I have been a fan of dancing from the age of 19 when I finally worked up enough nerve to ask a girl to dance. She said yes, much to my suprise, and the rest is history. I danced my way through my time in the Navy and then my way through the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I also worked at a wonderful restaurant and nightclub called Bobby McGee's in Waikiki which only fueled my love for dancing.
Well, that was the 80's and well over 100 pounds ago. I just happened to watch a movie called "Can We Dance" with Shayanne and Vanessa Williams. It was really great! It inspired me to look for a place to get off my butt and jump back into Salsa again. I found a dance school run by Greg "The Salsaman" Henry. OK, I've been to one class, but I can see that Greg's students really enjoy his classes. I bought Ten classes for $80.00 and will be attending every Tuesday and Thursday. I am so excited to get dancing again I can't even put it into words.
If you would like to Salsa your way back into shape, love dance or would like to try Salsa, please call Greg at (808) 256-7556. He is very good about returning calls.
I hope to see YOU in class very soon!
Cheers-Mike
Area Price Range $650,000 to $6,900,000
Talk to me about how you can find the Hawaii home of your dreams
Mike Ramsey Fujita RA SFR (808) 630-1828
DHHL (Department of Hawaiian Homelands) properties are for Hawaiians with at least 50% Hawaiian in them that is traceable through their genealogy. An applicant to live in a DHHL Home or on DHHL Land must submit an application to the DHHL, along with proof of heritage and then be approved. Once this is done you go on a waiting list. This is a very simple explanation regarding this matter for a process that can take a lifetime to actually get a home. In the past, parents have left their place in line to their children upon their passing.
The website to go to for more information is http://www.hawaiianhomelands.org/applications/commonly-asked-questions-by-new-applicants/ this link will take you to the page FAQ (frequently asked question) page for applicants. If this doesn’t help you go to http://www.hawaiianhomelands.org/applications/applying-for-hawaiian-home-lands/ hopefully this page will help as well.
Why blog about this? Well a client called yesterday with questions regarding refinancing and possibly taking advantage of the low interest rates and consolidating his debt. Unfortunately, he spoke to some person at HomeStreet Bank and they told him that because he owns a DHHL home there was no such thing as equity and he couldn’t. Something didn’t sound right to him so he called and inquired if we knew anything about this.
Of course we didn’t but we spent the day trying to find out the answers for him and took it as an opportunity to learn ourselves about DHHL homes. Here’s what we found out thanks to Tom Carmichael, http://tcarmichael-affinitylendinglo.mortgagewebcenter.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1 , at HomeStreet Bank. 
You can refinance “refi” your home if it is a DHHL home. You can take equity out if there is any and you meet the loan to value and income to debt ratios.
First off, if you are just going to refi in order to take advantage of the lower interest rates then you won’t need an appraisal and they can process your request. If you qualify they will complete the refi for you and hopefully your monthly mortgage payment will go down or you can pay if off sooner.
Secondly, if you want to take equity out then the process is a bit more complicated. First an appraisal will need to be ordered and it is not completed using the Market Value assessment but with Cost Approach. This is a little different and really only an appraiser can do this for you. Once completed, some math will need to occur. DHHL requires that 25% equity remains in your home. This means that if the appraisal comes in at $200,000 then $50,000 of equity needs to remain debt free. The difference is $150,000. If your current mortgage balance is $100,000 then you would have about $50,000 to take out to pay off debts, etc… However, if you current mortgage balance is $150,000 then you have no access to equity to take out.
Say you fall into scenario one where you have access to $50,000 then you need to make sure your income to debt ratio allows you to qualify for the refi. Something unique to DHHL properties is that even though your intention is to pay off your debt with the funds taken out they still require the lender to use the monthly debt in the income to debt ratio. So this is a hurdle you will need to overcome.
From what I learned only the big banks do DHHL loans… not sure if this is true since I didn’t call all of them. Central Pacific used to do them and no longer does. Bank of Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank might. So far only HomeStreet seemed to have the best insight; however, call Tom since whoever my client spoke to earlier didn’t seem to know much and gave out wrong information.
It is well known that the Real Estate fallout of 2008 did not impact Honolulu as hard as most of the United States. There are many reasons for that. Many of the areas of Oahu that did see a fall in value has experienced a recovery of value. We know this because we track home prices. We are not talking about Assessed Value, we are talking about Market Value and this is established by the prices that Sellers and Buyers agree upon in real hard dollars.
Over the years, interest rates have fallen to the lowest rates many of us have ever seen. Home prices are also near their lows, even with the recovery that has taken place. They are still far off their "Real Estate Boom Highs", but when combined with today's low interest rates, many home buyers are really getting their money's worth!
