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What has happened to property values in Hawaiian Beaches, Hawaiian Shores? I have stayed in the area in the past and it seems like an unusually high number of foreclosures. Prices seemed to have plummeted. I do know the lava flow was a threat but it doesn't seem to be anymore. I read that the insurance moratorium has been lifted. Considering buying a place in the area but I see some properties have been for sale for years! Any input from folks in the area?
MAP
MAP
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Interesting comment about the lava no longer being a threat. It is the same threat it always was. There was never anything to suggest that the lava couldn't come and there is nothing to suggest that the lava won't come again. We just had to be reminded of it.
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http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...big-island
"i've spoken with insurance agents and the moving companies, and they're saying lots of people are moving into Puna," said Costa. "The market has just rebounded -- the lava flow feels like it was kind of a little blip."
To date, Puna has moved the largest number of homes on the Big Island this year, with 585 sales. It’s a slight but significant 16-home increase over last year. Though the median home price in the area has slipped to $172,000, the second-lowest on the island after Ka'u, overall sales volume remains almost exactly the same as last year's.
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Considering buying a place in the area but I see some properties have been for sale for years!
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That means, very simply, that the asking prices are way too high... Make a low offer. Nothing to lose.
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South Puna has the most affordable housing with a pretty nice eco-climate and relatively good access to an urban area, Hilo. HOVE and Kau are cheaper but cheaper usually has reasons for being cheaper.
There are a lot of people that come to Puna, decide they love it, buy a house, then decide not long after they hate it (kind of demonstrates that emotional judgment has the reliability of flipping a coin). Then, they just walk out on the house. Malihini meltdown is a big effect in Puna, and the reason so many are in denial of it is because they are afraid it will happen to them. It used to be called island fever, just changing it up a bit to relabel it malihini meltdown.
Once the house becomes abandoned, all kinds of things can happen to make it a tough sell. Also, the location makes a big difference. These developments look like one large area viewed from afar on the internet. Very misleading. That is why the general advice is rent first. And really, rent first all over the island, then rent again where you think you might want to buy a house. Then rent for a year to get a feel for the micro-climate of the area, obstacles to any visions for turning it into a suburb of Phoenix or Chicago or San Francisco or Baltimore. That is another reason people leave, when they finally realize they are living on an island over 2000 miles from any continent. That usually starts the malihini meltdown process. What, there isn't a Chipotle's on every block? Outrageous and unacceptable! Why isn't Hawaii more like the mainland?
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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Welcome Paaki,
A year ago the lava was days away from flowing down Kahakai Blvd. The school was closed and the children moved to other schools. Home values fell and some people found themselves underwater oweing more than their home is worth which caused more foreclosures.
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Yeah, last year it was more of a Magma Meltdown leading to a Mortgage Meltdown.
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I've often wondered what I would do if I bought a place only to discover someone like PT is my neighbor. All bets would be off in that situation. Perhaps PT's observations are affecting the results much like the observer effect in physics. Observe a system and you end up influencing it.
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wtf is malihini meltdown. It used to be " Here today,Gone to Maui"
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If memory serves - values were impacted when insurance and resultingly mortgages became hard to come by in the higher risk lava zones ....
