Hawaii Kai Condos

There are a lot of places to own a condo in Hawaii, and Hawaii Kai is one of the best. You can get a nice condo within a short walk or drive to the ocean, or a marinafront condo or townhome that lets you have a dock and boat, or an ocean view highrise with panoramic views.

For about $500k you can get a 2 bedroom condo in Hawaii Kai at newer Lalea or Nanea Kai, or slightly larger and older Mariner's Village or Village Green.

You can live on the marina at Koko Isle or Kuapa Isle, or you can get a nearly new townhome on the marina at the Peninsula at Hawaii Kai. However you won't be able to have a boat in front of your home at the Peninsula.

There are a few nice highrises at the back of Hawaii Kai, all with nice ocean views and nice amenities. Mauna Luan is the best, with amazing pools and grounds. Then there is the Plaza Hawaii Kai, the Commodore, and Naniwa Gardens. All nice buildings with nice grounds and ocean views. The highrises make for really low maintenance, which is perfect for absentee owners who want a vacation home or rental.

You can get a really nice high end condo at Kalele Kai, which is right on the marina and has nice views. This building is nice because it' s a bit newer than most in Hawaii Kai, and is built to some pretty high standards. The grounds aren't that interesting, but the complex has boat docks for the owners to rent.

If you're looking for a pretty new townhouse with a sort of mainland feeling, Moana Kai is a great option. They are 3 stories, which some people don't like, but not all the units have all three stories. Some are a ground floor unit and have a little yard. The complex is new and therefore in great shape, and it's located right in the center of Hawaii Kai.

There are a lot of other condos in Hawaii Kai, and if you think you might buy a condo in Hawaii, you should definitely look at Hawaii Kai.

Moana Pacific - Oahu Luxury Condos

Moana Pacific was built in 2007, and it truly a unique addition to Hawaii's luxury condo market. The building is one part luxury condos, one part high end furniture store, one part hip restaurant.

It's a beautiful building located pretty much in the heart of Honolulu, Moana Pacific is hard to miss. The largest condos in the building are about 2400sqft, with 3 bedrooms and 3.5baths, for around $2million. You can get a great ocean view from the higher floors, and each unit has a very unique layout. Here's a great example of the view.

The kitchens are nicely upgraded, and feel very large for a condo, which of course is very important for the luxury market. High ceilings make the condos feel wide open, and the floor to ceiling windows really draw you out to the views.

The building has nice amenities like BBQ area, exercise room, pool, putting green, full time security, tennis court, and jogging path. Yep, you don't even have to leave the building to go for a jog.

The larger units have 3 parking spots, which isn't that common, and a wondeful added bonus. Parking in this area is a problem, so maybe you can even rent out your third spot!

Moana Pacific is beautiful from the moment you walk in. It has a sort of ultra modern, almost European feel, which was apparently to appeal to the international market.

Like many luxury condos in Oahu, the Maintenance fee includes central AC, cable TV, sewer, and water, and of course pays for the full time staff.

Moana Pacific is well suited for people working in Honolulu, and is probably not the best vacation condo, since it's in the heart of the business district. Maybe it's the music playing in the lobby, but the building feels contemporary in some ways that are not common in Hawaii. It's a great building, and for living near the action in Honolulu, it's a great place option.

Hawaii Luxury Condos - Koolani

Koolani was built in 2006 with the highest standards of any building I have seen. From the moment you walk in, you can see the amazing detail and high quality materials used. Even the large elevators feel luxurious.

Take a look at the beautiful kitchen in this unit, with high end appliances and nice granite.

The building features its own spa, complete with personal trainers, cosmetologists, and a great little deli. Also, Koolani is located just across the street from the new Whole Foods, which will make it an even better place to live.

Koolani also has a great billiards room, a huge theater room, the best exercise room I've ever seen in a condo building, a nice putting green, and a great pool.

Of course the units have a nice view, though some are blocked by Hokua just in front. This is a good example of how your view will look from the lanai, which isn't that big, but just enough to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Our air in Hawaii is always fresh!

Units in this building start around $750k for a smaller 2 bedroom unit of about 1500sqft in the lower parts of the building. An upper floor larger unit can run up to $3million, complete with a rooftop lanai to enjoy the views.

The maintenance fee includes central AC, cable TV, gas, sewer, water, and of cours all the great amenities that come with Koolani. The full time security will let you rest at ease, because nobody is getting past those security guards without a key fob.

Koolani is a beautiful building that offers a lifestyle similar to a New York condo - walking distance to everything, with total luxury on the inside that makes you want to stay home.

