Harcourts Auctions will auction a very special Hawaii home on February 20, 2020. As the listing agent, I’ve come to know the property well and I believe that the best possible new owner is Jason Momoa.

This Honolulu home surrounded by water would be perfect for "Auquaman"

Here are the top three reasons why:

1. Lisa Bonnet

The love story between Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet is one of the most romantic stories in Hollywood today. Even before they met, Jason “knew” that Lisa was The One.  She is his queen and the love of his life.

Mirrored Dressing Room

Lisa deserves this mirrored dressing room with a sunken tub.

Sunken Tub

This boudoir is picture perfect for elegant, feminine Lisa.

2. Kanewai Fishpond

Jason Momoa is true to his Hawaiian heritage and connected to the Hawaiian culture. 

Kupuna say that Kānewai Spring is “where the mountain gives birth to the ocean,” because these headwaters flow into Kānewai Fishpond, then to Paikō Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary, and finally into Maunalua Bay.  This video tells the story of how Kanewai Spring was reclaimed in 2017 and now is owned and managed by the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center and Trust for the Public Land,. This property includes an undivided 1/10 interest in Kanewai Fishpond. If Jason Momoa buys this house, the Fishpond will remain protected.

3. The House is BIG

Oversized Mid Century Ossipoff Home

Jason Momoa is a big guy. This house is huge. There is plenty of room inside and outside for Mr. Momoa and his family to live, work and play. With almost 8,000 square feet under roof and over an acre of lawn, I believe this is a Perfect Fit for the Momoa/Bonet ‘ohana. It was also designed by Vladimir Ossipoff, Hawaiii's most renowned mid century modern architect.

If you know the Momoa Ohana, please pass this on... Harcourts Live Auction

For more information, contact me at

Dianne Willoughby (R)

RB-15951

Harcourts Island Real Estate

808-347-9945

dwilloughby@harcourtshi.com

Happy New Year!

We're now mid way through January of 2020 and we're here to give you the market report for single family homes in the month of December, 2019. As you can see it's a little bit cloudy outside as we just finished up the Sony Open here on Oahu this past weekend. The weather was less than ideal, however I think everyone had a great time.

Single Family Home Stats

The median sales price ended up at $820,000 which is a 4.1% increase over December of 2018. There were 309 single family homes sales, which is an increase of 19.3%. So, it's actually been a phenomenal month for Sellers. Days on market were 18, which is down 40% from the previous year at 40 days on market. 

Pending sales were up 17.8% and meanwhile months of remaining inventory is down 10.7% and active listings are down 8.6%. Going into 2020, it's a great time to put your house on the market because there are more buyers out there and less available inventory.

Condo Stats

The number of sales in December was 428 which was down about 2.7%. That is not a lot. The median condo price on Oahu was up to $425,000. That's an increase of 6.8%. That's pretty good. Our months of inventory at the end of December was up to 3.4 months of remaining inventory. That is a little bit slowing in the way of sales. The median days on market was also up to 30 days, up from 25 days on market in December of 2018 (the year before). The number of pending sales was up 5%, which suggests we might have a strong number of closings this month in January.

2020 is off to a great start and we're wishing everybody a very Happy New Year. We hope to have an opportunity to help with your real estate questions during the coming year. Aloha!

Contact David or Dianne for more info.

Can you believe 2010 was the last time a home sold for more than $20 million on Oahu? It was 4653B Kahala Ave. purchased by Genshiro Kawamoto for $22 million.

Beach in Kahala where the last $20 home sale was in 2010

Back in the late 1980's to 1990 $20 million home sales were commonplace along Kahala Ave. at the peak of the Japanese Bubble. Here we are now in the year 2020. Last year, a home in Beachside got close with a $17.9 mil. sale.*

Will 2020 Be the Year for Another $20 million Sale? 

There are currently six homes on the market with asking prices over $20 million. With no surprise, all six homes are oceanfront and all six are in three areas that typically take out the top spot on Oahu for highest real estate sales. Diamond Head, Kahala and Kailua are sharing that load evenly with two listings in each respective neighborhood:

Diamond Head Offerings

3249 Diamond Head Road (MLS # 201913411) is asking $21.5 million

Situated on over a half acre off Diamond Head road, this 6 bed, 7.5 bath home has 7,500 sq. ft. under roof. It last sold for $10.4 million in 2006 and was previously owned by Jim Schuler - a local home builder/developer that sold his company to publicly traded DR Horton (who continues to develop homes all over Hawaii).

202 Kaikuono Place (MLS # 201908386) is asking $23 million

Situated on a modest lot of 8,414 sq. ft., this 4 bed, 4.5 bath home has just over 4,800 sq. ft. under roof. It's orientated to have the trade winds at its back and has views along the Diamond Head shoreline that can produce nice sunsets during the winter. This home last sold for $14.2 million in 2015 and was previously owned by the late Lawrence Stupski, who once ran Charles Schwab.

Kahala Offerings

4679B Kahala Ave (MLS # 201915741) is asking $23 million

Set on the largest parcel of all the offerings, this 6 bed, 6 bath home just under 5,000 sq. ft. is on over 1.7 acres. The current owner assembled 3 parcels that are included in the sale roughly 30 years ago and now is awaiting a new owner.

