Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

[Nords]

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow....76&GT1=35000#4

The 10 best affordable U.S. suburbs
3. Mililani Town, Hawaii

Nearest major city: Honolulu
Population: 26,790
Median family income: $98,384
Median home price: $370,000
Unemployment rate: 5.3%
Violent crime index: 3

This planned community has a golf course, tech park, community centers and shopping malls. There are several schools in this upper-middle-class area, which serves as a bedroom community for Honolulu. The area also has upscale communities, such as Mililani Mauka, and a very low crime rate. It was considered by Money magazine to be one of the best places to live in 2005.

Mililani's a nice place to live, but beating out 47 other states for "affordability"? Bloomberg does a lot of good rankings lists but I'm not sure that this got a reality check.

$370K may be the median price, but I don't think it buys what most would think of as a median home...

Back in the 1990s, when these types of lists were much less common, having your town on one would start a gold rush of real-estate investors. It'll be interesting to see if this has any bubble effect on property values.

[Amati]

Re: Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

Interesting reading! Like Nords, I ask how did anywhere in Hawaii make the list for affordability? Well, by having selective criteria, that's how! Their criteria for making the list explains a lot about how Mililani made the cut.
http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=23577376&GT1=35000#1

While many of the places on this year's list are near amenities such as country clubs and golf courses, the focus is not luxury, but rather communities where families can live well for less and enjoy good schools, low crime and reasonable commutes. The selected suburbs were limited to towns within 25 miles of the most populated city in the state, with populations of 5,000 to 60,000, median family incomes of $51,000 to $120,000, and lower-than-average crime rates. We weighted a variety of factors including livability (short commutes, low pollution, green space), education (well-educated residents, high test scores), crime (low personal and property crime), economy (high job growth, low unemployment rate, high family income) and affordability (median household income, cost of expenditures). Affordability was most heavily weighted in our calculations. We penalized places with bad weather, a lack of racial diversity, high divorce rates and few children.

It has to be within 25 miles of the most populated city; 5,000-60,000 residents; and $51K -$120K median income. Givien the limited criteria, I can see how the list potential list of cities would be whittled down to having an expensive city in Hawaii make it.

I wonder if by "home prices" being median $370K, if they were including town homes? Also, is all of Mililani fee simple? Because, comparing a lease-hold town home price in Hawaii to a large ranch style fee simple home on the mainland, well, that would be like comparing apples to oranges. Ditto for comparing the square footage of the home. 1200 SF multi-unit dwelling in Hawaii to 4,000 SF single family dwelling with large yard in Oklahoma. You can tell that SF was not part of the rating system.

Mililani is indeed a great place to live, but one of the most affordable in the nation?? Guess if you don't have to buy groceries, electricity, gasoline, or any other household expenses, well, I guess you could call it affordable.

[Nords]

Re: Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

I wonder if by "home prices" being median $370K, if they were including town homes? Also, is all of Mililani fee simple?

That has to be townhomes. The realtor databases break out Oahu median prices by condo & single-family homes, around $300K and $580K respectively. I think this bell curve has more than one hump with very fat tails.

It's all built on fee-simple Castle&Cooke land.

[oceanpacific]

Re: Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

"Median" = price-point at which 50% of the units are below, 50% are above. It is not necessarily the "average" price.

That being said, there are a lot of condominium units in the Waikalani area (Waipio Acres) that fall in the "below $370K" category. Good luck in finding a single-family home at 370K. They will likely be $100K+ more.

I've lived in Mililani for 28 of the last 32 years (21 years since 1989) and have enjoyed every minute of it, even with the traffic issues. I'm on the alert because of the recent reports of a burglary ring operating here.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

That being said, there are a lot of condominium units in the Waikalani area (Waipio Acres) that fall in the "below $370K" category. Good luck in finding a single-family home at 370K. They will likely be $100K+ more.

When I worked up there for Towne Realty in the mid-1990s we were selling 2-3BR townhomes in that valley below Oceanic Cable (Waikalani Drive) for ~160K.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Mililani makes national "Top 10 affordability" list?!

Just no make too much noise late at night.