About Mililani's Mililani Hawaii Real Estate & Relocations

We represent our clients best interests. THAT is my first and foremost priority when strategizing the sale of a home. In Strategic Planning + Hard Work = Property IN CONTRACT my planning turned out to be a big positive and the townhouse was in contract by day ONE after the Open House. With 50+ guests to view the Mililani Townhouse for Sale there was no doubt in my mind that all efforts paid off.

But by the third day in contract the buyer's agent politely calls to inform us that they are backing out. No home inspection yet either. "The wife didn't really like it" was the reason....but hey......

.....I'd rather find out quickly rather weeks down the line.

At last Sunday's Open House the guest sign in sheets were filled out completely with guest, name of agent and so forth. I had also made notes on the side of the guests (i.e. very interested and said their agent would be contacting me) so I would remember who they were.

So when the contract fell out I hopped on the phone and within the hour had called five agents with the interested clients from the Open House. They were so excited and the following day received four contracts. We are now back in contract and have a back up offer besides.

Always have a backup plan.

Because as we all know it's never for sure....until it records.

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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.

Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com

Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!

Bob Stewart has some great ideas when it comes to a community challenge and the current one on Using Your Blog To Enhance Existing Relationships got my blogging juices running. His Theme?

How are you using your blog to enhance your existing relationships with clients and prospects?

The most important part of my ActiveRain blog is my Profile Page. Yeah, we all insert some information about ourselves and what we will do for our clients. But what sets my blog apart from others? A while back I decided to make my profile page a ‘one stop shop' for all posts that I had written for the Hawaii Relocations and Real Estate. A Relocation Packet for the consumer.

My Profile page gave the consumer all the information they needed to get started to learn about Hawaii the State, Local Area History, Businesses around my area, Points of Interest. I included basically ALL things Real Estate including market reports, community information and information for buyers and sellers. Of course I couldn't fit all nine hundred + posts I've written on ActiveRain over the years but I did a good job of focusing on my niche area.

‘It's not just about real estate...

it's about the community and making their transition just a little bit easier.'

Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and many of my buyers are Military Relocating to Hawaii and other Hawaii Relocations. I have to rely on my websites and blogs to keep them interested and eventually email or call me.

Updating and Creating: Update, create, update, create. It's a lot of work but hey...it's well worth the results. Old news does not keep a reader engaged. My blog is a continuously moving ad and constantly updating my blog and website with FRESH content will keep me on the first page of Google with many keywords for my niche market. (My Website is my own creation and I can keep it fresh because I don't have to rely on others to do it)

My ActiveRain Outside Blog: My outside blog is a great additional tool (extended from ActiveRain) and all you have to do is subscribe, pick your own domain name, update your theme and add links and so forth. All the rest is transferred over to www.cheesemanhomes.com from my ActiveRain blog when I choose to publish public and consumer posts to my outside blog. I currently have the link to my outside blog in my signature for emails as well.

MY OUTSIDE BLOG IS A NEWSLETTER IN ITSELF!

Connnect to Facebook and Twitter and all my public posts are linked directly in as well.

Creativity and Using My Own Voice: There is nothing better than a reader reading something and they can "feel" the writer in the story. You could be writing a great localism post about the history of your area or real estate related material. If you are ‘talking' at them instead of ‘talking' with them they won't listen. So I write the same way. I write as if I'm walking with them and talking with them.

It's a conversation that is continuously moving with words.

Pictures, Virtual Tours and Video: Pictures that are tastefully inserted into my article or post shows the reader the area I live in and enhances my blog tenfold. I happen to think it's my blog's best trait for visual appeal. I enhance my blog further with video and virtual tours from www.realestateshows.com. Real Estate Shows is my all time favorite for listings, tours around Hawaii and anything I want to use it for...including inserting a show in the PHOTO GALLERY on my website.

Local Area and Business Posts: What better way to engage my readers than showing them I am the local area expert by writing about Hawaii history, sites, businesses and neighborhoods? Real Estate is talking about ALL THINGS REAL ESTATE and if you are your local area expert you show them you have information by writing about everything in your community. www.localism.com is another part of ActiveRain where you can ‘sponsor' your local areas and connect with businesses in your area as well.

Utilizing all the ActiveRain challenges and writing my best industry related posts is the best part of ENHANCING those RELATIONSHIPS. Another recent challenge by Bob Stewart and his 1000 Point Challenge For The Rest Of Our Members.....'The Series' which allowed me to redo my HAWAII HOMES MARKET RELOCATION AND REAL ESTATE INFORMATION ONLINE and currently put the first three parts (links) on my MILITARY/VA Information page of my website.

