I went through some of the Census data and tried to glean anything interesting for real estate purposes. 

Here are some highlights:

148,764 more people live in Hawaii today compared to 10 years ago.  Our State population now totals 1,360,301, up 12.3 percent from the 1,211,537 people who lived here 10 years ago. It's hard to even imagine where these people live, considering there haven't been very many new homes built since then.  No wonder there is a housing shortage! 

As the population increases, the Island gets more expensive. I've talked about this over and over, but the Census really drives that home.  If there really are 12.3 percent more people over just a 10 year period, we are going to run out of room very quickly.  More likely, they counted a little better this time, but still there was definitely a large increase. 

Hawaii is now ranked 40th in population size nationwide, up from 42th in 2000, according to Census data. Hawaii will continue to have tw

Hawaii has the 7th highest median household income in the nation, using a 3 yr average up to 2009. Hawaii's median was $61,055 in that period. The highest in the nation was New Hampshire with $66,654.  California's median was $56,862.  It's no wonder, because it takes a lot of money to live here. We also have one of the highest median home prices at about $600,000 this year. 

The per family median income is a different number, but Hawaii is still very high, with an estimated median family income as follows:

Overall average:      75,066
2-person families    63,143
3-person families    74,449
4-person families    85,190
5-person families    80,552
6-person families    94,304
7-or-more-person families    112,585

In comparison, California's average income is $67,038. Connecticut's average is $83,069.  New York's average is $66,891.

In summary, Hawaii's population is growing and making lots of money, which is all good real estate prices.

This year's Hawaii Kai Christmas Boat Parade was the best one yet.   The Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association held  the parade Saturday, and it was a great event for the whole family.  I took my family of 5 and found a nice secret spot along with about 50 other people. ;)

There were about 30 boats this year, all decorated with Christmas lights and various creative themes, some with a pretty amazing  amount of preparation involved.  The judges sat in the Towne Center behind the stage as the boats came around twice to show off their decorations. 

Mike Buck, host of the “Mike Buck” show on KHVH AM 830 was the MC again this year. 

 This boat featured elves that danced, sang, and told some corny jokes. 

By far the highlight of the parade was the Avatar boat, complete with Tree of Souls, 2 flying dragons and a robot guy on the front. Forgive me for not using the actual names.  Everyone on board had a choreographed dance set to raggae music.  This thing must have taken months to create.  It was amazing.  The only thing is, what the heck does Avatar have to do with Christmas???  

The boat parade will be a tradition for our family, and it's just one more reason to choose to live in Hawaii Kai. 

Did you ever think of your house as a financial safety net? 

I read a post this morning on Gigi Hawaii's blog, in which she explained that owning a home is about to save her life, so to speak. 

She writes, "We plan to apply for a reverse mortgage next month... If the reverse mortgage goes through, we will pay off our two mortgages and David's car loan, thereby saving $3,000 per month.  ... We have no choice but to do this. When he was
demoted in July, David had a $23,000 pay cut. We have been struggling
to meet our financial obligations ever since. With a reverse mortgage,
we will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Thank God, we own a house.
Where would we be if we were renting?"

The answer to her question is probably - on welfare.  But yes, Thank God she and David saved their money, paid their mortgage, worked hard, and as so many lucky Americans do, they bought a house.  All those years of faithfully making payments, being financially responsible, and pursuing the American dream are about to pay off in the form of reverse mortgage payments for the rest of her life. 

In a reverse mortgage, the bank pays you the equity on your house as a monthly payment, and in the end, they get the house (unless you refinance or sell with equity.)  

David and Gigi are not lucky, they were wise.  They were responsible. They are fortunate and will reap the seeds of their financial sowing.  Good for them. 

Now they can continue to enjoy beautiful Hawaii sunrises like this, without financial burden.  Pic provided by bytemarks.org.

Next week, President Barack Obama will arrive in Oahu for his annual Hawaii vacation.  I've had several occassions to be in the vacation home that the President rents, since I had a few interested buyers when it was for sale for $9.5 million. 

This beachfront Kailua property has about half an acre right on the sand, and looks straight down Kailua beach.  The house is only 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and about 5000 square
feet.  Not too big, considering many houses on the mainland are triple that size. The
location on Kailua beach can't be beat.  This will be the 3rd year in a
row that the President has rented this house.  Make sure to read the full post to view all 30 pictures!

Lava rock style poolside

 This is the view from the living room!

 Back lanai outside the living room looks out to the beach.

 And there is the view down Kailua beach.

 Walk right out to the sand!

The President's kitchen!

 Another view of the kitchen

This is the great room.  Beautiful beams in the ceiling are not actually supporting the house. They are just for decoration.

 A small TV room. 

Pool side lanai complete with wall mounted TV

Look at those beautiful floors!

 A few bedrooms follow.

 Blue tile to match the blue water outside!

The hallways are covered, but not enclosed. 

It's the Christmas season, time to buy gifts, spread cheer, and mostly, focus on the birth of Jesus.  With all the Christmas parties, recitals, and other events, you wouldn't expect people to be doing extremely time consuming and stressfull like - buying a house.

