Save When Selling Your Oahu Home

At Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, we are all about savings.  It is our identity:  we are the guys who will save you money when it comes time to sell your home.  And, it’s not something we do grudgingly; we get just as excited by the money we save consumers as we do by the fees we earn.

We’ve learned over time that the more we can save home sellers while providing the best service in the industry, the more they will brag about us; and the more our business will grow.  That flies in the face of what ordinary real estate agents have done for decades, which is to rely on personality and pressure exerted on friends and family to build business.

Here is a typical Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties listing, sold and closed at the end of 2015:

RC2It is a great home in Hawaii Kai, with 4 bedrooms and a little more than 2,800 square feet and an indoor swimming pool! We listed it for $1,238,000 in late September, and had it sold and closed for full price in early December, just 75 days after the listing went active.  With a lot of effort, we were able to get it closed before the end of the year:  no small feat considering the latest round of transaction slowing legislation impacting the industry.

This was a brave home seller.  He could have succumbed to the pressure to list with a friend or neighbor working for an ordinary real estate company and charging, say, 6%.  If he had, he would have paid more than $74,000 in commission – assuming they were able to get a full price offer.

Instead, he did the smart thing:  he listed with Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties and agreed to pay our low set fee of $8,000.  As it turned out, the buyer was represented by an outside MLS agent and so the seller had to compensate that agent and company as well: an additional $30,950 (2.5%).  So this seller paid $38,950 in total commission to sell, as opposed to $74,280 had he chosen to list with an ordinary company: a savings of $35,330.

Do you suppose this seller was delighted to sell quickly for full price and save more than $35,000 in real estate commission?  You bet!  Do you think he will tell his friends, neighbors and co-workers how well his transaction went and how much he saved?  You bet!  And so, our business grows.

We promote our successful sales and the money our sellers save because that is what we want Oahu residents to know about us:  we will sell your home quickly, for a good price and save you thousands over what an ordinary broker would charge. When it comes time for you to sell, don’t succumb to the pressure to do it the way it’s always been done.  Be smart.  Choose Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

Your Oahu Real Estate Piggy Bank

Hawaii Home on Noela Drive
We sold this home on Noela Drive last year

It’s true:  Oahu is home to some of the highest home prices in the nation.  Outsiders visit, are stunned by the prices and can’t imagine how anyone can possibly afford to live here!   The answer is, with good real estate and mortgage professionals, people find a way.

But why?  Why do people go out on such a limb of debt to own a home on the Island?  Of course there are a lot of reasons, but the most compelling may be our historic rate of appreciation.  Anyone buying real estate on Oahu today can be reasonably confident that their property will be worth more and more as time goes by.  Take a look at the chart from the Honolulu Board of Realtors.  It shows historic appreciation rates going back to 1985.  I understand that the type is small and may be hard to read, but if you’ll click on the chart, a version will appear that will allow you to zoom in.

Chart: Oahu Historic Appreciation Rates

As fascinating a the chart is, what’s important is this:

The median price of single family homes on Oahu has risen 341.4% since 1985, an average increase of 4.91% per year.  If you’d bought that median priced home in 1985 for $158,600 (which at the time seemed HUGE), your property would be worth more than $700,000 today!  That’s a pretty nice increase in equity!

Add to that the tremendous tax deductions available to homeowners (notably mortgage interest and property taxes) and you can understand why home buyers pull out all the stops to acquire their own little piece of our Island Paradise.  Honestly, if you’re going to live here, it’s the only thing that makes sense!

The key is in the first paragraph of this post:  you have to find a way.  At Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties we’ve been helping home buyers find a way for almost 20 years.  It’s gratifying to help our clients build their nest eggs and even achieve wealth while enjoying a little Heaven on Earth.  If you are just moving to Oahu or are still renting, let us help you find a way to own a home.  As you can see from the data, every year you wait makes it more difficult.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

What is a View Worth?

