Katie Minkus, Broker-in-Charge, Puako Beach, Hawaii

Aloha, John. My name is Katie Minkus, and I'm the Broker-in-Charge for Hawaii Life Real Estate Services on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii.

If you haven't bought property in Hawaii before, the first thing to understand is that real estate here is extremely local. That means the first thing you need to do is narrow down is the island, then the area. Choose a Realtor to assist you who specializes in the area in which you're most interested. I can't tell from your inquiry if that is on Maui or Oahu, but even if a particular Realtor tells you they can get you information on a specific area because they have access to the "private mls database" - the interpretation of that data will be meaningless unless the agent really knows the market for that specific area.

Here is the public tax website for Honolulu: http://www.honolulupropertytax.com/
Here it is for Maui: http://www.mauipropertytax.com/
In case you're interested in the Big Island: http://www.hawaiipropertytax.com/
And Kauai: http://www.kauaipropertytax.com/

Best of luck to you in your search! It's never to late to live your best Hawaii Life!!

Warm aloha,
katie - Yesterday, 19:40

Aloha, Kneves... I'm sorry to hear your house on the Big Island has been on the market for so long - I'm sure it must be incredibly frustrating for you. Given the pricepoint, I'm assuming your home is in Puna or Ka'u, and those areas of the island have been especially hard hit this past year with both declining prices and declining volume of buyers. Are you offering seller financing on your property in Hawaii to the buyers? That may bring a few more people to your door because if the structure is unpermitted, as you know, no buyer will be able to secure a mortgage against the property.

I realize it's hard to make the decision about what step to take in which order. I often counsel my sellers that if they really want to sell their house, they need to be sure they are actively "moving on" - ie: making plans to move, packing up personal effects, buying plane tickets off the island, etc. Given that I don't know you or your situation well I realize this may be shallow advice, but if I were your agent I would encourage you to start the move to Austin and trust that your Hawaii house will sell once you've really let go of it and are focused on your new life in Texas.

Best of luck to you in your new adventure! A hui hou!! Katie Minkus, Broker-in-Charge, Hawaii Life Real Estate Services, llc. katie@hawaiilife.com. http://www.hawaiilife.com - Wed Jul 8 2009, 10:09

Aloha, Nancy. I see that your question is about Kaneohe on Oahu and I'm the Broker-in-Charge for Hawaii Life Real Estate Services on the Big Island. In the state of Hawaii it is a huge ethics violation to not make the land tenure (fee simple or leasehold) hugely apparent in all forms of advertising. You want to look for the initials FS = Fee Simple (meaning you own the land and can convey it to your heirs) or LH = Leasehold, which is nearly the equivalent as a long-term rental contract (you don't own the land).

I can't say for certain about Kaneohe property, you say that prices are "all over the place" - here on the Big Island, you will find the prices for leasehold property are 30-50% of the prices for fee simple property, so if you're seeing a huge swing in prices, you probably can guess the ones that seem like they are "too good to be true" are most likely leasehold property.

If you don't want to buy leasehold, then be sure to talk with your agent at length, but don't discount leasehold properties all together, as in some cases it's possible to "buy the lease fee" which means for additional money, you can buy the leasehold AND the fee to convert the property from leasehold to fee simple.

We have a great website for browsing - it's fast and will give you all necessary info such as FS vs LH... http://www.hawaiilife.com. Good luck to you in your search!
warm aloha,
Katie Minkus, R(BIC), katie@hawaiilife.com - Wed Jul 8 2009, 10:03

Aloha, John.

It is against Federal Fair Housing laws for any of us as real estate professionals to give you advice regarding crime rates. Your best source of information is going to be the local police department: http://www.honolulupd.org/. Best of luck to you! Warm aloha, Katie Minkus, R(B). katie@hawaiilife.com - Mon Jun 22 2009, 10:39

Aloha, Frerman. This could very well be a rental property. Are you looking to rent a place on the Big Island? Long-term or vacation rental?

This island is very special - there are 12 of the 14 world climate zones on our island, and all the other islands fit inside this one twice with room leftover... that's how big it is!

There is sooooo much to know and understand about the Big Island. It's best to work with someone who is an expert in the area in which you're most interested. Do let me know how I can be of service to you.

Warm aloha,
Katie Minkus, R(B)
Broker-in-Charge
Hawaii Life Real Estate Services
katie@hawaiilife.com - Wed Jun 17 2009, 02:46