Real Estate Agent recommendation

[Kapoho Joe]

You lost me at the buying sight unseen part. Good luck though!

[VancouverIslander]

What do you plan to do with your house in the 9 years between now and then? Don't leave it unoccupied.

Now as to sight unseen, I wouldn't do it. We didn't do the 'rent first', but we did check the neighborhood out a bit before buying. We short listed places to look at on various real estate sites like hawaiilife and bigislandreale.com and ended up contacting the listing agent for the 2 places we were most interested in and made arrangements to see various houses over several days. He was very good about not pushing us toward his listings and wanted to make sure we picked the place that worked best for us. We found one in Ainaloa that was probably a better match, but apparently it had recently had an accepted offer. Our second choice now became one of the places our agent had listed and we negotiated a price. We had no need of advice from an agent on prices, so using the listing agent as a dual agent was fine. My wife is a shark in negotiations most of the time.

What we bought was an unpermitted but very well built place on an acre on a road with just enough neighbors. We put more than twice as much into bringing it up to code and completing it than we payed for it. We had a friend do care taking duties during construction and never left it unattended. We found good tenants (at least we hope they are) and have contacts in the neighborhood that keep an eye on things. So far things have worked out mostly quite well, although SSPP costs were much more than we anticipated. It seems that prices are just starting to move in the last year or two (we bought in 2012), but the best thing for us is that as Canadians, the strong US dollar has been quite good for us so far.

One day at a convenience store in Hilo it came up that we had a place in Eden Roc while talking to the lady at the till. She was shocked and thought it was a very dangerous place. Our experience has been quite different from that, possibly because of the quality of our neighbors. There have been unfortunate events - 2 suicides (one nearby neighbor, one a couple roads away) and a couple of murders in the neighborhood (both cases the perpetrator was known to the victim) but little impact on us. Our tenants recently asked to change the locks as someone had tried to pick the lock on the front door and had broken off a paper clip or something in it. I spent at least 6 weeks a year for 3 years there and I don't regret the purchase one bit, and look forward longingly to the day I can move in for the maximum time allowed under immigration rules for us snow birds.

In the mean time, I have seen the jungle swallowing up abandoned homes in the jungle. It takes a surprisingly small amount of time for this to happen. Home left empty leads to rippers coming through and stripping it down. Next, grass grows up, waiwi moves in, other invasives grow like mad and eventually you can't tell there was even a house there to begin with. Albizias can grow up to 15 feet a year. Imagine what could be there in 9 years without keeping an eye on things. They can grow branches that can spread out over 2-3 Nanawale sized lots and can crush a roof when they break off.

You can buy a house that will work out very well for you and take advantage of this point in the market and likely end up with a very good investment, but make sure you do as much homework as you can. At the very least, take a week or two vacation for house hunting after doing as much research as you can. I wish you all the best in your endeavor. As a bonus, hopefully you will be providing a nice place to rent for a local family until you can move there yourself.

Just call me Mike

[Mimosa]

2 side by side lots is a great find so we say go for it.
Do check with the Police department on all reported crime with in a mile of your property in the last 2 maybe 3 years.
Any time a person can buy 2 or more lots side by side - no matter where in any subdivision it insures privacy and an area for an orchard and gardens .One lot for a home,the other lot for gardens and orchard .
Good Luck and sounds great to us.

Mrs.Mimosa

[shockwave rider]

quote:

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Originally posted by VancouverIslander

What do you plan to do with your house in the 9 years between now and then? Don't leave it unoccupied.

Just call me Mike

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I think you missed the part where Vic said they were buying two lots, not a house.

[VancouverIslander]

quote:

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Originally posted by shockwave rider
I think you missed the part where Vic said they were buying two lots, not a house.

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Thanks, you are indeed correct.

Just call me Mike

[leilaniguy]

Note that Nanawale,s association charges new owners $200 every time a lot is sold, and charges about $85 a year in fees.

[tada]

I should have gone with Tedd. Nevamind having realtor representing your interests. I got the agent working against my interests!