a condo on the BI while still living on the Mainland? We don't have to fly to HI to sign documents do we? Is it a difficult process or really no worse than buying locally? Any tips or suggestions would be great! And the particular place we have found is a foreclosure and it says "approved for HomePath Mortgage Financing." Any personal experience with that process? Mahalo!
Best success, You later posted that you have a realtor, so why not ask them this question, as an integral part of your goal? The initial post asked, but omitted a lot of information about what you already knew too.
It seems as if you actually wanted to "hear what you wanted to hear" and make yourself feel better. A home purchase is a serious commitment , and most would never do so w/o first seeing/touching the property for reasons given by most replies here. Ask yourself if you were single, would you fly to marry some person half way around the world that you had never even met, except over the internet ? Trusting is a good quality in a pefect world, but we have laws basically because people often have other than perfect agendas, and, widely varying tastes.
Last edited by Jeepers Paradise; 09-28-2011 at 08:41 AM..
Reason: spelling
We asked our realtor to eliminate anything with an HOA in excess of $800 per month. We also skipped a couple complexes that were half time share/half homeowners. After that, we wanted something with at least a one car garage, 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths and a good size kitchen.
We looked at 3 complexes in Kailua-Kona and all 5 in Waikaloa Beach resort (we excluded Waikaloa Village just as a personal preference.)
All told, we thought the best floor plans, best common areas and most reasonable HOA fees were in Waikaloa Beach Villas and Colony Villas. The only negative is that Waikaloa does not allow pets.
We did look at some single family homes, but felt that since we are planning to rent it for the next couple years until we retire, a condo was more feasible.
Let me know if you need additional info! You can also check out www.alohaliving.com to view properties.
Thanks for the info! One of the units we looked at with our friend and really liked was down by the King's Shops in Waikoloa. I can't remember the name of the condo complex, but the unit we saw was fairly new, very nice inside, and about $350K. We also spent a night in a rental condo at the Royal Sea Cliff in Kailua-Kona. My wife used to take her sons there many years ago when they stayed on the Kona side, and she was expecting nice but not fancy, but this unit had been completely remodeled, and was absolutely gorgeous. A few months ago, I was surfing real-estate ads and daydreaming, and I found that exact unit for sale. In fact, it's still available:
The HOA dues and property tax are pretty steep, though.
I never would have considered a condo in the past, assuming it had all the drawbacks of an apartment (i.e., thin walls and noisy neighbors), but last year we condo-sat for some friends in Portland who live in a newer unit, and we loved it. The walls were thick, and we never heard a sound from the neighbors.
Just an added thought . I owned a condo in Miama-Ft Lauderdale area for several years across from the beach and the twin towers Diplomat Resort (the Gottti show venue, a few years back, diagonally across from me). HOA aka "maintenance fees" are misnomers and typically do not cover long term actual building itself major repairs. Ie. the roof huge a/c chilling replacments, exterior painting, parking garage renovations, pool aprons, and whatever else. "IF" the budget "reserve" fund that is supposed to be maintained towards those expenditures is not planned and sufficiently projected, the building "owners" are then "assessed" a one time prorated amount based upon unit square footage. It is usually due on a short term basis IF repairs are urgent OR hefty, or BOTH. It can be quite a lot depending on the use. We experienced a few that were nearly $5,000 . Be aware and possibly review the association budget before closing. The HOA, otherwise, is used for monthly expenses of staff(security & office?) - pool cleaners- landscaping etc). Many were shocked to hear of an "assessment" due to the widely used "maintenance" term , which technically it was not. If coin laundries areused too, look at the revenue from that and application to costs. Off my soapbox, and good luck. PS- non payments of monthly HOA, or, larger unique "assessments" can be used as a legal basis for a Lien on the condo unit too. Perhaps Hawaii has a different set of laws for that area.
Aloha - Just FYI for anyone else who may be wondering more about the escrow process when off island... It is perfectly legal and acceptable in the state of Hawaii to do electronic signatures through something like Docusign. This happens fairly frequently when the buyer has had to travel off island during the purchase process.
owning out of state rental property is like blindfolding yourself, stuffing your pockets overyflowing with $20 bills, then going to the hood-- and asking for assistance crossing the street.
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