For anyone looking for a reason to visit Honolulu or invest in Honolulu real estate, the fantastic cuisine and the beaches are two of the best reasons. Being out in the middle of the Pacific, Hawaii has a wealth of cultural influences that make up its cuisine, from Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Below are some favourite picks of local restaurants, and a few great beaches of different styles.

Let's start with some favorite culinary picks in Honolulu:

Top of WaikikiWhile picking the only revolving restaurant is a bit predictable, for anyone new to Honolulu this restaurant offers a spectacular 360 degree view, with amazing food to match. You get to view the full range of Honolulu's scenic beauty from several hundred feet up, which fits perfectly with the pacific-fusion cuisine. While here I recommend the tasting menu which features dishes such as the spicy ahi poke stack with sambal and shoyu sauce, crispy won tons, avocado crčme, papaya slaw and greens with kiwi-lime vinaigrette. This sampling of seafood and meat dishes also affords you time to soak up the view as well.

Alan Wong's HonoluluIf you are looking for the best in fine contemporary Hawaii cuisine, you must visit Alan Wong's. This restaurant often appears on lists for the best restaurants in America, and Alan is even credited as being one of the fathers of contemporary Hawaiian cuisine. One interesting original appy here is Chinatown Roast duck nachos, with homemade tapioca chips and avocado salsa, bringing Asian and Latin flavours together.

The Pineapple RoomThis is the second of Alan Wong's restaurants and is another hot spot to visit. Located on busy Ala Moana Boulevard near Irwin park, this is a fun place for lunch or dinner. The “Pineapple Room Burger” my favourite here: Kiawe-Grilled Kuahiwi Ranch Natural Beef Burger, Onion Rings, Bacon, Cheddar Cheese and Avocado Salsa.

Puka DogIf you are looking for a quick and tasty snack that's a Hawaii original, try Puka Dog, a twist on the old-fashioned hot dog. Puka means hole in Hawaii, and refers to the special bun used. It is a unique recipe and instead of a cut down the side, a hole is ‘poked' through it. Then a selection of secret sauces and tropical fruit relishes are poured in, with a premium polish-style or veggie hot dog to follow. Once you try a Puka Dog, you'll be hooked and have to return to try different combos of sauces and relishes. This popular dog was even featured on the travel Channel'sAnthony Bourdain: No reservations

Bubbies Ice CreamIf you're looking for desert after, don't look any further than Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & deserts. For 25 years, Bubbies has held the title of best ice cream in Hawaii, and is a must-visit for any sweet tooth. This ice cream can be found in fine restaurants across Hawaii and even stateside. But you must come here to enjoy a truly decadent experience. Along with all kinds of ice cream, sorbets and cakes, Bubbies is famous for itsMochi Ice Cream. It is a ball of creamy ice cream, wrapped in a sweetened rice confection. The result is an attractive sushi-styled snack you can even eat with chopsticks!

Now here is a selection of top Honolulu beaches, each with a completely different style:

Waikiki BeachOf course while in Honolulu you're going to find yourself on Waikiki beach, right at the heart of the action. While being too crowded for some, you come here for the excitement and people watching. You can hop from the beach to a bar for a drink or stroll down the boardwalk and shop.

Hanauma Bay Nature PreserveThis beautiful beach acts as a nature preserve, formed from a volcanic crater. This geography let coral and sea life flourish and now it is a designated preserve that you can use your snorkel to explore. Note there are no water sports here and the grounds are maintained. You pay a small fee to enter, that helps keep this ecosystem preserved for years to come. You will definitely spot some diverse sea life, making this a worthy visit.

Kahala BeachesIf you are looking for less-crowded beaches, head to Kahala. This area is home to million-dollar vacation homes and high-end resorts, popular with celebrities. Don't worry if you don't reside beach front though, this tranquil area is only 15 minutes away from busy Waikiki beach.

