Is now a good time to invest in Hawaii Real Estate? (Hana: sale, foreclosure)

[nwcountrygal]

hmm don't disagree but the question is buy in HI while market is down .. going down isn't it?

[kaiwahine]

Okay so people are losing their jobs in the hotel industry.....so find another job. The state and county of Maui have lots of jobs open. Foreclosures are the way to go it seems in maui. I am waiting and watching the market also. An investment in property on the Hawaiian islands is a win win. NOW is the time to buy, and its a renters market! Lots of people live outside their means; if you have to charge it then you don't need it. It is not wise to carry over 5K in credit card debt in this economy, pay off your cars>>>>> Hawaii can be affordable if you live for the true meaning of life

[alohakat]

Maui construction jobs down 12% since March - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

Construction permits have fallen from a high of $380 million on Maui alone to $50 million in the till on Maui today. That's a drop of more than 85%....and construction jobs this article states account for about 1/4 to 1/3 of all new job growth in the boom years, meaning 85% of those new jobs are gone. This, a symptom of the world financial crisis and foreclosure crisis, along with other economic factors, will continue to depress real estate values in Hawaii for a while to come.

[kaimuki]

Here is another article discussing big drops in real estate prices on the Big Island and Kauai.

Kauai sees home sale increase, while Big Island sales dip - Breaking - Starbulletin.com

[HankDfrmSD]

And here are some very recent price changes of condos for sale in Princeville, Kauai:

As always, price changes dominate the weekly update, starting with Hale Honu 9B, which last sold for $355K in 4/04 and reduced this week from $375K to $355K. Sandpiper 131 reduced from $425K to $399K and last sold for $110K in 4/01. Puamana 1A, purchased for $157K in 7/01 reduced from $475K to $440, while Puamana 24B, purchased for $375K in 2/05 went from $487K to $467K. Hanalei Bay Resort N22 dropped to $475K from $499K and is well on it's way to being a tax deduction with a purchase price of $469,900 in 4/06. Ali'i Kai 14G, purchased for $583K in 8/05 went from $579K to $569K, making for another upside down seller. Nihlani 8B, which is one of the developer's units went from $598,300 to $578K, down from a high of $665,200. Nihilani 29C, which last sold for $747,320 in 7/06 reduced from $649K to $599K, making this a quite attractive buy. Another developer's unit, Nihilani 15B, reduced going from $751,500 to $676,500. Finally, our last price change is the only uptick this week, and this is Pu'u Po'a 114, purchased for $1.4M in 3/05 and going from $1.299M to $1.475M. Nice to see an optimistic seller.

Hank

[hotzcatz]

I keep thinking you are from South Dakota when I see your name, Hank. That's actually San Diego, huh?

As far as the real estate market in Hawaii, we haven't had the same level of carnage as the mainland. When we had the dot.commers come and buy then dump their properties and the Japanese buyers come and go, our local banks learned to not give out too many of those strange loans and many of the mainland sub-prime lenders wouldn't loan the amounts required to purchase expensive Hawaiian properties. There were still some strange loans given out and there are foreclosures and we are beginning to see more of them but the prices haven't fallen like they have in some areas on the mainland. Nor are we likely to see that level of drop since we have a limited amount of property and loads of mainland and foreign folks wanting to buy second houses here if they can afford it. Those folks are funded by mainland jobs that pay more than the ones here so they can generally outbid the local folks.

Also to rent out properties you have to have an on-island property manager and generally there are landscapers and gardeners so these second houses do provide some income for the folks here but not high end jobs.

As the economy tanks and tourism drops, the house prices will drop as people go to the mainland to find work. When sugar went down we lost a lot of people since the jobs left, it will probably be the same way again.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

I keep thinking you are from South Dakota when I see your name, Hank. That's actually San Diego, huh?

That's right. Half the time. Other half, it's Kailua, Oahu.

[kani-lehua]

o'ahu prices remain steady, but sales decline: Oahu home sales dive, but prices stable | HonoluluAdvertiser.com | The Honolulu Advertiser

[MadRussian]

So it's matter of time, eventially prices follow sales. There is no other way. Also, we obviously not even close to bottom of crisis yet.

[hotzcatz]

Originally Posted by kaiwahine

Okay so people are losing their jobs in the hotel industry.....so find another job. The state and county of Maui have lots of jobs open. Foreclosures are the way to go it seems in maui. I am waiting and watching the market also. An investment in property on the Hawaiian islands is a win win. NOW is the time to buy, and its a renters market! Lots of people live outside their means; if you have to charge it then you don't need it. It is not wise to carry over 5K in credit card debt in this economy, pay off your cars>>>>> Hawaii can be affordable if you live for the true meaning of life

Hawaii County has a freeze on new hires and at the grocery today, the clerk told me they had just announced a hiring freeze too. Met a fellow last weekend who has been out looking for about five weeks with no job in sight. He may do some weed whacking for us at $10 an hour - last year nobody would even consider yard work at that rate. Jobs are getting quite scarce these days.