Vacation Counting Down.... (Pahoa: for sale, real estate, brokers)

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

We have finally booked our vacation on the BI for two weeks in mid-February. Planes, home, automobile, all booked and paid for. I'm getting pretty excited thinking about the trip I've been dreaming of taking for 40+ years!

Before you ask, we're staying in a home a few steps from the water in Kapoho Beach Estates, or somesuch. I'd have to look it up, exactly, which would involve me getting up and going to look at our reservations, and I just ate dinner and am feeling lazy . Maybe too hot for us, but with the tide pools and bay just a few steps away, we figure that we'll spend a lot of time in the water, and keep cool that way when we're actually on the property :-).

I have a question, though. While we're there, I'd love to look at some homes and/or properties for sale, even though we're not _seriously_ thinking of buying in the very near future. Something that we could use as a vacation home, with the goal of eventually moving permanently (this is all assuming that we actually think that Hawaii would be a good fit for us!). My question is, would a real estate agent/realtor even be inclined to want to help people visit/view properties who aren't planning on buying in the near future? By "near future", I'm thinking that, should we decide we'd want to live there, at least part time, we probably wouldn't be able to purchase a home before our "spare" home in Portland sells. Since we haven't finished getting it ready for sale, that could be some time, depending on how fast we can get everything out of there, cleaned up, and staged.... I'm thinking 6 months to a year or so, provided we like Hawaii well enough to want to live there. The housing market is HOT in PDX right now, so the sooner we can get our place ready for sale, the more quickly we're likely to be able to find buyers for it, with the greatest chance at selling for a good price.

If no realtor would take us seriously, nor want to "waste their time" (as one real estate agent said to us when we were looking at places here on the coast before we were actually ready to purchase a house--when we did buy, you can be sure we didn't use her as our agent) helping us look at properties, now (to get a feel for what's out there for a given price range), can anyone suggest other ways of being able to view homes/properties that are for sale, besides strictly online? I get a daily update, but have no clue how to find them, or if we'd be shot on sight if we decided to just wander around vacant properties we might see for sale as we explore the island.... We're not really into trespassing, after all :-).

If a realtor wouldn't think of it as a waste of their time (after all, when we DO decide to buy--if we like it there--we'd be more likely to go with the agent who took the time to help us view properties while we're on vacation), can anyone suggest the best way to find someone willing to spend a little time showing us a representative choice of homes in our probable price range?

Any advice would be very much appreciated :-).

[Sherwoody]

Do you have a Realtor in Portland? They should be able to line someone up for you and perhaps make a few bucks for referring you.

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

Do you have a Realtor in Portland? They should be able to line someone up for you and perhaps make a few bucks for referring you.

Yes, as well as our realtor here on the coast. I have no clue if they know anyone in Hawaii, though! Would that seem likely?

[whtviper1]

Why not just go online and look at open houses? Realtors work on commission and if you aren't serious they'd really appreciate you not taking their time.

[leilaniguy]

Go ahead and shop right in Pahoa. There are at least 4 realtors in town, one lives right across the street from me. ( Kapoho Beachlots.) All have websites.

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Originally Posted by leilaniguy

Go ahead and shop right in Pahoa. There are at least 4 realtors in town, one lives right across the street from me. ( Kapoho Beachlots.) All have websites.

I think that's the spot we'll be staying, leilaniguy! Maybe we'll run into each other while we're in the area :-).

Open houses are a good idea, whtviper1. Don't ask me why I hadn't thought of that. Too many other things on my mind atm, I guess. The listings I see from over here in Oregon (Harry's daily list, Hawaii Life, etc.), don't seem to show info on open houses. At least, none of the listings Ive looked at.. Perhaps once we get there they'll be easier to find and check out.

I'll check out the area, leilaniguy. Thanks for the good advice. Any idea what the websites are, right off the top of your head?

Thanks again. If anyone thinks of anything else, please feel free to let me know :-).

[Arktikos]

Any listing you look at now will likely have sold by the time you get serious, so why bother looking at specific properties?
My advice would be to look at regions of the island,you've identified lower Puna so far, and neighborhoods of interest to gather impressions.

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z

Yes, as well as our realtor here on the coast. I have no clue if they know anyone in Hawaii, though! Would that seem likely?

They don't need to know anyone, it's just one professional Realtor asking another to take care of their client in another area of the country. You could also contact the Hawaii Association of Realtors and ask them to recomend someone in the area you'd like to look. In either case, make an appointment, I think it would help elevate you past the dreamy eyed tourist level.

There are likely homes for sale in Kapoho Beach Estates you could have a look at easily on your own. I would assume there is a property manager there to assist you, or at least a list of current homes for sale or community bulletin board. Good luck....

[leilaniguy]

Originally Posted by Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z

I think that's the spot we'll be staying, leilaniguy! Maybe we'll run into each other while we're in the area :-).

Open houses are a good idea, whtviper1. Don't ask me why I hadn't thought of that. Too many other things on my mind atm, I guess. The listings I see from over here in Oregon (Harry's daily list, Hawaii Life, etc.), don't seem to show info on open houses. At least, none of the listings Ive looked at.. Perhaps once we get there they'll be easier to find and check out.

I'll check out the area, leilaniguy. Thanks for the good advice. Any idea what the websites are, right off the top of your head?

Thanks again. If anyone thinks of anything else, please feel free to let me know :-).

There were more than I thought. Here is a list of Pahoa realtors; julipaul.com, savio.com, bigislandbrokers.com, bigislandbrokers.net, howarddinits.com, marybeiger.com

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Any listing you look at now will likely have sold by the time you get serious, so why bother looking at specific properties?
My advice would be to look at regions of the island,you've identified lower Puna so far, and neighborhoods of interest to gather impressions.

Because Iike to look at houses to get a feel for what's out there at any given price point. Yes, what you can get for a certain price will probably have changed if we ever get serious about moving over there, but until then, I like to look. Not harming anyone or anything, especially if we go to open houses. It's cheap entertainment, if nothing else .

There are many areas we'd like to look at, and we shall! Naturally, we'll be spending most of our time being proper vactioning tourists, hiring whale watching boats, a helicopter tour, visiting scenic areas and local cuisine, etc. But when we have a bit of free time, I'd like to look at homes, there, too. You can only get so much information about homes or properties looking at photos of them from 2500 miles away, after all :-).

I wonder if most open houses are held on Sundays, like they are, here?