Kailua Luxury meets the beach lifestyle

Luxury meets the beach lifestyle – that’s what you’ll find when you move to Kailua, on the island of Oahu. It’s only a half hour from downtown Honolulu, yet it feels a galaxy away.

Kailua is known for its white, sandy beaches, luxury homes and laid-back lifestyle. Calm, clear water provides Kailua residents with an abundance of activity, such as swimming, kayaking, snorkeling or just watching the many sea turtles that live in the bay.

Kailua Beach Park offers residents even more opportunities to remain active. Just a short drive south will put you on Lanikai Beach, consistently voted one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet. If you seek luxury beach- front living, Lanikai may be your new home.

Shopping in Kailua is a breeze with tons of boutiques, specialty stores and groceries. No matter what part of town you decide to settle into, you won’t be far from places to shop.

While Kailua doesn’t offer the high-end restaurants you’ll find in Honolulu, you’ll never go hungry in this town. Try the yummy breakfasts at Cinnamon’s or Crepes No Ka ‘Oi. You’ll find amazing lunch dishes at Uahi Island Grill and plate lunch at The Food Company. For dinner, choose from Italian, Chinese and even Moroccan cuisine.

Several private schools serve Kailua’s children. Public schools include a number of elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools.

If you’re in the market to purchase a home in Kailua you’ll be happy to learn that there’s a price for just about any budget. Although the median sales price in late 2011 was $650,000, condos go for far less or you can spend up to $36 million for an exclusive, Kailua beachside estate.

If you use the internet to search for Kailua real estate, be sure to specify Oahu in your searches. Otherwise, you may end up with a list of houses for sale in Kailua-Kona – on the Big Island.

Waikiki the engine that drives Hawaii’s economy

Hawaii News Now describes Waikiki as “…the engine that drives Hawaii’s economy…”  However, long before there were high-rise hotels and thousands upon thousands of tourists, Waikiki was the “playground” of the Hawaiian royalty, who surfed at Waikiki on a type of longboard.  Even Kamehameha the Great, who established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810, enjoyed spending time in Waikiki.  European and mainland settlers did not approve of surfing, but at the turn of the twentieth century, there were still some who practiced the art of surfing.  A few fortuitous surfing lessons led to expansion of the sport to other places such as California.  Even Jack London (author of The Call of the Wild) was so enamored of surfing after taking a surfing lesson in 1907 that he wrote an article about it published in a widely circulated magazine.  The legacy of surfing continues on today at Waikiki Beach.

Throughout the past few centuries, Waikiki has borne witness to much of Hawaii’s history, including wars, the arrival of whaling ships, and the arrival of loads of tourists.  Prior to its royal playground status, Waikiki was a marsh that was made into an area of fishponds and fields for growing taro.  Waikiki means “spouting water” and early Hawaiians gave the area this name because the marsh was fed by mountain streams and springs.

Waikiki is a part of Honolulu, which is on the south shore of the island of Oahu. Waikiki stretches from the Ala Wai Canal (excavated to drain the marshy areas) over to Diamond Head.  Some smaller hotels and guesthouses opened in Waikiki in the 1880s. The first large hotel at Waikiki Beach, the Moana Surfrider, was built in 1901. At the time, the Moana was the tallest building in the state. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel also dates back to the early 20^th century.

Present day hotels are all over Waikiki Beach.  While there are still a number of low-rise establishments, most are literally overshadowed by the high-rise resort hotels of Waikiki. The Moana Surfrider Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel are still operating.  Other large hotels include the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Halekulani Hotel, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, the Sheraton Waikiki, and The Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk offers residences that start at $600,000.   Even the most “basic” studio units are luxurious, with gourmet kitchenettes, upscale appliances, and all the amenities of a condominium property plus all of the services of the luxury associated with the Trump name.  The one-bedroom units at Trump cost over $1 million.  There are two bedroom units that cost over $2 million, and other units with much higher price tags.  However, Trump is just the newest of Condominium properties built in Waikiki.  Many other buildings offer great properties available for purchase.

