Moving to Hawaii? Advice?

[Ian_Lee]

While so many people complain about how high the cost of buying/renting a home is in Hawaii, my question is "Why didn't you buy when the price fell to the rock bottom"?

During my 30 years stay in Hawaii, the property market has suffered two big recessions and one mild recession. I used to go to the foreclosure auction at the courtyard in the State Court House opposite the Federal Building, those townhouses at Ewa/Kapolei/Makakilo were so cheap (most like $70K or 80K) that as long as as someone gave a bid, the unit was sold.

With the exception of millennials who have never had such opportunity, for the others who grumble about the high price in Hawaii but have resided on the islands for decades, why didn't they buy when the properties were damned cheap?

I know a couple friends who came from Mainland in '70s and '80s, so far for all these years they have been renting while their incomes have been more than adequate to be eligible for any mortgage.

I don't understand their rationale for not buying when the time came. And they still keep complaining.

[rya96797]

I know more than a few people with that mentality. I'm not sure if it's just an excuse because their spending habits prevent them from saving for a downpayment and making the purchase or if it's something else. When the market is high, they'll want to wait until it goes lower. When the market is low, they maintain that prices will continue going lower, and stick with this mentality all the way until the prices skyrocket again making new highs.


Even during the "great recession", when average prices came down by 20% or so, I was suggesting to people that maybe they should look into buying. Their response was that they expected to see similar price declines as the mainland, 70-80% drops and snatch properties up below $200k. Well as the saying goes, "dis aint the mainland".