Luxury Condos in Oahu - Hokua At 1288 Ala Moana

Hokua At 1288 Ala Moana may look like an odd name, but that is the official name of one of Oahu's finest new condo buildings. We just call it Hokua.

Constructed in 2006, this beautiful building has some of the best totally unobstructed ocean and sunset views in Oahu. When the building was going up, people could hardly believe the prices, but now they look back and wish they had bought 10 of them. The building is absolutely fantastic, with large 3 bedroom units up to about 2200sqft, many of the condos in Hokua are larger than a single family home.

The building has all the ammenities you could ask for, with full time concierge, exercise room meeting rooms, heated pool, tennis courts, and BBQ areas. This last one is great because the condos don't really have a big lanai to go out on, so you'll find you might like to use the BBQ area for entertaining.

Located just west of Ala Moana mall, across from Ala Moana beach park, and almost right next to Kakaako, the Hokua building is perfectly situated for anyone who wants the action of Waikiki and Ala Moana, and also the peace and quiet you can find at the beach park across the street.

I already mentioned the views, which look like this. That's Diamond Head just past Ala Moana boat harbor.

The units are all highly upgraded, and cost about $1.5million ofor a smaller 2 bedroom unit, up to $5million for a larger penthouse. The smaller units are still about 1500sqft, which is plenty for most.

Plus, the maintenance fee includes cable tv, gas, internet, sewer, and water. At about $850/month on the 2 bedroom units, that's a great deal. Hokua is a wondeful building for executives who commute to town, or people looking for a luxury vacation condo.

Colony Surf - Oahu Luxury Condo in Diamond Head

Along Diamond Head's Gold Coast is one of Oahu's true historic gems, the Colony Surf. Built way back in 1959, the condos enjoy a truly amazing ocean view with sunsets that drop into the ocean. The condos have seen a lot of changes over years, going through several remodeling projects as you can imagine.

The direct beachfront location is of course the highlight, and each of the units has its own special flare. The building has a concierge, meeting room, resident manager, and a restaurant - not just any restaurant, but Michele's, one of Oahu's finest. Certainly our finest Frech food.

The Colony Surf is also right next door to the Outrigger club, Oahu's premeir canoe and social club, with tennis, volleyball, and a great little beach.

Over the years people have combined old smaller units in the Colony surf to create their own larger condos. Now you can get a 2-3bedroom unit of up to about 2500sqft for around $3-4million.

Now since the building is 50 years old and right on the beach, the maintenance fee is high, at about $2000-3000/month for a larger unit. But if you have to ask, then you probably can't afford it anyway. With a beach like this that is virtually private, the wealthiest from around the world are willing to pay the price. For that amount, you get free cable TV, power, gas, hot water, sewer, and water. If you want a relaxing atmosphere at a quite beach, the Colony Surf may be for you. And after your long relaxing day in the sand and water, you can go down to Michele's and have a world class dinner.

Luxury Hawaii Condos - the Allure Waikiki

A brand new building is now under construction in Waikiki, the newest addition to the Luxury Condo market in Oahu. This 35 story buliding is set to be completed in 2009, with 2 and 3bedroom units between about $800k for a smaller 2 bedroom, and $2million for an upper floor 3 bedroom unit of about 1400sqft.

They just broke ground on it in February 08, so if they finish next year, it would be a major accomplishment.

The unis look very nice, open floorplans, and highly upgraded. And while you can't get an ocean view (since it's blocked by just about everything in Waikiki and Ala Moana) you can get a nice mountain view, and of course you can walk to everything in Waikiki.

The building is going to have a beautiful lobby, exercise room, concierge, meeting room, recreation room, and a resident manager. It's always nice to have the manager live there for emergencies and late night problems.

The maintenance fee, while not determined yet, is going to include central AC, cable TV, internet, sewer, and water, which means that other than your power bill, you don' t have to have an utilities. Unless you want a land line, which is so 1990. Get VOIP.

The kitchens come standard with granite, and flooring is tile and carpet, upgradable to other materials.

The building is going to look very nice, with floor to ceiling windows and large lanais on the units. Viking appliances are standard, as this building is truly a luxury destination. For those looking for a luxury vacation condo, the Allure may be your answer.

Contact me for more information.

More Oahu luxury Condos - 1010 Wilder

It's easy to confuse 1010 Wilder with the condos mentioned in the last post at 1001 Wilder. But the buildings are very different, and in different neighborhoods. 1010 wilder is located in Makiki, a few blocks away from Punchbowl, and it offers great views of the city, with a little bit of ocean view on the horizon if you get up high enough in the building.

There are only 48 units in this building, and 4 units per floor, which is a very low number when you consider that Koolani has hundreds of units, and a dozen or so on each floor.

