Maui

If you’re on Maui, don’t worry – you have good real estate deals in your own backyard. You don’t have to live on Oahu to start picking up good flip properties or cash flow rental units in Hawaii. Want a rehab job in Kihei or Kahului or a fixer upper along The Road to Hana? Some cash flow rental condos in Lahaina or Wailuku? There are deals to be had on all islands statewide, even though most of the press and news is focused on Oahu. So Valley Isle residents, this is for you.

One of the keys to successful real estate investing in Hawaii (and anywhere else) is proper & diligent networking. It’s extraordinarily difficult to be a one-man (or woman) show. You really want to network with others and leverage those relationships. That means buying properties from wholesalers whose marketing turns up properties you wouldn’t otherwise find, acting as the wholesaler yourself for other buyers, private lending for other investors’ deals to earn a high rate of return on your money, going in on joint venture deals or any other scenario where you work together with other like-minded folks to create wealth in real estate right here in Hawaii.

So how do you build these relationships? Well, you could call up any people that post “We Buy Houses” bandit signs and get on each others’ buyers lists, you could reach out to folks on Craigslist who seem to be active or you could just tell everyone you know that you are now actively searching for good deals or other local real estate investors.

However, I also suggest you check out the Real Deals group this Thursday evening in Wailuku. Real Deals is an investment group that meets monthly in Honolulu and shares knowledge and actual deals with other investors (disclosure: I’m currently working on two deals with the Oahu group right now). The Maui “branch” is relatively new, so you should definitely attend and meet some others that can help grow your real estate business! Remember, strength in numbers. You’re likely to pick up marketing tips, ideas on creative financing and opportunities to purchase actual deals on Maui itself in addition to the aforementioned networking (hint: bring business cards and a notebook). Here are the details:

When: Every 3rd Thursday of the month
Next Meeting: April 21, 2011
Time: 7-9pm
Where: J. Walter Cameron Center, 95 Mahalani St, Wailuku, HI 96793

If you go, be sure to tell them you read about it right here on HawaiiHousingNews.com!

...but can residents find work, too?

Aloha, everyone. I just read this brief article (and its misleading title “Maui home sales are up”) in the Pacific Business News about the recent real estate sales figures for Maui. The overall picture is that while volume is up, median prices are way down. Let’s quickly look at the numbers. Sales of single family homes (SFH) this past December dropped 22% compared to December of 2009. However, total sales of 2010 beat 2009 figures by a sizable 17% – not bad. For condos? The December 2010 to 2009 comparison shows an increase of 14% while the yearly increase is a whopping 39% jump.

Now before people start jumping for joy, let’s dig further. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of comparing the numbers between the same month of different years. It makes for nice copy and may capture some important seasonal factors of some markets, but let’s just look at the yearly numbers for median sales price, shall we? The median price of a SFH in Maui dropped over $38,000 per unit or 8% from 2009 to 2010. Condos dropped 16% – over $72,000 per unit!

So sales volume is up while prices are way down (again, the misleading title but I’ll let that go). Why? Same story. Lots of properties are discounted or distressed because of all the foreclosures and short sales — really, this is not news anymore. Now while this does present good opportunities for Hawaii’s real estate investors, it’s not so rosy for the locals.

It was plainly obvious to me when I was in Maui for a week this past December. My parents were out on their first visit to the Aloha State. We flew into Kahului on a late Saturday morning after a few days on Oahu and promptly headed to Lahaina for lunch. Now this was a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon yet Lahaina was a GHOST TOWN. I was stunned. Where were all the people wandering around, visiting the local galleries, strolling along the seawall enjoying the views of Lanai? Later that evening we headed to our rental in Kihei where we would base ourselves for the next few days. Talking to the locals, everybody was down about the local housing market — short sales were everywhere. So be careful of the news you hear about market rebounds because we have a long way to go yet and the neighbor islands are going to feel it harder than Oahu (if they aren’t already) until we all get this thing figured out.

Don't hit the Kipahulu cows!

So I want to give some love here to our beautiful neighbor island to the east (and it really is stunning, if you haven’t visited; my tip: drive to Hana then keep going around Kipahulu – just don’t hit any cows). Hawaii is more than just Oahu and we need to be concerned about all our islands here. Maui residents, what’s your take on your market? Is it showing signs of life or what’s it going to take? Did I just have an off day in Lahaina or is that the state of affairs right now as we kick off 2011?

Share your comments below….gripe, moan, cheer, complain, rejoice……

Hey Maui – Go Get Some Real Estate Deals!

Maui Home Sales for 2010 – Up or Down?