Half-million-dollar housing

[pzarquon]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Fascinating. And they're not half as crunched for basic space as we are.

Let's see. Hawaii's median household income? $50,110, according to DBEDT ($51,010 in 2000-2001, dropping to $47,748 in 2001-2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau). Median home prices? On Oahu $550,000, on Maui $632,000, and on the Big Island $365,000.

I don't know how the California agency determined "qualifying income needed," but the gap seems larger here, especially accounting for taxes and cost of living.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Can anyone say housing "bubble?" At some point it's gonna have to stop or slow down, and when that happens there goes the construction industry as well.

[Miulang]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

I think the rule of thumb for a mortgage used to be that it take up no more than about 25-30% of your monthly income. And if you didn't put down a substantial downpayment (or unless you were a veteran) of at least 20%, there was PMI (mortgage insurance) tacked on to your mortgage until your equity equalled 20% of the cost of the house. I think now lenders are allowing people to spend about 40% of their monthly income to qualify for a loan. And with housing costing in the $100s of thousands, some people take out horrendously long terms which they will probably not outlive, which means the burden will be passed on to their heirs.

I've refinanced my condo three times since 1991 (the last time was last year) and my mortgage is only about $750 a month. So I throw in an extra $100/month and will have my 15-year fixed rate mortgage paid off in 11 years. I have lots of money to go out and have fun with and still manage to put some away for my retirement. I don't know how people can stand to be living so close to the edge...and now the bankruptcy laws are going to make it harder for people to get off scott free, so it means they will still be burdened with payments, even if they can't afford it.

I blame the banks and mortgage companies for allowing people to get into houses they couldn't normally afford. Which is why, when the housing bubble bursts, there should be a bunch of foreclosed houses that are going to start looking like real bargains, because the financial institutions don't want to be homeowners. That's how some large banks got in trouble the last time this happened and created such a huge scandal in Texas and Washington DC.

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Half a million dollars is starting to sound like a bargain.

Maui homes near $700,000
Andrew Gomes, Honolulu Advertiser, Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Million-dollar home sales jacked up the median price for houses on Maui last month to just shy of $700,000 — a statewide high that brokers expect could go higher. The Realtors Association of Maui said the median price of previously owned single-family homes was $695,950 in April, up 36 percent from $512,500 a year earlier and up 10 percent from $635,000 in March...

Big Island single-family homes sold last month for a median of $370,000, or 34 percent higher than the $276,000 median a year earlier... On Kaua'i, the median single-family home price was $540,000 last month, up 14 percent from $475,000 a year earlier, Hawaii Information Service reported.

[Fisherman]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

That is insane

[Miulang]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Half a million is nothing on Maui now. The median price of a single family house is now about $5,000 short of $1 MILLION. Of course, what's kind of skewing things are the multimillion dollar properties in Wailea and Kapalua and Kaanapali, but my guess is you'd be damned lucky to get into any kind of single family house for less than $700k. And you guys on Oahu think you have problems.

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

I was at a lunch today where the mantra was, "In Hawaii, the best time to buy is always right now." Yike. So while everyone else nationwide is worried about a bubble bursting, do y'all agree that prices are never going to go down here?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Eh Miulang, read your articles closer before you cite them. That's the median asking price you're talking about; the median selling price is still around $700,000.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

I was at a lunch today where the mantra was, "In Hawaii, the best time to buy is always right now." Yike. So while everyone else nationwide is worried about a bubble bursting, do y'all agree that prices are never going to go down here?

Yup. Unless the global economy completely tanks, in which case affording a new house will be pretty low on my list of worries.

[Miulang]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Eh Miulang, read your articles closer before you cite them. That's the median asking price you're talking about; the median selling price is still around $700,000.

The properties in Wailea and Kapalua are going for over $1 million; my cousin's mother-in-law who just died had a house the family is trying to sell for $1.25 million. It's a plantation style house (over 50 years old) with a large yard, termites, etc. but it's in Kaanapali, and just down the road from the beach. I get they get what they're asking for it and the new owners will just tear down the house and build a new one on top of it.

Miulang

P.S. the bubble will burst when the stock market starts yielding better returns, the interest rate on mortgages goes back up to > 7 or 8% (from the 3% ARMS some people are getting now) and people can't afford to lock in rates and have to sell or go into foreclosure. I never understood why people wanted to get ARMs unless they were planning to live in the house less than 5 years. My last refi got me a 5.25% fixed rate, 15-year mortgage, and that's just fine with me.

[AuntieNellieKulolo]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

I was at a lunch today where the mantra was, "In Hawaii, the best time to buy is always right now." Yike. So while everyone else nationwide is worried about a bubble bursting, do y'all agree that prices are never going to go down here?

Oy. It's getting to be just as bad as NYC, where a single person really needs to make at least $50K to support oneself in any kind of comfort, privacy or security. The most run-down, tiniest studios(even in subway-accessible parts of Bklyn or Queens) easily rent for $1,000 and up now. I saw a Craigslist NYC post where someone was complaining 'but I'm single and only make $60K/year.....' Just try making it on less than 2/3 of that... And to think I moved here from Honolulu b/c I thought I would have a better standard of living....

[pzarquon]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Interesting story in today's Star-Bulletin reporting on the urban legend of sorts that Oprah Winfrey caused housing prices to rise because she talked up buying land in Hilo. While she owns 102 acres on Maui, turns out she didn't explicitly encourage her watchers to go and buy us out.

Her exact words were: "So if you get oceanfront property in Hawaii, a couple thousand acres ... right along the beach. God's not making any more land in Hawaii."

Except, of course, there is more land being made out here! It just won't be ready for that beachfront mansion until, oh, the year 2,005,234.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Except, of course, there is more land being made out here! It just won't be ready for that beachfront mansion until, oh, the year 2,005,234.

Heh; an oldie but a goodie. My favorite version was in one of the Pidgin to da Max books, that had a mock real estate ad offering some of those really hot properties. There was a photo of a "realtor" being quoted as saying, "Wotta deal! Acre today, acre-half tomorrow!"

[Miulang]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Interesting story in today's Star-Bulletin reporting on the urban legend of sorts that Oprah Winfrey caused housing prices to rise because she talked up buying land in Hilo. While she owns 102 acres on Maui, turns out she didn't explicitly encourage her watchers to go and buy us out.

Her exact words were: "So if you get oceanfront property in Hawaii, a couple thousand acres ... right along the beach. God's not making any more land in Hawaii."

Except, of course, there is more land being made out here! It just won't be ready for that beachfront mansion until, oh, the year 2,005,234.

Oprah happens to be a very good neighbor on Maui. She bought a ranch (her former trainer Bob Greene lives next door) and isn't planning to develop any of the land...just wants to keep it the way it is. She is one of the decent Mainlanders who realize that the land in Hawai'i is finite and as much as possible should be kept free of development, unlike a software mogul whose name is scorned upon by certain locals.

George Harrison owned a house in Hana. He built the house so that it was virtually invisible from the road (I flew over it in a helicopter). There are good malihinis in the 'aina. You just never hear about them as much as you do the bad ones.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Half-million-dollar housing

Lessee..the developer Haseko Homes, who has built housing developments over the past few years in 'Ewa, wants a permit to construct another 901 houses in a master project to be called "Ocean Pointe".

My guess is that "Ocean Pointe" will not be moderate or low income housing and that that part of town will have another 3,000 or so inhabitants crowding the highways. Now if the development was called "Ocean Point", then maybe there might be some moderately priced homes. But what a difference in several hundreds of thousands of dollars that final "e" at the end of the name is gonna make to potential buyers. And the developer will be laughing his way to the bank.

Miulang