Kailua Beach ParkThis beach is often considered the best beach in Hawaii and is situated in a perfect crescent-shaped bay with crystal blue water. The steady trade winds also make it one of the top wind-surfing and kite-surfing spots in the world. If extreme sports aren't your thing, it gives you a great chance to see it first hand while you relax at an amazing beach.

Hope you enjoyed my pick of beaches and restaurants in Honolulu, Hawaii. So if you're a foodie or just a fan of the tropical climate, this makes a perfect place to buy a home or just to visit.

This 2 bedroom condo in Kailua is about a 5 minute bike ride to world famous Kailua beach. It's a short sale listed for $350k, and we are not doing any showings until Saturday June 26th. I have already had multiple buyers say they want to write an offer sight unseen. 

In  a short sale, the lender has to approve the sale price, which can take many months. The last few I have done have taken more than 6 months each.  If you have the patience and about $350k (at least), then this might be a good opportunity to get into the condo market in Kailua.

It has new wood floors, a brand new kitchen including nice stainless appliances, and renovated bathrooms.  You don't even need AC because there is a gentle sea breeze almost everyday in this area of Kailua. 

2bed, 2bath, about 940sqft, and only $350k in Kailua!

I don't usually post an entire statistical report for download, but here it is for May.

The reason I am posting this one is because the numbers just speak for themselves. In short - 

• Sales are up everywhere.
• Inventory is down everywhere.
• Prices are up everywhere.  

If you read this report and you don't see that the market is improving, you should be in a different business. Try investing in Amway or something  :)

Maybe the best numbers to look at are

• "Days on market until Sale" on page 7.  Currently, homes in Oahu are selling in 27 days.  Condos sell in 28 days. 
• "Percent of original list price recieved at sale" on page 8.  Most homes sell at 96.3% of their asking price. 
• "The Inventory of homes available" is at a 4 year low on page 10. 
• Currently there is a 6.1 month supply of homes for sale. 

Read the report and see if you can find any indicators pointing the other direction.  I dare ya.

Don't say I didn't warn you.  The number of home sales on Oahu jumped in May, and prices also posted gains compared to the same month last year.  Year-to-date sales rose by 40 percent!!!

The median price of a single-family home in May was $606,000, 12 percent higher than May 2009, when the median price was $542,000.  That was based on 284 home sales, which was a 31.5 percent increase over 216 sales in May 2009.

Condo sales on Oahu soared 35.5 percent in May to 355 units sold, up from 262 units sold last May, and the median price rose 4 percent to $312,500. 

There were 1,183 sales of single-family homes during the first five months of the year, which was a 40 percent gain over the same period in 2009.   Condo sales totalled 1,605 during the January-May period, a 47.5 percent gain over 2009.

Congrats to my clients who just closed on their purchase of this 2 bedroom marina front condo in the Esplanade last week! 

The unique feature of this unit is that it is ground floor, corner unit, AND has this great little yard that leads to the grassy park area and right to the water. 

This unit has a nicely remodeled kitchen, but my clients are going to redo everything else, and being one of the only ground floor corner units in the building, I think they are going to see  a great  return on their investment.

Congratulations Bill and Arlyene! Enjoy your new Hawaii Kai marina front condo!

Great news for Honolulu!  Honolulu is the #31 City in the World and #1 in America for quality of living!

While Vienna has the top spot the world's best quality of living, according to the Mercer 2010 Quality of Living Survey. Zurich and Geneva follow in second and third position.

Mercer conducts the ranking to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. The rankings are based on a point-scoring index, which sees Vienna score 108.6 and Baghdad 14.7. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city, with an index score of 100.

This year's ranking also ranks the cities with the best eco-ranking based on water availability and drinkability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary is at the top of this list, followed by Honolulu in second place, which puts us #1 in America!

Did you catch that?  Honolulu is the #2 city in the WORLD for Eco ranking!

