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Copyright
© 2009 Realty Times
All Rights Reserved.
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Aloha!
Happy
November from sunny, warm, beautiful Kauai. From my
office in the St. Regis I view upon the gorgeous
Hanalei mountains and the ever-changing patterns of
weather and sunlight that play across them. At any
given moment I might see sunshine, rain, or a light
mist might have settled in. Sometimes when I look
up after a heavy rain the waterfalls are cascading
down in a thick jagged white line that is
beautiful beyond belief. Princeville might be the
only place in the world where the weather can change
every 15 minutes so if you don't look up often you
might miss something spectacular. Today is a
particularly beautiful day so I snapped a few
pictures from my Iphone for you of the mountains
from the hotel looking out over the new Makana Cafe,
formerly the Hanalei Cafe, also, a pix of Hanalei
bay from the hotel "living room", a picture of the
outside of my new office in the hotel so you can see
what it looks like (shameless plug) and just for
good measure a really pretty sunset I caught from my
lanai about a week ago.
Some
good news on the real estate front: Sales Volume on
the Island took a nice big jump in October from $21M
the month prior to $29M. We are significantly up in
Volume from last year's numbers, 25% overall, 66% up
in condos and 57% up in volume on homes. That's
without the help of any super-sized Mcmansions skewing
the numbers high. Isn't that a relief? As you
recall last October we were going into full blown
meltdown mode at that time with the financial
markets crashing and all us wondering if we were
going to have to start growing our own food. It
looks like we've weathered that storm and making
strides towards a a real but slow recovery. Volume
numbers were up across the island in most categories
with homes leading the way up from $11M to $20M,
almost a 100% jump. The one downer was that Vacant
land took a serious dive with only two lots selling
on the entire island for a combined total of $650K,
down from $4.4M in September. It had looked like
vacant land might be making a comeback but with the
numbers this month for vacant land buyers it's
anyone's guess where that category is headed.
I would assume that means it's still cheaper to buy
a home already built than it is to buy the land and
build yourself. Perhaps vacant land still needs to
come down some more in price before that option will
be attractive again.
Number
of Sales also showed a nice bump from 40 total sales
last month to 50 Sales this month. That's slightly
above last year's number of 46 total sales. Homes
on the island showed a big 100% increase from 16 to
32 sold last month vs this month. Condos up
slightly from 13 to 16 and up significantly from
last year when only 9 sold. Koloa homes increased
from 2 to 10, Lihue's and all east side numbers
increased slightly. On the north shore, houses
doubled from 3 to 6, vacant land went down from 5 to
0, and condos went from 5 to 6. All unit sales were
above last year's numbers, except vacant land.
Our 4
month trend of increasing median prices on the
island went Ker-plunk! this month with median house
prices falling from $532K to $446K. This is in line
with the bouncing around we have been doing a lot of
this year and reinforces my idea that prices will
probably continue to fall on the island for the next
6 months or so before we see any upwards trend.
Condo prices stayed fairly steady from $337K last
month to $339K in October. Median prices are below
last year's numbers by about 13% on houses over the
entire island and 24% on condos over the entire
island. We are down a around 50% from last year's
North Shore home prices. Gulp! North shore condos
showed an increase in price but I expect that number
to jump all over the place for a good long while
until these short sales and foreclosures leave the
market.
That's
all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful
Thanksgiving. Please give me a heads up if you are
coming to the island and want to look at properties
while you are here. It continues to be a great time
to buy. Also, if you would like me to send you any
listings, just give me the parameters and I will be
happy to do that as well.
When you
are sitting down to eat with family or friends next
week please don't forget to take a moment to think
about all the things you have to be thankful for.
Sometimes when times are tough we tend to forget
and dwell on the negative which is a big waste of
time and does no good whatsoever. Also, you
might send warm thoughts for those people around the
world that that are less fortunate than you, that
their burdens might be lifted, and hope and joy flow
into their lives again.
Until
next month, Warmest Aloha from your Island Realtor,
AnnMarie
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Vital Information For
First-Time Buyers
The
first-time homebuyer Federal tax
credit for $8000, record-low
interest rates, and nationwide
median home prices dropping to
the lowest point in five years,
makes this an enticing time to
consider buying a home. By the
way, that tax incentive isn't
truly just for first-time buyers
-- it's defined as those not
having owned a home in the last
three years. Research and
knowing your options are
critical. Check with your tax
accountant for more details.
It’s increasingly likely that
Congress will extend and expand
the popular home buyer tax
credit, which will expire at the
end of this month.
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According to an
article in August in the
Raleigh News & Observer,
10.8 percent of buyers
are motivated to buy due
to Federal and state tax
incentives. So far only
1.14 million buyers have
filed
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Relieving the
Stress of Packing
Packing
can be stressful time for every member
of the family. To ensure that your move
goes as smoothly as possible, try the
following tips!
Pack a "Red Box"
Since one in five American
families moves every year, that means 22
million families may be searching for
their TV remote controls!
One of the pitfalls of packing for
a move is you can't always anticipate
what you'll need when you arrive at your
new home, and movers typically list only
the obvious such as dishes, glasses,
bedding, etc. The miscellaneous items
you need in the first few hours
invariably wind up on the bottom of a
random box.
To start, you may want to create
your own "red box" as some moving
companies ("Removers") do in Great
Britain. This is the last box loaded and
the first one off the truck. The one
universal item in the red box is the tea
kettle (perhaps this would be the coffee
maker in the U.S.). This is also the
place
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Making Your
Home Age Appropriate Creates Appeal
All
of us have something in common with our
homes. Sure, style, design, and location
are at the top of the list, but how
about age? As we age, buyers, especially
the baby boomer generation, are looking
to transform their homes into a place
that they can stay in for as long as
possible or they're hoping to find one
that's already equipped for them to
age-in-place.
So how old your home and you are,
are reason to give some thought to if
your home needs age-appropriate
adaptation in order for you to be most
comfortable. And, in doing so, you may
actually make your home more valuable to
a wider audience of buyers, should you
ever sell it.
According to the National
Homebuilders Association, making a home
suitable for the golden years is
economicaly sound. The baby boomer
generation (77 million people) makes up
28 percent of the U.S. population.
Assisted living for this generation can
cost more than $60-thousand per year,
not counting moving expenses.
That's pretty pricey. So, if
you've taken some steps to make your
home an age-in-place sanctuary, then
make sure you highlight those
renovations if you ever
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Is Your Home Wired Properly?
We
all know that as things age, they often need
replacing but sometimes homeowners neglect to
take care of their home's electrical wiring and
that can set them up for potential danger.
Electrical consumption since the middle of the
last century has increased in most homes on
average about 400 percent.
If you're tripping your main safety
circuit box that could be a sign that you're
overloading the electrical outlets and an
indication that an electrical contractor should
examine your wiring. Oftentimes, homes are
renovated several times without any electrical
wiring updated. Yet, this is a part of the house
that can cause huge problems if it isn't kept
up-to-date.
Daily News and
Advice
Read about the
events shaping the Real Estate market
today, find current interest rates, or
browse the extensive library of advice
and how-to articles written by some of
the top experts in Real Estate. Updated
each weekday.
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