Honolulu ViewRight up front, let me point out the obvious:  We live in one of the most view-rich places on Earth.  Almost anywhere you might live on Oahu has the potential to produce an outstanding view of the ocean, the mountains, the rainforest or the city.  But, what is a great view worth?  How much value can a view of crashing surf add to your property?

There is not doubt that views are valuable.  In the ranking of most desired amenities, home buyers put an unobstructed water view at number two, just behind a waterfront location.  And while being able to see water is most desired, great city views and mountain views are not far behind.

However, attaching a monetary value to a view is hardly scientific.  A view is worth whatever a willing
and able buyer will pay in addition to the value of the house to have it.  Logically, if you could find two homes that are identical, one with view and one without, that both sold recently, you’d have your answer.  But that situation is very rare in the world of real estate.Oahu View

Almost forty years ago, an appraiser working on his Masters Thesis, chose 94 vacant lots that had sold recently in three separate developments and considered them on a variety of criteria including lot shape, location and view.  In some cases, the view contributed as much as 50% to the value of the lot.

That has been informally verified by the estimates of real estate experts who seem to agree that a view – say, of a mountain – seen from a lower point – might add 1% – 4% to a property’s value.  The increase in value goes up as does elevation, so a hilltop view looking down on a panorama might add 6% – 12%.  Truly magnificent views – the ocean, the city from above – can add up to 50% and sometimes even more.

Strip ViewYou can test this idea yourself without selling your property.  The next time you take a vacation to a popular destination, be it a city or a resort, ask the hotel about the increase in room rate depending on view and floor.   In Las Vegas, for example, a Strip-view room located at the 20th floor or above will fetch a startling premium over one on floor five, facing a wall.

The best help you can get for assessing the value of your view is right here at Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties.  We’ve been selling homes on Oahu for almost twenty years and have carefully tracked the progress of prices for homes with and without views.  When you ask us for a free, no-obligation opinion of value, we will come with all of the data on what similar homes have brought and our own informed  point-of-view about what an ocean, city or mountain view can add.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

Sold! With Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties! Seller Saved $$$

At Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, we are all about savings.  It’s who we are, what we do; it is our identity.  Home sellers listed with Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties save thousands over what they’d likely pay an ordinary real estate broker.

We get just as excited about the savings our sellers achieve as we do the fees that we earn.  We’ve learned over time that the more money we can save home sellers, the more they will sing our praises to family, friends and co-workers – and that’s how we build our business.

Here’s an example:

eva

We listed and sold this great Ewa Beach home at the end of last year.  It has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, over 2,000 Square Feet and features a first floor master bedroom.  We listed it for $695,000 and got the seller a full priced offer.

Had this seller listed with an ordinary broker charging, say, 6%, he’d have paid $41,700 to sell!  We charged a low set fee of just $5,750.  As it turned out, the buyer was represented by an outside MLS agent and so the seller had to compensate that agent and office as well, an additional 2.5%:  $17,375.  But even after paying the outside agent, the seller still saved $18,575 over what that 6% broker would have charged!  And that is very exciting to us!

If you are interested in selling your property – and this is a great time – you really should find out how easy it is to sell for top dollar, sell quickly and save thousands on real estate commissions.  The place where all of that comes together is Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties and we’d love to talk with you.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

Hit the Home Ownership Jackpot!

Later today there will be a PowerBall Lottery drawing worth almost $1 Billion.  Of course, Hawaii is one of six States that doesn’t participate in that National Lottery, so it is a bit of a moot point.  However, there is a completely legal way you can hit the jackpot and cash in big right here in the islands:  buy a house!

powerballMost people stay in a house 5 – 7 years before they sell and move on.  So let’s take a look at where you’d be today if you had bought the Median Priced single family home on Oahu 6 years ago.

The price would have been about $740,000.

Today, the median priced home is worth about $950,000

That’s an increase of $210,000!

Your home would have grown in value 28%!  An average of 4.67% a year!

