How can anyone afford to live here? (Honolulu: real estate, rent)

[dgfurman]

My husband and I were looking into HI as a place to live, and housing costs (not to mention grocery costs) are outrageous. How does anyone (besides the extremely wealthy) afford to live here? Do people in the middle class all live in tiny condos? What if you have several kids and pets? Thanks!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Depends on where you are looking. Our subdivision is in a rural area of the Big Island, and you can get a 3br, 2ba house for $250,000 - $300,000 right now. Although we are in a rural area, we do have all of the essential services and are not off-the-grid. Unfortunately, the schools are not very good and commuting to work in Kona is a killer. It's all trade-offs.

[isaackko]

Buy your home before 2002.

My Grandma sold her house in the summer of 2001 for $475K. One year later, it was valued at over $1 Million.

[dgfurman]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Depends on where you are looking. Our subdivision is in a rural area of the Big Island, and you can get a 3br, 2ba house for $250,000 - $300,000 right now. Although we are in a rural area, we do have all of the essential services and are not off-the-grid. Unfortunately, the schools are not very good and commuting to work in Kona is a killer. It's all trade-offs.

I've noticed that it's more affordable in other islands/locales, but unfort. my husband (who works for the govt) would have to be based out of Honolulu.

[dgfurman]

Originally Posted by isaackko

Buy your home before 2002.

My Grandma sold her house in the summer of 2001 for $475K. One year later, it was valued at over $1 Million.

Now that is insane! Wow!!! Unbelievable. So I guess the housing market slump really hasn't affected HI, huh.

[kani-lehua]

Originally Posted by dgfurman

Now that is insane! Wow!!! Unbelievable. So I guess the housing market slump really hasn't affected HI, huh.

the housing slump has affected hawaii, but it depends on which island and which subdivision.

like dreamingofhawaii, we are closing on a property (dec.2) in a rural property in puna, big island. it's considered a 1bd, but the owner has converted 1/3 of the 3 car garage into an extra bedroom/office. the property is situated on 3 acres half of which is cleared and the other forest. custom home with extra large wrap around lanai--$185000. built in 2004. new primary residence.

kailua, o'ahu's housing prices remain steady (hank had to point that out to me by using zillow for comparables). this home, 4b/3b 1 block from the beach on app. 1300sft in today's market could possibly sell for around $1,000,000.00 built in th 50's and purchased for 20k. located on the windward side of the island. family home to be rented out for $2500/mth no mortgage.

we own another home in kapolei, o'ahu, 3b/2.5b two-story built in 1995 and purchased for $295k on less than 5000sft. could possibly sell for around $500k. located on the leeward side of the island. other family members rent this home from us $1600/mth no profit.

[cynmkolohe]

Thanks, kani, for sharing a few specifics. It is sometimes difficult for folks new to the islands to grasp how things have changed in the past couple of decades, but your examples illustrate how families who purchased property before the market increased so sharply are dealing with somewhat different circumstances. Now, about those property tax assessments....!

[kani-lehua]

i should have proofread my post. i meant to say:

1) closing on a property in a rural subdivision on the big island.

2) kailua's land square footage is app. 13000sft not 1300. lol.

head's all fuzzy from being up since 3am wondering what the outcome of the purchase/loan would be. got good news that it's a done deal and closing is dec.2.

the market, imo, for the big island has been affected the most. there seems to be a good amount of inventory and it remains a buyer's market if one can get the financing. being that cynmkolohe lives there and is in real estate, she can provide better or more factual information.

yes, and darn those property tax assessments!

[mattywo85]

I was looking at moving to Honolulu or Maui. Are they both very expensive? Easy to commute around? I can afford roughly $250-300K for a house/condo.

[HawaiiboundNelli]

Congratulations kani-lehua! I know you were waiting on pins and needles so I'm glad it all came out positively! :-)