UPDATE: This house in Kalihi valley that I listed last Monday had about 25 showings in 1 week and is now in escrow well over the asking price of $550k.  Most of the offers were above asking, and none were very much below the price.

Before listing it, we had the house painted and cleaned, and installed new fixtures, new toilets, new lights, and some new flooring.  We also had all the rubbish removed. 

Then we had the survey done, ordered a permit package, and completed the seller's disclosure. 

Doing all the hard work up front means the sellers can now relax and wait for the closing date (read: check.)

Congrats to my sellers on getting their home sold quickly and above the asking price!

Great news for the tourism industry in Hawaii!  According to the Advertiser today, Continental Airlines will launch three new flights from Honolulu and Kahului on Maui to the West Coast starting Sunday.

The flights will be from Maui to Los Angeles and Orange County and a flight from Honolulu to Orange County.  Continental will operate the flight with a Boeing 737-800 with 160 seats.  They will start a second daily flight between Honolulu and Los Angeles on Sunday.

The new Maui-Orange County flight will operate four times a week.  Continental will use a Boeing 737-700 that seats 124 passengers on the new route and plans to increase the service to daily during the summer.

Continental also will use a Boeing 737-700 that seats 124 passengers on the route.

For about $550,000, you can buy this 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home in beautiful Launani Valley.  Actually, you can't now because some clients of mine are now under contract for it. It got listed Tuesday morning and had 2 offers by Tuesday night.

Hidden away in the hills of Mililani, this litte neighborhood, called Woodcreek, has some of the most amazing tropical views you will ever see on Oahu.  This home is right on a running creek, so when it rains you feel like you're in a tropical rain forest, because basically, you are.  With only the forrest behind this house, it's like a tropical getaway! 

Congrats to Russ and Liz on having their offer accepted on this beautiful home last night! 

Check out the view out their back yard.

I just listed this house on Monday, and wow, the activity has been crazy. We had 2 showings the first afternoon, 5 showings the 2nd day, and already a dozen requests for the weekend.  

The first offer is coming today (I'm told) and I have meetings with other clients who want to write offers as well.

Why is this house so popular?  1) It's clean.  2) It's priced under $600k.  3) It's in Kalihi Valley, located just 10 minutes from downtown Honolulu. 

I have been saying it since March 2009, the market is definitely rebounding. 

MLS# 1002700.  3bed 2 bath, built in 1958. 1300ft+ under roof, nice grassy yard, 2 car carport.  

Just painted, cleaned up, ready to move in!  New fixtures, new toilets, new lighting.  Bring me an offer above asking or you have no shot! 

As I mentioned on Geek Estate Blog, I've decided to do a case study to determine the effects of having a spiderable IDX on my site. Since my site doesn't have a lot of authority just yet, I've asked Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters to show me data from other clients' sites (with their permission), so I could see how sites with high authority do with their spiderable IDX.

I had Analytics installed at the same time as my spiderable IDX, so unfortunately, I can't show you a before/after with mine. I have however, been given permission by Nashville Real Estate Agent, Gary Ashton to show his before & after results. Gary's got a high authority, high ranking site, that's been around for about 4 years. However, he only had spiderable IDX added to his site in January of this year. Looking at the number of pageviews of his site over the past year, you'll see a pretty amazing spike once the spiderable IDX is installed, replacing his iframed solution:

My own pageview results so far can be seen below:

My pageviews aren't as awesome as Gary's--yet 

Traffic-wise, if we compare Gary's number from Jan-Feb 2010, with Nov-Dec 2009, you'll see that all the numbers are up significantly since getting a spiderable IDX:

Gary's total visits are up 45%, the number of pages viewed per visit are up by a whopping 277%, the average time on the site has more than doubled, and the bounce rate has dropped by 36%. These are the stats of my future : )

Here is my own traffic so far (from June through Jan):

Traffic's steadily increasing, as my site gains more pagerank. Also, my IDX listings are the second most viewed page (after the home page), so I know that users appreciate the feature.