There are easily a couple of thousand properties for sale on Oahu, as of this writting. They range in price from a couple of hundred thousand dollars to we over $32,000,000. There are also well over 200 homes priced over $1,500,000. These are real homes. Many of them can be considered Estates complete with the electric gates and uncompromising quality and some are more of a simple Island Style with a View that will make you melt and think "I could live here".
My partner and I would love to share these homes with you. If you would like to see them, please call Gayle to set up a showing appointment at (808) 388-1485. Let her know the areas and price range you are interested in. You may also call me (Mike) directly at (808) 630-1828 anytime.
Happy House Hunting!
The PGA’s Sony Open in Hawaii is played at the Waialae Country Club on Oahu’s South Shore in the Kahala Area. This year the event actually began on January 9th but play started today under partly cloudy skies and cool Hawaiian breeze. The Sony Open brings nearly $25,000,000 in revenue to the State and tons of television coverage, much of which is like a Postcard Video. No doubt, people will want to come to Honolulu to golf after watching some of the play.
The Kahala Area of Oahu is one of the most prestigious areas to live in the State of Hawaii. Homes range from pre 1960 Hawaiian Style Houses to Modern Classic Villas. You can find everything in between as well. Prices range from just under $1,200,000 for a well maintained contemporary home to $16,950,000 Contemporary Beach Front on Kahala Avenue with panoramic ocean views from East to West, designed for entertaining with a covered oceanfront lanai.
If you would like to call Kahala home,
we invite you to view all of the homes available today HERE.
We are Mike Ramsey Fujita RA SFR and Gayle Fujita Ramsey RA SFR with Hawaii Real Estate Online. Please call upon us if you would like a personal tour of these wonderful homes.
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Hawaii Real Estate Online is where you'll find Mike & Gayle. They are Residential Property Specialists, HBR, HAR & NAR Members and Concierge Level Service is their specialty.
Michael Ramsey Fujita RA SFR and Gayle Fujita Ramsey RA SFR, are Award Winning, Top Producing Realtors. They work with Hawaii Real Estate Online.
Mike was the past Vice President for Realty Executives Oahu and Gayle, the Director of Realtor Development, wrote Realty Executives Oahu's "Executive In Training" Program training manuals and teaching guide lines, before they joined Hawaii Realty Group. They are also Residential Property Specialists for Hawaii Realty Group (HRG). This means that they are not only licensed by the State of Hawaii, but that they have far exceeded their set of Established Performance Criteria in the areas of Luxury Homes and Single Family Homes Marketing and Sales. Basically, without all of the fancy words and professional terms, this means they can handle all of your Real Estate Needs whether you are looking to buy or sell property.
Mike and Gayle were the Top Producers for REO for 2007 and 2008, are members of the Top 1% Club and have won numerous other awards for Customer Service and have even won the coveted "Best of Honolulu" and are active members of the Hawaii MLS. When you work with Mike and Gayle you can expect to find Real Estate Professionals that will Listen to you, Creative and Aggressive Marketing and Execution of the Plan and Strategy the Created Just For You, Realtors that put themselves out there and make it easy for other Realtors to show their clients your home, Insightful Recommendations and Advice and PROMPT call backs when you phone them with questions, if they were unable to pick up your call when you made it; just to name a few things that set Mike & Gayle apart from other Real Estate Professionals. The Key to their success is Mike's ability to get the details about your property in front of Qualified and Ready Buyers. Mike and Gayle's success as a Buyer's Agent comes from their ability to find properties, which at times were not even on the market, for their clients.
Mike and Gayle are Marketing Experts. They spend far more of their own money on Marketing than most other Real Estate Professionals. This expense is NEVER paid by their Clients. They can do this because most agents have to pay a large percentage of their commissions to their Brokers or the company they work for. Mike and Gayle do not have this expense so they spend that money on Advertising and Marketing. The end result is that their clients win.
Mike and Gayle are Residential Property Specialists for Hawaii Real Estate Online and work with the Hawaii MLS. Mike has been in Hawaii for thirty years and Gayle was born on Oahu. They know every nook and cranny of the island.
Each area of Oahu, Honolulu City and County, is different. Schools, Shopping, Entertainment, Restaurants, Child Friendly Neighborhoods, Pet Friendly Buildings, Laid Back Lifestyle, Busy City Living. Each client we work with shares with us those things which are important to them and then we go and find the properties with the right fit. Often, their clients will want to be in a specific neighborhood on Oahu and the right home is not on the market. This is when Mike starts to Knock on Doors. They will go to nearly any length to fill their clients needs.