4505 Kahala Ave. (MLS # 201914327) is asking $25 million (originally $30 million)

This one sold for $17 million in 2004 and is a 5 bed, 6.5 bath home just under 9,000 sq. ft. under roof. The lot is just under 1.3 acres. Some well known affluent families such as the Spaldings and Weinbergs have owned this trophy parcel over the years.

Kailua Offerings

1240 Mokulua Drive (MLS # 201930929) is asking $21 Million

This wold definitely take the cake for the highest Lanikai sale... Built in 2007, this 9 bed, 9.5 bath home is on .8 acres.It last sold for just over $5 million in the year 2000, so not a bad ROI for a 20 year hold if sold in this range.

145 Kailuana Loop (MLS # 201926904) is asking $27.5 million

With the highest asking price for a single family home on Oahu, this 10 bed, 8 bath (+ 3 half baths) home is also the largest with over 14,000 sq. ft. under roof. Based on a price/sq. ft. of improvements, this would be the best buy of all six homes above $20 million. The owner paid $24 million back in 2006, so appears they're just looking to get their money out of it at this point.

* For a complete list of the highest single family home and condos sales on Oahu since 2001, visit our Luxury Real Estate Page

Thank you for our success in Real Estate.  We could not have done it without you!

The properties above represent the wonderful people we were able to work with and successfully purchase or sell in 2019. THANK YOU for contributing to our success in Real Estate!

We are very appreciative for our great clients and network of friends and colleagues who have done business with us and referred our services to others.  As a result, our business continues to grow! 

As we head into the weekend for the final round of 2020 Sony Open this weekend on Oahu, it appears the players will be facing a lot more adverse conditions than the past few years.

Cloudy conditions for this year's Sony Open at Waialae Golf Course

Honolulu may/may not have a lot of sunshine this weekend, however the majority of the year we do and I'd like to take some time to feature the golf course homes on Oahu and in particular those fronting Waialae Golf Course where the event it held.

This year, we only have 2 listings fronting the course. One in Kahala and the other in Waialale Golf Course neighborhood:

1. Kahala Golf Course Home

This Kahala Home (MLS # 201904941) off Kealaolu Ave. is listed for $4,590,000

Originally listed for $5,275,000 this home is buffered by the canal - which can serve as a nice "protective moat" for golf balls ;) Built in 1986, this home is over 8,000 square feet under roof and has 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Although listed with another firm, the color scheme has definitely taken on Harcourts them of "Better in Blue" with lots of blue coloring throughout. This is a classic built prior to the 'Japanese Boom" of the 1987-1990 and situated at a great location.

Considering this prime 15,000 sq. ft. plus lot, which arguably could be $2-3 million, there's no way you could build a home that large today anywhere near there for replacement costs to stay under the asking, so could be a value play for someone looking to give it some modern updates....

2. Waialae Golf Course Home

This golf home (MLS # 201923670) is listed for $5.5 million

Facing the 11th fairway, this home on Waiholo Ave. was built in 2007 and remodeled in 2015 when it last sold for $5,663,000! The current owner would be taking a loss at this price. It has a similar lot size to the Kahala home, however is just over half the size at 4,224 square feet under roof. Someone could pick this up at a decent price.  It's not too often you can buy something for less than 4 years prior...

Other Golf Course Homes on Oahu

If the $4-5 million it takes to purchase a home on Waialae Golf Course is over your budget (don't worry - you're not alone), there's a number of other Golf Course frontage homes on Oahu. Here's a page I built that features what is available. There's also some condo options as well. Feel free to contact me for more information if you're looking to buy or sell a golf course frontage home on Oahu.

Homes: Hawaii Kai Sales and Windward Coast Prices

We saw the largest increase in the number of sales in Hawaii Kai, which was up 53% from last year. This was an increase from 15 sales last year to 23 sales this year.

As far as the median sales price goes, we saw the largest increase on the Windward side of the island. On the Windward Coast, which is basically everything north of Kaneohe all the way up to the North Shore. There we saw the price increase by 19% to finish off the month at $852,500. Overall this was a strong showing in East Oahu with the number of sales in Hawaii Kai and median sales price in Windward Oahu.

Condos: Kalihi-Palama Sales and North Shore Prices

The largest increase in a neighborhood with the number of sales was Kalihi-Palama in November. The number of sales doubled there from 6 in November of 2018 to 12 last month. The number of new listings doubled in Moanalua-Salt Lake. The number of listings was 13 last year and 26 this year. 

The North Shore had the largest increase in median price in November. There was a 38% jump in median sales price for condominiums on the North Shore compared to November of 2018. This brought the median sales price up to $510,000 last month.

All of our condo markets tend to be robust with 14 of the 21 markets reported showing the median days on market of 30 days or less. Every market is unique and every property is special.

Summary: Bill 89 Effects on Oahu?

