Last night we watched the premier of Hawaii 5-0, hoping above anything else that it would portray the beauty of living in Hawaii.  Within a few minutes the show featured aeriel shots of Diamond Head, Makaha, Black Point, Waikiki, and the North Shore.

At one point, there was a helicopter fly by right over my house, and we realized that the house mainly used on the show is just across the road from us. 

While we laughed at the fact that "Pipeline" was actually Waimea bay, and also that at one point a car was shown as driving with the ocean on the wrong side of the car (on the right side going North in Waianae), we were glad that the show featured many great shots of the island in all its beauty. 

I'm sure that sometime this winter when the snow is falling in Ohio and New York, somebody is going to be watching Hawaii 5-0 and realize it's 75 and sunny in Hawaii.  That person is going to finally realize that they could be living in perfect weather all year, never seeing another snow shovel for the rest of their lives.  If that person has some money (the median price on Oahu about $600k dollars) they'll be buying some nice Oahu real estate. 

 While the show is a little racey for my very conservative Christian values, I'm glad that millions around the world will have Hawaii on their minds once a week.  Even if only a few of them move here, it's good for our economy.

(By the way, my wife will be on next week's show, a scene in an elevator in which she plays a tourist mom.) 

A 100-kilowatt wind turbine won't be built anytime soon, though the Hawaii Water Service Co. has been trying for a while.  Hawaii County zoning ordinances require a use permit, which took six months to secure, planning department approval, which is ongoing, and a building permit, which is expected to take another four to six months.

There are four wind farms on Maui and the Big Island, and four more in development. About 9 percent of Maui's energy comes from wind and about 12 percent of the Big Island's supply.

From PBN: "First Wind is planning to expand the 30 megawatt Kaheawa Power Project on West Maui by 21 megawatts, and San Diego-based Sempra Generation hopes to begin a 22-megawatt wind farm at Ulupalakua Ranch in upcountry Maui. The Kauai Electric Utility Cooperative has signed an agreement with UPC Kauai Wind Power for a 10.5-megawatt to 15-megawatt project, and Oahu has its own plans for wind on the North Shore. Boston-based First Wind has broken ground on a 30-megawatt project in Kahuku, but the biggest plans for powering Hawaii's most populous island with wind energy are intended for Molokai and Lanai...

But the permitting process has strangled businesses hoping to take advantage of Hawaii's abundant wind resources.  Once approved, it takes only one to three days to put up a wind turbine.  It's a three- to four-year process to get a project moving before you can even start putting a spade in the ground,” said Karl Stahlkopf, a partner at Kairos Energy Capital, a Honolulu merchant bank specializing in renewable-energy projects. Formerly, project developers could engage in bilateral negotiations with Hawaiian Electric."

Hello?  This is ridiculous!

Hawaiian Electric hopes to lay a $1 billion cable between Oahu and two neighbor islands that will pull 400 megawatts from proposed wind farms on Molokai and Lanai. If successful, the wind energy could provide 20 percent of Oahu's annual energy needs.

Congratulations to my clients Charlie and Lolita on the purchase of this BEAUTIFUL beach house at Velzyland, in Sunset Beach Colony.  This morning they officially recorded as the new owners of this amazing property. I'm sure that they will enjoy this awesome home in their retirement.

Sunset Beach Colony is the North Shore's only gate community, and has less than 30 homes within it.  This is last one on the Kahuku end.

This house, built just a few years ago, has this massive living space off the custom kitchen, featuring all wood ceilings and tile floors, stone counters, and stainless steele hardware throughout.  4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a completely separate cottage with a full bathroom and kitchenette.  Check out this awesome hang out, complete with large lanai and a view of the ocean.

If you haven't been to Velzyland before, you may not realize what a great beach it is. Perfect for the family with a nice long stretch of white sand, calm water in the summers, and great waves in the winter.  Just look at this picture perfect setting.

 $2 million Sunset Beach Colony house, Sold!!!

A 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 2388sqft house in Kailua for this price is uncommon to say the least.  But after the bank foreclosed on it last year, it sat vacant for quite a while. I'm not sure why banks don't immediately list the properties they own, but when they finally put this one on the market, we jumped on it.  Originally listed at $789,000, we were able to get it for $740,000. 

The house has a nice large yard on a corner lot, and is in a great neighborhood in Kailua, called Olomana.  My lucky clients with their family of 6 have now moved in and begun to transform this old house, beginning with a new kitchen and bathrooms.

 Congratulations to the Edwards family on this great purchase!

Absolutely no interpretation from me needed.  The Hawaii housing market speaks for itself.  Look at the low inventory of homes for sale, and the high number of pending sales.  

Inventory - Down 13.3% to 3823 total properties for sale. 

Single Family Residences - 1674 down from 1928 last year. 

Condos - 1754, down 16.1% from 2090 condos for sale last year. 

Months of supply down 30.1% to 6.4 months of inventory. 

And even while inventory is way down, look at how the number of sales has risen, and with plenty of pending sales still on the way!

