Brand New Construction in Oahu

Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 5:24pm. 1341 Views, 0 Comments.

There is nothing like buying a brand new home.  It's better than a new car, and even comes with its own distinctive just built new-house smell.  In the previous post I mentioned Hale Alii in Hawaii Kai, but there are a few other options as well, all on the West side of Oahu.

In Kapolei there is Kahiwelo by Schuller homes, a division of Dr Horton. It's a nice neighborhood of single family homes overlooking Kapolei and the ocean. Some are a little too close to the freeway, but the rest have a great view of the Ewa Plain and Pearl Harbor in the distance. The homes are around $600k-$700k, and about 1700-1900sqft with as many as 4 bedrooms.  I've purchased 2 homes from DR Horton in the past, and they were both very nicely constructed.

Also in Kapolei is…

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Hale Alii at Hawaii Kai - finally

Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 4:48pm. 1618 Views, 0 Comments.

After years of heated debate at the Hawaii Kai neighborhood board, Hale Alii at Hawaii Kai is finally coming.

I received the invitaion to THE GRAND OPENING of the sales gallery this weekend.  Even though they will be serving food and offering free valet, I won't be going.  Why?  Because the building won't be done for another 2 years...   But you can still get a reservation for phase 1, which is 68 luxury condos.

The complex will feature a 2 acre park, a sand edge swimming pool, gazebo, and lagoon style waterways and pond.  And if that's not enough - Private Wine Storage facility, spa, excercise room, sauna, steam room, and an entertainment lounge.

The lounge will feature a karaoke stage, billiards, and two music rooms for musicians! The building will…

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There is barely any inventory out there

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 4:16pm. 561 Views, 0 Comments.

I have a few buyers looking for homes right now, and I'm shocked to see hardly any homes available out there. Our inventory is at a 3 year low right now, and even for buyers with about $700k, it's very hard to find a decent home. I thought I was going to have at least 10 homes to show a buyer tomorrow, but  turns out there are only 6 in the area they want!

For some reason, there are few people selling right now.  That may be an indicator of the market starting to rebound. I see a lot of homes in escrow, but very few for sale. 

As of August 1st, we had fewer homes for sale than any month in 2008, and going back to Spring 07. That's a great sign for our market, but makes it tough to be a buyer right now. 

Rates are low and people are just tired of…

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Tony on the radio

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 4:13pm. 513 Views, 0 Comments.

Thanks for the kind emails from people who heard me on the radio. I was on KHBH 830AM on "Get down to Small Business" Saturday with host Ken Becker, talking about real estate, lending, and how the housing market effects small business.

Great show and you should tune in every Saturday at 11am. 

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Honolulu Home sales numbers are out

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 9:32pm. 645 Views, 0 Comments.

The Oahu real estate statistics were released today and I'm sure people all over are scouring them to see which way the market is going.  There are a bunch of numbers that indicate no change - median price was $595k for homes, $312k for condos. Average days on market was 46 for homes, 56 for condos. 265 homes sold, and 327 condos sold.  Pretty flat on all those.

But 2 of the statistics look very promising: Total Inventory and Months of inventory remaning.  These numbers, while they sound similar, show different things.  The total inventory shows how many homes for sale (duh) and months of inventory is much more important, because it tells us how long it would take to sell all those homes.  Even if inventory was low, there were very low sales, it could…

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