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Fact: that finally cleared things up for me - you actually found an article with even more outlandish and extremist views than you have - now I know where you drink the Kool Aid from.
While that might be true for real estate on Oʻahu, on the Big Island most buyers and sellers have to deal with an additional "disclosure form" that covers such things as "lava-hazard zones," "vog," "tsunami risk," "geothermal sub zones," "coqui frogs," "undiscovered archaeological sites," and "dengue fever."
A few more things occurred to me that are different about Hawai'i real estate...
When I bought my property the mineral rights did not convey with the property, and instead belong to the state. My agent indicated that is common.
There are traditional gathering rights held by kanaka maoli people to enter or cross over some properties to harvest various natural materials for medicine, etc. and they are legally not trespassing, even if the property is privately owned, and they can't be kept out... I forget what it's called... you would know what I mean, Jonah. Remember that discussion about it happening in Ka'u?
Leasehold vs Freehold (aka Fee Simple) - I know the distinction exists in other states, but it seems like it's far more common in Hawai'i, and people from other states seem largely unfamiliar with the concept, especially when shopping condos.
Ohanas - Again, there are some limited references to "mother-in-law" suites and such in other states, but only in Hawai'i are the word "ohana" and the concept of a second domicile on a property for extended family incorporated into the law.
Government... other than Honolulu, there is no town-level form of government anywhere in the state, and the County provides those functions instead... county police, etc. Utilities are county level.
<SNIP> I own a few properties - and I'm house hunting right now, I've hot the 2 year point in my residence and will rent that out. I've been quite clear, I generally live in a home 2 years, rent it for 3 years - then sell it tax free - as you can do that unlimited times. <SNIP>
That's good to know, WhtViper1, we may be doing the same thing soon although it was just accidental and not by design.
Eastern Oregon, "flipping" houses may not make much sense in Hawaii because "flipping" is all about capitol gains and the market is volatile enough that you could still be standing when the music stops. Rentals - such as advised by Rich Dad Poor Dad - are about cash flow. So, if the numbers work for cash flow, then it might work. But it's all about the numbers. If you can find fixer-upper properties and can do a lot of the repairs yourself, then you might be able to get a property at a low enough starting point that you'd be able to rent it profitably, or whatever you have to do to be able to keep the acquisition price low enough that it can be rented at a profit. But there's about a zillion pitfalls, so you have to be real careful about it. You have to do the math to see if a rental will pay for itself. You also have to have the capitol or cash flow on hand to cover the times when for whatever reason the property isn't rented. You have to know the construction techniques peculiar to Hawaii to know if something is fixable or not in the first place.
There's also local conditions. When sugar fell, you couldn't find a renter who had any income and you couldn't give a house away, let alone sell it for a profit. However, (fortunately) that was in the mid-90's. Now, what with the lava displacing half of lower Puna, any rental on the right side of the lava flow is pretty much already taken. Houses for sale on the right side of the lava flow are priced higher than the ones on the other side and they are selling.
The University in Hilo is expanding, you might be able to find a multi-room house in the University area and rent out rooms to students. Although they are likely to all leave during the summer, but you never know.
We're in the process of buying another house, it should close next Friday. However, it's a fixer-upper and the numbers wouldn't work if a contractor was used. It's already taking some "juice" as they call it, to get the utilities turned onto it without a huge amount of paperwork. It's gonna take about a year before it would be ready to rent since we don't have much capitol (especially after paying cash for the house since the lowest priced houses can't carry a mortgage) and we don't work all that hard. So, we rent out our current house, move to the fixer-upper, live in it while restoring it (which is my absolute least favorite way of working on houses) and then a year from now we will be able to choose which house we want to live in and which one to rent out.
There's also the difference in interest between an owner-occupied and investment property. We pretty much have to go live there for a year or so in order to get an attractive interest rate. So, this method of slowly fixing, living in it, renting, moving to the next one does work, but not like they show on the TV with folks moving in "fixing" it up (usually they make a gawd-awful mess of it, I have no idea who their design consultants are, but it doesn't look like they have any) and then selling it for a presumed profit.
I don't think you'd initially be able to support yourself by doing this until you had a few rentals with positive cash flow. I don't know if real estate folks make enough money consistently enough for it to work, but everyone is different so maybe you can make it work. Moving to a new area does add in some difficulty to the whole thing, too.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OpenD
A few more things occurred to me that are different about Hawai'i real estate...
Between the Great Mahele and the implementation of kuleana lands, it would seem as if anyone could, with due cause or just to be a pain in the okole, demand access to or through certain properties for any number of reasons. Regardless if the person or persons involved actually held any firm beliefs in Hawaiian cultural/religious practices.
Fact: that finally cleared things up for me - you actually found an article with even more outlandish and extremist views than you have - now I know where you drink the Kool Aid from.
Hmmm ok maybe you need different sources? Maybe more politically correct sources? Ok.
1) Eleanor C. Nordyke, The Peopling of Hawai'i (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2 ed., 1989) pp.134-172.
2) Analysis of post-statehood Hawai'i and its turn to mass-based corporate tourism, see Noel Kent, Hawai'i: Islands Under the Influence, op. cit.
3) A Study of Foreign Investment and Its Impact on the State, Hawai'i Real Estate Center, University of Hawai'i, 1989.
Ok now you have academic and educational institutions as sources? Oh wait i forgot, UH has a native hawaiian studies program and the academic are hawaiian studies and hawaii issues academics might still be to radical or un pc? Anyway if you need more sources? Let me know.
The above is all the facts i used in the original post. You wantted less radical sources you have them.
I need links or content - otherwise, I can't agree or disagree with the "sources"
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Sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread.
