Fantastic Deal on Ocean View Lot on Kauai

The owner is including County approved plans for a two-story, five bedroom home, which can be amended as long as the foot print is kept the same.  The water meter is installed and a septic design plan is included.  These three amenities will save the buyer thousands of dollars in building preparation.  The lot is level with many fruit trees already planted.  The association fees are only $100/year.  OH, and did I mention it has ocean view?!  No joke, HANDS DOWN the best deal in town! Please contact Martie Law(R) for information on this very affordable Kauai property, at 808.639.8496 or click here to preview the listing on our web site.

Residential Sales
Year to date island wide residential sales have continued to increase! At this time last year there had been 118 residential sales and so far this year there have been 125 (7 more sold); an increase of 5.93%. Sales volume is down slightly compared with 2011.  There has been approx. $95.6m in sales so far this year compared with approx. $96.5m in 2011; a decrease of 0.87%.  The median sales price increased to $450,000 year to date compared with $446,250 in 2011.

Condo Sales
The number of condos sold year to date has increased from 91 sold in 2011 to 94 sold so far in 2012 (3 more sold); an increase of 3.30%.  Sales volume for condos has also increased. There was approx. $30.9m in sales last year compared with approx. $33.3m in sales so far for 2012; an increase of 7.76%.  The median sales price increased to $287,500 from $204,900 in 2011; a 40.31% increase.  This is likely due in part to the decreasing inventory of inexpensive “condo-tel” hotel room units available at Kauai Beach Resort.  The sales prices on these units have continued to increase each month this year.  The inventory of super cheap $25,000 units are gone and prices of active listings and those currently in escrow now range from $36,600 – $89,900.

Vacant Land
The number of vacant land parcels sold this year is down compared to 2011.  There have been 34 parcels sold in 2012 compared to 39 at this time last year; a decrease of 12.82%.  Sales volume for vacant land is down 46.52%.  There were approx. $23.8m in sales in 2011 compared with approx. $12.7m so far this year.  The median sales price decreased 33.12% from $385,000 to $257,500.

The above is a look at the market statistics island wide.  If you’d like to know how the market is doing in a specific area of the island just let me know.  I’d be happy to email you a summary!

Kauai Coffee Company Hosted the Kauai SBA Awards Ceremony

The ceremony recognized business owners around Kauai that have striven for excellence in their area of expertise. Some of the awardees included Sweet Marie’s Hawaii, Inc. owner, Marie Cassel, who was awarded the Small Business Person of the Year. The Home-Based Business Champion of the Year was awarded to Liz Ronaldson, owner of Growing Greens Nursery, and the Minority Small Business Champion of the Year was awarded to Patricia Griffin, president of the Lihue Business Association.  Laura Cristobal, owner of Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts, was named Exporter of the Year, and Jeni Kaohelauli’i, owner of Work It Out in Kapaa, was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year. The Carswell family was also awarded and recognized as the Family-Owned Business of the Year. They are the owners of Princeville Ranch Adventures. Also recognized at the event was Lesther Calipjo, owner of Kauai Foreign Cars and Calipjo Properties, as a Filipino Entrepreneur of the year nominee by the Hawaii Filipino Chamber of Commerce.

The awardees of this event prove that with passion, good strategic planning, customer service and pride in their work, businesses in any economy have the ability to succeed. Congratulations to this year’s awardees. I have nothing but admiration for what you folks have done for the locals and visitors of Kauai. Mahalo!

Now You Can Bundle the Cost of a Remodel into a New Mortgage

To be perfectly honest, “someone else’s” home is never in perfect condition. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a house with clients and the first thing the buyer does is start listing everything they would change to fit their idea of “home”.  In addition, many homes on Kauai have had “improvements” made to them without the proper permits in place, or are not up to current building codes, the latter of which were particularly scrutinized and avoided by lenders.

Finally there is hope… Wells Fargo Home Mortgage of Hawaii has recently introduced three new loan products which will help resolve the challenges that have prevented the average buyer from purchasing a home. Whether you WANT to fix up or house, or NEED to, here are some options:

1.  Easy-to-Own Guaranteed Rural Housing Program: This loan program was designed specifically to increase home ownership in rural areas, like Kauai. This loan offers a No down payment option or down payment assistance. Closing costs may be financed into the loan, and less than perfect credit borrowers welcome.

2.  FHA loans – These loans provide flexible credit and income-qualifying guidelines, fixed and adjustable rates, down payments as low as 3.5%, gift funds accepted as down payment and some buyers can take over the existing mortgage of the Seller including their interest rate.

