The Army Corps of Engineers had the Homeowners Assitance Program during the recession of 2007 to 2011 that assisted Service Members who were upside down on their mortgages. There were certain criteria that had to be met such as that you must have purchased the property between certain dates as your primary residence and that you must have received that sent you away from the home you purchased. If you met the criteria then the HAP program in Hawaii contributed the difference between what you sold the house for and what your mortgage balance was. The Service Member who sold the house did not make any profit but the HAP program saved the Service Member from doing a short sale or from going into foreclosure.

David Kucic and Hawaii Military Realty, Inc. assisted several Service Members with HAP sales during the recession.

As I look at the current housing market in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, I see a grim picture for Service Members who purchased homes duriing the pandemic and will soon be on orders to leave Hawaii. Many homes are stagnant on the market because of the large amount of homes for sale and the hesitation of Buyers to purchase a home due to the uncertainty of the future, home prices, inflation and interest rates to name a few.

If you are a Service Member in a difficult situation, please dont hesitate to contact Hawaii Military Realty, Inc for honest and truthful information. You will deal with our team of career, retired Service Members, spouses and active Service Members who are all professionally trained and licensed to take care of our fellow Members.

Unfortunately, I am predicting that there will be short sales on the market within the next 1 to 2 years. I worked approximately 100 short sales for Buyers and Sellers during the recession for both military families and civilians using both VA loans in Hawaii and conventional loans in Hawaii.

What is a short sale? It is when the balance of your mortgage is greater than what you can sell your house for.

Over the past 2 years we have seen a dramatic increase in home prices including Ewa Beach and Kapolei. All of the neighborhoods of Ka Makana at Hoakalei, Kuapapa at Hoakalei, Kipuka at Hoakalei, Lei Pauku at Hoakalei and all of the Ewa by Gentry saw these great price increases.

My concern is mostly for military families in Hawaii who purchased their homes within the past 2 years and will need to leave Hawaii on PCS orders within the next 1 to 2 years. If these military families cannot sell their homes because either the market is flooded with listings or the prices have decreased to an amount below their mortgage balance, they may be forced into a short sale.

They still have the option of renting the house but lets look at some numbers which is what made me write this post in the first place. Lets say a military member purchased a home for $1,000,000 in 2021 using a 100% financed VA loan at 4% interest rate. The mortgage payment including principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA fee is approximately $5,000 to $5,200 per month. The average median price for a single family home in 2021 was around $1,000,000 so we can then assume that the home that the military member purchased was a 3 to 4 bedroom single family home with 1,700 SF of livng space, a 2 car garage and a lot size of around 5,000 SF. Hawaii Military Realty, Inc. manages rental properties in Ewa Beach and Kapolei so we know that a home such as this one will rent for somewhere between $3,600 and $4,000 per month depending on whether the house has solar electric panels, nicely upgraded, pet friendly or not and the rent covers items such as cable TV, internet, swimming pool and fitness center. The normal property management fee is 10% of the collected rent so if we aim for the high end and say the house can rent for $4,000 per month then the amount the owner will collect each month would be $3,600 or $1,400 less than what their mortgage payment is. This doesnt even include items such as the Owner having to pay Hawaii General Excise Tax (GET) of 4.712% or any repairs done to the property during the Tenants occupancy. Many military families cannot afford to come up with that deficit of $1,400 per month and this is why I believe short sales will be prevelant in the next 1 to 2 years.

For any military family that is in this predicament, feel free to reach out to Hawaii Military Realty, Inc. as we consider ourselves to be short sale experts and will help you to navigate through the process. With your help and dedication to getting the short sale completed, we can get your home sold and allow you to move on with your life.

I certainly hope that my prediction is not correct and that we may not see short sales but all signs are pointing toward them.

Due to Covid 19, the real estate market in Hawaii might be seeing short sales appear more frequently due to the value of the home being less than what the payoff for the mortgage is. If you believe you might be in a short sale situation, please contact us for some counseling. Our team have personally done 100 short sales representing both Sellers and Buyers during the recession years. Unlike many other companies that offer short sale assistance, we handle everything personally ourselves. We don’t pass you off to a team of assembly line workers. For more information on Short Sales in Hawaii and VA Loan Short Sales in Hawaii, give us a call or send us an email for more information.

The housing market in Ewa Beach, Hawaii was a roller-coaster ride over the past 10 years.  A few examples of home prices in a few random neighborhoods:

1.  Towhomes at Fairways Edge in Ocean Pointe.  A typical 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom unit sold new from the developer Haseko for in 2007 for $425,000.  During the recession, the same unit sold as a short sale for $325,000 in 2011.  That unit recently sold in the summer of 2017 for $515,000.
2. Ewa by Gentry Montecito Tuscany.  A typical 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom single family CPR house sold new by Gentry Homes for $391,000 in 2006.  During the recession, the same house sold as a short sale for $340,000 in 2010.  That house then sold in 2016 for $535,000.
3. Ocean Pointe Single Family Home in Ewa Beach.  A typical 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom single family house resale to the 2nd owner sold in 2007 sold for $515,000.  It was then sold as a short sale after we were climbing out of the recession in 2012 for $450,000.  That same size home was sold in 2017 for $665,000.

For more information on Ewa Beach homes for sale, New Construction in Ewa Beach, Hoakalei Resort, Ka Makana, Kipuka, Kuapapa, Lei Pauku, Hawaii VA Loans and short sales, contact Hawaii Military Realty, Inc.

There are not a lot of homes for sale in Ewa Beach, Hawaii that dont already have offers on them.  While it looks like there might be a lot of homes for sale in Ewa Beach because you see the “For Sale” signs in front of the houses, that doesnt necessarily mean that they are avaialble.  Once a “For Sale” sign is placed in front of any home for sale on Oahu, Hawaii, it will almost always remain in front of that home until the transaction closes.  Sometimes, especially with the short sales on Oahu, this could take up to 6 or 8 months.

