The number of foreclosures and short sales are still rising here on Kauai. Most of the activity is at the lower end of our market as the higher-end areas are generally owned by a more affluent and less distressed clientelle. Here is a list of some upcoming foreclosures from one of our realtors who specializes in representing banks.

#1. 5322 Kahala St., Kapaa. This 3 bedroom 1 bath home is in good condition. Granite tile countertops, bamboo flooring are just some of its features. Located in the Kapahi area, this home should be a good value under 400k i would guess
#2. Mimilo Road, Kapaa. Hundley Heights area.
#3. Koili Lane, Wailua Homesteads.
#4. 5733 A Kuamoo Road, Wailua. 2 bedroom 2 bath with a small yard - this one will be very affordable
#5. 4836A Puuwai Road, Kalaheo. 2 bedroom 1 bath home.
#6. 5796 Noni, Wailua Homesteads, Kapaa. 5 bedroom 3 bath home. - this home sold for 389,000 in 2003 and is currently assessed at $591,000. Most often REO's are selling for prices well below their assessed value. Look for this large home to be in the high 400s.
#7. Hoolako, Lihue. Nicer home in eviction process.
#8. 148 Royal Drive. over 1 acre on the rim in Wailua w/ two homes. - I went to the foreclosure auction of this property six months ago, and the back bought it back for $948,000. This lot has three potential home sites. The value is in the land, not in the existing structures.

#9. Kauai Beach Resort #4208 (Hilton) - Building Four is right on the ocean. This project is simply imploding. There are 25 units available for prices as low as $105,000.
#10. Lae Road, 3/2 In the eviction process.
#11. Aheahe Place. Lihue. 4 bedroom 3 bath.-Fannie Mae
#12. Paniolo #103, Princeville condo.-Fannie Mae

The REOs and short sales have increased this month again. As we continue to see the unfurling of Alt-A and option ARM loans add to the mess of the sub prime loans, our distressed inventory continues to grow. Buyers, it's time to get your checkbooks out.

Jeff Stone and his company Princeville Associates LLC purchased a large part of Princeville from the Princeville Corporation in 2005.Stone paid around $220M for the purchase of the 9,000-acre Princeville resort, including the 252-room Princeville Hotel, two Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf courses, the Prince and Makai Course, a tennis club, health spa, shopping center (now on the market) airport and other land holdingsin and adjacent to Princeville.Part of the ongoing development included single family lots known as Greens and Meadows.

Originally zoned R-4 for the development of luxury single family homes, Jeff is now proposing to rezone to R-10 and build 312 timeshare units. They were on the Planning Commission Agenda for the rezoning on Tuesday, January 27, 2009! Stone felt that timeshares would take up less space than single family homes, thus providing more green space. Needless to say, the residents of Princeville did not feel the same way.

The Garden Island has now reported that Princeville Associates has withdrawn their zoning application and are looking to build a better relationship with the community. Read the full report about the ZONING CHANGE IN PRINCEVILLE and THE POSSIBILITY OF MORE TIMESHARES.

The Greens are the lots just off the highway adjacent to the Prince course and the Meadows are a larger sprawl, orginally planned as agricultural farms in the valley behind the Prince course.

Walter Lewis is an insightful and provocative writer who contributes to our local newspaper, The Garden Island on a bi-weekly basis. Two recent pieces of his are worth noting here on our blog. One piece makes a comment about the county government and the upcoming changes with some of the new participants. The other piece makes a statement on the us versus them mentality that can be found in these islands. I appreciate walter's work and hope that you will find it thought-provoking as well.

It is time to grow up and improve our lives:

On Kaipo Asing’s martinet ways

When I was a kid when i went to parties we used to do a dance called the limbo. Two people would hold a post or rod or something and the person dancing would contort themselves and attempt to scoot under the "limbo bar". Each time the bar would be lowered until one could not go under it. For three days in a row, I have been bombarded by lenders promoting their new lower, lower, lowest rates. Could we begin to see interest rates in the 2's or 3's. Kind of like the limbo, the question is "how low can you go?"

Here's a little graph and comment from my friends at Central Pacific Bank about the rates and the status of their current rates as of yesterday.

Of course on Kauai, where the median price is still above $500,000, many of our buyers need JUMBO loans, and when it comes to the jumbo market, I don't quite see the lenders doing the limbo. Eventually I am hopeful that the jumbo loan market will free up and those rates will head south as well.

It's almost time to head out to the Performing Arts Center where the Honolulu Symphony will be performing two concerts this evening. Funded by a nice grant, this is the first time that the Honolulu Symphony has been to Kauai for 15 years. They spent most of the last two days traveling around to most every school on the island and performing in small groups: string quartets, string duo, brass ensembles, percussion trios, etc. Tonight the concerts are at 7 p.m. and 8:30.

Tis' exciting!