Big Island land grab... (Hilo, Mountain View: sale, insurance, home search)

[cynmkolohe]

Short version: If the loan is going to be sold to Fannie Mae, your lender won't do lava zone 1 or 2. If the loan is going to be a portfolio loan, or through an independent broker, there are options. This gets complicated--if you need resources, don't hesitate to DM me and I can give you contact info for lenders who can explain the ins and outs...

[Tigahshark808]

Originally Posted by alaskangrown

I know there has been posts about this before, but things change, and maybe there's some new info out there I am looking to buy about three acres on the Big Island- maybe Fern Acres, or wherever looks suitable- I would like trees, ferns, and jungle, within 15 miles of Hilo would be nice, but I'm not picky on that. I understand that the land is in a lava zone on the Puna part of the island, and I know there is no electricity, or paved roads or services, but I look at the prices, and wonder what the catch is....Is there one? I know that the job market can be tough, but my husband and I have both had offers, and coming from Alaska, where you'd be lucky to get 3 acres of frozen swamp for under $30K, it seems too good to be true. Other than the same advice I always hear (no jobs, bad roads (hahaha, come to Alaska!) no electricity or water service (I've lived without plumbing for over 10 years, and we have to buy our water!) and bugs (hmmm, bears? Moose? Who is afraid of bugs?) I haven't heard anything to turn me off the idea. Any thoughts?

Hello, Fern acres is a nice place, I live on Oahu but i just bought a house up there on two lots so i have a total of 4 acres, Fern acres is consisted of 2 acre parcels so if you are looking for three acres it might be tough to find, as far as having trees and stuff your in luck because most of Fern acres is heavily forested and it is around 15-20 mins from hilo(depends on how you drive lol) yeah the jobs are bad there but it is in all of Hawaii, now for the electric there is electric there, they have poles running pretty much the whole way down , the thing is depending on how far you build your house from the street or the house that you buy will determine if HELCO will have to put another pole on your property to get it to your house, the roads are pretty good actually, but the more in you live is where the roads get more bad , as far as plumbing you dont have to worry about that, theres the good ol rain, all the houses there run on water catchment, nothing like FREE water and sewer since houses up there either have septic or cesspool, more cesspool though, its beautiful up there, you will love it!

[Balad1]

One thing to be aware of is that it rains a lot on that side of the island. Mold, midew and a general damp sticky feeling are terrible at certain times of the year. Also all the greenery, plants and trees are nice but have to be maintained; on 3 acres that's a fulltime job.

These factors and a few others led me to buy in the Ka'u area for the same money as Puna. I've got 3 aces in Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos that has the most impressive ocean views. The one down side being the commute if you have to work; which I don't.

Good luck.

PS: My neigbor is from Alaska and has been building his retirement home here for the past couple of years.

[Tigahshark808]

Originally Posted by Balad1

One thing to be aware of is that it rains a lot on that side of the island. Mold, midew and a general damp sticky feeling are terrible at certain times of the year. Also all the greenery, plants and trees are nice but have to be maintained; on 3 acres that's a fulltime job.

These factors and a few others led me to buy in the Ka'u area for the same money as Puna. I've got 3 aces in Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos that has the most impressive ocean views. The one down side being the commute if you have to work; which I don't.

Good luck.

PS: My neigbor is from Alaska and has been building his retirement home here for the past couple of years.

That it true a huge property is a full time job but if you like it forested its no maintenance at all, before i bought in Fern acres i looked all over the big island, HOVR was one of the places i looked at because it is fairly cheap over there, the landscape is much different there because its more on the south west side which is typically on the hotter side(not that hot though actually comfortable) but it is in lava zone 1 i think? if you google map the area you will see all the flows that litters the landscape on that part of the island, HOVR is actually spread over a few flows, and its pretty much in the middle of no where, also that side of the island tends to get vog more often then other parts of the island especially if the winds whip over there like it usually does, but the views are just amazing!!! cant get any better as far as views, its like a post card back yard. I guess different people have there own views and opinions on where is the right place to live.

[Balad1]

Originally Posted by Tigahshark808

That it true a huge property is a full time job but if you like it forested its no maintenance at all, before i bought in Fern acres i looked all over the big island, HOVR was one of the places i looked at because it is fairly cheap over there, the landscape is much different there because its more on the south west side which is typically on the hotter side(not that hot though actually comfortable) but it is in lava zone 1 i think? if you google map the area you will see all the flows that litters the landscape on that part of the island, HOVR is actually spread over a few flows, and its pretty much in the middle of no where, also that side of the island tends to get vog more often then other parts of the island especially if the winds whip over there like it usually does, but the views are just amazing!!! cant get any better as far as views, its like a post card back yard. I guess different people have there own views and opinions on where is the right place to live.

Different strokes, right?

After living on Kauai I was tired of the wet weather and trying to keep up with 2 acres of landscaping. The stuff would grew faster than I could cut and haul it away. Living on a pahoehoe lava flow solved that problem; actually it's lava hazard zone 2.

The bottomline as we know it is that the only land that is cheap in the entire state is either in Puna or Ka'u. Both have their good and bad points and it comes down to personal preferences.

[vrhunski]

Good luck for you

[bahiaboyz]

Anybody have a ballpark figure for what would you expect to pay for 2.5 acres of land in Waipio Valley?

[leilaniguy]

Originally Posted by bahiaboyz

Anybody have a ballpark figure for what would you expect to pay for 2.5 acres of land in Waipio Valley?

Perusing the MLS, I found just 1 parcel for sale in Waipio, 1.4 acre listed for $299K. Cynmkolohe would know more about it than I do.

[cynmkolohe]

I just checked the MLS for listings in TMK 3-4-9. (That's the Tax Map designation for Waipio Valley. This map shows the TMK zones, etc: http://bit.ly/8LYDCY (broken link))

The only active listing is the one leilaniguy mentioned: 1.4 acres, listed for $299,000. It has been on the market for 134 days. Also, according to the MLS description, there are 2 unpermitted structures on the property that have been used by taro farmers.

I also checked for recent sales, but had to go back to 2008 to find any closings. There were two pieces of land that sold in '08:

--A 23,552 sq ft lot sold for $76,000 in March of '08. This was by an Agreement of Sale.
--A 2.97 acre lot sold for $125,000 in October of '08. This was a Cash sale.

Hope that helps! Feel free to DM me if you would like more info.

[kawika52]

Aloha Cynmkolohe! Do you have any idea of what approx an acre would run somewhere between Hilo and Honokaa? Mahalo!