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| Aloha! We
have a wonderful assortment of articles, resources, tips and industry
updates for you this month and we hope you enjoy. There are several great
Island events coming up in August, so if you're thinking about visiting us,
there will be plenty of fun things to do -- also,
ATA Airlines added
additional direct flights to and from the Big Island! They also have a handy
interactive ATA Route Map ... just click on Hilo, and it will
instantly display the available routes. Check out:
http://tz.flightlookup.com/routemap/ata_FlashMapping_002.php
If you are having any difficulty reading the newsletter below, you may view
the current newsletter here:
http://www.hilobrokersnews.com
In addition to the featured articles, don't forget to dig a little deeper
for additional articles located in the "Daily News & Advice" area, as well
as the "More Articles" section.
Mahalo,
Kelly & the Hilo Brokers, Ltd. Team
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Your
Big Island REALTOR:
Kelly H. Moran
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Quality Big Island Real
Estate Service & Experience
for Over 20 Years!
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Some Articles Copyright © 2007 Realty
Times
All Rights Reserved.
Hilo Brokers, Ltd.
808-969-9400
400 Hualani St.
Bldg 21
Hilo, Hawaii, 96720
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When Should Homebuyers
Jump
In?
Investors
who time any market hope to buy at the nadir and sell at the
zenith, but homebuyers have a trickier time knowing when to
sit on the sidelines and when to jump in. The reason? There
are several.
Buying a home is one of the largest financial
investments a homebuyer will make. Transaction costs are
expensive enough that homeowners remain in their homes
approximately six years before trading up or down. As the
recent buyer's market shows, homes aren't liquid, and may
not find buyers at the price and in the time frame that
sellers prefer.
On the other hand, homeownership provides significant
benefits including property rights, tax benefits and other
government subsidies including support for a mortgage
lending market, quality of life, appreciation, and equity.
Since two factors move markets -- fear and greed --
it's easy for buyers to be overanxious to buy in a seller's
market and reluctant in a buyer's market. In a seller's
market
CONTINUED >>>
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Mortgage Rates
U.S. averages as of June 28, 2007:
30 yr. fixed: 6.67%
15 yr. fixed: 6.34%
1 yr. adj: 5.65%
View current rates
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Wondering
What
Your Home is Worth?
Let us show you
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Featured
Property
Ocean Views - Prime Location
One-of-a-Kind Designer Home
$590,000
Click Here for More Info |
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Avoiding 7 Costly Mistakes
of Selling Your Home
There
are inappropriate steps sellers can take when it comes time to
put their house on the market.
For instance, the seller in Virginia, who thought the
half bath the builder had located at the front of the house
would really be better situated toward the back of the main
level (though all the other similar models had the powder room
in the same place for the previous 20 years). He got hung up
on this detail so much, that he just had to move it -- and did
-- for thousands of dollars, just so he could get it on the
market the "right way." His hang-up may have settled some
deep-seated emotional need for him, but it didn't draw any
more buyers, and it drained his bottom line. You might say,
that was a costly mistake.
Real estate broker and author Sid Davis has identified
in his book, "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home," seven
costly mistakes that many sellers make when it comes time to
put their home on the market. In my business, I've seen each
one of these mistakes played out and it just makes me shake my
head as to why sellers forge ahead with unwise strategies,
instead of listening to the voice of an experienced
professional.
Mistake 1: Putting the home on the
market before it's ready. Most times this happens because the
seller gets impatient or is a procrastinator and has pushed
himself up against a moving deadline without getting the
pre-sale work done. So it comes on the market with the
horrible carpet (that gets replaced during the marketing of
the home); or they are painting it while it goes on the
market. Presentation is everything -- so get the work done
before marketing the property.
Mistake 2: Over improving the home for
the neighborhood. This happens with additions, bump outs, and
upgrades that make the home stick out from among its
competitors so much that it's an anomaly, instead of a nice
addition to the community.
Mistake 3: Pricing the home based on
what the seller wants to net. This pricing strategy always
ends in failure. Sellers can control the "asking" price, but
they don't control the "sales" price. The market does. It
doesn't matter what the seller wants, the price is determined
by the black-and-white, matter-of-fact reality of the market .