It was built in 1974, which is pretty old but the building has been taken care quite nicely. The units in 1010 Wilder can be quite large, at 2100sqft for a 3bedroom unit, and priced about $1.5-$2million. With a current monthly fee of about $1000, you get a heated pool, BBQ area, a recreation area to host friends, and a resident manager at your beck and call.

As you would expect you get 2 car parking, and laundry inside the unit. In the luxury condo market, every unit should have a laundry inside. If you have public or community laundry, you're probably not in the Hawaii luxury condo market yet.

Some of the units in this building have been remodeled and upgraded with granite kitchens and marble baths, and even hardwood flooring. In fact, once you're inside some of these units, you won't be able to tell that the building is 35 years old.

If you can find a condo that is in original condition from 1974, you're going to get a great deal on it, and if you're going to remodel any of it, you might as well remodel all of it, so look for something either perfect, or terrible, but no in between.

Luxury Condos in Oahu Hawaii

When it comes to Luxury condos, Oahu is hard to beat. With beautiful ocean views from so many different buildings, you can watch the sunset or sunrise from any angle you want, with mountain views in the background.

1001 Wilder is a luxury condo building in Punchbowl area, built back in 1964. Prices in this building are about $1.5million for a 2200sqft 3bedroom condo, which is quite large for any condo. With a nice large grassy area to relax in, 1001 Wilder is a great choice for people who want a condo in Honolulu, but not in the tourist areas.

You can still drive 5 minutes down to Waikiki, but the Punchbowl area is basically for local people who need to commute into town for work.

The building features a concierge, doorman, which will feel familiar to people from New York and other large metropolitan areas. It also has an exercise room, heated pool, and meeting room. Even though it's warm in Hawaii, having a heated pool is great because in the winter it gets down to about 70 in the pool, which is just a little too cool to hang out in for very long.

Like most luxury buildings, 1001 Wilder has a resident manager and laundry in the unit. Parking in the building is no problem, since each unit comes with 2 parking stalls and guest parking is readily available.

You can't get an ocean view from 1001 Wilder, not a good one anyway, but you can have wonderful views of the mountains, which become more beautiful the longer you live here. At first you love the ocean, but after a while it's the mountains that really show God's creative power.

Units in 1001 Wilder actually don't come up for sale very often, so if you see one you like, you better jump on it. Condos of this size in Honolulu are not all that common.

Kailua, Oahu - the best place to retire on earth?

Over the next 20 yrs, millions of people will be retiring and looking for a place to live out their golden years. But where? Florida used to be a popular spot, but I think people are finding it too hot and muggy there, while Arizon is too hot and dry. California is too crowded these days, with 8 lane freeways totally congested at all times.

Let me state a case for Kailua, Oahu. First of all, it's about 80 degrees everyday, all year, just about everywhere on Oahu. Kailua has beautiful beaches that are accessible from several spots, and water that ranges from 70-80 degrees, which means you can swim or wade all year.

Kailua is also very flat near the beach. This means it's great for walking and bike riding. You can ride or walk from your house to the beach, to the deli for lunch, and around town all day.

Also very important - Castle medical center is right in Kailua, so you can get quick help whenever needed.

Shopping - there is plenty of shopping in Kailua town, and the Windward mall is just 10 minutes drive. There is a weekly farmers market for nice fresh produce, and of course you can make the 20 minute drive into town and go do Ala Moana or go 30 minutes over to our largest indoor mall, Pearl Ridge.

Kailua is a quaint little beach town where everybody seems to know each other. After just a few weeks you'll start to recognize faces at the grocery store and around town. That's because people who live in Kailua tend to stay in Kailua. There isn't a lot of reason to go into town, since almost everything is available right in Kailua town.

Kailua Real Estate - you can start around $400k for a nice 2 bedroom condo within walking distance to everything, including the beach. Go all the way up to $20million for an estate on the water. Homes and condos average about $700k - $1million for a decent property. In Hawaii, that's not too high.

If you live in Kailua, you're going to see tourists around, but not the way you do in Waikiki or at a resort - that's because there isn't a single hotel in Kailua. There are several Bed & Breakfast type homes, but most are very small and try to stay under the radar. This means beaches are usually uncrowded, especially in Lanikai and toward the end of Kalama beach.

Kailua rains quite a bit, but definitely more at night than during the day. In the summer it's not too hot, and in the winter it might get down to 65 on the coldest night. The best weather feature is the wind. We call it the Windward Side, and that's because the predominant wind blows into Kailua about 90% of the year, making it a wonderfully cool feeling 85 degrees most of the time. When the wind stops, it does feel hot, but it's nothing like Arizona or Florida.