Pending Sales - Up 25.2% to 7362 in escrow compared to 5882 last year.

Percent of Original List price received up 2.5% to 96.4% 

Closed single family home sales on Oahu in August - 224, compared to 239 last year. 

Median Sales Price of Single Family Homes in Hawaii - Up 0.9% to $590,000. 

Median Sales price of Hawaii Condos -  Down 0.3% to $316,000

Days on Market - 36! That's down from 54 days on market last August! 

3 months may seem like a long time, but when it comes to short sales, that's actually quite fast.  The longest one I have done took well over a year, while the average is closer to 6 months.

 This very nicely upgraded Poinciana Manor 2 bedroom Kailua condo is just a short bike ride to the beach. Listed at $350k, we are now officially in escrow for just a little above that, to close in 45 days.

 How do you get a short sale approved in under 3 months?  Simple:  put together an awesome short sale application packet  complete with a picture of the unexpected new baby and the father in his military uniform.

Even in a  short sale, there are humans involved, and who can resist a baby and a soldier serving his country? 

 Congrats to both sellers and buyers on getting this short sale approved. Now let's hope for a smooth escrow and closing. 

This week I was showing a property with some soft wood flooring that seemed to be cracking and bubbling as we walked on it. The more we stepped, the softer it felt.  We weren't sure if it was moisture or termites, but we knew there was a problem. The home inspector noted that he thought there was termite damage in the flooring.

So what would you do?  Would you buy a house with a potential termite problem? 

Step 1 - Get the contractor who worked on the floors to come take a look and see what he thought and try to get him to open up the flooring so that a termite inspector could see the actual damage.  

When the contractor started pushing on one of the open cracks, 2 littls termites came out, which answered our question immediately.  Then he proceeded to open up the flooring as shown.   

Step 2 - call the exterminator.  The termites inspector did find the colony of termites, and examined the entire property for evidence of any other activity.  He also found the location from which he believes that entered the house. In this case they came in the concrete.  While termites are usually thought of as bugs that like wood, they are just as capable of coming in through the gaps in the concrete.

Step 3 - the very next day, the exterminator treated the property with a liquid/foam product that kills the termite colonies. 

Step 4- Pull out the damaged flooring.  In this case we decided to have all the flooring upstairs pulled out.  Better safe than sorry.  As it turns out, a couple of the other softer spots were not termite eaten, and one spot that we thought would be destroyed was actually not all that bad.  It didn't matter, because all the floors would be replaced with new wood laminate.

Step 5- Buy the warranty.  The exterminator said that their treatment of the termites carries a 1yr warranty.  On top of that, after 3-6 months they can come back and examine the house and warranty the entire property for any new damage from that day on.  It costs around $300-$400 a year, worth every penny.  

So would you buy a house with termites?  As long as it is properly treated, repaired, and warrantied, you can feel confident about saying, Yes! 

Via Star : Hawaii will get $75 million from the President Obama's "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Hawaii made big improvements in its Race to the Top application from round one and has shown its commitment to education by ending teacher furloughs.

"Despite the furlough days, Hawaii has a real chance to take student achievement to a different level," he said. "Hawaii absolutely put its best foot forward."

In a statement, Hawaii schools superintendent said, "Race to the Top has served as a rallying call to boldly transform public education and schools across our nation. Today, the federal government invested $75 million in Hawaii over the next four years and secured its investment with the unwavering commitment of our educators and stakeholders to execute Hawaii's blueprint for education reform."

Hawaii's Race to the Top application includes plans to turn around poor-performing schools, improve teacher effectiveness, better prepare high school graduates for colleges or careers and make other sweeping reforms.

Great job Hawaii schools!  

Incredible ocean and mountain view, 6 bedrooms, over 4000sqft, this $1.2mil house in Hawaii Kai has everything.  The detached studio is larger than most condos, and has a nice private lanai.  Speaking of which, the main house has 2 massive wrap around lanais with ocean views. 

The seller had 3 offers in just a few days on the market, and my lucky clients are now in escrow to close next month.

This picture from the living room shows just a bit of the great view out the front of the house. 

With a huge lot set up in the back of Hahaione Valley, this house has privacy, cool breezes, and usually, an evening rain.  

Congrats to my clients on this great purchase!

This may be the best deal I have seen all year. Listed at $875,000, this 2400 sqft in Honolulu has the kind of size that will usually cost well over $1 million, sometimes as much as $2-3 million just a few blocks away. 

My lucky young clients are now in escrow for this beautiful 10yr old  condo, which is larger than most homes in the area. Check out this massive living room with city and ocean views!

With a 2 car attached garage, this massive newish condo right in the heart of town feels more like a house than many houses do, and even has over 600sqft of open lanai space, bringing the total square footage to over 3000! 

 If the size were not enough, it  even has this great kitchen with stone counters and beautiful tile floors. 

This condo is in the Makiki area (though technically it's Punchbowl neighborhood according to MLS), which means it's just a couple minutes to downtown Honolulu, and an easy drive out West toward Aiea.

Congrats to my very happy clients who will be closing in just a few weeks!