In terms of rankings, Gary's doing very well, blasting large sites like Trulia and Zillow, to attain the #1 position for the highly competitive terms, "nashville real estate" and "nashville mls listings":

Here is another REW client, Greg Eckler, who was willing to share info and ranks top 5 for "denver real estate" and "denver mls listings" even after his board made him completely switch domains:

Yes that reads 733 THOUSAND pageviews for just a years worth of stats - simply amazing!

In terms of leads, Gary's numbers are pretty astounding. Prior to replacing his iframed listings with IDX, he averaged about 120 new leads each month (plus returning leads).

Before IDX:

After IDX:

That's TEN TIMES the number of new leads since getting an IDX.

The bottom line for me is that spiderable IDX works.

This cute old house in Kalihi Valley will be on the market on March 1st. Right now we are painting, fixing things, removing clutter, and redoing the bathrooms a bit.  At about 1400 sqft (not all permited) the house is a bargain at $550k.  I put the sign up last night and I've already recieved 2 calls this morning.

Offers will be reviewed March 10th or later.  

This hous is located just a mile off Likelike hwy on a quiet street.  The owners have been in the house since 1958, when it was first built. Since he was a carpenter, he kept the house in very nice condition. 

When it is available it will have new paint, new toilets and fixtures, new lights, and best of all, freshly polished wood floors that were protected by a layer of carpet for over 30 years!  When we removed the carpet yesterday, we found beautiful dark wood flooring that had been preserved very nicely.

How many people are actually going to ride the Rail?  The City of Honolulu says that 97,000 people are going to ride it, and that is a pure lie.  Even in Houston Tx, where the population is  5 times higher, and the traffic far worse, only 38,000 people ride the rail system.

Will Honolulu succeed in getting approximately 6 times higher percentage of rail riders?  Hmmmm.. Take a look at this chart created by Panos Prevedouros, civil engineering professor at UH, and candidate for Honolulu Mayor (hopefully).  

The numbers are absolutely clear - the number of estimated riders of the Oahu Rail system is a total fabrication by the current Honolulu City administration. The city should cancel this underfunded, over hyped project which is not going to cut traffic at all. 

Many of my buyers are finding out that they need to act quickly if they want a home that is priced well. Last week a client of mine wanted to view  a new listing in Kailua, and we found out that it had 17 offers, above asking.  It was sold in 3 days.  Then this weekend I viewed a nice house in Ewa Beach, that sold with 2 full price offers within 5 days. 

Every Realtor I have spoken to in the last few weeks has said the same thing - that buyers are getting outbid, and sellers are receiving multiple offers, fast. 

My tips for securing a home in this market - 

1. Don't be stingy with a few thousand dollars.  Seriously.  If you miss a home over $5000 because you didn't want to pay the list price, it's your own fault.  In this market, any home priced well is going to get full price or better. Don't miss out on the home you want just to save a few thousand dollars. The next home may be more expensive.  You'll keep doing that until you realize you have been priced out of the market, again.
2. Act fast. Don't wait, write an offer as soon as you are ready to buy.  You cannot afford to wait overnight.  You will miss out. 
3. Include an escalation clause.  It makes your offer automatically outbid others, with a set maximum. I like to use increments of $5000, with a max price a little above asking.
4. Get your loan approved first.  If you submit an offer without a loan approval, forget it. You will be passed by.
5. Go see a house the first day.  This involves being in close contact with your agent.  When a house becomes available and looks good, change your plans, go see it that day.
6. Listen to your agent.  If your agent tells you the price is good, don't second guess.  If the list price is low, be willing to go over.  The list price means nothing if it's below market.  If your agent says it's too high, don't bother. The house will be around for a while. 
7. Be patient - in this market it may take several attempts to get a home. You may miss a few good opportunities, but eventually you will get the home you want. Just don't give up.  

The Advertiser reported today that Bed Bath and Beyond is finally opening in Hawaii.  Last year we got our first Target and Victoria's Secret, and my wife and all her friends jumped for joy.  It's good news, but for me it's mostly about the jobs and economic benefits of another business on Oahu. 

 Now all we want is Bath and Body Works.  One more reason to live on Oahu.