Fall in Oahu

It's October, and fall here in Oahu is a great time of year. While our seasons don't change a lot, they do change. I love the fall and winter in Hawaii, where day and evening temperatures seem absolutely perfect for human beings to live in. It's about 75 at night and 85 in the daytime, with a constant 15mph breeze from the North West.

It's always a joy to live here in Hawaii, but fall and winter seem like the best times of year. You never need AC, and sometimes it gets cool enough to want a long sleeve shirt. I don't ever wear a jacket. It's perfect.

Also, the waves will be coming up on the North Shore soon, which means great surf, great competitions, and tons of tourist activity on the North Shore.

So what does this have to do with Oahu real estate?

Winter in Hawaii means tourists who are serious tourists. They probably don't have kids in school, which makes it easier to live anywhere in Oahu. They probably have money, because they're vacationing in the off season when people with regular jobs don't usually travel.

Also, toward the end of the year there is always a rush of people who either need to buy or sell a house for tax reasons. Some people want to get a new rental on their tax return for this year. Some people are just the opposite - they want to make sure there is not a rental on their return next year.

If people are buying in the fall season, they are probably pretty serious. Most people don't shop for homes in this season, because they are focused on holidays, school, etc. So if someone is shopping for a house in the fall, they are probably pretty motivated for some reason.

In the fall, the weather in west Oahu is great too. Ewa beach, Kapolei, Makakilo - all those areas are cooler in the fall, which is nice because in the summer it can be hot. So it might be easier to sell those areas in the fall.

It's fall in Oahu, time to get your real estate plans going.

Top RE/MAX agent in Hawaii!

Wow, I couldn't believe it - I just received a sales award for July for being the highest selling RE/MAX agent in the entire state of Hawaii, and #39 for all RE/MAX agents in Hawaii and California combined!

There are thousands of RE/MAX agents in California and Hawaii, so I'm extremely surprised by the news. Thanks to God who gives all good things!

Thanks also to my clients for their business!

Luxury Waikiki Condos

This week I've been looking at luxury condos in and around Waikiki with a great ocean views. So after a couple hours of looking through the listings, I thought it would be valuable to post some of my best findings and explain a bit about these buildings.

First of all, the true luxury condo market begins at about $1.2million in Oahu and has a view like this from about the 30th floor of a highrise. And most of these properties are right in Waikiki, Ala Moana, or Kakaako. There are also some nice ones in Diamond Head. And it's important to understand that there's a big difference between ocean view and ocean front. If you want ocean front, it's going to nearly double the price of a luxury condo, to around $3-4million.

Some of these units have an elevator that opens right into your condo, because they take up an entire floor. They usually have very nice rooms that look something like this.

Right now there are several brand new or almost new buildings where you can get a luxury condo that has never been lived in. At the Pinnacle in downtown Honolulu, you can get a fantastic brand new condo for about $2million with an ocean view, and very large at around 3000sqft.

At Keola Lai, a new building in Kakaako, the penthouse is currently for sale for $2.3million and is about 2500sqft. This building is right across from the ocean, so it's got fantastic views. The building should be done in a few months (they say). They also have smaller 1500sqft units for about $1.3million.

Just down the street from Keola Lai is a building that was completed last year called Ko Olani. A great building with a valet (nice feature!) and fantastic ocean views. It looks like this. Very nice building and great finishes everywhere. Bargain priced at around $1.3million for an upper floor with great ocean views.

People love the luxury condos in Hawaii because they can leave them closed up and have very little to no maintenance while they're gone. In exchange they pay a monthly fee to the building management, which takes care of everything on the exterior. For a luxury condo in the $2million price range, the monthly fees are about $1500-$2000/month. That sounds high until you think about how much you have to spend maintaining a house of that value. Yard work, paint, pool, repairs, roofing, etc. It all adds up.