Financial and other questions regarding PV systems, landscaping, etc (Hilo: for sale, real estate)

[MakamaeNeNe]

I will be looking for a home to purchase next week while visiting. (We opted to buy right away against all opinions to rent first-- there are personal reasons for this.) Anyway, as I'm looking at homes and we are trying to identify a budget, I have a few cost questions:

1. Does anyone know the going rate, in general ($5000-10000 range is fine) for a photovoltaic system that we would purchase and have installed? The size would be 20 panels, if I had to estimate, for a 1200 square foot home. Then, does it double for a 40 panel system for a larger home? If not, what would you estimate the larger system to cost?

2. If we were to opt for a home that has lava as its entire landscaping (in Kailua Kona area), because it is new construction, what would you estimate the cost of some basic landscaping-- trucking in soil and planting a small amount of grass (maybe 400-600 square feet), a few tropical beds, maybe a 8000-10000 square foot lot?

3. What is the cost of garbage pickup by companies on Kona side?

4. What is the cost of a solar hot water heater with installation? And, how often do they require service?

5. If we were looking to cut back overgrowth on a property, and clean up for nicer, but still fairly basic landscaping, what would you estimate that cost to be, including labor? (area to be landscaped maybe 5000 square feet.)

6. What is the cost of flood insurance in the high risk flood zones?

And here are a few, other related questions since you're already reading (thank you!!)--

7. Why does it seem like there are a high percentage of homes for sale in Pualani Estates right now? Is there something wrong with the community or risk for increase in taxes, etc?

8. Why do I look at some homes, same square footage (within 10%) and the taxes for one may be $1000/year while the other are up to $4000/year? Is there an appeal process?

9. If a home has a "water feature" (little pond with a motor to move the water), should we still expect that mosquitos will breed there? Would the presence of some intended plants increase this (i.e., placed lily pads)? Would the presence of fish decrease the number of hatching mosquitos?

10. Regarding the overgrown plots of land-- should I expect a fairly quick clearance of pests (cockroaches, centipedes, mosquitos, etc...) after cleaning the property up?

Thank you to anyone and everyone who is willing to help answer these questions!!!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

The size of your photovoltaic system depends more on the amount of electricity you use than on the size of your house. When we got ours installed, they looked at our historic usage and sized the system accordingly. We have 16 panels that we installed two years ago at a cost of around $20,000. Since you asked about house size, our house is 1700 square feet, two people. We have propane stove and clothes dryer.

Our solar hot water system cost around $3000-$3500. I hope that they never require service.

Regarding the variety in real estate taxes, people can get exemptions here for age. I can't remember exactly, but I think you start getting exemptions at age 65. My husband is over 70, so we get a huge exemption.

[whtviper1]

Solar panels come in different strength and it is to simplistic to say what do xx panels cost.

It also depends on how much sun you get and if you use AC etc.....

Dreamings system sounds like the lower end of the scale - I'd estimate very roughly dreamings cost to double that for the size home you are describing depending on usage and AC cost.

[Joliefille]

There is also a difference in property taxes if you're a full time resident or have a second home.

[hotzcatz]

Aloha MakamaeNeNe,

I'll put numbers in front of the answers to match your questions.

1. We just paid $20K to put 5.2 kW on the roof of this house, that's 20 panels at 260 watts each and it's grid tied, so no battery bank. Our last system on the other house was a 4 kW system of 18 panels at 240 watts each. That system was $24K and both were installed by the same electrical company. Let me know if you need their name, they do work all over this island as well as the other islands. The price of solar panels has dropped, which is why we now have more PV for less money on this house.

2. Not sure what the cost to bring in soil would be, although many folks use 'cinder-soil' which is finely crushed cinders instead of actual topsoil. On the Hilo side, it would be Glover who would sell cinder-soil by the truckload, not sure who the Kailua-Kona people are. But, just rough estimate, about $2,000 - $3,000 for a big truck (approx 25 cubic yards or so) of cinder-soil delivered. Then you'd need it spread around, so add in another $1,000. I'm guessing those numbers to be on the high side, but it's been several decades since I've bought a big truckload of cinder-soil. One truckload of cinder-soil would probably do the 400-600 square foot. Stacking rocks to make raised bed planting areas would allow you to contain better planting medium as well as keep string trimmers out of your garden area. General yard labor runs between $10 and $20 per hour, depending on who you find.

3. Are there garbage pickup companies? I suppose there must be some somewhere, but nobody I know uses one.

4. Solar hot water runs about $4K to $6K more or less. As far as I know they rarely need servicing. I think there's some tax breaks on all solar, although I don't know the current details.

5. The price of brush clearing/tree cutting can be all over the place depending on what's to be cleared away. Figure minimum $2K if they're gonna bring in heavy equipment, $20 - $30 per hour if they're using chain saws, but those are just sheer guesses.

6. Haven't a clue, that would be something to ask your insurance agent and there may not be that many high flood zones in Kailua-Kona. Hawaii soils don't generally hold much water, most rain just disappears as it hits the ground. They don't usually do a 'perk' test around here like they do on some places on the mainland since they can't get the water to stick around long enough to time it draining away from their 'perk' test site.

7. I'd guess they're selling houses in Pualani since house prices have gone up lately and they can sell them at a profit now? There's also a lot of new houses there so probably some of the ones for sale are from the developers and contractors. Looks like it's all residential rates for lot of that size and in that area, but check the tax office for it's specific tax bracket. Ag land is less expensive on taxes, but that doesn't look like it's gonna be Ag zoned. If you buy a house here and are going to live here, file a 'Homeowner's Exemption' with the tax office as soon as possible. I think August is their last filing date for next year's exemption. Your taxes will be a lot lower if you live in your house and have the exemption filed.

8. Some of the differences in taxes have to do with folks' filing the Home Owner's Exemption and some of it has to do with the home owner's age. Once you reach a certain age, then you can file to have your taxes frozen at that amount. Some of my friends filed back in the early 2000's when their taxes were $100 per year. They pay $100 per year for their taxes while their neighbors pay around $2,500 now.

9. Water features with mosquito fish in them are actually a good way to get rid of mosquitoes. They lay their eggs in the water and the fish eat the eggs so you'll end up with less mosquitoes.

10. Nope, this is Hawaii, there will always be cockroaches, centipedes and mosquitoes. There will be less of them if the property is cleaned up, although usually it's less rats and mongoose that is the result of massive property clearing.

[MakamaeNeNe]

Thank you all so very much for the information. Hotzcatz-- thank you for taking all the time you did! This has really cleared up the price range for homes we should be looking at. I especially appreciate the information about the home owner's exemption process.