What's the RE market doing these days?

[unknownjulie]

I'd love to see the new stats out for 2014. Will keep my eye out.

[Anxious Messiah]

quote:

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Originally posted by unknownjulie

Wow, I wonder what generation you are from, to think it's ok to use such a "subtle put-down approach" to avoid answering a question.

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Does it really matter which? All generations are guilty of it.

[PaulW]

The RE market must be hotting up judging by the number of RE threads lately.

[Bullwinkle]

In my hood folks are building - even though there are still a few foreclosures in inventory

save that 6% commission - put it in landscaping

from my experience building better value as well - one gets a new house, head start on termites and exactly what one wants - we still have lots of land in Puna - no need to buy used

as to buying land - best advice I ever got - only buy land when you are ready to build - unless you like a financial bath - its expensive to hold raw land - and it really does not appreciate beyond the cpi - if that....

Acting as owner builder Good value as well -- I had enough equity day one to offset about 50% of the price drop when 2008 arrived and the real estate bubble collapsed

Beware of churn as well - this website full of "fallen posters" hot to trot like the proverbial 90 day wonders - pumped up by less than savvy agents - many of them newly arrived - and trying to scratch out a living themselves. Desperation may impact their ethics and there is a lot of desperation about.

about 50% of the pumped up new bees are gone the first two years - turning tail - the ones out of cash selling the furniture cheap so they can buy a ticket home

If the agent drives a camry - run the other way - You will never see anything beyond the asphalt or HPP - grin

[unknownjulie]

Land in Hawaii is cheap to hold onto. (very low taxes) Those of us who bought a year or two ago, are sitting on a tidy profit right now.

[Guest]

Bullwinkle,

Ive been told the contrary. Getting good quality and reliable builders is like trying to get a donkey to jump through a hula hoop.

A 3 month build could take over a year etc..

[Bullwinkle]

Go to Argus Lumber - they have a list of good no nonsense builders - there are three houses under construction on my street today. All the owner builders stoked from what I can tell

get out here in see for yourself - always funny how the want to bee's pretend to know more than the folks in place...........

do your homework - or you could get taken to the cleaners - lots of nice mold infested repos out there - empty since 2008

one also needs to remember that wood frame houses have a much shorter life span out here - rot,rodents,insects and mildew all take a toll 30 - 40 years seems to be the consensus - unless ones builds in reinforced masonry

UKJULIE- its only profit when the cash is in the bank - holding land means a higher tax rate - especially if one lives off island.... road fees if in a paved development overhead and liability insurance all add up - if buying in an active lava zone - things could really spiral - got royal gardens?

http://www.zillow.com/blog/is-land-a-goo...nt-101689/

asset bubbles - looks like the stock market is on its way

manana

[VancouverIslander]

I think Bullwinkle's advice re: owner builder might be pretty good. If you can do the carpentry yourself, you can at least pocket that part of your costs. The down side is this assumes you have both the time and the expertise to 'do it yourself'. There are still a number of things you can't do yourself: electrical, plumbing, septic/cesspit. I guess some can manage drafting themselves, but architect or engineers stamps are cash.

However, don't do it for spec houses unless you are a licensed contractor (due to the limits placed on owner builders). It's a fine idea if you are doing it for your own home. Costs for building are likely to be *at least* $100/sq. ft. for permitted homes plus cost of the land.

There are so many options to consider. As Bullwinkle says, be careful buying a house and be prepared for the cost of renovating if mold or termites are an issue. Low priced homes are usually priced low for a reason. Also be advised that buying unpermitted homes with the intention of bringing them up to code later can be surprisingly expensive.

That said, I still think we are starting to see the recovery in RE prices in Puna. Oahu has already recovered, Kona side is well into it's recovery and Puna's turn is coming imho. Whatever you do, however, don't leave a house unoccupied for any length of time.

[csgray]

I remember during the last boom there were a lot of people complaining about how long it took to build. As I recall the main issues were: how long it took to deal with the building dept. especially inspectors, unreliable contractors and workers, and issues with getting materials in a timely fashion to keep the work going.

When we shopped for our house right after the boom started to bust we noticed some things: there had been a lot of companies from Arizona and Southern California that popped up building spec houses during the boom, especially in Ainaloa and HPP, they were the first wave of short sales and repos when things started to unravel. There was listing after listing of exactly the same house design in various stages of completion for sale, these houses were not well designed for Puna. All those spec houses being built really impacted availability of inspectors, materials, and tradespeople, plus a lot of guys with a few tools set themselves up as sub contractors and not all were very capable.

I think that now we have a more normal situation where houses seem to be going up and getting finaled pretty quickly, at least all the ones I see in HPP, although I have always felt that owner builders have a harder time than contractors dealing with the building dept. based on purely anecdotal evidence. I am seeing houses go from uncleared lot to moved into in 3-6 months right now, with professional construction crews doing the work. The owner builder house on Maku'u we've been watching is taking forever, but the guys only work on it in fits and starts.

With the cheap repos mostly flushed out of the market it is probably getting to the point where building new is cost effective, you get a new house done the way you want it, plus lots are still pretty affordable compared to the boom prices.

Carol

[Guest]

Very intersting stuff.

I've been told there are lots of homes that were built int he boom that are not good for Puna. Basically rule of thumb is, if it looks like a home from back North Mainland, probably isnt good for Puna. Poor air cirulation leads to mold and dampness problems.

I've been focusing on Post and Pier homes.

I also really like the feel of these Bungalo/Jungalo's but am not sure how tehy hold up to Puna, thoughts ?

I have a hesitation for building my own home there, in a place where things dont always work as smooth as they should, seems like it may be a can of worms...

Bullwinkle, I dont know for certain anything about Puna, I just know what I study and why I am on here to learn. I take most everyones input with a grain of salt.