In summary, what we both found interesting about looking at the local monthly stats for November were the 2 areas that saw the largest increases in median sales prices were 2 neighborhoods that were greatly impacted by Bill 89 (Restrictions on rentals less than 30 days on Oahu). We expected that because of that because of that Bill, there may be some depression in the prices and surprisingly... Regarding the Windward Coast Single Family Home product and the North Shore condo product, both of which we thought would see a pullback after Bill 89 that was launched in June. Contrary to what most people would have predicted, we're seeing some strength in those markets.

Every market is unique, so if you have specific questions about specific neighborhoods, feel free to give David or Dianne a call. Mahalo.

Single Family Home Stats

We finished off the month with a median sales price of $794,750, which is barely off just .3% from November of last year. Sales were up 11.1% with 320 sales vs. 288 the year before. It's actually a great time for Sellers as new listing inventory is down 15.1% and pending sales are actually up 13.8%.

Condo Stats

The median price for condominiums was down slightly compared with November, 2018 from $420,000 to $415,000 this past month. Median days on market are up 18% from 22 days on the market in 2018 to 26 days on the market in 2019. Offsetting the signs of a slowing market is active listings. In November, our listings were up 10% showing that there's a lot of market activity.

Harcourts Auctions

As we've told you before, Harcourts is the only real estate company in Hawaii that does non-distressed luxury property auctions. In November, we had two live auctions in the month. There were 150 active bidders in the room in these two auctions and there was also more online bidding than ever before. Online bidding is catching on.

One notable sale was in Dana Point, CA. The start to bid price was $8 million and the sold price was almost 50% higher than the bid to start price! The property sold for $11,885,000. Auctions Work! Every market is different and every home is different. Please contact David or Dianne if you'd like to talk more about what is going on in the market today and how Harcourts Auctions can help you.

One of the features of Bill 7 is there’s no requirement for on-site parking. It’s expensive to build a parking garage large enough to provide space for one or two cars for each apartment so, to keep development costs lower, Bill 7 does not require parking.  

Parking Stalls in Honolulu

In the current market, does it make sense to build an apartment building with no parking spaces? In many neighborhoods, on-street parking is already tight. Will buildings that don’t offer parking be harder to rent? Will they have higher vacancy rates? Will the rents be lower than rents in similar buildings that do have tenant parking? How much does parking impact the profitability of a project?

Parking Options

The least expensive parking solution is to use the ground level of the building for parking by raising the first level of apartments to the second floor. Bill 7 allows ground floor parking spaces to encroach into the side and rear yards of the building, but despite that allowance, in most cases one level of parking will provide a parking space for just about half of the proposed units in a typical Bill 7 project. If the building has fewer than one parking space for each apartment, tenants who want a parking space would compete to rent the available spaces and some tenants would be unable to rent a parking space.

Mechanical parking systems can provide an alternative. These systems “stack” vehicles so that twice as many cars can park in the same ground floor parking area. These systems have proven reliable and efficient in urban markets around the world, and the monthly rent tenants pay for a parking space would cover the increased cost of purchasing and installing the system. Cars parked in mechanical parking systems also may be more secure since access to the cars is limited to tenants.

Transportation planners in Honolulu believe residents’ transportation habits already are changing and a growing number of people will choose to ride a bike, use a car sharing service (Servco), an on-call driver service (Lyft, Uber) and/or mass transit instead of owning a car. In the meantime, what is the best parking configuration for a Bill 7 property? The best solution depends on the size and shape of the property, the distance between the property and a rail station or bus line and the unique characteristics of the community.

What is a parking space worth? Let us help you decide.

Dianne Willoughby, Realtor

808-347-9945

DWilloughby@HarcourtsHi.com

As we take time this weekend to reflect on December 7th and Pearl Harbor, millions of people across the country will see views of the Arizona Memorial, whether it be online or television. One such news publication did a story titled ARTS and HUMANITIES: Contemplating the Lessons of Pearl Harbor. In addition to reflecting on Pearl Harbor, the article discusses the architectural attributes of the Arizona Memorial designed by Alfred Preis.

Alfred Preis Home at 3247 Melemele Place (MLS # 201931347) in Manoa

Preis Manoa Home Doubles in Asking Price 5 Years Later

Over the years, mid century modern homes done by Alfred Preis are harder and harder to come by. This one in Manoa was last on the market back in 2013 and later sold back in 2014 for $940,000. After closing that year, the owners went through an extensive remodel where they kept a lot of the signature architecture feel of the exterior with doors, windows, etc. and use of ordinal hardwoods. Most of the money and changes went into some nice kitchen and bathroom renovations.

Original Feel of Home with Windows and Hardwoods

Remodeled Kitchen and Bathrooms

Although our real estate market on Oahu hasn't doubled in the past 5 years, this will be a good one to watch as homes by Alfred Preis have become more and more valuable over the years. Combined with these renovations, whether the price actually doubles or not, my bet is the ultimate sales price will far exceed what the overall market has done.

Karen Morineaux recently sent a nice mahalo card in thanking David for his help in the sale of her Mililani condo.

Karen Morineaux, Kealia, HI

I know how late this is coming in but time just seems to slip away. I wanted to say thank you for all you did in making Mililani sell. I know it was small potatoes, but I wanted you to know it was appreciated.