Because of the location, and the relative lack of space, almost any property for sale in Waikiki is going to be a condominium type of property.  There are condominiums for under $100,000, but they are generally rather small (200-500 square feet), and most are at least a few blocks from the beach.  As with anywhere else in the world, you get what you pay for, and in Waikiki the “what” is all about location and views.  Although the 2010 median price of a condominium in Waikiki was $285,000, the types of properties that most people want, ones with spectacular views, in the prime locations, will likely cost more.

Hawaii Real Estate – Should You Take Your Attorney to the Closing?

It’s a good idea. Many buyers who are experienced in Hawaii real estate transactions feel perfectly comfortable going to the closing themselves. However, if this is your first home pur­chase or you are unfamiliar with the closing procedure, then you would be well advised to have an attorney with you to explain what’s going on and to check for errors.

The closing is where you sign the mortgage documents, agree to give the seller the money for the purchase, and execute other documents needed to finalize the transac­tion. Typically, it is handled in an escrow or title insur­ance office. On the East Coast it may be handled in an attorney’s office.

Don’t expect all of the closing documents to be pre­pared correctly. Often there are mistakes, particularly in the math. Sometimes even the loan documents contain errors. For example, the interest rate may be wrong or the conditions of an adjustable rate mortgage may be differ­ent than what you agreed to. (Usually it’s just a matter of the lender sending in the wrong documents.) You want to I be able to detect the errors and get them corrected on the spot. To sign now and hope for the best later on is not an advisable course of action.

Many buyers mistakenly believe that their real estate agent will accompany them to the closing to explain things. After all, the agent was helpful in finding the house and in conducting the negotiations. It’s only natural to expect the agent to continue being helpful right through the close of the deal.

Most agents, however, will not accompany you to the closing and will not advise you on what you are signing and whether or not the document is correctly prepare The reason is liability—they don’t want to be liable for any errors or mistakes that occur at closing. In addition, you may need and ask for legal advice; because very few agents are also attorneys, they cannot provide you with such information.

Also, don’t expect the title or escrow company officer to provide you with much in the way of explanations or advice. They may say something such as, “This is the mortgage note,” or ‘This is the proration schedule.” But if you ask them to elaborate, they may simply add, “It’s what the lender sent…”

You are on your own at the closing. Many experienced buyers feel perfectly comfortable with this. If you don’t, then your attorney is the one to provide you with advice. If you are thinking of buy Hawaii real estate visit www.myhawaiirealestateonline.com

Online Hawaii Real Estate Shopping – Bing Makes Finding Your Dream Home Easy

Like over so% of real estate shoppers, when you decide it’s time to shop for your dream home, the first place you head is the Internet. Online real estate shopping has a wide range of advantages: you save time, money and gas and are able to narrow down your options more efficiently.

However, online Hawaii real estate shopping also has its drawbacks. Without visiting real estate in person, it’s hard to get an accurate idea of the look, feel, and atmosphere, not to mention the surrounding amenities. Have you ever wished you could explore a piece of real estate comprehensively without leaving the comfort of your own home?

With online mapping tools, you can. Popular high-tech options such as Bing Maps, Google Maps, Google Earth or Yahoo Maps allow you to view real time images of a location, zoom in, examine the area from different angles, and more. When finding your next home is just a click away, real estate shopping becomes relaxing and fun.

With all the online mapping options available, which one should you choose? For a quick glance or to find directions, any online mapping tool will do. But for serious Hawaii real estate shopping, you’ll want to use the most cutting edge technology available. You’ll need an integrated set of services that provides rich imagery, quality geo spatial data, and robust performance. For online real estate shopping, nothing will do but a truly immersive experience.

Bing provides this fluid and easy user experience above and beyond the capability of any other mapping tool. Filled with rich features, but not as memory-intensive as Google Earth, it delivers precise and accurate views. You can get to know the neighborhood from a bird’s eye view, and use panning to explore close to home or farther abroad. The top-notch photo realistic imagery and stunning geo-specific 3D capability bring you as close to your Honolulu real estate as you can get without physically traveling there.

