The incredible power of buying real estate in Hawaii

This week a client of mine bought a condo in Waikiki, at a ripe old age of 24. Yes, 24 years old.

By the time he is my age, he will probably be a millionaire. I'm not saying that his condo in Waikiki will certainly be worth a million dollars, although it might. I'm saying that starting to invest in real estate at 24 is a sign that this young kid is way ahead of his peers. He is thinking beyond his age and I bet he will be a millionaire soon.

Buying real estate does something to you. It changes you, moves you, motivates you, forces you to become an investment minded person. My client is already thinking about his long term goals, his future, and his retirement, at age 24!

I bought my first condo when I was 26, and then another at 27, and another at 28. By the time was I was 30 I owned 5 properties, then married my wife who also owned 1. Buying these properties made us more money than any of our stock investments or our retirement accounts, by a long shot.

We invested only a little bit of money in each one, about $60k each. Each of those $60k investments made us hundreds of thousands of dollars. Have you ever invested in a stock that tripled and quadrupled your money in a few years? Probably not.

If you buy a Oahu real estate, you're not just buying a property, you're investing in your future. You're betting that more and more people will want to live in Hawaii over the next 30 years, and that these people will drive the price of property up. You're making a choice to be in the game, the game of investing in real estate. You can try to time the ups and downs of the market, but if you own real estate in Oahu for 30 years, guess what, it's going to appreciate.

Even you if you had bought Hawaii real estate just before the Japanese bubble burst, you would have at least doubled your money by now, only 10 years later.

Is it a good time to buy real estate in Oahu? If you're in it for the long haul, always!

Houses in Hawaii Kai that are selling for $2million right now (like the one I have listed) used to sell for about a quarter of that just 15 years ago. You could have bought it back then with 10% down, and your $50k would be worth about $1.5million now. It's crazy to think about the power of investing in real estate in Hawaii.

Stop sitting around waiting, do it today. I know a 24yr old who has already beat you to it.

It's still a sellers market - just ask the buyers

This week I've been with 2 different buyers who were looking for a nice condo in Oahu. We looked in Waikiki and Ala Moana for one of the buyers, and found a few that we liked. When we began talking to the first seller's agent, he said that they would not negotiate at all on the price.

That seemed odd so we moved on to the next property and wrote an offer $10k below asking, which was a reasonable offer, I thought. Today we got a counter offer for more money. If anyone thinks this market is slowing down, they should talk to the buyers and sellers actually in the market. Sellers are not being very negotiable, which shows how much confidence they have in the market.

If this market is slowing down, nobody has told the sellers. When we looked for condos around Waikele and Waipio, there were a several available, but none of the sellers seemed to want to negotiate on their prices. The real estate market is apparently still very strong in Oahu!

If you're thinking about buying a home in Oahu right now, don't expect to negotiate the price down too much. The sellers are holding out!

What can you get for $300k?

I've had a few different clients this month looking for condos in the $300k range. I'm not sure why they all three showed up at the same time, other than that they were all military. It was an interesting thing to see what kind of different properties we could find in that price range in various areas.

In Kaneohe we found some low rise concrete building condos at Na Pali Gardens for $300k, with 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, a nicely redone kitchen, about 900sqft. They had only 1 parking spot, which was kind of a bummer. The building is in good condition for being almost 40 years old, and the complex has a decent pool too. Kaneohe is really starting to make a turn around with recent renovations in the downtown area. Most don't have laundry in the unit, but a few people have somehow gotten them in there.

In Waikele, we found 2 bedroom condos built in the 90's with about 750sqft, 2 parking stalls, and a little lanai. The properties feel totally different, more like suburbia. The kitchens were decent but not old enough to have been remodeled yet. You get 2 parking spots, and a short drive to costco. You also get a washer dryer in the unit.

In Waikiki, we found some 1 bedroom studios of around 550-600sqft, in highrises, but only a couple blocks to the beach and all the action. I also found an apartment building conversion, which seems like has been very nicely done with new appliances and remodeled lobby to feel more luxurious. If you want a studio in Waikiki, about $300k will do it, surprisingly. You can live close to Ala Moana or right on the Ala Wai Canal. These were mostly built in the 60's and 70's, but all have been remodeled to some extent. Some have been completely redone to feel like new. Only 1 parking stall, and usually no laundry in the unit.

If you don't need a ton of space, $300k will still get you a nice condo in Oahu.