If you want to know what properties are really for sale in Hawaii and that dont already have offers on them, contact Hawaii Military Realty at (808) 218-9338 or email to david@davidkucic.com.

New listing as of this morning, June 4th.  This townhome is located in the Townhomes at Fairways Edge in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.  It is a short sale listed at $330,000.  THIS LISTING AGENT IS A SHORT SALE SPECIALIST.  MOST SHORT SALES CAN BE APPROVED WITHIN A FEW MONTHS AND DO NOT TAKE 9 MONTHS TO CLOSE!  IF SOMEONE IS TELLING YOU TO AVOID SHORT SALES, YOU SHOULD WALK THE OTHER WAY AND FIND A NEW AGENT BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE MISSING OUT ON SOME OF THE BEST PROPERTIES THAT ARE AVAILALBE ON THE MARKET.

It is a 3 bedroom,  2.5 bathroom townhome with an attached 2 car garage.  The home has central air conditioning, all standard appliances, wood laminate flooring downstairs and carpet upstairs.  There is a community swimming pool, spa and BBQ area in the development within walking distance. This community is eligible for purchases using the Hawaii VA Loan entitlement.  There are also nearby miles and miles of walking, jogging and biking paths.  For more information, contact Hawaii Military Realty at (808) 218-9338.

I have an REO/foreclosed listing for sale in Koolina Resort in the neighborhood of Coconut Plantation.  This is a beautiful, well maintained and gated community within walking distance to restaurants, shops, Disney Aulani Resort, JW Marriott Ihilani as well as beautiful beaches.  The property features 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, large covered lanai, ground floor unit, central air conditioning, 1 car garage + golf cart garage + assigned outdoor parking stall and plantation shutters on all of the windows.   Click on the link below to see a walk thru tour of this property.  Asking price is $487,000 which is the LOWEST in the community.

REO Foreclosure Sale in Hawaii

As the city of Kapolei, Hawaii grows more and more, Koolina Resort becomes an even more desirable place to live on Oahu.  For more information about Oahu Real Estate For Sale, Oahu Short Sales, Ewa Beach Short Sales, Ewa Beach Homes For Sale, VA Loans in Hawaii, Military Relocation to Hawaii, New Construction in Ewa Beach, Kapolei Homes For Sale and any other Hawaii Real Estate for sale, please contact me directly at (808) 218-9338.   This property is eligibile for purchase using the Veterans VA Home Loan in Hawaii.

The Oahu real estate market for homes in the Ewa Beach area continues to be extremely competitive for interested Buyers.  For single family homes in the 450-600k price range, there is not a lot of available inventory.  For townhomes in the 325-350k price range, there is also a lot of competition.  If you want to have success purchasing a home in Hawaii, you must have an Oahu Real Estate Agent that is working full time for you.  You need to be advised immediately when a new property comes on the market because if you wait a day or two, someone else will get that property.  Hawaii Military Realty prides themselves on working as full time real estate agents in Hawaii who are committed to working diligently for you in order to get you the home of your dreams.  For more information on Oahu Real Estate, Ewa Beach Homes For Sale, Short Sales in Hawaii, Kapolei Resort Homes For Sale, Mililani Homes For Sale, Foreclosures in Hawaii and to speak to a Hawaii Military Relocation Specialist, contact Hawaii Military Realty at (808) 218-9338.

Video:  Laulani Shopping Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii is moving along well with construction. This will be the home to the new Safeway Grocery Store located at the corner of Ft. Weaver Roadand Keaunui Drive in the Gentry Subdivision of Ewa Beach. Laulani Shopping Center is located adjacent to the new home community of Ewa Gentry Trades, Ewa Gentry Tides and across the street from Ewa Gentry Latitudes and soon to be built Ewa Gentry Sandalwood. 

With the fine quality of homes being built and the homes that are already built in Ewa Beach, this area continues to be the top neighborhood for Military in Hawaii that want to purchase real estate on Oahu.  Furthermore, this area is 100% qualified for the Hawaii VA Loan Benefit and many Military Families are taking advantage of the VA Loan in Hawaii with the current low interest rates around 3.75 to 4%.

For more information on Ewa Beach Homes For Sale, Kapolei Homes For Sale, Koolina Homes For Sale, Makakilo Homes For Sale, Ewa Beach Short Sales, Gentry Homes For Sale and Ka Makana Homes For Sale on Oahu, contact the ONLY real estate company in Hawaii that is dedicated to helping Military Families.  Hawaii Military Realty, First Sergeant Retired David Kucic (808) 218-9338.

We have a new single family home for sale in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.  Located in the private, gated, golf course community of Huelani.  This property was built by Gentry Homes which is one of the premier builders of residential real estate on Oahu.  Gentry has been building homes on the island and for many, many years and they continue to build new homes in Ewa Beach today including:  The Trades, Latitudes, Tides and Haleakea.  All of the homes in the Ewa by Gentry neighborhoods are qualified for use of the VA Home Loan in Hawaii.

Contact David Kucic or Tonya Kucic of Hawaii Military Realty, Inc. for your private showing.  (808) 218-9338

This property features:

• 3 bedrooms
• 2.5 bathrooms
• Upstairs laundry room
• Over 1,700 sf of interior living space
• Over 6,000 sf lot
• Central AC
• Wood laminate, tile and wall to wall carpet
• Stainless steel appliances
• Sprinkler System
• Fully Fenced
• 2 Car Garage
• Driveway Parking
• In ground swimming pool
• Jacuzzi
• Fitness Center
• NOT A SHORT SALE and NOT A FORECLOSURE or REO!