Hawaii real estate by Bonnebaker

Yesterday I wrote about homes that were selling quickly.  Well in the last 24 hours 2 more properties have gone under contract very quickly.  Things seem to be really heating up in the high-end of the market.

1.  2144 Okoa Street, Honolulu in Waialae Iki.  Listed for $1.38 million.

2.  353 Wailupe Circle, Honolulu in Wailupe.  Listed for $1.625 million.

A new bill before the Senate would allow a credit to home Buyers of up to 10% of the purchase price, up to $15,000 maximum.  This is based on the perceived success of the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit, that is currently in effect until the end of November.  The $8000 tax credit has been less successful, because of the many restrictions that come along with it such as the income requirement.  But, $15,000 to home buyers could definitely stimulate the economy through real estate.  If you look at what that would mean on Oahu with our median home sale price of $500,000 ( latest number for May 2009), then that equates to a 3% credit of the purchase.

As I have said in a previous blog posting, there has been an uptick in the number of homes that have sold in the month of May in the Oahu real estate market.  From January, we are up approximately 46% in the number of homes sold.  That can be construed as being partially attributable to the tax credit, as well as the change in the FHA lending requirements and general liquidity coming back in to the lending markets.

This could also stimulate the lagging move-up buyers that want to move up into a more expensive home or better neighborhood.  Currently, the vast majority of these buyers have just been waiting on the sidelines.  From my own experience, there are more Buyers out there and this could provide the motivation they need to jump into the market.

A new conveyance bill, singed by Governor Lingle, gives much need efficiency at the Bureau of Conveyance.  This new bill will allow for electronic signatures and for documents to be archived digitally, rather than the archaic microfilm.  All property transactions are recorded either through the regular system, or through Land Court and documents have been kept in micro film.  But, now with the new bill, the state of Hawaii is one step closer to having everything online and easily accessible.  Because of the massive budget shortfalls, there is no money currently available to make the change, but the bill will allow the department to begin to prepare for the eventual changes.

Renewed focus came upon the department a couple of years ago when the processing and recording of documents took months to finally be avaialble.  Since that time, there has been scrutiny on how to make the department more efficient and also user friendly to the publc.