But the statistics show that hundreds of people buy a house on Oahu every December. Around the country, tens of thousands of people will buy a house around Christmas.  And you may not have thought about it but - many sellers are most desperate in December. 

Sellers on the market in December realize it's a bad month for sales.  It's true that December is one of the slowest months of the year for new escrows.  But some sellers are hoping to get their home sold before the new year. Some are needing to move before school starts back up.  Some are just waiting for a showing at all, and because it's Christmas, there aren't any. 

But buyers who are out in December know that sellers are feeling the pinch of the closing calendar year...  And they take advantage.  Sellers are almost always more willing to negotiate when they feel the market is against them. When sellers think they won't get a showing for a few more weeks, they're more likely to take a lower offer.  

I've seen it in person - the holiday season is scary for sellers. They avoid being on the market if they can. Some sellers will take their home off the market for Christmas, which I think is not smart.  There are always some buyers out there.  Being off the market means you will miss some potential showings.

So if you're shopping for a home this month - be aggressive!  There aren't too many home buyers  in December, but you can bet, just like every year, there will be a sharp rise in buyer in January.  

Mortimer Zuckerman is the editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report, and the chairman and co-publisher of the New York Daily News.  He is the chairman of Boston Properties and has extensive real estate holdings across the U.S., and he  is currently ranked as the 182nd-richest man in America on the Forbes 400.

I was reading an interesting interview of Zuckerman in Forbes, in which he talks about how he has managed to pull off so much success in commerical real estate over the past couple years. The most interesting thing he mentions applies pretty directly to Oahu real estate, though Zuckerman doesn't own property here (yet.) 

He says, "I think that the real estate market is really made up of many markets. Boston Properties is in a very few selective markets, all of which are what we describe as supply-constrained. Washington, for example, is constrained because it has height limits and sites are very difficult to acquire. Cambridge, because sites are impossible to acquire. In Boston, we're mainly in the Back Bay, which is sort of like the Upper East Side of New York, where again it is very difficult to acquire sites and build major buildings."

So why has Oahu real estate done so well in the last 5 years?  Why haven't we seen price huge decreases like other areas?  Simple: supply.  There just isn't enough land on the island of Oahu for the 1 million people who live here.  There is hardly vacant land that can be developed for residential use.  Sure there is a lot of vacant preservation land, conservation land, and agricultural land, residential and commercial land is nearly gone.  In Honolulu, it IS gone. The only place you can find any substantial land for development anymore is in Kapolei.

Oahu isn't getting any bigger, but the population is continuing to grow.  Do the math.

The Oahu real estate sales numbers were released this week, and as many people predicted, there was a large drop in some numbers, especially in condo sales. There were some kind of pessimistic reports out there, but they are wrong.

The total number  of homes that sold was 245, down from 258 last year.  Only 303 condos sold in November, compared to 402 last year.

Why did Oahu condo sales drop so much?  Easy - last year at this time, the first time buyer credit was in full swing. Most of the first time buyers were condo buyers, so of course the numbers are back to normal. In November 2008, there were 195 condo sales, and in November 2009, there were 402!  So it seems the government program did work to get first time buyers into the market.

But here is what is important - Even though the sales dropped a lot in October and November, the year to date sales are still up for both homes and condos.  So far this year, 13.4% more homes have sold than last year, and 11.4% more condos have sold. 

 The median price of single family homes was basically unchanged at $585,000 compared to $590k last year.  The median price for condos roseabout the same amount, $315k compared to $310,500 last November. For the year, median prices are actually up just a bit to $595k for single family homes.

More interesting numbers

• There are 22.5% MORE pending home sales right now than last year at this time even though last  year there was a government incentive.
• It takes 42 days to sell a house, while last November it took 44 days.
• Condos took 45 days to sell, while last year they took 31 days.  Before the Federal tax credit was available lasdt year, it was taking about 52 days to sell a house. 
• Last month, home sellers last month got 96% of their list prices, compared to 93.9% a year ago.  
• The Oahu Inventory of homes for sale dropped 7.5% to 1456 available listings.
• There is a  6.1 month of inventory of Oahu homes for sale  
• The number of pending sales over $1 million rose 51.5% since last year!
• In Hawaii Kai, the median price rose 44%, from $848,500 up to$1,222,500!  
• In Makiki, the median price rose 20.1% to $907,000!
  
• North Shore median prices fell 46% (The California effect)

It has 11 bedrooms, 10 1/2 baths, 11,684 square feet of roofed living space, and it's right on one of Hawaii's best beaches in Lanikai.  This beachfront lot is nearly one acre (41,924 square feet) and has 91 feet of beach frontage.

For just $14,000,000, you can own this 1988 this resort style home, which has this large gourmet kitchen, complete with commercial style double width refrigerator, 2 dishwashers, 8 burner gas Viking range, and of course, an ocean view.  There are 2 sinks, a separate butler's pantry with prep area, and wine storage.

