There are now 20 brand new homes for sale in HPP.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Don’t forget that the realtor 6% commission is over.  If I had signed a six month agreement with a realtor at 6%, I might want to wait to sell until the contract expires and I can negotiate a better rate.  A 3% reduction on $700,000 is $21,000.

[Punatang]

Haha for sure! It's a good thing the price fixing is being busted up. One may feel that it's also an opportunity for those  folks who are willing to pay MORE for reputable Realtor services. Something tells me that, just maybe, if your 1334 SQ FT grey house on 19th and priced at $525,000 has a 1.5% commission to the selling/buyer's agent and my 1334 SQ FT grey house on 20th is priced at $545,000 but has a 3% commission to selling/buyer's agent, we just may have an equal chance of going under contract within Herr Chunkster's 67 days.  IDK.

[Punatang]

Well now it's 29!  More coming on than leaving. Lots of cancelled contracts as well and not just in HPP.

Looks like the drop in rates everyone has been banking on is not going to be happening anytime soon.

I'll bet that by next week the talking heads will be floating the idea of a rate increase.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-...024-04-18/

Fed policymakers agree: there's no urgency to cut rates

By Ann Saphir and Michael S. Derby
April 18, 20241:12 PM HSTUpdated 17 hours ago

[terracore]

Don’t forget that the realtor 6% commission is over.  If I had signed a six month agreement with a realtor at 6%, I might want to wait to sell until the contract expires and I can negotiate a better rate.  A 3% reduction on $700,000 is $21,000.

There was never a 6% "rule" on commissions in Hawaii.  There are several brokerages that charge 1%, there are flat raters, it's all negotiable.  Always has been. The changes in other parts of the country may have been more substantial than Hawaii.

What mainly changed is that the cooperative broker fee can no longer appear on the MLS listing.  It can appear anywhere else.  So the only thing that really changed is that the process is now less transparent to the buyer, and a whole bunch of lawyers are rolling in cash and laughing at the "transformation" they created. Another change is that real estate agents are required to have buyers under a contract before they show them any property. Some agents in Hawaii were already doing this, but most weren't. Basically under the old system, a buyer or seller was guaranteed results or they paid nothing. Now, that's not the case.

The end-game is to turn the real estate market into a used car lot where the buyers have no representation and the choices will be the Blackrock or Vanguard real estate lots.  And Vanguard is a majority owner of Blackrock so there is really only one lot.  They'll make the process "easier", though not cheaper, they will even take trade-ins so customers can get screwed on both transactions. They will offer in-house financing just like a car lot. How much can you afford a month? We have the right house for you!  And if they don't have a buyer for the trade-in, they'll rent it out.  So buyers, sellers, and renters will all be equally screwed.  What they really want is to get rid of buyers and owners completely and create a nation of renters.  It won't happen overnight, but the pieces are slowly falling into place.  Welcome to Pottersville, where you'll own nothing and be happy.

The lawsuits that created this change were from sellers who feel like they shouldn't have had to pay for the buyers's representation. But get this, now there are talks of the buyers suing because by bringing the money to the transaction, they are the ones who REALLY paid for both sides of the representation.

As far as I know, the proposed new rules haven't been approved by a judge yet, so much of this is speculation based on the assumption they will be approved. But if you don't want to pay 6%, there is no reason to wait, you can get a 1% brokerage right now.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Vanguard real estate lots.  And Vanguard is a majority owner of Blackrock

Don’t forget, Costco might jump in the game.
1/2% commission, 2% back if you buy on their high 6 digit credit line credit card, and a free 1 oz gold bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zNsUTWsOc

[Punatang]

My dad always said, "Son, there is no such thing as a free gold bar."  Shows what he knew.  Stashed incandescent bulbs too.  I'm OK though.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

"Son, there is no such thing as a free gold bar."

Generally I’d agree.  But I’d like to peek inside that Hawaii politicians free sushi & beer lockbox before I’d completely rule out the possibility.

[Punatang]

Good call. The folks trying to get their prefab metal tin-can container homes permitted might be wise to show up there with about a hundred of them.

[keaau mary]

It's not just HPP.  There's a bunch for sale in Ainaloa, Orchidland, and some in Hawaiian Acres (and more on the way).  Most of these homes were built on the correct properties!

Although the homes look very similar in build and appearance, it's not all the same developer.

There's a bunch of reasons why things got this way.  After the Leilani eruption there was a call out for developers to build and then COVID hit and mainlanders bought up all the inventory in an already tight market.  Developers from Oahu and Maui were drawn by the "cheap" land prices and started building these cookie cutter homes with higher end finishes and they were selling for asking price.  With the fresh dopamine hits the easy money was giving them they put development into overdrive but then everything hit a snag:  high mortgage interest rates.  Sales slowed but they continued- even in the high interest environment people were still moving here from the mainland and the other islands, often times paying cash after selling their homes in hotter markets.  But then another snag- the insurers for LZ2 pulled out putting a lot of downward pressure on prices there.  People want to move out of LZ2 and buy these new homes in LZ3, but they can't sell their homes in LZ2.  Meanwhile there are price drops on brand new construction every couple of days, making the newer (but not brand new) homes harder to sell.

Some of the land lots that were purchased for construction were sight unseen.  I've seen a few that were built right next to rooster farms.  And for some reason, nobody wants to live next to one!  I saw one next to a rooster farm that had separate living areas with the garage in between them.  Sounds great, right?  But there were no doors in the garage to access either of the living spaces.  And there was only one kitchen.  So how do the people living on the other side of the garage get food?  Easy- leave their front door, go outside, enjoy the roosters, and go in the other front door.

---

It's not just HPP.  There's a bunch for sale in Ainaloa, Orchidland, and some in Hawaiian Acres (and more on the way).  Most of these homes were built on the correct properties!

Although the homes look very similar in build and appearance, it's not all the same developer.

There's a bunch of reasons why things got this way.  After the Leilani eruption there was a call out for developers to build and then COVID hit and mainlanders bought up all the inventory in an already tight market.  Developers from Oahu and Maui were drawn by the "cheap" land prices and started building these cookie cutter homes with higher end finishes and they were selling for asking price.  With the fresh dopamine hits the easy money was giving them they put development into overdrive but then everything hit a snag:  high mortgage interest rates.  Sales slowed but they continued- even in the high interest environment people were still moving here from the mainland and the other islands, often times paying cash after selling their homes in hotter markets.  But then another snag- the insurers for LZ2 pulled out putting a lot of downward pressure on prices there.  People want to move out of LZ2 and buy these new homes in LZ3, but they can't sell their homes in LZ2.  Meanwhile there are price drops on brand new construction every couple of days, making the newer (but not brand new) homes harder to sell.

Some of the land lots that were purchased for construction were sight unseen.  I've seen a few that were built right next to rooster farms.  And for some reason, nobody wants to live next to one!  I saw one next to a rooster farm that had separate living areas with the garage in between them.  Sounds great, right?  But there were no doors in the garage to access either of the living spaces.  And there was only one kitchen.  So how do the people living on the other side of the garage get food?  Easy- leave their front door, go outside, enjoy the roosters, and go in the other front door.

[Punatang]

"We have 2 new homes being built and another lot just got ripped on our little dead end street. One is right next to what we call Shanty town. Who would buy that? I know one is a Honolulu developer."  - mary

They are definitely stacking up.  Maybe the few buyers out there that can still qualify, just don't like the stuff that's for sale?  Why do they call it Shanty Town?