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.

Oahu real estate prices are up! *in some areas

I was reviewing the Oahu real estate sales data that came out this week, and I realized that the housing stats really show a tale of many cities. While areas like Ewa, the North Shore, and Wahiawa are showing huge inventory increases and price drops, other areas of the island are doing the exact opposite.

Since location is everything in real estate, I thought it would be good to post what the best areas are for owning and buying real estate in Oahu right now. Take a look at these areas that are shining (numbers are annual) :

Diamond Head : Inventory is down 29.3% since last year. Prices are up 5.4% even though the number of sales is down 1.7%. Diamond head is a no brainer. The houses are big and beautiful, with wide tree lined streets, gorgeous mansions abound, ocean views galore. Only a short drive to town, Diamond Head shines as a gem in Oahu real estate, always in high demand. Who would have expected inventory to drop by a third? Nobody probably. You just can't find anything like Diamond Head anywhere else in Oahu. The location close to town is unbeatable.

Waialae - Kahala : Inventory is down 39.1% and prices are up 3.5%. Number of Sales is also up 17.5%. These price gains in Waialae and Kahala are bigger than they look because the prices were high to begin with. The median price is $1.8million! This is where the CEO's and doctors live, the politicians and the people you see in the news. Manicured streets, beautiful homes, a great location just 5 minutes to town. Kahala has great ocean views and a home town feel to its stately properties that draws everyone in. With the island's best private golf club, it's also a draw for golfers with money. If you can afford to live in Kahala, you can afford the $50k membership at Kahala country club.

Aina Haina - Kuliouou :Inventory is down 25.5% and prices are up 5.9%. Even though the number of sales is down 18.7%, with inventory down even more than that, you can see why prices are up. This area is a sleeper too, because hardly anyone talks about it, but it has great homes. Usually the lots are nice and big, ocean views are available in the back of the valleys, and it's closer to town than Hawaii Kai. Also, with the recent purchase of the Aina Haina shopping center by a mainland investor, we expect to see some great renovations to the neighborhood making real estate even more desirable!

Hawaii Kai : Inventory is down 12.6% and prices are down 0.9%. however, the monthly median price was up 11.5% to $847,500 since last month! Whoa! Can you imagine prices rising that much in one month? Well they didn't really. It just means that more expensive houses sold this month than last month. Probably a couple real big sales that drove the median price up. Hawaii Kai is always going to be desirable and in high demand because it fits the upper midlle class so well, and is so nicely located just 8 miles to town. Also the homes on the marina are fanatastic. If you like boating, Hawaii Kai is for you.

Kailua - Waimanalo : Inventory is down 21.2%, prices are up 2.5%. I would have thought that prices in Kailus would be up more than 2.5%, but it's also interesting that while inventory is down, the number of sales is up 8% since last year. So you have a few factors indicating that prices should be rising in Kailua for a while. The numbers get skewed because of Waimanalo, which really is a totally separate community. It's unfortunate that the Honolulu board of Realtors lumps them together because they have very little in common, especially in the are of real estate.

Mililani : Inventory is down 11.1% and prices are up 2.4% The number of sales is down 7.4%. This newish community has a huge draw on mainland transplants because of the newer homes and master planning. Nice amenities too. The community center in Mililani has a nice pool and rec area. Great schools too! In fact the schools in Mililani are always near the top of everyone's list. Homes in Mililani are usually built in the last 10 years, of course they're newer on the Mauka side than the Mililani town side.

The biggest price gainer of all was Wahiawa - but I think it's mainly because it was so cheap for so long. A lot of run down areas in Wahiawa, but recently there have been some new homes being built. With a median price of about $400k, it's very affordable.