"A high-ranking eco-city optimises its use of renewable energy sources and generates the lowest possible quantity of pollution (air, water, noise, etc). A city's eco-status or attitude toward sustainability can have significant impact on the quality of living of its inhabitants."

Maybe it helps that our State government will give you a 35% tax credit for installing solar hot water?

In the US, Honolulu is the city with the highest quality of living, followed by San Francisco (32) and Boston (37). Chicago and Washington share position 45, and New York is in position 49.

This index is used by business to determine how to compensate employees, where to put them, etc. This is great news for Honolulu business, and thus, for Honolulu real estate.

Here is the list up to #31:

"How's the real estate market?"  It's usually one of the first questions that poeple ask me.

They want my perspective on the direction of Hawaii real estate prices, sales activity, and mostly, they want to know whether they should buy or sell right now.

But how does one determine which way the market is going?  Conventional wisdom says to look primarily at three factors. 1) The number of sales, 2) The median prices of those sales, and 3) The number of homes listed for sale.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors has gone to great lengths over the years to take those three numbers and drill them down by month, by year, by neighborhood, by region, and by any other division you can think up.

But which numbers really tell us what direction the market is headed? Consider these scenarios under which each of the three factors can mislead us. 

• In a falling market, the number of sales could be rising, even while prices are declining.  In fact, that is exactly what happened over the last year in Ewa Beach. In a rising market, the number of sales could be low, simply because sellers are not listing their homes while prices rise.
• The median price in Oahu was rising at times over the last 3 years, while prices of individual homes were clearly falling.  In this case, the homes that were selling were in higher priced areas like Hawaii Kai and Diamond Head, but that price was fetching a larger or nicer home than it did the previous year.  Island wide median price measure the sold prices homes without taking into account the size, quality, or location.
• The number of homes available can be misleading, in that many of them may be low quality or so overpriced that in effect they are not even being considered by any buyers.  And when the number of sales is high, a high inventory isn't all that bad.  On the other hand, low inventory doesn't help us see the market direction either, as it doesn't mean that any buyers are going to buy the available homes.

This morning an interesting article in the Advertisr by Andrew Gomes pointed out that depending on how you view the numbers, the market could be either going up or going down. The article says that while the Honolulu Board of Realtors says median prices are rising, a Federal agency says the market has been falling.

"The [Federal] agency, which is responsible for regulating mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, uses sale and refinancing values of homes in one quarter compared with sale or refinancing values for the same properties a year earlier. Because of the same-home methodology, the federal data more closely represent inherent property values."

So how do you really determine which way the market is going?  Days on market?  Percentage of sale price to list price?  Number of Realtors not renewing their license?  I make a funny ;)

Gomes says, "There are also shortcomings to the federal calculation. One issue is that it represents relatively few transactions because it focuses on repeat sales of the same homes.  Another constraint is that it's limited to homes bought with conforming mortgages purchased or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which excludes a significant part of the market financed by subprime and jumbo loans. A good deal of the depression in the local housing market has been concentrated on properties bought with subprime loans."

So is the market rising or falling?  The problem is in the question.  Oahu is not one market, but actually many different tiny markets. Over the past year we have had rising prices in Aina Haina with falling prices in Makakilo.  At the same time, there were so few sales in some areas over the past 3 years that you can hardly even make a judgement even with perfect hindsight.

And this is where a good Realtor comes in.  We look at each individual neighborhood, each house, each tiny market, and the current state of listings and buyers, closings and pending closings, and create a market analysis for every individual house.

Consider this - while the market was supposedly falling over the last year, listings were so scarce in the first quarter of this year that a townhouse in Hawaii Kai recently sold for $50,000 above the last sale, which was several months earlier.  Then to our amazement, the appraisal came in about $10k above the sale price!  In this case we priced the house as high as possible because we knew there just weren't any other available listings. 