• Hawaii Military Relocation | YOUR Military Move to Hawaii PART I Loads of information on the bases around the island of Oahu (which is Honolulu County) and getting your pets ready, the diversity of Hawaii, living on an island paradise with little buildable land (therefore, smaller homes) and so forth.
• Hawaii Honolulu Military Relocation -Part II of the Series on YOUR Military Move to Hawaii we discussed options on renting, buying or living on Base Housing and gave you a chart on Honolulu County 2009 BAH so you know what to expect for your Honolulu County Housing Allowance.
• Hawaii Military Relocation| PART III on YOUR Military Move to Hawaii | Hawaii Home Buyers VA Loans Your To Do List in getting ready for your Hawaii Home Buying Process is the next step in being proactive in your Hawaii Military Relocation. Starting your Hawaii VA Loan Process before you even arrive will make the process time shorter once you get into contract.

My efforts have informed many about all aspects of the Real Estate Industry including but not limited to Real Estate Transactions and Information, examples of real estate trials and tribulations, Hawaii Local Area History, Sites, information on relocations across the Pacific, Neighborhoods, City, Points of Interest, Businesses, Entertainment and more.

And all was obtained by communicating my thoughts through....blogging.

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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs, she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents.

Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com

Supporting Hawaii Local Businesses!

Mililani Real Estate and Housing Market Report for June 2009

Let's start with the Mililani Condo Statistics for June 2009: In May of 2009 (last month) there were 64 Active condos/townhouses on the market, 29 in contract and 20 sold. Looks like our Mililani Condo/Townhouse market is picking up with more units with accepted contracts and going through the transaction process. Sales Prices ranged from $160,000 (1 bedroom condo) to $495,00 (2 bdrm luxury townhouse).

Mililani Single Family Home Market Report for June 2009: Let's compare to May of 2009 (last month). We had 36 Active Listings for May 2009 with 11 in contract and 24 sold. It appears that our Mililani Single Family Home activity is picking up with more in contract for June 2009 although less closed transactions. Sales Prices Ranged from $500,000 (2 bedrooms) to $830,000 (4 bedrooms).

We can attibute the slower closing process to appraisals taking longer than usual to process...especially with VA Loan Appraisals. As it stands, Mililani is centrally located on the island of Oahu (which is Honolulu County) and central to all Hawaii Military Bases. The volume of Hawaii VA Home Loan Home Buying is on the rise (as is refinancing VA Loans) and therefore slowing the Hawaii VA Real Estate Transaction Process.

Another factor is that our Governor imposed a three Fridays a month furlough (with no pay) to balance the budget so of course that puts our Bureau of Conveyances behind on the recording process. Instead of the one day after funding to record it will now take two or more days.

More Hawaii Market Reports for Honolulu County:

• Honolulu Real Estate | Market Report for June 2009
• Honolulu County Real Estate | YTD Condo Market Report for Period Ending June 30, 2009
• Honolulu County Real Estate | YTD Single Family Home Market Report for Period Ending June 30, 2009

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Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs she serves all Hawaii Home Buyers and Sellers on the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) inclujding all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents. Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com

Mililani IS the only community in Hawaii to receive the distinction "All American City" in 1986. Mililani Town and Mililani Mauka, a Master Planned Community has a population of approximately 30,000 people.

The first homes went up for sale around June 1968 and 112 homes were offered for purchase.

In The Beginning...

In 1971 my parents bought a new home and we moved to Mililani Town upon completion that summer. Since Mililani High School wasn't finished yet I had to catch the bus to Wahiawa until graduation from Leilehua in 1974.

Our H-2 freeway opened in 1976 which lessened the time to travel to and from Honolulu with an additional route other than Kamehameha Highway. Mililani Mauka Subdivision had their groundbreaking ceremony in 1990 and the building continued until last year when the last of the homes were sold.

Current Real Estate Trends in Mililani

The Mililani Real Estate and Housing Market remained stable in sales the past few months although prices dropped some overall the past year. The good thing is that the sales numbers have increased and inventory dropped considerably over the last year as well.

What does that tell us? The following Mililani Real Estate Sales Activity for May of 2009 tells a story compared to the following statistics for 2008 at this same time period.

Current Market Report 2009

*NOTE: DOM (Days on Market) means how long the property was listed on the MLS until the properties went into escrow with an accepted contract.

2008 Market Report

Here's the bottom line: The First Time Homebuyer $8,000 tax credit brought interest back into our market over the last couple of months. The Military plays a big part in our community and the Hawaii VA Loan is a great loan for the Hawaii Military Relocation client. So, with the inventory down we all know what happens when you snooze. You lose. :)

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Be proactive in your Hawaii Relocation and your search for your home in paradise.

It's not easy moving across the Pacific Ocean let alone to a totally different "world" of people but you can do it with effort, motivation and a great Realtor®!

Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman is a Realtor-Associate with Century 21 Liberty Homes in Mililani, Hawaii. With a sharp understanding that a listening ear is the key to a client's needs she serves the island of Oahu (Honolulu County) and all Hawaii Military Relocating to Hawaii, Hawaii Retirees, Hawaii Job Transfers and Hawaii Residents. Website: www.hawaiihomesmarket.com

Hale Kaloapau Townhouse in Mililani Town

OPEN HOUSE TODAY! 2-5pm!

Listing Agent: Randy Prothero, Century 21 Liberty Homes