Retired homeowners Linda and Rob used Bing to help them find their dream home beautiful renovated Victorian mansion with ivy climbing up the walls. “The bird’s eye view we get through Bing is amazing,” Linda says “What I noticed about using Bing is that the imagery is taken on an angle. All the other mapping tools, such as Google Maps for example, use a straight down view, which makes it impossible to read signs on buildings or tell how high the buildings actually are. So with Bing, we got this incredible experience of being able to rotate all around the neighborhood in bird’s eye view.”

In addition to the advanced bird’s eye feature, Bing Maps offers a more intuitive user experience. When you are physically strolling through a neighborhood getting a feel for the property and its surroundings, you naturally explore without having to think about where you’re going or what you want to look at. Good online mapping should give you the same ability to shop for real estate intuitively and fluidly. First-time homeowner Grant was pleasantly surprised by this seamless experience. “I was used to having to type in addresses and manually search for properties,” he says “It was actually simpler to visually navigate properties in Bing than to use menus and dialog boxes”

Because Bing Maps is a comparatively recent newcomer to the online mapping industry, the platform is directly driven by customer feedback and has been able to more successfully mirror a physical user experience, rather than upgrading tired old technology. As online real estate shopping continues to boom, mapping technology will offer new and improved options Since Bing Maps doesn’t require you to download software onto your computer, you will always enjoy the most current feature enhancements.

Erin makes her living buying and selling real estate, and has been using Bing Maps since its inception. As a professional real estate shopper, she can’t afford to spend valuable hours visiting individual properties. “Bing helps me narrow down my options, fast, “she says.  “Now that I can view satellite photos with really precise architectural details, the experience is as close as I can get to be there in person. When I’m shopping for real estate the big question on my mind is, what are the amenities around the property, what kind of neighborhood is this? Bing Maps lets me see the schools in the area, hospitals, parks, shopping centers and so on, in a multidimensional way. As the product keeps improving, I keep finding new ways to save time and money.”

In the realm of online mapping, there’s no doubt that Bing is the industry leader. How can you use Bing today to help you search for real estate online? Whether you’re a first-time home buyer, a seasoned homeowner, or a real estate junkie, Bing Maps will give you an immersive experience that goes beyond the “wow” factor to a core solution: making buying real estate online easy.

Diamond Head Real Estate Information

One of the top end luxurious areas of the city is Diamond Head, which has a range of well-appointed condos and spectacular luxury homes in Diamond Head  lining the coastline and the area around the famous landmark. The superb location that is found in Diamond Head has led to it being dubbed ‘Hawaii’s Gold Coast’, and has scenic views over the Pacific without the obstruction of other areas or properties. The upmarket nature of this area is typified by the large spacious estate which was featured on ‘The Real World: Hawaii’ on MTV, and the famous mansion of Doris Duke called Shangri-La. Residents of this area have plenty of outdoor activities on their doorstep, and there is also a hiking trail leading to the Diamond Head State Monument.

The crater, which is a big part of this area, and the surrounding grounds of the state park, has plenty of rest stations and picnic areas for visitors to use. The Kapiolani Park is only a short distance away, and the green grass of that park provides plenty of practice space for the sports teams in the area, which makes use of the park throughout the year. There is also an archery range and a number of courts there which can be used by the general public, as well as the Waikiki Band Stand and the Waikiki Shell Arena where nationally known musicians and local artists perform frequently. Waikiki borders on Diamond Head, which means that Diamond Head doesn’t suffer from the noise and busy streets from that tourist area, but the restaurants and bars of the area are still within easy reach for the residents here.

