Puna...what did I tell ya months ago

[craigwatanabe]

well it's in this morning's Honolulu Advertiser: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/25/ln/ln03p.html

The land grab is on and the prices are going wayyyy up now. When I bought my place just under two-years ago I knew this area was the "Diamond in the Rough" telling my wife while standing on cinder-covered roads that this place is gonna be the next Kahala.

We bought near the ocean so our lot (one acre) is valued a bit higher than closer to Highway 130 (Pahoa Highway). In that time our property has soared from $245,000 to just under half a million and there doesn't seem to be an end to it.

My wife and I are contemplating our next move now. One of the ironies of this situation we've found ourselves in is that our area is fast becoming populated with new neighbors and such. Once a rural area we've got neighbors up and down our street so it's not quite the peace and quiet as we once enjoyed a year ago. I have realtors sending me invitations to sell almost weekly. This is an interesting situation we're in now. It's definately a seller's market here in Puna and yet you can still find decent property for under $250,000 here. I'm thinking: take out an equity loan and buying another property. Rent it out to pay for the loan and let that property ride the surge until I'm ready to sell it again.

Or just cash out and sell our home now.

Any thoughts on this?

[Miulang]

well it's in this morning's Honolulu Advertiser: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/25/ln/ln03p.html

The land grab is on and the prices are going wayyyy up now. When I bought my place just under two-years ago I knew this area was the "Diamond in the Rough" telling my wife while standing on cinder-covered roads that this place is gonna be the next Kahala.

We bought near the ocean so our lot (one acre) is valued a bit higher than closer to Highway 130 (Pahoa Highway). In that time our property has soared from $245,000 to just under half a million and there doesn't seem to be an end to it.

My wife and I are contemplating our next move now. One of the ironies of this situation we've found ourselves in is that our area is fast becoming populated with new neighbors and such. Once a rural area we've got neighbors up and down our street so it's not quite the peace and quiet as we once enjoyed a year ago. I have realtors sending me invitations to sell almost weekly. This is an interesting situation we're in now. It's definately a seller's market here in Puna and yet you can still find decent property for under $250,000 here. I'm thinking: take out an equity loan and buying another property. Rent it out to pay for the loan and let that property ride the surge until I'm ready to sell it again.

Or just cash out and sell our home now.

Any thoughts on this?
You don't really want to be a landlord, do you Craig? If you cash out where would you move? Noplace is going to be as cheap as where you are now, unless you move into the boonies. People who hold on to second houses and rent 'em out are almost as guilty of creating the high costs of housing in Hawai'i as land speculators because they will generally charge what the "market will allow".

Eventually, mortgage rates are going to have to go back up again (unless we get involved in another war besides Iraq). You're probably too young to remember the late 1970's when the cheapest mortgage you could get was around 19%. Then there's going to be a levelling off of people looking for houses, and the housing market will cool off.

The problem with using real estate as a savings account is unless it's a boom market like right now, it would be hard to liquidate your holdings quickly. But then again, you've got 6 boys, and how are they going to split your house in Kea'au 6 ways?

Miulang

P.S. almost too late for me to buy land ova dere now, yeah? :(

[craigwatanabe]

Oh Miulang, I'm not that young, as a matter of fact I remember that recession all too well. President Carter was suggesting to delay payment to us in the military back then. There was almost a revolt!

I actually remember APR's going well over 20% for unsecured loans. In Idaho one lender wanted 50% and it was acceptable back then.

Anyway we're still debating what to do. My wife is getting the itch for Honolulu and I have to tell you, I got a little mosquito bite too! One thing is that with a sale of $500,000 here we could take out another $500,000 mortgage and buy a pretty damned good house in Honolulu.

The thought is so tempting.

As for my kids, they'll get their own fortunes, they're pretty good kids so I'm sure they'll do okay.

As for you, it's still not too late to buy property here in Kea'au well below Honolulu market rates that's why I'm so tempted to take out an equity loan and buy another property here.

[Glen Miyashiro]

My wife is getting the itch for Honolulu and I have to tell you, I got a little mosquito bite too! One thing is that with a sale of $500,000 here we could take out another $500,000 mortgage and buy a pretty damned good house in Honolulu.

The thought is so tempting.Each time Honolulu city lights
Stir up memories in me
Each time Honolulu city lights
Will bring me back again

:D

[craigwatanabe]

Each time Honolulu city lights
Stir up memories in me
Each time Honolulu city lights
Will bring me back again

:D

Gee I remember when that song came out. I was packing my bags for an 11:40pm flight outta Honolulu for Denver when I heard Honolulu City Lights come over radio in my bedroom. Kamasami Kong on KKUA AM 69 had dedicated it to everyone leaving the island that night and I was one of them.