This is one of the 4 master suites with amazing ocean views down Lanikai beach, and the 20 foot high vaulted ceilings complete with skylights to brighten up your mornings as the sun rises over the ocean. The only problem is that the room is so big that the TV is about 20 feet away from the bed!

There are multiple slightly smaller guest suites like this one, each with lanais & ocean or garden views, wainscoting, and each with it's own private full bathroom. We wouldn't want the Presidential family to share any bathrooms with anyone would we? 

Check out the courtyard which has this very large custom pool & hot tub. Notice you can see the ocean through the house from the pool.  It looks just like a resort, and actually it's nicer than many resorts in Hawaii. I was a little surprised to see that the surface wasn't done in a nice tile. 

This is the main living room with 20 foot high windows that display the ocean view nicely. The white sand beach is just a few steps from this room.  My only complaint here - the furniture is kind of dated.

This large bathroom is about 350 square feet, larger than some studio apartments, and there is a 150 square foot lanai just off the bathroom with ocean view, which you can see in the mirror.  Notice the skylight above the bath. Sunlight is brought in as often as possible in this house, so that even though it's mansion size, it feels like a beach house.

 The Obamas ate their meals in this dining room, with palm trees waving on the beach in the background. 

This beautiful home can be yours now, as it was listed for sale this week by Choi International. There are several other properties for sale on the beach in Hawaii, but only a select few have been rented by US Presidents. 

Many of my friends and readers all over mainland America and the world are starting to experience the cold of Winter. I just saw a few people on Facebook post something about snow on the ground, cold noses, and cold houses.

I like to remind people, while their hands and feet are freezing and their cars are warming up in the snow, that

IT'S WARM ALL YEAR IN HAWAII !!! 

Today in Honolulu Hawaii, it's 85 degrees, sunny and breezy.  I'm typing this post in shorts and a T-shirt, and it's a beautiful day outside.  People are at the beach, and my wife is hiking Makapuu lighthouse with friends. 

In contrast, in Colorado Springs Co, it's 49 degrees.  In Columbus Ohio it's 35 degrees and snowing. Bozeman Montana is 32 and snowing. 

And that's why Hawaii real estate is the best and most expensive! 

Trying to get a vacation booked and squared away properly can be a
tremendous hassle for most people. Not only that, but what if you do not
want to stay at a hotel? Maybe instead you would prefer a homelier
setting for your vacation to Maui. MauiForum was opened by a pair of
software engineers with a passion for Maui and vacationing. This
website makes it easy for owners and potential renters of condos and
properties to come together. Not only are things more convenient for the
owners, but as a renter you can expect a faster reply about your
inquiry into an available rental.

All manners of rentals are available in a variety of locations across
Maui. Different places offer nightly, weekly, or monthly rentals to
better accommodate the length of time of your vacation. That gives you
the freedom to set your schedule and enjoy a personal atmosphere without
needing to buy your own condo or house.

Find a Rental

Trying to locate the right rental to make the most of your vacation can
be a bit problematic. The Find a Rental section of MauiForum.org makes
this process easier by dividing different properties by their features.
The customer can look at properties by general location, number of
bedrooms, the type of property it actually is, and look for an optimal
bathroom count.

Each listing provides the contact website for the owner of the property
as well as current rates and an easy to use Make Inquiry form for
checking availability. Thanks to the back end features developed by the
website's owners, it makes it far easier for property owners to track
their requests and respond to inquiries.

$ Special Deals

Not everything works out as initially anticipated for a would-be
vacationer. Sometimes cancellations happen or other external forces
cause changes to need to be made. The Special Deals section of
MauiForums is the place to look for last minute deals and discounts
that might be available on a rental. For those that like to be in the
immediate know, their email service will alert you when new special
deals are posted into the section once you sign up.

It may seem strange that some of these prices on these special deals are
cheaper. After all, a room is a room, right? Not quite. If the owner
does not have a paying patron in that property for a given time frame,
they are simply losing money. Therefore, it is better to offer
discounted rates on property that needs to be booked to continue to
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rates on your Maui condo rental.

Fantasy Island Activities and Tours

What would a vacation to Maui be without activities to explore it?
MauiForum.org is partnered with Fantasy Island Activities and Tours to
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a rental, ask for the owner's special discount code for Fantasy Island
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to parasail, snorkel, attend a luau, or enjoy a tour of interesting
areas; they are equipped to ensure you have a memorable Maui vacation
you will not soon forget.

Conclusion

MauiForum.org is the place to go if you are in need of a rental or are
looking to rent your Maui property out. The webmasters have built a site
that makes it easy for owners to come together with renters with
minimal fuss. A wide variety of properties in different locations makes
it easier for a renter to find the right property for their vacation.
For all the positives of MauiForum, there is but one negative; it's
not even that major of a consideration. They are losing a great
opportunity to connect with visitors to the site through the poor use of
their blog. What could be a great tool for communication sits idle most
of the time with long periods between updates. In the major scheme of
things, it is minor and bears no reflection on the functionality and
benefit that MauiForum grants owners and renters.