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Old 07-20-2019, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Austin
175 posts, read 182,054 times
Reputation: 567

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i recently bought a condo in Maui.

i left the thermostat at 84F which keeps the interior slightly warm (but not hot), it also gets rid of humidity constantly. our electricity bill is about 60-100/mo depending on the time of the year.

we actually installed a camera in the kitchen and it has been working great so far. i can always connect to it to see whats going on and i get alerts if it notices movement, if it's too hot in there or if it picks up sounds.

i have a person on the island who checks up on the unit once per month and he does things like run the water, flush the toilets, etc.

im wondering how other people deal with it. do you leave the AC on? do you have someone check the unit from time to time? any tips i should be aware of?

mahalo!
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Old 07-20-2019, 11:39 AM
 
Location: Eureka CA
9,519 posts, read 14,691,612 times
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There's a LAW in Hawaii that you have to have a property manager IN the State who should be managing the maintenance. Your realtor can refer you to someone.
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Old 07-20-2019, 12:10 PM
 
Location: Moku Nui, Hawaii
11,048 posts, read 23,933,180 times
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I think it's only required to have a property manager if the property is being rented.


What folks do is usually different depending on the where the property is in Hawaii and the resources of the person on the mainland.
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Old 07-20-2019, 05:45 PM
 
2,095 posts, read 1,546,597 times
Reputation: 2300
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz View Post
I think it's only required to have a property manager if the property is being rented.


What folks do is usually different depending on the where the property is in Hawaii and the resources of the person on the mainland.

Correct. That's why that japanese billionaire that had vacant houses in east honolulu drew so much flak. he pretty much abandoned million dollar homes.

The OP must have pretty good money if he can afford to leave a hawaii property vacant the entire year. Most out of state vacation home owners either rent out the home or run an illegal short term rental operation.
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Old 07-20-2019, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Austin
175 posts, read 182,054 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rya96797 View Post
Correct. That's why that japanese billionaire that had vacant houses in east honolulu drew so much flak. he pretty much abandoned million dollar homes.

The OP must have pretty good money if he can afford to leave a hawaii property vacant the entire year. Most out of state vacation home owners either rent out the home or run an illegal short term rental operation.
I make a few bucks

it's about 2,100/mo.
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:05 PM
 
Location: Kahala
12,120 posts, read 17,809,076 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasBound19 View Post

i left the thermostat at 84F which keeps the interior slightly warm (but not hot), it also gets rid of humidity constantly. our electricity bill is about 60-100/mo depending on the time of the year.

im wondering how other people deal with it. do you leave the AC on? do you have someone check the unit from time to time? any tips i should be aware of?
Well - other people don't deal with it. People don't buy property that is livable and keep it vacant the bulk of the year. A single family home will eventually get broken into - and a condo perhaps has less risk of that (but still has risk).

If you are gone at least 6 months at time a better solution is a 6 month legal rental - which can then go month to month.

If you do it the way you are doing it, 84 seems high to keep furniture/electronics in good shape especially with no air circulating - and if you do keep it at 84, you should find out why the electric is so high - because if everything is off in the house - it shouldn't be that high.
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Old 07-20-2019, 07:51 PM
 
416 posts, read 406,319 times
Reputation: 929
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasBound19 View Post
i recently bought a condo in Maui.

i left the thermostat at 84F which keeps the interior slightly warm (but not hot), it also gets rid of humidity constantly. our electricity bill is about 60-100/mo depending on the time of the year.

we actually installed a camera in the kitchen and it has been working great so far. i can always connect to it to see whats going on and i get alerts if it notices movement, if it's too hot in there or if it picks up sounds.

i have a person on the island who checks up on the unit once per month and he does things like run the water, flush the toilets, etc.

im wondering how other people deal with it. do you leave the AC on? do you have someone check the unit from time to time? any tips i should be aware of?

mahalo!

sorry to hijack the thread - wifey and i have been stalking some condos in west Maui. Don't really need to rent it out either. Curious about a few things - hoping OP or others could answer:

* Did you have a frequency of visits per year in mind that justified buying the condo vs renting hotel/condo as needed? (we're kinda torn on this topic)

* Any lessons learned about fee-simple/leasehold or HOA fees?

* We're looking Lahaina or north - any lessons learned about location?

* Beyond mortgage, HOA, cable/power/water, your maintenance dude - any other major expenses?

I'm sure there is more.. any advice appreciated!
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Old 07-20-2019, 10:38 PM
 
Location: Austin
175 posts, read 182,054 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peta2013 View Post
sorry to hijack the thread - wifey and i have been stalking some condos in west Maui. Don't really need to rent it out either. Curious about a few things - hoping OP or others could answer:

* Did you have a frequency of visits per year in mind that justified buying the condo vs renting hotel/condo as needed? (we're kinda torn on this topic)

Not really. We thought maybe 2-3x per year. We wanted to have a place of our own that we could eventually retire in and/or have the ability to use it as an investment (rent it out after we get tired of it).

* Any lessons learned about fee-simple/leasehold or HOA fees?

You need to buy a fee-simple property.

* We're looking Lahaina or north - any lessons learned about location?

we own in north kihei which is quite hot. lahaina is also probably just as hot but that area is a lot more expensive

* Beyond mortgage, HOA, cable/power/water, your maintenance dude - any other major expenses?

mortgage, HOA, insurance, electricity and maintenance. everything else is included in the HOA - like Internet. as of right now, nothing else. we have a central AC system that sucks in the air from the inside of the condo and blows cold air so the air is kinda always circulating inside.

I'm sure there is more.. any advice appreciated!

our place is on the second floor of a 2 story building. we have 1 camera inside and 1 camera outside that i can look at at any moment. we keep an eye on it.
answers in bold.
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Old 07-21-2019, 02:00 AM
 
2,095 posts, read 1,546,597 times
Reputation: 2300
Quote:
Originally Posted by whtviper1 View Post
Well - other people don't deal with it. People don't buy property that is livable and keep it vacant the bulk of the year. A single family home will eventually get broken into - and a condo perhaps has less risk of that (but still has risk).

If you are gone at least 6 months at time a better solution is a 6 month legal rental - which can then go month to month.

If you do it the way you are doing it, 84 seems high to keep furniture/electronics in good shape especially with no air circulating - and if you do keep it at 84, you should find out why the electric is so high - because if everything is off in the house - it shouldn't be that high.
yeah, 84 internal house temperature is hot as hell. but can easily see reaching temps that high if everything is closed up. Id expect electricity costs to be 60-100 with a/c set to maybe 80. Hard to say though, BI electric rates are a lot higher than oahu.

he should just rent it out year round and treat it as an investment property. if he wants to visit on vacation, just stay in a hotel. financially better off that way.
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Old 07-21-2019, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Austin
175 posts, read 182,054 times
Reputation: 567
Quote:
Originally Posted by rya96797 View Post
yeah, 84 internal house temperature is hot as hell. but can easily see reaching temps that high if everything is closed up. Id expect electricity costs to be 60-100 with a/c set to maybe 80. Hard to say though, BI electric rates are a lot higher than oahu.

he should just rent it out year round and treat it as an investment property. if he wants to visit on vacation, just stay in a hotel. financially better off that way.
84 is actually slightly warm inside. i tested it... I could literally sit in there and not break a sweat.

we'll probably end up renting it out long term. we have a trip coming up with several family members... after the trip, i'll discuss with the family and see what we want to do.
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