I stopped and cried and that song forever haunts me and that's why I'm so happy to have lived and left then returned and raised my family here in these beautiful islands we call home. Hawaii No Ka Oi! :)

[1stwahine]

Gee I remember when that song came out. I was packing my bags for an 11:40pm flight outta Honolulu for Denver when I heard Honolulu City Lights come over radio in my bedroom. Kamasami Kong on KKUA AM 69 had dedicated it to everyone leaving the island that night and I was one of them.

I stopped and cried and that song forever haunts me and that's why I'm so happy to have lived and left then returned and raised my family here in these beautiful islands we call home. Hawaii No Ka Oi! :)

Chicken skin. Mahalo, for sharing. Yep, Hawaii No Ka Oi! :)

[craigwatanabe]

We are all brothers and sisters here in this Aina. Whether we're Haole or Nipponese or whatever, our diversity helps define our local culture and that makes us one unique bunch in this screwed up world.

In our isolation we have each other, we really need to bring that love for one another out in front and renew our appreciation for the word, "Aloha" amongst us all. I haven't said or heard that phrase Hawaii No Ka Oi for such a long time, maybe because we've been too focused on the pity of life instead of embracing the love of it and what we should be doing for the Aina, not what the Aina can do for us taking that thought from JFK.

[Linkmeister]

Where is all this going on in relation to Royal Gardens? There was no map in the online version of the Advertiser.

[Konaguy]

Royal Gardens is down by the southeastern coast of Puna near Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park. The subdivisions mentioned the article on the uplands of Puna near Hilo.

Edit: Don't sell your property Craig. Land will always accrue value over time.
Sure there will be dips, but more often than not it will increase. I'm still shooting
myself in foot that I didn't buy in Discovery Harbour in Ka'u. My parents bought
two lots there for 19,000 back in 1999. Now the values of lots there have skyrocketed also.

[DaveNSoKona]

Noplace is going to be as cheap as where you are now, unless you move into the boonies.

I don't know what you consider boonies but we are pretty close in Honomalino mauka. Reminds me of the old saying, "It's Not the End of the Earth But You Can See It From Here." Anyway realtors say our farm has increased in value approximately 260% since 2001. To be fair, we have invested a lot in improvements during that time.

My wife has got island fever pretty bad and "we" are thinking of moving back to the mainland. :(

[craigwatanabe]

"The future is much like an eraser that does not erase because it is not yet an eraser." --- Maurice Coucher Levant


That's an interesting quote but I believe the future is more like the pencil tip for it allows you to write the future whereas the eraser represents ignorance. Because if you ignore the lessons learned from our past, our future will be erased.

When people ask why I never use a pencil, I tell them because I cannot afford to make any mistakes in life and an eraser makes one complacent to the point of ignorance.

But when it comes to Hawaii Threads and writing posts, I just want to thank the moderators here for allowing an edit function for those slips of the tongue and being able to correct it before it gets out. Whew! :D

[alohabear]

the Lava still looks a bit fresh....remember Kapoho? And the "wild west" reputation of the area worries me ...plus no county water lines .... i'll pass for now. :D

[craigwatanabe]

I've heard that saying about Puna being the wild wild west mostly from residents of Hilo who really never venture beyond Panaewa Zoo. If you look at the "Arrests" column in the Hilo Tribune, most crime stats come from the Hilo area!

It's not as bad as it sounds. I mean if you're from Oahu the crime that occurs here is so minor mostly being petty theft. When I moved here I called the Puna Police and they told me they experience 41 property crimes per month. Okay compared to East Honolulu (probably the safest parts of Oahu) which experiences that many property crimes per week I thought it ain't as bad as people say it is.

I moved my family almost two years already and I've been here almost one year (having to have stayed in Honolulu to pay for the bills) and have experienced absolutely no crime in my area at all in Keaau down by the ocean. Compare that to where I used to live in Waialae Kahala then in Kaimuki near Kahala Mall where we had two crack houses busted, an armed robbery with automatic weapons, and an armed robbery at a Niu valley home all within five miles from my home in the most desirable location in Honolulu!

So tell me where is it more the wild wild west? Puna or East Honolulu? Now plug in Oahu in general with hostage takings in Moanalua and Sand Island, Workplace murders at the Xerox building, women getting shot and killed in their parked cars at Ala Moana shopping center in the middle of the day!

