Hawaii Real Estate Cannot Be Measured By Mainland USA Real Estate

By: David Kucic RA (GRI, ABR, AHWD, e-PRO)
First Sergeant, USA (Retired)
Tropic Lightning Real Estate

Hawaii is different. While we have our share of concerns here, it does not compare to what is going on in the mainland USA.

One thing we have going for us here is the constant turnover of people. A big contributor to that turnover is the United States Armed Forces. There are several major military bases such as Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe and a few smaller ones such as Camp H.M. Smith, Tripler Army Medical Center, Wheeler Army Airfield and Coast Guard Station Honolulu.

The second thing is the fact that we are a tourist destination and history shows that people probably won't ever stop wanting to come to Hawaii to experience the beauty of the islands. Many of those tourists become owners of Hawaii Real Estate. We also have numerous foreign investors in our market and many foreign tourists which leads to our ability to hold strong in our real estate market.

Additionally, we have a lot of investors and property owners from foreign countries that love the allure of Hawaii.

We have seen a decline in prices but it has not been the same sort of decline that has been experienced in many other parts of the mainland. There have even been some places in the mainland USA that have seen INCREASES in price such as Seattle and Portland.

When buyers are searching for Real Estate in Hawaii, they almost always look towards a lender that is based in Hawaii unless the buyer is coming from a place outside of Hawaii. If they are looking somewhere else, I encouraged them to consider using a Hawaii based lender. Veterans wishing to use their VA Loan eligibility will have no problem finding a lender in Hawaii.

There are several reasons for that but most significant is the fact that nobody knows our market in Hawaii better than our own Hawaii lenders. We are at least 3 hours behind (west coast) and as much as 6 hours behind (east coast) time versus the mainland which can make getting in touch with someone a nightmare on occassion. While the time difference does not seem like much and many will probably say that "You can just wait until the next day", the fact of the matter is that why should we? We dont need to wait until the next day if we use Hawaii based lenders so why put ourselves in that position in the first place?

I wanted to add a quote from an email that I received yesterday. The topic of the email was about our Hawaii market and talking to our prospective buyers.

You may want to advise them that underwriting guidelines may be tightened and some of the exotic loans, or loans issued to lower credit score applicants may be vanishing. The environment may be changing in mainland markets, but for the most part, our local lenders don't forecast doom and gloom for us here.

What are your thoughts?

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