Where is the best place to retire? If you have about $400k for a condo, or $800k for a house, I would say Kailua.

Kailua real estate

On the Windward Coast of Oahu is a great little beach town called Kailua, a favorite place for tourists and locals. The wide white sand beaches are great for laying out or swimming, with beachfront estates lining the beach from Lanikai to the end of Kalama beach.

There is a great little shopping are in Kailua town which has been renovated in the last few years. Later this year the opening of Whole foods will be a nice addition too.

Kailua real estate has just about everything that is available in Hawaii. There are of course the homes down on the beach, which run between $5million to $20million. These homes are often the nicest on the island, with custom everything and materials that you rarely see in the average home.

Go back one block or even one house from the beach, and you spend about $3-5million less on the same house. Just one house back from the sand and you have a nice house within walking distance to the best beach in America.

Just a few blocks from the beach you have neighborhoods like Enchanted Lake, Kalama, Kailua Estates, and Aikahi park, all great neighborhoods with homes built in the 70's mostly. These are the neighborhoods where you find the average Kailua resident, complete with kayaks and surfboards hanging in the carports. The average 3bed 2bath single family home in Kailua will run about $750k-$800k.

Up the hill on Kailua road a bit and you come to hilly neighborhoods like Olomana, Maunawili, and Kailua bluffs. These areas can sometimes offer a nice view, and usually get more rain, which means more trees and other foliage. The hilly neighborhoods of Kailua feel like a real tropical getaway, but the downside is there is more mold, more wet rot, and everything that comes with more rain.

Homes in Kailua are typically 30-40yrs old, which means a lot of them are single wall. Why? Cheaper, easier, and in Kailua it's warm all year so you don't really need insulation. New homes are built only where old ones have been torn down, because there isn't much land to build on these days without tearing an old house down. There are however a few vacant lots on the beach in Kailua, surprisingly.

Kailua is also great for another reason - traffic. The Pali highway and H3 are easy to get to and have less than half the traffic going into town compared to the west side of the island. Sure homes are nearly twice as much as the west side, but for those who can afford at least $700k, Kailua is a wonderful place to live.

There are great breakfast and lunch places, but nothing real great for dinner. Buzz's is the best restaurant Kailua has for dinner, and it's ok, but not on the same level as Roy's or Nobu. It's more like a non chain Outback.

Diamond Head Homes

Diamond Head has to be the one landmark that everyone remembers about Oahu, as even first time visitors refer to things in relation to it. They think if Hanauma bay as "past Diamond head" and Waikiki seems to end right at it.

Well as you drive from town through Diamond Head, you probably think that it would be wonderful to live there. Yes it would, and yes it is. And if you're considering Diamond Head real estate, first of all you should have a budget starting around $1million, and all the way up to about $20million for a luxury beachfront estate.

Diamond Head is broken up into several areas, and it's important to know them when you're looking to buy Diamond Head real estate. Up in the hills you have Maunalani Heights, which is the upscale neighborhood with amazing ocean views from just about every lot. In this neighborhood, you're going to find custom homes, old and new, for about $1.5-$2million.

Just under Maunalani Heights is Wilhelmina rise, a decent neighborhood of older smaller homes, some of which have been redone. This is more the working class person's neighborhood, with homes of around $800k-$900k available. You can even get a small fixer for around $700k these days.

Just east of that rise/hill, Waialae Iki and Waialae Nui overlook the flatlands, valleys, and ocean with views from hundreds of feet up. It's beautiful from up there, watching the sunset fall into the water.

Now when most people here talk about Diamond head, we're talking about the lower areas, Kahala, Waialae golf course (as a neighborhood), Kapahulu, Kapiolani park area, Puupanini, and Diamond Head proper. These are the "nice" areas of Diamond Head real estate, where homes can be several thousand square feet and several million dollars. Large custom homes line the friendly looking and feeling streets of Diamond Head, and there are also great little condos in a small area we call the "Gold Coast." The Gold Coast is definitely worth a separate entry.

The most expensive area is Kahala, where every home looks like it could be on a magazine cover (and they often are.) Diamond head itself is a great neighborhood, with a lot of cliff side homes overlooking the ocean, and some right down on the water. One thing about Diamond Head that everyone loves is that any given morning, there are runners everywhere, in the parks, on the streets, everywhere.

Kapiolani park is a great amenity in Diamond Head, where people gather for art festivals, picnics, concerts, or for a relaxing time after going to the zoo next door. There is also a great aquarium right across from the park.

