The Oahu real estate statistics were released today and I'm sure people all over are scouring them to see which way the market is going.  There are a bunch of numbers that indicate no change - median price was $595k for homes, $312k for condos. Average days on market was 46 for homes, 56 for condos. 265 homes sold, and 327 condos sold.  Pretty flat on all those.

But 2 of the statistics look very promising: Total Inventory and Months of inventory remaning.  These numbers, while they sound similar, show different things.  The total inventory shows how many homes for sale (duh) and months of inventory is much more important, because it tells us how long it would take to sell all those homes.  Even if inventory was low, there were very low sales, it could take years to sell those homes.

 There were a total of 1653 homes for sale and 2279 condos for sale.  Those were the lowest numbers all year, and the lowest number of homes for sale since April 2006!  

When you divide that by the number of sale, you get only 6.5 months of homes available. In contrast, back in February there were 15.8 months of homes! In any market, if you have less than 6 months of homes available, it's considered a seller's market. Now I'm not willing to go that far, but check this out, about 3 weeks ago I listed a house in Hahaione and got 9 offers all well over asking. Why? Because THERE WAS NOTHING GOOD FOR SALE in that area at a reasonable price. 

Have we reached or surpassed the bottom of the market? I said it in March and I still think so. 

Unless you have oodles of cash, months to wait, and are willing to risk 10% of the purchase price being taken away without any recourse, buying a foreclosure in Hawaii is not for you. That's because the process in Hawaii is an expensive process that can often result in failure when the court decides the home owner gets to keep his house. You can lose your 10% deposit faster than you can count it.

The better way to go is to buy a short sale. Let me give you some tips for short sales.

1 - look for a seller who already has lender approval at their list price. This will cut months off your wait time.
2 - get your loan approved, fully approved, before you even make your offer. Again, this will cut down the time it will take to get an approval from the seller's lender.
3 - Make multiple offers. Just find 2-3 homes that you might like and make offers on all of them. It can't hurt, and whoever approves you first may be the winner.
4 - Be patient. It can take months.
5 - Work a Realtor who has short sale experience.

There are currently about 200 short sales available in West Oahu, and a few, maybe 20 in East Oahu (Diamond Head, Hawaii Kai), and about that same number in Honolulu. There are even a few on North Shore and, Kailua and Kaneohe.

The key is that short sales take time, but are way less risky than a foreclosure.  The short sale I listed today is a great example of how you can get a great deal on a home.

Inflation - a general and progressive increase in prices; "in inflation everything gets more valuable except money".

That's the definition Google gives, and there is a simple correlation - when the prices of things rise, the prices of homes are included.

Now that the Fed has printed $3trillion, with rates down to about zero, inflation is a concern for many. It's not so much 'if' but 'when' this will happen.  While it hasn't come yet, and in fact we are closer to disinflation right now, the threat of hyper inflation is in the near future.

One of the benefits of inflation will be that home prices will rise, along with everything else. Many economists think inflation is what we need to get us out of the mess we are in. Money will lose value while other things gain value, including stocks, homes, food, everything.

I'm no economist, and I don't pretend to understand how inflation will help us out of the economic mess we are in, but I do know one simple thing. When inflation happens, everything that is a hard asset rises in value, by definition.

In the Great Depression, the government was so concerned about inflation that they stifled the economy by trying too hard to fight it.  Some economists think that it would have been much better to let inflation happen back then, so that the Depression would end sooner. 

This time around, it seems Obama and friends are taking that route - letting inflation save the economy. As prices are now coming down on things, people don't buy as much because the longer you wait, the cheaper things will be. If they can get prices to rise, then people will rush out to buy hard assets.  

Will this work? I have no idea. All I know is that when inflation happens, I'll be glad I own a house in Hawaii.

I just listed this beautiful ocean view house in upper Hahaione, one of Hawaii Kai's most beautiful neighborhoods. Just a year ago this home was listed for over $1million, and it is now on the market for $700,000 as a short sale. 

 While short sales take a long time to close, this is definitely a house worth waiting for.  It's basically the only house in Hawaii Kai at this price and size.  

 The house has a great ocean view from the large front lanai, and you can see the end of Portlock too.  It has a nicely remodeled kitchen with Bosch and GE Profile appliances.

There was a time when you couldn't get anything in Hahaione for under $800k, even a dump.  This is indication of what the market has done in the last few years.  Want a bagain in Hawaii?  Here it is! 

On Thursday I drove to Ewa beach at 4pm. That should have been the longest drive time of the day, but I made it from Diamond Head in about 30 minutes, all the way to Ocean Pointe. 

It used to be that once you got off the freeway in Ewa, it took another 30-45 minutes from there to the end of Ewa. Not anymore!  The lane widening project, which is still only 70% done, has COMPLETELY changed everything in Ewa Beach. It's truly amazing. 

Then, I happened to have another client who wanted me to drive down there Friday around 1pm. Guess what?  NO TRAFFIC!  Aloha Friday in Oahu means everyone gets off work around noon, and there should have been at least some traffic, but there was none!  

Both days, I got from the freeway exit in Ewa to Ocean Pointe with only 1 stop, and no slow downs. This could mean that values and sales in Ewa are about to take off.  Seriously, the only thing keeping people from buying there in the past has been traffic, but now it is literally a non issue.  

Believe it or not, the traffic in Kapolei is A LOT worse than Ewa now.  Hmmm..   Time to sell in Kapolei and buy a house in Ewa?  