Mike and Gayle's main area of Expertise is simple. It's making their clients Smile.
Mike and Gayle went above and beyond for us. We have sold two properties with them and we are very happy we did. RSF 2008
I was on the Mainland so Mike emailed me dozens of properties to view. I flew over to Honolulu and I wanted to see 12 of the properties in one day and Mike made it happen. There was one property that I loved and we were in escrow the next day. I own many properties in California and Washington State, Mike and Gayle were the best Realtors I have ever worked with, I feel like I got Two Realtors for One! CC 2007
I have known Mike and Gayle for years and needed to sell an Apartment Building. I was too busy to deal with most of the process and Mike and Gayle worked around my busy work schedule to make the sale happen! GL 2008
I was a Realtor in Arizona and knew nothing about Hawaii. Mike met us when we got off the plane and took us for an Island Tour. We feel in love with Kailua. Thank you Mike and Gayle. S & C 2007
What We Offer Buyer Clients
Your home is probably one of the biggest purchases you and your family will ever make. Deciding on the right neighborhood, the right time, the right amount of mortgage payments you can live with and even which home you will come to know as your own. It is our job to guide you through the entire process. From helping you find the right property to helping with the financing process, to making sure each and every real estate professional you come in contact with is working in your very best interest. This is what you can expect from us:
Our services are FREE to you because the Seller pays all Real Estate Commissions.
When choosing a new home, it will be helpful to know if the list price is Fair Market Value, Priced Over Fair Market Value or a Real Bargain! Our high tech approach to valuation will give you this information Before we even visit the property for the first time.
We will go through the Purchase Contract and ALL Addendums with you before you sign anything. You will also find a great deal of information about the Purchase Contract and its Contingency Descriptions on our website at http://GreatHawaiianHomes.com . This way, if you choose to become familiar with this document, you can.
We will give you recommendations on Real Estate Professionals whom are available to you. We maintain NO affiliation with any of these Professionals, they are simply the best at what they do in our opinion.
Buyer's Agent. Every buyer needs a buyer's agent that is dedicated to THEIR best interest. As Realtors, and members of the National Association of Realtors and the Honolulu Board of Realtors, we are duty bound and Licensed by the State of Hawaii to Protect your Best Interest at ALL Times.
We work with Mainland Buyers from time to time. This is easily accomplished by use of Posted Video Tours of homes they have selected to see more of from our emails, emailing of documents, faxing of documents by way of our Toll Free Fax Line, and by excellent communication skills. We have and can also email pdf Slideshows of homes for Mainland Buyers directly to their inbox.
Once we have fully explained the various contracts to you and you make an informed decision as to your acceptance or rejection of them, we will do the face to face negotiating with the Seller's Agent for you to be sure you are getting the best terms the Seller will give. We do our best to keep your transaction as stress free and pleasant as possible.
Not only will we walk through every home together, we will review all inspection reports generated during your transaction. It is important that you know exactly what you are buying and its condition, even inside the walls!
We are proud to have represented a great many families in their purchases of new homes. You will have the full benefit of our years of experience as Realtors acting as Buyer's Agents. We promise not to hold anything back from you...ever.
Our website at http://GreatHawaiianHomes.com is a big advantage to buyers. It explains the buying process in detail and many clients have to us for assistance because they like our website so much. It is very down to earth, just like us. Let's chat over coffee...
What We Offer Our Seller Clients
Actually Selling Real Property in Hawaii is an art. The property must show well and help potential Buyers use their imaginations as they walk through it. They have to see themselves in the home in order to create an emotional attachment to it. On top of this, the home must also be priced correctly. Any Real Estate Agent can come to your home and tell you what you want to hear. Many home owners feel their homes are worth far above Market Value when this is simply not the case. Here are some things that do NOT set Market Value. The Price the seller paid for the home, the amount of money the seller wants to make on the sale of their home, the seller's Pride in Ownership. The only thing that can set the Market Value of a Home is when there is a Meeting of the Minds and the Potential Buyer Offers a Price and the Seller Accepts the Offer to Sell. This mutually agreed upon Price is the Market Value.
It is in your and our best interest to get the best price possible for your home in today's market. If you want to test the market to see if your home will sell at an above market price, we wish you the best of luck, there are thousands of Realtors that will take your listing. We take listings to sell them. We will pull sales of homes that are very much like yours, and determine the "Center Point Price" of all of these homes. We will then Suggest a Listing Price Based on These Numbers.
Here is a list of what our Seller Clients can expect from us...
Open escrow to start closing process (when applicable).
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