The best current example is probably Ewa Beach.  With hundreds of short sales, prices have clearly been falling, but if you list a house that isn't a short sale, you can get a $50,000 premium, and sell it in a few days for more than you could have gotten a year ago.  It's a tale of two markets in the same area - the short sale and non short sale market.

So which way is the market going?  The answer depends on your neighborhood, your house, your market, and usually, your Realtor.   It's more than just numbers after all.  It's the condition of your house, the presentation, the feeling it gives a buyer, your negotiating strength, and a myriad other factors.  Just comparing median prices or number of sales won't tell you the complete answer, that's for sure.

So what do you think? Which way is your market going?

Via Star Bulletin:  After a school year cut short by 17 Furlough Fridays, public
school head into next year with a complete academic
calendar again.  "The furloughs are over," Governor
Linda Lingle declared yesterday at a news conference.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association, the
Department of Education and Board of Education reached a supplemental
agreement in March to a contract that restored all furlough days. It was
contingent on the Legislature approving the funds and Lingle releasing
the money.

Lawmakers set aside $67 million from the Hawaii
Hurricane Relief Fund to fund the agreement.  Additionally, $2.2 million in federal stimulus
funds is being allotted to cover charter schools.

The Department of Education has been given the discretion to decide
the schedule and determine which employees to bring back.

A $10 million interest-free line of credit is
being extended to the state by local banks to cover additional costs if
needed. Any loans must be approved by the Department of Budget and
Finance and may not be used directly to pay salaries. First Hawaiian
Bank has agreed to underwrite the full amount, officials said.

Via Star Bulletin

This morning a client of mine closed on the sale of his beautiful condo at Mott Smith Laniloa in Makiki.  It was on the market for 2 days and received a full price offer of $650,000.  

Mott Smith is an Ocean view condo building in a beautiful part of Makiki, and this unit has parking for 4 cars. It's one of Honolulu's best buildings, building tennis courts, pool, hot tub, full time security, BBQ and recreation areas. Check out the nice view to the right.

I could make various observations and judgements about the real estate market right now, but I think the numbers speak for themselves. 

Congrats to my clients on the sale of their condo! 

Hawaii's economy will continue to benefit from TV filming, as CBS is remaking the original "Hawaii Five-O" TV series, according to several reports by Hollywood trade publications Monday.  Just like the classic cop drama that ran from 1968 to 1980, the new one will be filmed entirely in Hawaii.

It stars Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin as detective Steve McGarrett and "Lost" alumnus Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly. The cast also includes Scott Caan from "Oceans Eleven" as detective Danny Williams, "Battlestar Galactica" alum Grace Park as Kona Kalakaua, and actress Jean Smart of "24" and "Samantha Who" as Gov. Pat Jameson.CBS announced officially its big prime-time line up for the coming season, which includes five new shows.  The new version of "Hawaii Five-O" puts its own spin on the classic.  O'Loughlin is best known for his roles as Kevin Hiatt in "The Shield" and as Mick St. John in "Moonlight," and was currently on the big screen in the romantic comedy "The Back-Up Plan" opposite Jennifer Lopez.On the show, the relationship between McGarrett (O'Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan) is comparable to Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon" where they love each other, but make each other nuts."
"This thing totally rocks," Smith said. "I like the on-screen chemistry between you guys."

"Hawaii Five-0's" plot has traces of the old show - a Navy Seal returns home to Hawaii (this time to avenge the killing of his father by terrorists) and forms an elite task force (courtesy of the governor). New Jersey native Danno leaves his east coast comfort zone and joins the police department in Hawaii to be near his child, who was taken there by his ex-wife.

For the last 6 years, Oahu's economy has seen the benefits of filming the hit series LOST on the island. Filming of the show brought in millions of dollars in various affiliated businesses, including catering, lodging, car and equipment rentals, TV extras, and various manual labor jobs. Several of the cast and crew also bought homes, mostly in Hawaii Kai and Kailua.

"Hawaii  Five'O" is again great news for Oahu's economy, and therefore our real estate market.