There are several condo options in Kailua town, starting at about $300k and up to $700k. One great option that is a short bike ride the beach and within walking distance of just about everything else is Hokulani.

Hokulani in Kailua was built around 1990, with a great location off Aoloa st, so you can walk to the grocery store, Starbucks, and anything in Kailua town. These townhouse style condos are about 800sqft, most with 2 bedrooms, and a decent grounds. The monthly fees are lower than Poinciana Manor or Gardenia Manor because the grounds are not as elaborate. No koi ponds, no pool, no tennis courts.

Hokuani has nice modern construction, and many of them have been nicely updated. At about $360k for a 2bedroom condo, the prices are hard to beat. You can have a nice mountain view from Hokulani, and it's about a 15 minute walk to the beach.

Condos in Kailua are a wonderful investment, as renters abound. Because it's only 5 minutes to the marine corps base, you can get a nice influx of military renters every season. If you buy a unit here with only 1 parking spot, which is common, you might be able to rent a spot from someone else, so look for a unit that has 2 spots.

People often ask me for 'inexpensive' condos in Kailua.  Hokulani is one of the best options

Even in a buyer's market, a down market, a down economy, you can get multiple offers on properties. I have 2 listings on opposite sides of the island with multiple offers right now.

How is this possible?  WE PRICED THE HOMES FOR THE MARKET!  It's simple - look at the active listings, the comps within 3 months (used to be 6 months but no longer) and put a price on the house that makes it a good buy for any buyer.  Make the decision easy for buyers.  By looking at the active listings, you know exactly what homes they will see.  Then put a price on your listing that makes their choice obvious.

 Some agents and sellers will want to price the home at the same as whatever the other listings are, or the same as recent comps, which means a buyer has to choose based on their preference for the house, or various differences each house has to offer. 

But in today's market, you have to price the house BELOW the last sale, BELOW the other comps, and you'll most likely get full price or close.  2 of my listings are currently working with multiple offers, and we expect to come to agreement with a buyer soon.

Be realistic and you will sell in any market.

I am the cause of this law.  I talk on my phone constantly while driving.  I almost always use a headset, but sometimes I don't.  From now on, the new law prohibits the use of any electronic devices while driving.

 Hands-free devices will still be allowed. Headsets, earpieces, or Bluetooth earpieces are ok. Speakerphone is ok too.

The fine for the first offense is $67.

 Sorry everybody, my bad.

I was showing some homes to a client this week and walked into a home that smelled like flowers. All 3 of us made comments about how nice it smelled and felt happy the whole time we were there. I saw that the owner had lit some candles to make the home smell nice.

Then it hit me - why doesn't everyone try hard to make their home buyer friendly? Why is there so much weird stuff I see, smell, and hear when I walk into a house? So here are 10 things that buyers hate. 10 things that will keep your home from selling, in no particular order.

   1. Smokers. You cannot get smoke out of a house. Change the carpet, paint the walls, buy an ozone machine, and you might not get it out if it's real bad. I don't care if you smoke outside, you still can smell it when you walk in.
   2. Dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and anything with hair. I can small pets the moment I walk in. your carpet is probably stained in places you can't see without moving furniture. You have fleas and you don't think you do. Your house smells like pets, and buyers hate that.
   3. Clutter. Please don't leave your collection of Chinese dolls or your 10 chess sets in plain view for us. Please throw away your trash, clean your dishes, put away your clothes, and make the house look un-lived in.
   4. People. Huh? Yes, people. Buyers want to walk around uninteruppted, and want to feel like they can look anywhere for as long as they want. So please get out of your house when we come to see it. Don't stand there watching over us like a school principle. Let us look slowly and carefully at this most important investment.
   5. Dirt - There is so much red dirt on this island, and it seems to get everywhere. It makes fences and walls look terrible, so go buy some Oxyclean and get that stuff off. You might have to get a pressure washer and put some of that Oxyclean in there. Whatever you do, just get the dirt off your house.
   6. Darkness. Open the dang windows please! Don't close all the blinds when we are about to show up, and please do turn on all the lights. If you have dark drapes or blinds, you might have to get rid of them. This is Hawaii, so let the sun in!
   7. Weird decor - we walked into one house that had a giant nude painting of a woman right in front of the entry. It was all we could talk about the entire time so we hardly even saw the house. The rest of the day we kept laughing about the giant painting. In fact the house was pretty nice, but we could hardly notice!
   8. Extreme colors - bright red, bright yellow or green, basically anything that will distract the buyers. I don't want to walk into a house and be shocked. If my first thought is, "whoa! bright colors!" then you've probably missed an opportunity to grab a buyer. First impressions do count, a lot.
   9. Heat - in Hawaii it gets warm, very warm. So if you have a home that has been locked up with all the windows shut, the buyer is going to walk in and feel too hot to want to stick around very long. Even if they like the house, they might want to get out because they are so darn hot. So if your house gets hot, you may have to turn on the AC when you have showings .
  10. Most importantly - PRICE! Don't overprice and hope to get something lower. Price the house to sell because this is a buyer's market and probably will be for a long time. If you price a house even a little too high, it tells the buyer that you're not that motivated. It might keep you from getting an offer, while pricing it "low" might get you 3 offers above asking. Price it to sell quickly or you'll be waiting around a year and probably will get less in the long run than if you sell fast.