This just in - High Balance loans will NOT be discontinued!

Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 2:27pm. 802 Views, 0 Comments.

Via Tim O'Leary, Honolulu Home Loans: 

HUD previously had announced that Fannie & Freddie would be discontinuing HIGH BALANCE Loans.  Now Fannie & Freddie have decided otherwise. 

The CONFORMING Loan limit will remain at $625,500 and instead of cancelling the HIGH BALANCE, they lowered it.  This is great news for the Oahu housing market, especially in higher markets like Hawaii Kai, Diamond Head, Manoa, and Kailua, where high balance loans are very common.  Prices in these neighborhoods start around $700k and go up to $15 million. 

The new loan limits effective 9/1/2011 are: 

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Top 100 Realtors in Hawaii 2010, and a promotion

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 3:15pm. 989 Views, 4 Comments.

 I was honored this week to be named in the Top 100 Realtors in Hawaii (out of about 4000 agents) and will be featured in Hawaii Business Magazine's June Issue.  I was #45.

Along with this honor came a promotion to Vice President of Realty Executives Oahu, which is mostly a title only along with some benefits, and I'm very grateful for this as well. 

I give all the glory to my God and Father in Heaven for his grace and blessings on me.  Thank you Lord.  

Deuteronmy 8:18 says,  'You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.'

As a farmer prays for rain, I pray for my business and give him thanks for the gracious 'rain' in my…

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You don't want to buy a foreclosure.

Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 5:32pm. 1115 Views, 1 Comments.

Unless you have oodles of cash, months to wait, and are willing to risk 10% of the purchase price being taken away without any recourse, buying a foreclosure in Hawaii is not for you. That's because the process in Hawaii is an expensive process that can often result in failure when the court decides the home owner gets to keep his house. You can lose your 10% deposit faster than you can count it.

The better way to go is to buy a short sale. Let me give you some tips for short sales.

1 - look for a seller who already has lender approval at their list price. This will cut months off your wait time.
2 - get your loan approved, fully approved, before you even make your offer. Again, this will cut down the time it will take to get an approval from the seller's…

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Under $700k, there are only fixer uppers in Hawaii Kai or Kailua

Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 7:18pm. 722 Views, 0 Comments.

I'm only exaggerating a little. Even though inventory in Hawaii is about flat in the last year, a lot of the homes for sale in East Oahu are in need of serious renovation.

When I take buyers to Ewa beach or Kapolei or Makakilo, there are plenty of nice houses for sale and we get to be picky about what we look at. In fact I had over 20 homes to show a client a couple weeks ago in Ewa.

But when I look for homes in Hawaii Kai, Diamond Head, or Kailua, which are my specialities, I see a lot of run down, small, poorly decorated homes. If you decorate a house nicely and update it with modern flooring and windows, it sells quickly at a price almost over the market. Yes, over the market.

That's because there still isn't much for sale right now.  Inventory in Hawaii…

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