Real estate in Diamond Head may be the most coveted of all in Oahu, because of the great quality of the neighborhood combined with its proximity to downtown Honolulu. The captains of industry live here in the Diamond Head region (where my office is located) and you'll find that everything is just little nicer here than everywhere else.

We also have a great little mall, the Kahala Mall. Just big enough for everything you need, most of the time.

If you're considering a purchase or sale in Diamond Head, send me an email or give me a call. I'm just the guy to help you.

Summer starts in March in Oahu. You could be living in Oahu by now.

It's March, which means it's beach season for us in Oahu. January and February were too cold, with an average temp of about 78degrees. Now it's 80degrees so we are just barely warm enough.

Mostly it's the water that was too cold, at about 70degrees in the winter. Now that it's March, the water is 75, and the kids love the beach again.

And why do you not live here yet?

Warm weather means more tourists, which means more people wanting to buy vacation homes and rental properties on Oahu. Why don't you own one yet?

The best places to live and go to the beach in Oahu are Kailua and the North Shore, especially around Haleiwa, Waimea, and Sunset, where the sand is nice and white, and the water is nice and blue. Another great place to own property by the beach is Malaekahana, because it's cheaper and the beaches are fanatastic.

There are a couple small beaches in Hawaii Kai, but I'm not showing you where they are unless you buy a house from me...

Oahu Condos continue hot market! Buyers out in force!

I decided to make a separate post for the Condo stats because they are so vastly different than the single family statisitics for Oahu. It's like 2 separate markets, prices in some areas move in oppositie directions, as do the market trends in SFR's vs. condos.

Condos in Oahu are still rising in price, with a 3.1% increase since March of last year. Most notably, in East Oahu, the median condo price actually rose 11.2%. That is the largest percentage gain for any area of Hawaii for this year. Also, the number of Hawaii Kai condo sales also rose by 36% since last year!

Coming in a close second, North Shore condos rose by 9% since a year ago, with about the same number of sales as last year.

In other areas, the number of sales and prices have both dropped quite a bit. In Makakilo, there were only 10 sales so far this year, compared to 30 sales last year. Prices in Makakilo have actually risen though, to a median of $362,500!

Overall, the number of condos sold this year is down about 21%, but the median price is up 3.4% on all of Oahu. At the same time, core honolulu condos seem to be doing incredible! Kapahulu to Kuliouou condos have risen about 73% in median prices! That's not a typo!

In condo rich Mililani, while the number of sales has dropped from 69 sales to 55 sales this year, the prices have still risen 3.3% year to date, and 11% for Feb 07 comapred to Feb 08.

The median price of all Oahu condos was $339k at the end of February, and there were 2476 total available condos. That's the highest it's been in about a year and half, and it has only been higher than that once in the last 5 years.

If you're looking for condos on Oahu, call me!

Honolulu real estate The March 4th Hawaii real estate stats are out!

Honolulu real estate statistics were released yesterday for February 08.

In Metro Oahu, what we call "core Honolulu", home prices actually rose by 9.4%, while the number of sales fell by 35.5%. In East Oahu real estate, the highest priced area on Oahu, and the most desirable to most, the median prices of homes rose 1.5%, while the average price rose an astonishing 25% to $1,520,669.

If it seems strange that prices can rise while the number of sales falls, let me explain for you. When the market was red hot, people were not only buying more than now, people were selling more than now. People who had made massive price gains in a quick period of time were "cashing in," and now that the market has slowed, a lot of people who were previously on the market are now just living in their homes, content to watch the market go on without them.

Here are some numbers that prove this point: Last month only 163 single family homes were sold on Oahu, and while that sounds like bad news for the Honolulu real estate market, our inventory was barely any higher at the end of the month, only 1924 homes available. The previous month there were 1876 Oahu homes for sale.

The number of new listings however, was 565. So if only 163 homes sold, where did the rest go? They are off the market completely. Sellers are sitting tight. Another good sign in our market is that the number of days on market actually DECLINED from 61 days to 59 days. Homes are selling 2 days faster!??!?!

Now of course, the big news is that the median price on all of Oahu real estate fell from $600k to $599k. It's the first time we have been under $600k in several years. But all that means is that cheaper homes are selling while more expensive ones are not. It doesn't mean prices are dropping all over Oahu.

Case in point - in Moanalua and Kalihi, the median price is up 21% since last year. In Hawaii Kai, prices are up 19%. In Kapahulu and Diamond Head, prices are up 9.9% since last year.

But while prices in some areas of Oahu have gone up, other areas have seen buyers getting incredible deals as prices drop. In the Ewa Beach area, prices have dropped 10.4%, and there are certain neighborhoods that have dropped more like 15%.