Should You Sell or Rent Your Home Out

This is one of the most common questions I get from owners who do not know what to do with their valuable asset, your home!
While all boards are available individually, as a rule, we can say …..
In December 2010, the Bank of England said mortgage approvals rose to 42,563 from less than 47 287 in November and are now less than half its long term average. This, coupled with the imminent threat of downsizing the public sector and a weak economy in the region suggest that short-term price falls may be going home. Growth in public sector employment over the last 10 years has been significant, leaving the north of England are particularly vulnerable to government cutbacks, with 23% of the workforce in this sector. However, we believe that low interest rates put a floor under falling prices and the price declines this year limit.
In the longer term, we see a housing market sharply divided between high-end properties in richer regions where there are good schools, good transport links, high demand for professionals in the rich heritage of the buyer and properties include more than the buyer depends on the availability of mortgages in particular the likelihood of further evidence affordable forms to complete. This lack of mortgage credit and / or a cash deposit sum is paid in addition to our demand for the new unit for rental properties. If this demand is met by supply depends largely on investors are attracted by the market. While the market is waiting for these new investors, there will be a shortage of rental equipment, which could lead to higher rents.
Throughout 2010 and early 2011, we found the local rental market very strong, although we see in the sale of a clear division between the best properties in comparison with the general public. We expect this growth deficit in the medium term with the best properties at the top, but slow speed and extent of recovery. We believe that resumption will take place in the north-east in the coming years, particularly in key areas of equity-rich buyers to buy homes against the availability of subprime mortgages of the majority. This lack of availability of mortgage loans are excluded many potential buyers on the market, which inevitably will put pressure on the rental sector and act as an engine of growth in rents.

Buying Hawaii Real Estate

There are many types of people with many types of budgets and lifestyle preferences. Finding a real estate expert that can find the perfect home within a person’s budget is crucial. Most people will not have to compromise too much when finding that perfect home. Hawaii is famous for treating their residents to the finest amenities and modern living than any other place on earth. The properties in Hawaii sell faster than any other real estate in the world, so people who are looking for the right home to fit them, will need a lot of help to choose a home in a market that is always changing and disappearing before they can make a bid. Here are a few suggestions for people to take advantage of.

Buying a Home through American Dream Realty

The team at American Dream Realty are experienced Hawaii real estate agents who have knowledge of the Hawaiian islands and the surrounding communities. They can help people find real estate in any neighborhood that is close to schools, shopping centers, and restaurants, and they can help people find real estate in Hawaii near the beach, or more inland. They are also there for people who are new to the Hawaiian Islands and have never bought real estate before. Real estate agents are also there to help people who are selling a home, by helping them find a buyer in a timely manner. People who are looking to buy a home can search on the American Dream Realty to find out if this type of real estate company is the correct one for them.

How Changing Your Behavior Can Make You Think of Home Security

It starts first with your behavior: do not let people you don’t know into your house, lock carefully the house when leaving; do not let the house keys in obvious places, etc.

When all these are understood your can proceed into checking on the safety of the house and come with an idea of introducing a home security system for your home. You can next make a list of all the vulnerable points of your house and it is better if this action is done in the presence of a security consultant.

After taking notes on these vulnerabilities, start doing some research online and look for security companies. Along with this you can as well check for retailers in your area getting their names (maybe no more than 4) out of the local phone directory.

You should decide whether or not you will use a security monitoring service and in case you will, you shouldn’t bother going downtown and look for them. They provide their services under an annual contract that is concluded with a monthly subscription fee that you need to pay to the security service.

But if you do not decide to have a monitor and are confident enough on doing the job on your own you could save some money with affordable home security choices that include cheap home security kits, dummy cameras all these being good to protect small items such as RVs, boats, small houses, and storefronts.

You will always get in touch with various alarm systems and their various technology:

- The commonly met passive infrared detectors used in household detectors as being reliable and affordable.

- Ultrasonic detectors that transmit sounds that the human ear cannot detect (frequencies between 25 – 75 kHz). The alarm starts when the motion of an object towards the receiver causes changes of frequencies related to those that are transmitted.

- Microwave detectors used mostly as indoor application, and for the outdoor they are used with separate housing.

- Not that often met is the ‘movie star’ infrared light beam that is used by photoelectric beam system.

