The way you hire a real estate agent to buy a home changed in August 2024, and this past summer the last legal question got answered. If you bought on Oahu before then, or you're relocating and your last purchase was years ago, the first thing that happens when …

"I'm paying $2,800 a month in rent and it feels like I'm throwing money away. Should I just buy?" It's a fair question, and it deserves a better answer than "yes, buy, rent is dead money." Buying can work out very well, and stretching into a purchase you should …

Most buyers think the home inspection is one appointment and one report. On Oahu it usually isn't. The items that actually move money in a Hawaii deal tend to sit outside the general report: termites, the cesspool question on older homes, the solar agreement attached to the roof, and …

Insurance is where a lot of Oahu escrows get real. Buyers come in focused on the price, the view, the school, and then the lender asks for proof of coverage and the questions start. Why do I need a separate policy for hurricanes? What is a flood zone and …

In June 2026 the median price of a single-family home on Oahu hit a record $1,242,500. That number matters more than it looks. The point where a mortgage stops being a normal "conforming" loan and becomes a jumbo loan in Honolulu this year is $1,249,125. By September …

Picture two condos. Same building era, both two-bedrooms, listed about $40,000 apart. The cheaper one looks like the deal until you get to the line that most buyers skim right past: the maintenance fee. Say one is $780 a month and the other is $1,340. Over a 30-year hold, …

Here's a situation that confuses a lot of buyers. They find a single-family house, sitting on its own yard, and the listing calls it a condominium. No tower, no high-rise anything. Just a house. So the reasonable question is: how is this a condo?

The answer almost always …

I close a handful of sales every year for buyers who never set foot in the house until they get the keys. Military families on PCS orders who can't fly out. Mainland folks who found the right place in Kahala or Hawaii Kai and couldn't wait for a trip three …

Every deal I close, the same moment comes up. A buyer or seller looks at their settlement statement a few days before closing and says, "Wait, what is all this?" So let me walk you through it the way I do before anyone signs anything. Closing costs in Hawaii aren't …