Hawaii is #2 - States Where the Most People Would Like to Live

Thursday, October 21st, 2010 at 1:28am. 798 Views, 0 Comments.

The Harris poll released their latest results and found that Hawaii is the 2nd most desired State to live in. 

From their site: "Notwithstanding its economic and political problems, more Americans would like to live in California than in any other state. For the seventh time in a row since 2002 California tops the list of states where the most people would like to live if they did not live in their own states. The next most popular states are Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, New York and Washington."

Well, since California will be bankrupt soon, and overrun by illegal immigrants within a few years, I think it's safe to say that Hawaii is probably the place that most Americans would like to live.  Not…

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Can you deduct your rental property losses from other active income?

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 6:27pm. 792 Views, 0 Comments.

Many people don't realize that you cannot deduct losses from a rental property unless you can meet one of the criteria in these seven tests below. Many real estate investors meet the "materially" participating rule by one or more of the first three tests, but any of the 7 will do:

1. Managing and operating the rental real estate activity for more than 500 hours during the year; or

2. Doing substantially all the work required to manage and operate the rental real estate during the year (probably more than 70% of the total business hours are performed by the landlord); or

3. Working more than 100 hours during the year with no one (including nonowner employees and independent property managers) participating more than the landlord [Reg. §1.469-5T…

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This is it, interest rates are about to jump. Probably.

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 1:37pm. 551 Views, 0 Comments.

Next week the government will stop propping up the mortgage-backed securities market.  I posted about this a few weeks ago, citing the article in the Washington Post  which explains that the government is about to stop spending billions of dollars buying its own bonds. 

The Treasury spent about $220 billion, and the Fed pledged $1.25 trillion, the largest foray the central bank has made into the markets since the onset of the crisis, which they brought upon themselves through the "community reinvestment act" of Carter and later Clinton.

The Fed has been printing money and funneling it to people looking to buy a house or refinance an existing mortgage.  Most certainly treasury prices will fall, and rates will go up at least a little, if not a…

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Case Study for Spiderable IDX

Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 10:44pm. 7335 Views, 6 Comments.

As I mentioned on Geek Estate Blog, I've decided to do a case study to determine the effects of having a spiderable IDX on my site. Since my site doesn't have a lot of authority just yet, I've asked Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters to show me data from other clients' sites (with their permission), so I could see how sites with high authority do with their spiderable IDX.

I had Analytics installed at the same time as my spiderable IDX, so unfortunately, I can't show you a before/after with mine. I have however, been given permission by Nashville Real Estate Agent, Gary Ashton to show his before & after results. Gary's got a high authority, high ranking site, that's been around for about 4 years. However, he only had …

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Hawaii is the 2nd happiest state in America

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 11:54pm. 566 Views, 0 Comments.

I have no idea how Louisiana beat us, but Hawaii is the second happiest state in the Union, according to a recent study published by the UK’s University of Warwick and Hamilton College in the US.

They were looking at the happiness levels of one million US citizens to discover which are the best and worst states in which to live in the United States. 

"The state-by-state pattern is of interest in itself.  But it also matters scientifically.  We wanted to study whether people's feelings of satisfaction with their own lives are reliable, that is, whether they match up to reality -- of sunshine hours, congestion, air quality, etc -- in their own state.  And they do match.  When human beings give you an answer on a numerical scale about how satisfied…

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America's top 10 best tap water - Honolulu is #6

Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 12:07pm. 4251 Views, 1 Comments.

I saw an interesting article on the best and worst tap water in American cities.  I've always thought that our tap water was pretty darn good, but it's nice to know for sure.

Cities with the best water:

The article says that, "Experts still agree  that drinking tap is preferable to drinking bottled water. Bottled water is much more expensive than tap, it takes a huge toll on the planet, and it's not necessarily any safer than tap. "Bottled water is not regulated in the same way as tap water," says Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist at EWG. "With bottled water, consumers often do not know what they are…

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Please steal this house in Hawaii Kai

Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 5:19pm. 967 Views, 0 Comments.

I just listed this beautiful ocean view house in upper Hahaione, one of Hawaii Kai's most beautiful neighborhoods. Just a year ago this home was listed for over $1million, and it is now on the market for $700,000 as a short sale. 

 While short sales take a long time to close, this is definitely a house worth waiting for.  It's basically the only house in Hawaii Kai at this price and size.  

 The house has a great ocean view from the large front lanai, and you can see the end of Portlock too.  It has a nicely remodeled kitchen with Bosch and GE Profile appliances.

There was a time when you couldn't get anything in Hahaione for under $800k, even a dump.  This is indication of what the market has done in the last few years.  Want a bagain in Hawaii? …

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64% of the Realtors on this island did 1 transaction or less in 2008.

Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 8:49pm. 618 Views, 1 Comments.

I saw an article in the Star regarding the drop in number of Hawaii Realtors in 2009. The article highlights the total number of Hawaii real estate agents that haven't renewed their licenses this year, but that's not what I love about it.

Sure, "the Hawaii Real Estate Commission saw a 21 percent decline in license renewals this year," but that's no big deal.

The part I love is this - "Of all Honolulu board Realtors, 44 percent made no sales, and  18 percent made only one sale last year. "

That is amazing. I guess these are part timers or people who just have their Hawaii real estate license just in case. But I can't imagine trusting a part timer with the most important financial decision of your life - your home sale.  So about 64% of the Realtors on…

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Mainland lenders will sabotage Hawaii real estate purchase, on accident

Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 9:02pm. 789 Views, 0 Comments.

It's happened to me too many times to count now. When buyers come to Hawaii from the mainland, they often want to use the lender they are familiar with from their home state. Some want to use a lender they found on the internet.

Nearly every time I have worked with a lender from mainland, something has gone wrong. The last time was a purchase of $775k in Kaneohe, a beautiful tropical retreat purchased by a great young couple from the mainland. Their lender, who happened to be from New York and worked for a big lender, delayed the escrow by 2 weeks. Then he proceeded to yell and curse at my escrow officer here in Hawaii. Why?

Because the lender didn't know that Hawaii recordings in Land Court require full names, not middle initials. The lender sent over…

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How to win when there are multiple offers (buyer tips)

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 2:11pm. 624 Views, 0 Comments.

What if there are multiple offers and I want to make sure I get the property? Sometimes you're not as concerned with getting a good price as you are about just getting the property. Sometimes you want to make sure you're the highest bidder.

When there are multiple offers on a property, I want to be the last offer in. I'll ask the seller how many offers they're getting, and when they will present the offers to the seller. A lot of times the sellers of Hawaii real estaste are off island which makes it difficult for the agent to meet with the seller. So it's important ask very clearly, "What is the latest I can get you the offer?"

Then before I send my offer in, I'll bluntly explain to the what our offer is, and ask "Is this offer going to be the best…

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