In addition, you’d have paid about $190,400 in tax deductible interest on the mortgage over that period of time (that’s after a normal down payment).  Assuming you are in a 25% tax bracket, that means you’d have possibly paid about $47,600 LESS in Federal taxes!pwrhse

Not even considering State tax savings and other benefits, you can see that between Federal tax savings and appreciation, you’d probably be ahead by more than a quarter of a million dollars if you’d bought that home six years ago!

The people on the mainland buying PowerBall numbers this week have a better chance of being struck by lightning while being attacked by a great white shark than they do of winning the Lottery.  If you buy Hawaii real estate, your big payoff is almost assured.  So stop procrastinating!  Prices continue to rise and soon, your dream home may be out of reach.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

 

 

What is ‘Full Service’ in Real Estate?

Consumers intuitively know what ‘Full Service’ in real estate means:

  • Expertise/Consultation (preparation for sale, pricing, planning, staging)
  • Marketing (which might include MLS, Internet, Open Houses, advertising, signs, flyers, etc)
  • Representation/Negotiation (weighing offers, avoiding mistakes, anticipating next steps)
  • Transaction Processing/Problem Resolution (making sure everything is done properly, handling problems as they arise)

The problem is that almost everyone in the business – traditional percentage-based brokers, discount brokers, flat fee brokers, fee for service brokers and so on – claims to do all of those things! The only brokers who might admit to NOT doing some of it would be self-described ‘Limited Service’ brokers or ‘MLS Only’ brokers.

With so many different kinds of brokers laying claim to ’Full Service,’ the term becomes meaningless . . . except that consumers don’t realize this.

In the muddled mess of real estate company marketing, they have come to believe that ’Full Service’ must also mean ‘Full Commission.’

>>>(and therefore, less than full commission means less than full service)<<<

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

If your less-than-full-commission offering is based on a better, more efficient business model that enables you to be profitable while charging people LESS . . . then the debate is not about the level of service, it’s about how much the consumer wants to pay to sell a house. And here’s a news flash: s/he wants to pay as little as possible to get the job done quickly, efficiently and effectively.

At Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, we charge LESS because our business model is more efficient. And even though we charge LESS, we don’t cut corners when it comes to service.  In fact we do everything our old-style competitors do – and more.

So if you are ready to sell, and you want to do it the modern, efficient way (and save thousands in the process, contact us at (808) 593-8811.  We’ll get the job done and leave you with a ‘WOW!’

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

Tips for Home Sellers

Selling your home is a big undertaking. There are a lot of things to consider, decisions to make, action to be taken. This short video can help you in this process.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

How To Choose Your Real Estate Broker

barYou want to sell your home.  You know it’s going to cost you something to accomplish this and you’re hoping to keep that expense as low as possible.  That’s probably why you’ve come to Hirealestateblog.com and Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties.  We specialize in getting the job done while saving home sellers thousands of dollars over what they’d pay an ordinary real estate broker.

But beyond savings, let’s talk a little about what to look for and what to expect when you hire a real estate broker.  I believe that most home sellers are looking for help in four broad areas.

First is advice.  They need an expert to advise them on things like pricing, preparation for selling, staging, evaluation of offers, estimation of net proceeds and so on.

Marketing.  Exposure to the largest number of potential buyers through a broad range of media:  signs, flyers, advertisements, the Internet, open houses, networking and so on.

Expertise – or know-how.  The ability to solve transaction problems as they arise – and they will.  This is so important and it only comes with experience.  The agent who has sold a significant number of properties recently is much better equipped to handle transaction issues than one who has only sold a handful.

Communication – someone who is readily available, who answers your questions and responds to your calls.  Someone who keeps you updated on progress – even if there is none – and who explains the process in a way that ensures your comfort.

At Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, we exceed expectations in all four of those areas . . . every day.  our track record is evidence of that as are the numerous client testimonials we receive on a regular basis.

If you’re thinking of selling, you owe it to yourself to find out how we’re able to delight our clients while saving them thousands in  real estate commissions.  All it takes is a phone call to (808) 377-1200

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

*Savings are calculated by comparing actual fee paid with a typical 6% real estate commission.  Real estate commissions, whether percentage or set fee are always negotiable between the seller and the real estate broker.

