Looking for a good Big Island realtor (Hilo, Volcano: renting, vacation home)

[lindashane1019]

My husband did a scouting trip to Kona in February, but when we ruled out that area, we seemed to have been blacklisted by other realtors. Perhaps I'm imagining it, but every time I make a connection with someone regarding properties in a different area and they ask if I've worked with another realtor previously, they stop communicating with me when I tell them yes.

We're going again in June and are looking into Hilo, but I can't get anyone to return my property inquiries. Strange.

[Lisa In Colorado]

I've been reading all your responses to my questions and thank you all.

To lindashane1019 above, I have emailed Clark realty 3 times, through their own web site, and no one has responded. It is quite frustrating. If they were my realtor I'd fire them! I think it is because we are looking in the low priced home and land range.

I'm trying to watch the flights and I saw one flight from Phoenix to Honolulu for $396! But then it disappeared really fast. It's a short cheap flight from Denver to Phoenix. Normally Denver to Hilo seems to be around $800, as someone posted above.

I've spent quite a bit of time in S.W. Florida ( Pine Island near Cape Coral) and just 2 weeks on the big island in the past. If anyone has experience and opinion and could highlight the differences in climate/ humidity/temp/ bugs, especially Mosquitos /amount of rainfall/fishing/swimming/lifestyle etc. I would love to understand more about Puna and the B.I. From this point of view. Good and bad opinions just want your thoughts.

[MInative]

We split our time between west Michigan and Mountain View, Hawaii. My daughter built a vacation house in Fern Acres several years ago and we went there to build a fence for her. Then we fell in love with that area! It's very rural, has friendly people, and paved roads. We enjoy living in the country and drive to Hilo a couple times a week. It's easy to get to Volcano National Park too.
People complain about the mosquitos, but we don't think they're too bad. My daughter said its because we live in MI where we have tons of them during the summer due to being near so much water - the great lakes and thousands of lakes and many streams. We don't mind the rain and live off the grid with solar. It's worked good for us even with the rain.
If we were going to spend our winters in Florida, it would be on Pine Island. We haven't been there but have good friends who live there during the winter. It seems to be similar in lifestyle to what we experience here.
I've had good luck getting cheap tickets to the west coast and then getting a cheap flight to Honolulu on either Hawaiian or Alaska airlines. When looking for tickets, I live on the Internet! We fly to Honolulu because my daughter lives there, and we travel with our cat so get direct release in Honolulu.
Staying in vacation rentals in various communities will help give you a good feel for the various parts of the Puna area.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by Lisa In Colorado

I've been reading all your responses to my questions and thank you all.

To lindashane1019 above, I have emailed Clark realty 3 times, through their own web site, and no one has responded. It is quite frustrating. If they were my realtor I'd fire them! I think it is because we are looking in the low priced home and land range.

I know the no-email thing is frustrating but a lot of realtors here live in areas where there is no internet. The good ones will check email when they go to their offices in Hilo but realtors don't make money by sitting in offices. I would say roughly 3/4 of Big Island websites email functions go into a black hole (regardless of what type of business it is). If you don't get an answer within 24 hours you probably never will.

A lot of realtors will also not put any effort into listing or selling vacant land. 1/2 the time they won't even post good photos unless the seller provides them. Many if not most of the vacant lots for sale don't even have for sale signs on them because the listing agent has never actually visited it. In some areas the signs are quickly stolen and the only way to keep a sign up is to bring a ladder and place them high in a tree, and not all realtors have a vehicle suitable for hauling ladders around.

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by lindashane1019

My husband did a scouting trip to Kona in February, but when we ruled out that area, we seemed to have been blacklisted by other realtors. Perhaps I'm imagining it, but every time I make a connection with someone regarding properties in a different area and they ask if I've worked with another realtor previously, they stop communicating with me when I tell them yes.

We're going again in June and are looking into Hilo, but I can't get anyone to return my property inquiries. Strange.

Online "buyers" tips:

• Unless you have a contract with your current Realtor you have no obligations to continue working with them.
• Unless you have signed an exclusive agreement, you certainly can work with more than one agent. This arrangement is often used when working in a larger geographical area where it would be unreasonable to expect that one specific agent would have a working appreciation for the entire region's inventory.

Unless you have a contract with another realtor, when a new realtor asks your previous history, simply reply "We are not working with anyone". An eager realtor will be willing to work with you as long as you are not contractually obligated to someone else.

As for the lack of response you are getting, that is nothing new in the realty world. There are good and bad realtors, and good and bad realty offices.

EXCEPTION: But keep in mind that if the buyer is looking at say a $5K price range, the 6% commission ($300) will be split between the buy's and seller's agents. That is $150 each. As a businessperson, how much effort (time, gas, overhead, etc) would you put into a $150 project? For many realtors, the answer is "not much effort, if any at all".

[Fredesch]

I signed up for a login on a Hawaiian realty companies web site and did a search with an upper amount around 500k and an agent from the company sent me an email. I have had a couple of emails with her and said I was a couple of years away from buying, but if you have a rainy day, maybe you could answer these questions. It took a couple of weeks for these emails to be replied to, but this is fine given my time frame.

My suggestion is to find a web site with queries and logins and save a search and see if they email you. I also have done searches on Realtor.com and if you find a property you like, you can email the listing agent directly. Zillow is nice in its way, as it shows FSBOs as well, but it does not have local info, for instance it doesn't say whether a property is lease hold or fee simple. You can PM me if you want to know the site where I found an agent responds to email.

[OpenD]

A lot of times general "info" email boxes don't get cleared out very often.

Ronald Rigg is an active Realtor with Clark in Volcano email: riggaloha@gmail.com 808 936-1692

Day-Lum Realty is another choice, office in Hilo, and they mention Volcano rentals and vacant land in their ads: 808 935-4152, 808 935-0399 Day-Lum Properties , sales@daylum.com, rentals@daylum.com

[Jerseagirl01]

Hi I am thinking of selling a 1 acre lot. It's located in Ocean View Estates. No contract with a realtor as of yet. So any bidder's out there. Of course I'd be interested in the highest bidder. Just shoot me an email at caggles007@gmail.com

[terracore]

If you are coming to the island to look at properties before you move here, make sure you get a realtor that is willing to dedicate themselves to you during your short stay. Arrange it ahead of time so they don't have open houses etc interferring with your finite resources.

Also remember that the daylight hours here may be different than where you are coming from. You won't be looking at properties very early in the morning or in the evening.

[bigritchie]

I highly recommend John Rabi.

I used him when I moved to the Big Island last year and he was fantastic. He is a no nonsense, no BS kinda guy, and does not operate on Hawaii time. My wife and I were very pleased with him and his company.

I should also add that John worked with me for almost 1 year while I waited for my mainland house to sell and sent me daily updates.