This market on Oahu is crazy as we are all aware.  It’s really a great time to be a Seller for many reasons during these times.

My concern is with our Buyers, specifically our VA Buyers who are doing 100% financing as most VA Buyers do and then needing to leave on PCS orders in 3 years.

We have no idea how long this Sellers market will last and when it will swing back in favor of Buyers.  Once the market shifts back to a Buyers market, there is more competition amongst Sellers to attract Buyers and one of the ways they do that is by offering things such as lower price and paying for some or all of the Buyers closing costs.

If our VA Buyers are unable to sell their homes because they would have to come out of pocket with cash in order to sell, then their next logical choice is to turn it into a rental property.  That is great as long as the Owner is able to “eat” the shortage each month.

For example, let’s say Sergeant Smith buys a condo in Ewa Beach for $425,000 with 100% financing.  The maintenance and HOA fee is approximately $550 per month.  The mortgage payment would be about $1,625 per month.  That’s $2,175 total.  Those units rent for about $2,000 per month.   The property manager gets $200.  The GET that the owner pays is $120 per month.  This means that Sergeant Smith would be upside down by $495 per month and that doesn’t include any repairs that might need to be made.  

Please think about your future when purchasing a home rather than just jumping in without the knowledge of what could potentially happen in the future.

Great house. Great neighborhood. Owned PV panels. Two car garage. Three bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms. 1,500 SF interior. Come to our Public Open house on Feb 3rd from 10am to 12 noon or on Feb 6th from 2 to 5 pm.

Its a trickle down effect. Buyers cant buy homes because there is too much competition and the Buyers cant wait forever so they are now turning to renting homes in Ewa Beach, Hawaii or moving into government housing. Its really a shame that these Buyers are not able to be competitive enough to buy homes but its all about “who has the most liquid cash to pay above the asking price for a house?” Typically, that is not my brother and sister Veterans that have this type of liquid cash so they are being priced out of the market. This makes renting a home even a difficult task for some Military Families since they are unable to purchase homes and now there is even competition for rental homes. Some of the most desirable areas in Ewa Beach, Hawaii such as the Hoakalei Resort properties of Ka Makana, Kuapapa and Lei Pauku, Ocean Pointe, Ewa By Gentry homes in all neighborhoods including Sonoma, Prescott, Haleakea, Cypress Point, Woodbridge, Carriages, Parkside, Tuscany, Montecito, Las Brisas, Tiburon, Cortebella, Terraza, Tides, Trades, SeaBridge, Coral Ridge, Latitude and Sandalwood to name a few.

The inventory of homes for sale in Ewa Beach, Hawaii is minimal. There are a ton of Buyers looking for homes. Interest rates are low. Combine those 3 things and you have “bidding wars” on homes. In the past 2 weeks, we have had Buyers make offers ABOVE the list price by many, many thousands of dollars only to get beat out by someone that was willing to go higher. Two of the properties had a total of 28 offers and another one had 22 offers. Thats very hard to compete with if Buyers are not willing and/or not able to pay a higher price and have disposable cash to make up the difference between the appraised value and the inflated price they have to pay just to get the house.

Call one of our Military Experts for your free, no obligation home sale analysis.

There are thousands of loan officers doing mortgages in Hawaii. I will only recommend one. His name is John Sego. I have known John for 15 years when we were both on active duty. Sure I could recommend other loan officers however I know John is a man of integrity, loyalty, honesty and excellent service and communication. I put my reputation on the line whenever I refer someone and I never hesitate to recommend John to any of my buyers whether they are doing a VA loan or a conventional loan. From one veteran to another, active-duty, retiree, national Guard, Army reserve, department of defense civilian, NSA, FBI or a civilian with no ties to the department of defense.

As the seller of real estate in Hawaii you are responsible for paying the real estate commissions on the sale of the property. That amount is normally split equally between the agency representing you as the seller and the agency representing the buyers brokerage. The normal percentage is somewhere between 4% and 6%. Some discount brokerages will offer to do it for less and for example may only charge you a flat fee for example $5,000 to represent you in the sale of the house but the misleading part is that you are not told you are also responsible for paying the buyer’s brokerage on amount of somewhere between 2% and 3%.