 

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties: NOT a Discount Service

I ran into an old real estate friend the other day.  We met at a training meeting years ago.  He had bounced from company to company, staying in one place for a year or two, then moving on to what he perceived to be a better deal.  I think he’d been with four companies in seven years.  He even got out of the business for awhile a few years back when the market was difficult.

‘What are you doing these days,’ he asked.

‘I’m still building my Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties office,’ I replied. ‘We get bigger and more productive every month.’

‘I don’t understand how you can do that!’ he quipped.  ‘I mean, discount brokers have their place, I guess, but you can’t be making any money and the harm you’re doing to full service Realtors is huge!’

I paused, letting the steam pour out my ears.  ‘I’m not sure I know what you mean,’ I finally replied.

‘Well, people don’t care too much for realtors anyway, and when you charge a couple hundred dollars to put a sign in the yard and the listing in the MLS – and that’s it – it just makes things worse.’

‘Is that what you think we do?’ I asked.

‘Well, sure.  I don’t mean you personally, but that’s what Help-U-Sell is famous for, isn’t it?’

‘I guess it depends on who you’re listening to,’ I answered. ‘If you pay attention to the chatter of traditional real estate agents – particularly those who are nervous about losing market share to Help-U-Sell brokers – I’m sure that’s what you’ll hear.  But if you talk with the consumers we’ve helped, you’ll hear a very different story.’

‘How so?’ he asked.

‘First off, we’re not discounters,’ I responded. ‘A discounter takes the ordinary cost of a good or service, cuts it and makes a corresponding cut in the good or service to offset the price cut.  Maybe widgets are selling for $2.00 apiece.  The discounter will find a way to make them for less – probably with inferior materials – and then cut the price to, say, $1.5o.  People who shop price and don’t care about quality will often gravitate toward discounters.’

‘What’s that got to do with real estate,’ he asked.

‘A real estate discounter would look at what most other brokers are charging – say, 6% of the sale price – and then find a way to charge less.  For example, maybe the discounter would charge 4% but provide a minimal or limited service.’

‘Yeah,’ he came back, ‘That’s what you do, right?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘We’re not discounters. We don’t charge a lower percentage of the sale price for our services. Our pricing model is completely different.  We charge a set fee to sell a house, just like your dentist does when he fills a tooth.  Everybody pays about the same thing.  But we do everything traditional brokers do – and actually more.  There is no reduction in service.  We are absolutely a full service real estate company.  We just have a different business model – a much more efficient model – that enables us to charge differently, and charge less.’

‘Well, that sounded like somebody’s script!’ he quipped.

‘It’s not a script,’ I answered, ‘It’s the truth.  When a seller lists with us, we put a sign in the yard, create professional fliers and a website with dozens of photos and a virtual tour.  We put the home in the MLS and market it aggressively to other Realtors.  We put the listing up on dozens of Internet real estate portals including Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com.  We hold open houses, screen buyers for financial capability, show our listings, help our sellers weigh the good and bad of offers, calculate anticipated net proceeds, coordinate inspections and all details, solve problems when they arise and look out for our clients’ interests all the way through closing.’

‘And how much extra do your home sellers have to pay for that additional service?’  he asked. I was getting perturbed.

‘Jim, are you listening to me?’ I asked. ‘That’s what we do for all of our listings and we do it for a low set fee instead of a big percentage based commission.  There’s nothing extra, no additional fee for any of our services.’

‘If what you’re saying is true,’ he came back, ‘Why wouldn’t everyone sell with Help-U-Sell?’

‘Well, of course, everyone should!’ I answered. ‘But do the math:  there are about a million traditional real estate agents and brokers out there – just like you – and there are just a few hundred of us in the Help-U-Sell system.  We have to reach a lot of consumers before most people begin to understand how we are different and better.  But we’re doing it!  little by little, every day.’

‘Ok,’ he said, ‘Fine; for now.  Just do me a favor and stay out of my area, ok?  And next time the market tightens up and it gets harder to sell real estate, I expect you’ll be closing up shop anyway.’