Mistake 4: Hiring an agent based on
non-business factors. It might be nice to hand over your
largest asset to your nephew who just got his license -- but
make sure you understand the consequences if your deal starts
going south.
Mistake 5: Getting emotionally involved
in
CONTINUED >>>
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Answers to Your
Frequently Asked Questions
With the Hilo-Brokers.com website
receiving upwards of 1,000 visitors a day, we have the
privilege of helping lots of folks with their property search
needs and questions. We thought we'd start a column answering
some commonly asked questions ... questions you yourself may
have had, but were too shy to ask! This month, our agent,
Marcel helps us out ....
 Question:
How can I evaluate a listing I'm interested in purchasing?
An experienced REALTOR can help you evaluate a property
and/or a business opportunity. To give you an example, I
received a recent inquiry regarding evaluating an orchid
business opportunity. This is a sample of the partial response I
provided:
To help you evaluate this opportunity, I suggest you consider
the following:
1) Current cost for an acre of land in this subdivision
with no improvements starts at around $49,000 and goes up to
$299,000. Location will primarily dictate the asking price.
2) To this, you will need to add the cost of grading
and fill to remove any forested area and level out the lot to
setup the greenhouses and future house site. This alone could
cost upwards of $25,000 or more, depending on the amount of fill
needed.
3) Now, add in the cost for constructed improvements. I
have been advised that the total covered green-house space here
is around 12,000 sq. ft. This cost does not include plant stock
benches, plumbing, water holding tanks, pumps or other related
equipment.
4) Now, add in the cost for an inventory of mature
plant stock and you should have an idea of what the offering is
worth.
Always remember, an experienced local REALTOR is
invaluable in your property, business or home search because
they can offer a wealth of information about local costs,
terrain, construction, and other considerations unique to the
Big Island and specific areas on the island.
Additionally, in most cases, using a buyers agent is
free to you, the buyer -- the seller pays the buyer's agent
fees.
Lastly, you want to choose an agent who specializes in
assisting buyers and their specific needs. As an Accredited
Buyer Representative, considered the benchmark of excellence in
buyer representation, you can be assured I will continually
provide you with "Professional and Personal Service -
Unconditional Integrity".
Contact Marcel Pichon,
REALTOR®
RS, ABR®,
AHD®
Accredited Buyer Representative
Hilo Brokers, Ltd.
Office Tel: 808-969-9400 x25
Direct Tel: 808-968-8910
Toll Free: 800-769-4456 x25
Agent Website:
www.HiloHawaiiProperties.com
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HiloBrokers.com Property
Search Tips & Tricks
Not only can you use the fully
customizable search feature on the website, but did you know
that earlier this year we setup already-made search categories
to make it even easier? Here are just some of the
pre-made searches you can access using the links on the main
left navigational menu:
All Listings:
Featured Listings
New Listings
Changed Listings
Changed in the Last Day
Changed in the Last Week
Older than a Month
Virtual Tours |
Property Types:
Distinctive Homes
Condos
Two Homes (Ohana)
Ocean View
Stream/Waterfall
Farms/Ranches
Commercial |
Locations:
North/South Hilo District
Hamakua District
North Kohala District
South Kohala District
North Kona District
South Kona District
Kau District
Puna District.... and,
you have your choice of searching the whole district, or
choosing specific towns within the district. |
Specifications:
House Size
Bedrooms
Bathrooms
Amenities
Power Source |
Price Ranges:
Less than $50K
$50K-$100K
$100K-$175K
... and so on |
And don't forget, if you do use the
advanced customized search, you can easily save that search for
a return visit ... just click the link at the top of the page
that says, "Click here to add this search
to your favorites".
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Upcoming
Island Calendar of Events
HILO ORCHID SOCIETY SHOW
Date: August 10 - 12
Time: Fri. 9am-9pm; Sat.9am-5pm; Sun.9am-2pm
Place: Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium
A beautiful show with hundreds of orchids on display and for
sale. One of the many orchid shows presented throughout the year
by the Orchid Societies in Hawaii.
Call: Carol Siebenrock (808) 968-8196.