Have the Kitchen of Your Dreams!

3.  Streamline 203(k) – This loan is designed specifically for the home that needs work by providing financing to purchase and repair the home, refinance a home that needs a makeover and you can pay for the remodel gradually over the term of the mortgage.  The appraiser takes the upgrades to be made into account, and bases the appraisal on the value of the home once the improvements are completed.  At closing, you get the cash to do your improvements!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve made some appointments already! Give me a call today at 808-639-8496 to discuss these loan options in further detail.

Kauai's Historic Valley House For Sale

Kauai’s historic “Valley House”, in the lush hills of Kealia on the east side of Kauai, is for sale. This is truly a rare offering of a turnkey estate with two beautifully renovated main homes, guest house and/or workers’ quarters.

Waterfall lovers will rejoice, as the property offers two natural waterfalls, along with rivers and ponds that run within the property. Orchards of lychee and organic fruit trees of all types are laid out around the property. A helipad and even a skeet-shooting range are amongst the many unique amenities of the Valley House Estate.

Beautiful Waterfalls Adorn the Property

Kauai’s Valley House is steeped in history. Its legendary reputation comes from its original owner, Colonel Zephaniah Smith Spalding, a Civil War veteran who came to Kauai in 1878 at the request of Hawaii’s king, King Kalakaua. Spalding acquired 11,000 acres of land and established Kauai’s sugarcane industry. By 1880, Spalding had finished his Kealia estate and named his home “The Valley House.” The Colonel was renowned for his lavish entertaining of aristocratic guests and sumptuous festivities. Historic features abound on the property.  Throughout the years Valley House was used as a military base of operations during World War II, as well as a hotel. Hotel use may be grandfathered as a current permitted use.

Valley House has starred in many films, including Jurassic Park, Romancing the Stone, Tropic Thunder, George of the Jungle and most recently Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It is one of the most sought after film locations in Hawaii. Valley House has also served as a beautiful setting for private events such as weddings and can be rented as a unique and private vacation rental. Click here for more information on this truly unique listing, or contact me for more information at 808-639-2437.

Homes for Sale on Kauai, April 2012

In terms of price range distribution around the island of Kauai, the majority of active listings in April were priced from $800,000 to $1,999,999. Out of 358 homes listed for sale, 125 homes were in this price range, making up 35% of the market.  Most of these homes are located in the Koloa District, on Kauai’s south shore.

The next most dominant price range for homes on Kauai was $400,000 to $799,999. This group is comprised of 177 homes distributed all over the island. The Kawaihau district, on Kauai’s east shore, has 38 homes for sale in this price range, and the Koloa area has about 30. Together these districts make up majority of homes offered in the $400,000-$799,999 range.

About 16% of the market is made up of homes offered from $100,000 to $399,999, or 59 homes across the island. The Koloa and Kawaihau districts both have 17 homes for sale in this price range. About 8% of Kauai’s market or 28 homes for sale were priced from $2 million to $4.9 million dollar range. Another 8% of homes for sale were homes with the listing price of $5 million or higher. These homes are predominantly located on the north shore of Kauai or the Hanalei district.

If you are interested in purchasing a home on Kauai and would like to know what is available for you around the island in your price range, please don’t hesitate to send me an email and I would be happy to assist you.

It was the ingenious idea of my grandfather, James Blackwell!  My mom and dad say that he was always looking for ideas to help out “the little guy” and offer unique incentives to get people to build or buy homes on Kauai.  He was of course the founder of Sleeping Giant Realty as well as the owner of Blackwell Builders, a general contractor and developer for multiple subdivisions around Kauai.  It’s been stated by many that “He was a revolutionary, a forward thinker, generous, creative and clever.” As I travel around the island, I am always given compliments and told great stories about my grandfather and his unique contributions to Kauai.  He started many of our current contractors, subcontractors and realtors on their way to their own businesses on Kauai!  He was also known to hire “bums” off the street to work for him and give them a chance.  He always saw the good in people and thought that believing in someone was critical to their success in life.  Anyway, one of his creations was the CPR and he proposed the concept to the County of Kauai about 10 years prior to them adopting the idea because at the time, “they weren’t ready for it” and “it was too complicated an idea at the time” says a long time Kauai County employee.

The CPR is unique to Kauai. In fact, many mainland lenders don’t understand it and won’t finance these properties because they can’t differentiate them from actual condos.  They don’t understand that it’s actually a type of ownership, and not brick and mortar. That’s unfortunate because by my calculations, 70% of our inventory has been CPR’d and they are the only ones losing out on the purchase.  There are plenty of Hawaii-based lenders who will lend on them.