Sure we had the Dana Ireland case in Puna but what about any of the murders and rapes that occur almost weekly in Honolulu? When I saw the crime statistics in Honolulu I had to ask myself: Do I want to raise my kids here anymore? The answer was simple, move away. It's not the wild wild west out here, it's pretty tame compared to any part of Oahu.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Per capita, brah. How many people was in your neighborhood in Honolulu? Maybe 100,000 or so? The whole Big Island barely has that many. :p

[Konaguy]

The population of Hawaii County is 162,971. The population of the City & County
of Honolulu is 899,593

[craigwatanabe]

The point being that Puna isn't quite as violent as people claim. I feel safer walking the desolate streets of Puna late at night more than I do walking the sidewalks in Waipahu during daylight hours.

Puna is not the wild wild west as a matter of fact downtown Hilo is where the drug dealers and prostitutes venture.

Puna is safer than Honolulu because of it's population density or lack thereof. Times have changed here and compared to Oahu, Puna is a lot less dangerous. It's a safe place to raise your kids. No doubt.

[Miulang]

Sure we had the Dana Ireland case in Puna but what about any of the murders and rapes that occur almost weekly in Honolulu? When I saw the crime statistics in Honolulu I had to ask myself: Do I want to raise my kids here anymore? The answer was simple, move away. It's not the wild wild west out here, it's pretty tame compared to any part of Oahu.
Eh Craig, interesting you should mention the Dana Ireland case. I just saw a rerun of her murder case on Cold Case (or one of those reality cop shows) the other night. The other Hawai'i case that's been turned into a TV show was one that talked about the corruption in Hilo politics and how Harry Kim first got elected. Only the "Bounty Hunter" is doing cases for TV based in Honolulu. Maybe crime is too common in Honolulu for Hollywood to care about...but there was that murder case long time ago in Honolulu (during WW2?) where one haole military officer's wife wen claim that 4 local men wen go rape her and the murder of one of the defendants, who really was innocent (apparently she was da lolo one). That was a PBS special recently that we saw up here. Talked about why the locals hated the haoles (especially the military people) during that time.

Miulang

[pzarquon]

No need to convince me, Craig! So how exactly do I dump the whole rat race, load my family onto a plane, and leap wholeheartedly into the "wild west" of rural Big Island? I keep trying to plan it out, but step one - "become independently wealthy" - is really turning out to be a challenge!

[alohabear]

[QUOTE=craigwatanabe]I've heard that saying about Puna being the wild wild west mostly from residents of Hilo who really never venture beyond Panaewa Zoo. If you look at the "Arrests" column in the Hilo Tribune, most crime stats come from the Hilo area!

The statement came out about the "wild west" when a few years back before you moved there a group of people stormed the police station to break out their friend. Also... did you build your home or bought a preexisting one? My friend built his and the contractor had to only bring materials for that day's work. Unlike job sites in Hilo he couldn't drop off a weeks load of lumber and roofing because it wouldn't be there the next morning. My fear about Puna is that if you have a medical problem ...like a heart attack, the victim is gonna die. Help is so far away.

[Paul]

Hi, I just joined this forum. I've been living in HPP for the past 8 years. While it is true that contruction materials left unguarded on site are liable to get stolen in HPP, this is because the lots are 1 acre in size and what's on them is not always visible by neigbors as in Hilo. As for help being far away for medical emergencies, the main factor in this is the single congested road going to Keaau. HPP is really not that far away. I can get to the hospital in less than 30 minutes with no traffic.

[craigwatanabe]

You're right about HPP it isn't in the boonies as most perceive. The Keaau Bay Clinic is within 20-minutes from HPP even at it's farthest point at Beach Road and Makuu Drive. 20-minutes! Jeez that's about how long it takes you to get from Kahala to Queen's Medical Center!

As for me my home was already built (I bought before the big building boom so I lucked out).

If some of you had bought when I first mentioned this area you too would be swimming in equity. Prices then were in the low $200,000 range if not below. And that was just over a year ago when I started lamenting on the value of Puna.

[Konaguy]

The rapid increase in land has occured in Ka'u too. Property in Discovery Harbour
was as cheap as 5,000 back in 1999. My parents bought two lots for 9,500 each
there. Now the cheapest lot for sale is over 90,000 [There is one lot for 59,000
that the realtor is looking for additional offers if the current purchase falls through.

[Paul]

I remember a couple of years ago all the counties were thinking about raising the property taxes because the values went down so much and they weren't collecting as much taxes. What a difference a few years make! Now they are thinking about lowering the property tax. I say leave it as is.