HAWAII'S 4TH ANNUAL WORLD HERITAGE
FESTIVAL
Date: August 18
Place: Kalakaua Park - Downtown Hilo
Weave yourself into Hawaii's beautiful tapestry of people
blending together at Kalakaua Park in a spirit of peace,
harmony, love and aloha. Hawaii's World Heritage Festival
features cultures that have over generations come to our islands
to make their homes. The day opens with a traditional Hawaiian
welcome chant followed by a mini fashion show and non-stop
performances from around the world. Artists, crafters and food
vendors sell international products and cuisine while cultural
organizations supply free demonstrations and information about
their world heritage. Free.
Call: (808) 933-9772.
For additional Island events, see the
Big Island Calendar of Eco-Cultural Events.
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E-mail this Newsletter to a friend
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Area Spotlight
Each
month we'd like to spotlight a local area, and this month we present
. .
A Spotlight on
The Hamakua Coast
 Fifty
miles of breathtaking, rugged green and blue coastline stretching
from Hilo to Waipi'o Valley, and one hundred years of sugar cane
farming have kept this area simple and exquisite. It is some of the
most remote, fertile, and sought after real estate on the Big Island
— largely because it is almost unusual to live on the Hamakua Coast
and not have a river or ocean view!
Also, there are proportionally only a small number of
lots here that are rectangular and on a grid. Many lots have
irregular shapes on their boundary lines and the topography within.
These days, you generally move to The Hamakua if you
revere rolling green farmlands, rivers and/or ocean views; you are
nostalgic for old Hawaii ways, and you can afford it!
There are relatively few lots available on the Hamakua
Coast, so the supply and demand equation drives up the prices. But
if you can find something you can afford here, you will be smiling.
There is nothing more brilliant than the five o'clock sunshine on
those beautiful green fields with that blue, blue ocean in the
background.
There are listings currently available in this
breathtaking area. If you're interested in learning more, I would be
happy to assist you in your search.
Contact Christine Mingo,
REALTOR®
Salesperson,
Accredited Buyer Representative
Hilo Brokers, Ltd.
(808) 960-8826, Toll Free: 800-769-4456
Agent Website:
www.ChristineMingo.com
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More Articles
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Daily News and Advice
Read about the events shaping the Real Estate
market today, find current interest rates, or browse the
extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some
of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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Learn Hawaiian:
Ke & Ka
Like
other languages, "the" has different forms. For example, in
French, you can use either "le" or "la", depending on
whether the noun following is "masculine" or "feminine".
In Hawaiian, we have "Ke" and "Ka". It can be within a
word (i.e., Kalei is a girl's name, which means 'the flower
wreath' = the lei) or a standalone word in a sentence.
So, when do we use Ke vs. Ka? We have to look at the word
following. If the next word starts with a K, E, A or O, you
would use Ke, otherwise use Ka (there are a couple
exceptions).
Here's a simple trick used in Hawaiian language courses
and books. The Hawaiian phrase "Ke ao" means "The Cloud" in
English. It also uses all the letters that Ke should be used
in front of.
This
month's featured word (we dare you to say it fast three
times!):
Humuhumunukunukuāpua'a
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(who-moo-who-moo-new-coo-new-coo-ah-poo-ah ah)
This is the
Hawaiian state fish ... a type of trigger fish.
It is often
asserted that the Hawaiian name is one of the longest words
in the English Language and that "the name is longer than
the fish."
Want to learn
more about this fish?
Click here.
For additional tips on "How to
Speak Hawaiian Like A Haole", visit our friends and favorite
Information & Activity Portal for the Big Island:
Instant Hawaii. |
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Kelly H. Moran, CCIM, CIPS, REALTOR®
E-mail:
Kelly@hilo-brokers.com
Web:
http://www.hilo-brokers.com
Office: 808-969-9400 x11
Toll Free: 800-769-4456 x11
Mobile: 808-938-5757
Fax: 808-969-7900 |
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Hilo
Brokers, Ltd.
808-969-9400
400 Hualani St.
Bldg 21
Hilo, Hawaii, 96720
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Equal Housing Opportunity
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