‘Jim, old pal,’ I began.  ‘I have a listing appointment in a few minutes so I’ll have to cut this short, but let me remind you:  I was here before the market went down seven years ago.  I did ok when the market was in chaos and real estate companies were closing right and left . . . when you left the business, in fact.  And I’m still here, making more and more Oahu consumers happy with our service every month.  Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties isn’t going anywhere except up!’

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

“Kiddie” Loans are not Just for Kids!

The FHA has a wonderful program for parents of children going off to college.  Faced with housing expense in addition to tuition, parents sometimes seek alternatives.  Unfortunately, they often miss one of the best options out there:  The FHA Kiddie Condo program.

The program allows the parent and child to own a suitable home in the college town together.  The parent’s income and credit are used for qualifying purposes and though they won’t be occupying the property, they can still buy it with as little as 3% down.  The co-signing child occupies the property and can even rent out additional bedrooms to other students, offsetting the monthly payment. And, by the way, despite the name, the property doesn’t have to be a condo. Single family homes are fine, too.

At the end of a four year (or more) college stay, the property can be sold; and often it will have appreciated to the point of turning a nice profit for the owners, potentially offsetting some of the other expenses of college or providing a down payment for the graduate’s next home.

FHA maximum loan amounts vary by location and that must be considered when looking at this type of program.  For example, in Honolulu County, the maximum FHA loan is $721,050.  A student attending the University of Hawaii could certainly find suitable housing for that.  But a student attending, say, Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon would have a maximum loan limit of $299,000.  Quite a difference! But remember, the median home price in Corvallis is about $288,000, so that maximum is workable.

Now here comes the interesting twist:  the program also works at the other end of the spectrum.  If you have elderly parents living on a fixed income, you may use this program to co-purchase a home for them.  Again, you’d have to qualify for the property and you’d both be on the deed.  By taking title to the property as Joint Tenants, you allow for the property to pass to surviving owners upon the death of others, outside of probate.  That could be a very nice benefit!

The difficult part of this program is finding a lender who understands it and knows how to get this kind of mortgage approved.  Thankfully, we have several lenders with whom we work who can guide you through the process, so give us a call if this sounds like a program you could use!

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.  

Investing, Hawaii Style

It’s been a wild week in the world of finance.  The stock market has been in ‘correction’ mode and everyone is trying to stay calm.  I don’t think the recent drop is a precursor to cataclysm, rather a reaction to prices climbing too fast, and I don’t think it will continue down to the depths. However it does make me think about money and where to put it.

The past five years have been stellar for the stock market.  Take a look:

 

stocks

 

Even after last week’s drop, it’s a 65% gain over 5 years.  Pretty good.  Now, here are the previous five years of Oahu Single Family Home Average Sale Prices:

real-estate

 

Unfortunately we don’t have the 2015 average yet, but I can tell you that Average Sale Price has fluctuated a bit this year but is currently running about 11% ahead of last year.  This graph shows about a 25% increase between 2010 and 2014.

I know that looks like a strong case for the stock market, but consider this:  The Dow lost 53% of its value from October 2007 to March 2009.  That was the big financial crisis.  During the same period, Oahu home prices fell just 13.8%.

Big gains in the stock market are very appealing but they come with a rather large level of risk. At any time, your investment can take a strong hit based on events occurring almost anywhere in the world.  Meanwhile, Oahu real estate remains relatively steady.  Since 1985 we’ve enjoyed an average appreciation rate of just under 5% per year.  We have had downturns, but they have been relatively mild.  If you are deciding where to put your nest egg, you need look no further than your own backyard.  And when it comes to purchasing a property that will steadily grow in value, there is no better help on the island than Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties.

Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties is a full service real estate company that provides exceptional service while charging less than ordinary Realtors.  We’ve been successfully helping buyers and sellers all over Oahu for more than 12 years and we’d be delighted to help you achieve your housing dreams.  Contact us at (808) 593-8811, or visit our website.