Mauna Luan Condos in Hawaii Kai

In the middle of Hawaii Kai you can see several tall condo buildings at the bottom of Hahaione Valley. The most popular one (sells fastest) seems to be the Mauna Luan, a 20 story building with wide ocean views from just about every unit. This is the view from the 20th floor.

You can buy a great 2 bedroom condo for about $500k, while a nicely renovated penthouse runs about $575k.

There are a lot of great things about the Mauna Luan, and maybe the first things you'll notice is the fantastic amenities and grounds. As you soon as you walk onto the building grounds, you see beautiful tropical landscaping and running water features everywhere.

The 2 pools at the Mauna Luan are amazing too, just like a resort. In fact, "resort" is the word that people use to describe how the entire grounds feel. This of course is what the monthly fee covers.

Finally, if you want a view of the marina and the ocean, the Mauna Luan has fantastic views. Every single unit has some kind of view, because of the way the building is constructed.

If you're thinking of buying a condo in Hawaii Kai, consider the Mauna Luan.

Living on the Marina vs. living on the Ocean

Since I love the marina at Hawaii Kai so much, I'm sometimes amazed at how much cheaper it is to get a marina front home in Hawaii Kai than an ocean front home almost anywhere in Oahu.

In order to figure out how much the cost of living on the marina is, I take an average marina front home and comp it to something similar in a neighborhood that isn't on the marina. In this case, I can comp homes in Anchorage on the water to homes in Anchorage that are not on the water.

What I find is that it costs about an extra $500,000 to live on the marina. But what about ocean front? You're going to be shocked.

If you take a home in Portlock that is accross the street from the ocean and comp it to a house on the ocean, you find that it costs somewhere around $2-$3million more to live on the ocean. And the nicer the house, the bigger the difference.

Why? I'm not too sure.

Living on the marina gives you the nice water view, the boat dock, the peaceful everything that the ocean gives you, but costs a fraction of the oceanfront homes. It's silly. The highest oceanfront home sale is somewhere around $18 million, but the highest marina front home sale is about $3million.

HELLO? There is a huge difference, and I have no idea why. Sure I love the ocean, but I love the marina too and I don't think the ocean is worth 4-6 times more. But guess what, it doesn't matter what I think, because there are buyers out there who think it's worth it, and that's who determines the price. Whoever is willing to pay for the difference are the ones that are making it so expensive to live on the ocean.