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+--- Thread: Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages (/showthread.php?tid=7971)
Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages - AlohaSteven - 11-02-2010
From 07MAR2009 in another thread:
Has there ever been a better time to buy in Puna than when the local market is tanked and drought stress is predictably about to come riding in across broad swaths of the Mainland and elsewhere?
From 01NOV2010 in 24/7 Wall Street:
The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/111186/the-ten-biggest-american-cities-that-are-running-out-of-water
Here is a summary of the article linked above: water is running out in some mainland urban centers such that the next ten years will likely see increasing potential for bond market collapse, industry challenges and failures, and an increasing degree of water-scarcity-forced emigration from these "top ten" predicted trouble spots...
CA: Los Angeles, SF Bay Area
TX: Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth
AZ: Phoenix, Tucson
NV: Las Vegas
GA: Atlanta
FL: Orlando
Los Angeles' main source of electricity (Hoover Dam on Lake Mead) is also likely to effectively cease producing electricity in 2013. Google it.
...and these are just the top ten cities facing increasing water shortages. There are many other urban areas similarly effected, as well as broad rural regions.
The situation in the USA in terms of implications and ability to adjust and respond to environmental difficulties is far different than that in places like Pakistan where "Diseases are spreading, and winter is closing in on the 20 million flood victims - seven million of whom still do not have shelter" (from article linked here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11648701) yet the various proposed techno-fixes for US urban water shortages all come back to energy. Desalinization plants, digging canals, pipeline straws from Alaska, towing iceburgs, and so on zany solutions all require massive and ongoing energy resources. Even if the petroleum is there to do all this work by burning oil (since the solar capacity and infrastructure & capacity of other alternative energy forms does not exist) then the economics of the situation still spells big changes ahead.
My prediction is there will be a general increase in the valuation of homes and land in areas with water, sunlight, and soil -such as in East Hawaii. A steep increase, once the realizations above really sink in. The research detailed in the linked article suggests a time-frame of around the next five to ten years for even slow learners in these places to begin to realize the implications of pending long-term water shortage processes.
Some folks in Puna who are currently wanting to sell but unable to do so because of a near-dead market should indeed eventually be able to sell given all this, but unless they are selling off "extra" parcels and spec houses they built but do not live in themselves, then they might want to consider staying in Puna instead of selling and moving to LA, Phoenix, Fort Worth, or other places from the list above.
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Jaan Pehechaan Ho by Mohammed Rafi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgeuUAzThto
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RE: Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages - Dave Smith - 11-02-2010
Steven, thanks for the info. No doubt many Punans are wondering if this past, very dry year (by Puna standards) is a glimpse of what we will experience from the ongoing climate change. This Kona-like weather would certainly be easy to get accustomed to, but most residents on the mainland, and many of those in West Hawaii and on other islands don't have the luxury of starting drier conditions with a dozen feet of rain annually.
My wife and I were fortunate to add some additional roof-catchment capacity at the beginning of the year and that has been enough to keep our 10K-gallon tank nearly full all year, despite receiving 20 percent or less of normal rainfall for much of that time. Although it's far too early to declare the past year an ongoing trend, I'm sure if it continues in any form that Puna residents will need to consider upping either their storage or catchment capacity or both.
RE: Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages - Kelena - 11-02-2010
Shhhhhhh! Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. It's vewwy wainy on the east side. And da whole place is infested with wabbits!
RE: Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages - EightFingers - 11-03-2010
"... My prediction is there will be a general increase in the valuation of homes and land in areas with water, sunlight, and soil -such as in East Hawaii. A steep increase, once the realizations above really sink in. ..."
So will property taxes.
Anyway, I don't see this happening for at least 20 to 50 years.
RE: Puna Real Estate Values & Mainland Water Shortages - Kapohocat - 11-03-2010
And our very smart DWS and SOH and COH want to get everyone OFF catchment. If we were in any of those places, they promote catching rain water for gardening etc. Only they are elegantly called cisterns there.
We live in an dry area that has county water but to hook up is $5500 and updated wastewater system ($12-14K for aerobic). We will shortly being making do with a refurbished catchment tank (old concrete than Pete Epperson was so nice to give us free advice on repairing it!!)until we can get aerobic in, and then pay water hook up/meter fee if a meter is available.