Buying a new home can be a stressful time in your life, especially when finding the perfect home that fits your budget seems next to impossible. If you’re like most first time home buyers, you probably think you need to purchase a condominium because houses here are too expensive.
Well there’s a very charming single family house in Honolulu that’s available at a condo price. It’s not a CPR so there are no condo maintenance fees. In addition, the entire house has been recently renovated and includes a new kitchen and bathroom. All kitchen appliances and washer are brand new. And there’s also yard space for gardening.
If you’re interested in learning more about this little gem near downtown Honolulu, please contact me.
Have you ever considered renovating your home? There are dozens of home improvement television shows that will inspire you to turn your home into your dream home… yourself.
But in reality, there’s a lot more detail involved than what you see on TV. And it’s not uncommon for the novice do-it-yourselfer to run into problems, go over budget and take much longer finish the project than they initially planned (if they finish at all). Sometimes it may just make sense to find the perfect home, instead of building it (or renovating it) yourself, where someone else already dealt with the headaches of the renovation.
I know of such a home.
There’s great listing with an unobstructed ocean view that has been fully renovated this year. A total of $115,000 was put into renovations to convert this spacious one-bedroom unit into a dream home. The listing is being offered at $579,000 and is in perfect move-in condition.
I’ve always enjoyed the Ala Moana Fourth of July fireworks show from afar. But this year we decided to brave the traffic and enjoy the show up-close. The beachfront strip was packed as tents were literally touching each other end-to-end for the length of the strip.
Ala Moana Beach Crowd on the 4th of July 2010
The traffic was a nightmare, and the parking was a mess, but it was totally worth it.
Here’s a clip of the last 3.5 minutes of the fireworks.
Oahu may be a small island, but there are a lot of hidden treasures waiting to be discovered.For example, Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu.Iolani Place is one of my favorite places to visit.I love to go there on Fridays at noon to enjoy the Royal Hawaiian Band and hula performance on lawn.Last month there were guest performers from Japan where over 250 hula dancers performed with the Royal Hawaiian Band under a big tree in front of the Palace.
Hula performers from Japan
Another place I love to visit is the Honolulu Academy of Arts. It’s one of my all-time favorite buildings, and they have something for everyone. On the third Sunday of each month Bank of Hawaii sponsors Family Sundays with free admission, and fun activities for the family.
In the photo below, kids were invited to catch koi with fishnets, and take home the fish they catch.
There were 3,985 Oahu properties in foreclosure in 2009, a 142 percent increase over the number of foreclosure filings in 2008, and a 672 percent increase over 2007. But Hawaii foreclosures ranked well below other metropolitan areas (128th out of 203). Las Vegas ranked number one.
I believe there is reason to be optimistic. There was a surge in home sales in December 2009, and Paul Brewbaker, principal of TZ Economics is calling January 2009 “the bottom of this cycle.” People rushed to cash in on a federal $8,000 first-time homebuyers’ tax credit, and the November 30 deadline has been pushed back to April 30.
Just posted a virtual tour of 616 Kumukahi Pl on Spinnaker Isle in Hawaii Kai.
This single level Spinnaker Isle home on the marina waterfront offers a large study room, living room and dining area. The house has a large open lanai, boat dock and boat ramp (under the wooden deck) for your boat. We just hosted our first open house today, please contact me if you would like to schedule a showing.
For more virtual tours of this property, please visit my YouTube Channel.
According to the Hawaii Board of Realtors residential resale statistics for Oahu, median home prices dropped in the month of May.
The median home price dropped from $585,000 in April, to $550,00 in May (compared to $649,000 May 2008).
Condo prices fell from $310,000 in April to $305,000 in May (compared to $337,000 in May 2008).
According to Honolulu Board of Realtors president Sandra “Sam” Bangerter, our housing market may be showing signs of bottoming out “Single-family home sales rebounded a bit in May and the sales speed of 49 days was faster than at the same time last year. While prices were lower for single-family dwellings, the condominium median price has been holding quite steady at just over $300,000. These are just some of the signals that our housing market may be starting to return to normalcy.”
Based on the information from the Multiple Listing Service of the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® active listings last updated on .
Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.