Many ways can be utilized in the protection of your home, which do not need to involve the latest technology, which is expensive as well. To provide a home security system for your house is enough to have all the doors changed with stronger ones (the type to resist to various shocks) and have all sorts of updated locks on the doors.

A fishing hole at the entrance door is also required to see from inside who comes for a visit. In case your home security system that you have decided to install shows a number of false alarms, then ensure of having it tested for this one not to become unusable when you most need it.

Do You Really Need A Buyer’s Real Estate Agent in Hawaii?

Most people, who have been shopping for a home, have considered enlisting the help of a Hawaii real estate agent. For the most part, agents are thought of as the ones who sell the house, collect their commissions, and their parts are done. But their role actually goes much deeper than that. Buyers and sellers alike rely heavily on the real estate agents, because in reality, they don’t have the qualifications that are necessary for dealing with buying and selling homes.

A lot of people today wonder if they can deal around the real estate agent when buying a home. The answer to this question is ‘yes’. But this isn’t always such a great idea. While you don’t have to use and agent, you must realize that you are throwing away a valuable asset and a lot of knowledge and expertise for accomplishing your goals in this area. As the buyer, be aware that the seller is responsible for paying the agent’s commission, so why not take advantage of his professionalism? This is totally an advantage to you as a buyer.

The agent will have access to a variety of homes, and can introduce you to everything that’s on the market. But if you go it alone, you may only be able to view a small hand full of homes. These are usually the FSBO homes and they make up a very small percentage of the market. You may be able to find some homes by browsing your local newspaper and thumbing through magazines, but you won’t have the kind of access to the market like the kind an agent can give you.

An agent can keep you informed about each step of the process. They can explain the terminology and help you steer clear of costly mistakes. It really makes a big difference when a professional represents you. You need the voice of experience to guide you along the right way and not get taken for a ride.

When it comes down to it, this is a personal decision. You can represent yourself if you choose to. Some prefer to go the route of dealing with ‘for sale by owner’ homes, and strictly working out a deal between themselves and the seller. And this happens a lot. But it cuts way down on your choices of homes. So take your time, and think it over, and figure out which way are going to best serve you and your needs.

The Kailua real estate market

The Kailua real estate market, which is closely linked to the Kaneohe housing market and a subsidiary of the larger Oahu real estate market, has been facing largely positive indicators despite confusion over housing prices and statewide high rates of foreclosure. According to a May 26, 2010 article in the Honolulu Advertiser, “A federal report suggests that Oahu home values aren’t as positive as indicated by local sales data, though the market appears to be on a path of improvement. The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday reported that Oahu single-family home values in the first quarter were down 4.5 percent compared with the same quarter last year.” The piece, written by Andrew Gomes, continued to note that “The figure compares with a 4.4 percent rise in the median price for Oahu single-family homes sold in the first quarter as reported by the Honolulu Board of Realtors. It’s debatable which assessment is more accurate.”

The impact of foreclosures on Kailua homes for sale, as well as the rest of the Oahu housing market, may be less pronounced than the statewide rate may suggest, according to a May 13, 2010 article in the Honolulu Advertiser. This piece found that “Real estate in Hawaii’s foreclosure pipeline hit a high for the year last month, signaling that homeowners continue to struggle with mortgage payments even as the economy and real estate are showing signs of a slow recovery.” The article, also written by Andrew Gomes, went on to state that “Among Hawaii counties, Honolulu (Oahu) had the most filings at 581, but the lowest rate, at one filing for every 580 households…Statewide, the bulk of the foreclosure filings in April – 1,093 of the 1,474 filings – were trustee sale notices representing properties headed to auction.”

A May 13, 2010 article from the Associated Press echoed the dire news for the statewide foreclosure rate, which does not necessarily translate to the foreclosure rate in the Kailua real estate market specifically. This piece said that “While there are signs of economic recovery, homeowners in Hawaii continued to struggle to meet their mortgage payments. The real estate research firm RealtyTrac reports 1,474 properties in the state received foreclosure notices in April. That’s more than double the 684 recorded in the same month last year.”

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