Some of the concerns associated with a CPR include having to get permission from other “unit” owners to apply for a building permit.  Also, depending on the size of the lot, a septic system might have to be shared and if there are multiple common elements like driveways, walls, water features, etc., and you don’t get along with your neighbor… then there could be a problem if maintenance issues arise.  Remember, this was intended to be used between family members living on the same lot so these weren’t issues initially.  But CPR’s have evolved over time and now provide a way for everyone to use this approach for their own development purposes.

Other than that, most everything is the same as regular ownership—property taxes are assessed separately, mortgages, liens and insurance requirements are unique to each unit.  Many of Kauai’s CPR properties are made up of only a few units (1 or 2), have no formal association and do not collect maintenance fees.  If nothing else, it encourages getting along with one’s neighbors for the betterment of everyone’s quiet enjoyment of their own piece of CPR heaven.

Lucky we live Kauai!

Kauai Homes for Sale, April 2012

Thirty-five percent of the homes for sale were located on the famous North Shore, also known as the Hanalei district which consists of homes from Waipake through the Haena area.  The South Shore or Koloa District, between Eleele and Mahaulepu, offered the second highest number of homes available for sale, with about 26% of the market or 93 homes.

The Kawaihau district, from the Wailua area through Moloa’a, offered close to 25% or 89 homes for sale, making this the third largest area with homes available to future home owners. Lihue, the heart and centralized point on the island of Kauai, offered 32 homes, capturing about 9% of the market. Homes on the West Side, Kekaha to Hanapepe, or the Waimea district offered the fewest homes for sale.  The Waimea district had about 6% or 23 homes available for sale on the island of Kauai.

Please feel free to email me or call 808.346.1781 for more information and a more detailed study of the area you are interested in. Also contact me if you would like to know the break down for vacant land or condos.

Residential Sales
Year to date island wide residential sales have increased! At this time last year there had been 91 residential sales and so far this year there have been 96 (5 more sold); an increase of 5.49%. Sales volume is down compared with 2011.  There has been approx. $67.8m in sales so far this year compared with approx. $79.7m in 2011; a decrease of 14.99%.  The median sales price decreased slightly to $449,250 year to date compared with $450,000 in 2011.

Condo Sales
The number of condos sold year to date has decreased from 68 sold in 2011 to 59 sold so far in 2012 (9 less sold); a decrease of 13.24%.  However, sales volume for condos has increased just slightly. There was approx. $20.7m in sales last year compared with approx. $21m in sales so far for 2012; an increase of 1.45%.  The median sales price inreased to $290,000 from $187,450 in 2011; a 54.71% increase.  This is likely due in part to the decreasing inventory of inexpensive “condo-tel” hotel room units available at Kauai Beach Resort.  The sales prices on these units have continued to increase each month this year.  The inventory of super cheap $25,000 units are gone and prices of active listings now range from $44,900 – $89,900.

Vacant Land
The number of vacant land parcels sold this year is down compared to 2011.  There have been 24 parcels sold in 2012 compared to 32 at this time last year; a decrease of 25%.  Sales volume for vacant land is also down 52.62%.  There were approx. $21.5m in sales in 2011 compared with approx. $10.2m so far this year.  The median sales price decreased 29.01% from $405,000 to $287,500.

The above is a look at the market statistics island wide.  If you’d like to know how the market is doing in a specific area of the island just let me know.  I’d be happy to email you a summary!

611 Kamalu Rd., Wailua Homesteads, Kauai

The property technically is in a flood zone because there is a small stream at the back of the property.  But having been raised in the neighborhood, my answer was always “a little bit along the roadside when we have heavy rains, but I’ve never seen it flood from the stream, nor have I seen any major ponding in front of the house.” Those answers were all true, until March 5th. You can bet my disclosure will be quite a bit different during future showings.

See this YouTube video: http://youtu.be/uOqYGkExMTE

The good news is, no water ended up in the house and our tenants were able to stay in the house nice and dry while riding out the storm.

Kauai, The Garden Island, is known to be the wettest spot on earth with 400+ inches of rain a year on Mt. Waialeale, our highest peak. During our recent rains, the North Shore of Kauai got 39” of rain in 3 days! This storm was incredible.  We even had hail!  The best thing about living on a small island such as Kauai, is the community. Everyone really comes together and supports each other in times of need, and our occasional  natural disasters are no exception to that rule.  Waterfalls are flowin’, grass is growin’ and rainbows are glowin’!  If it weren’t for the rain, we’d be bored.

Lucky we live on Kauai!