Intro/Entry

Aloha, this is David Buck. I'm here to give you a quick tour of Ocean Ridge at Makakilo, unit 204. This is at the end of a cul de sac. We are having an open today I'm just wrapping up here shortly. It's an "end unit" and there's a ton of guest parking that you'll see at the end of the cul de sac here.

Here we are at unit 204. There's a nice private walkway here and you enter through a security screen door, then front door. This is the primo unit in the development. It was the original showcase developer's unit when DR Horton was developing the project.

Kitchen

Check out the tiled backsplash, stainless steel appliances, you have a nice pantry here on the left and on the right you have what could be a nice little breakfast nook, depending on how you have it set up. By being an end unit, you have a window bank along the side, which you don't get in the interior units.

Garage

You have a 2 car garage and this is where your washer/dryer is. You've got a ton of room of storage. What you see along the wall there are the guts for the solor PV that's up on the roof.

Solar PV

With that PV, it's part of he NEM (Net Energy Metering) program with HECO. It's a leased system, but your electric bills after your lease payments (of $150/mo.) are only $16/month. So, it's an incredible feature that's grandfathered in.

Downstairs Half Bath

You do have a half bath downstairs, like most of the units here do. There's storage underneath the stairwell, but what's fun about this set up here is they do have cats and there's a little kitty door. It's a great/clever little way to hide the kitty litter. There's wall paper throughout and it's a great little hidden guest bath for entertaining.

Upstairs Bedrooms and Bathrooms

As you go up the stairs, there's nice high vaulted ceilings. In the master bedroom suite there are dual vanity sinks, sunken tub and a great view out the window towards the ocean, a nice walk in closet. Check out the high vaulted ceilings again, plantation shutters throughout. You've also got a lot of privacy between the master and the other bedrooms.

There's a display area with storage as you come out of the master bedroom and more storage along the hallway. There's a full bath off of the hallway to service the two other bedrooms. There's a full shower tub and hard countertop surfaces.

Once again, check out the high ceilings in the hallway. You have your second bedroom. What my clients have done is something clever where they've removed the closet door to make a home office. It gives you a lot of options of what could be done here.

In bedroom three, check out the plantation shutters, mirrored closet and we'll wrap up back downstairs with the view.

Downstairs Living Area and Outdoor Lanai

Check out the open concept on the kitchen (from another angle). Here's the great room, with dining area, plantation shutters as well. As we walk outside, this is what we're talking about! We're on a nice calm winter day (with drop dead ocean views). These are some beautiful upgrades my clients have done with the stone features throughout this enclosed yard space. It's a little more eastern facing, so you will not get that hot afternoon sun, which a lot of other places in Makakilo get (out towards the right). Check out that view!

Today's open house is about to wrap up and this is going to go quick. Call me at 808-371-3509 if you have any questions. Mahalo.

Aloha, this is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate. I hope you're having a great 2022 so far! I'm going to take a little step back and report on the sales stats for December of 2021.

Single Family Home Stats

The year finished off strong for single family homes once again with a record tie for median sales price of $1,050,000. That was up 20.7% from a year ago where it was at $870,000 in December of 2020. Now, the numbers of sales are slowing down a little bit for the single family product. It's 10% drop going from 420 sales in December of 2020 to 378 sales just this past month. So, there's a little bit of a slowdown in sales volume, however the prices are still strong.

Days on Market are taking 1 day longer or 10% longer now, but it's still a great Seller's Market. It's going from a median of 10 Days on Market to 11 Days. Stay tuned, take a look at the infographic and I'll be right back up with the condo market. Mahalo.

Condo Stats

Well, the condo market was a little more robust. It was up 15.4% from December of 2020. That was going from 514 sales then, to 593 sales in December of 2021. That's a good bump up in transaction volume on the condo front. We're starting to see more velocity in the condo product. The median price was also up a little bit at 6.6%. In December of 2020, we had a median condo price of $455,000. Now it's a bump up of another $30,000 to $485,000. However that's still shy of the record price, which was around $500,000. We're really close there.

Days on Market are dropping quite a bit on the condo front. That's a 31.6% drop going from 19 Days to 13 Days. December once again was a great month and I hope you had a wonderful Holidays and a great 2022 so far and we'll be up in a week or so to report on the local stats. Mahalo.

Aloha, this is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate. I'm here to give you the local market update for November, 2021. 

Single Family Home Stats

Well, as far the number of sales went here on Oahu, Makiki-Moiliili saw the largest increase in the numbers of sales. Check out the backdrop behind me (from Tantalus) that covers everything from Moiliili, Manoa, Makiki, etc. right there in the hub of Metro Honolulu. Those sales of single family homes were up 120% from a year ago. That's gone from 10 sales in November of 2020 to 22 sales now in November of 2021. 

Now we'll jump into the median sales price for local neighborhoods here on Oahu. Believe it or not, they were up in every single neighborhood except for 3. It's showing how robust the single family home market is on Oahu. Waialae-Kahala had the largest year over year appreciation as far as the median sales price goes. That was up 74% from $1,620,000 last year to $2,825,000. The next neighborhood behind that was in the 30 odd percentile increase. That was a significant bump there in Waialae-Kahala, which you can kind of see behind me in the Waialae Golf Course Neighborhood and Waialae Iki out the back. 

Condo Sales Stats

As far as the condos go here on Oahu, Makakilo saw the largest increase in the number of sales that crushed every other neighborhood. Sales in Makakilo were up 190% from November of 2020. That was going from just 10 sales a year ago to 29 sales this year. There's a lot of velocity in the marketplace out there. You're seeing multiple bids and prices just kind of going through the roof. This photo here in the backdrop is in Upper Makakilo and this is a town home listing that I've got coming on market in early January.

The last segment we're going to cover is the median sales price for condominiums on Oahu. Similar to the single family home market, we saw appreciation in just about every neighborhood that's covered by the Honolulu Board of Realtors. There were only 4 neighborhoods that were not up year over year. Kailua-Waimanalo saw the largest increase in median sales price. That was up 43% from a year ago where condos were trading for $499,500 and now in November of 2021 they are at $715,000. That's quite a spike for year over year on the condo market. This photo behind me would be Bluestone, which is a great project there in Kailua.

In any event, it's been a phenomenal year for real estate here on Oahu and as we head into Christmas this coming week, just want to wish you and your Ohana the best and look forward to helping you all out in 2022. Mahalo!

Well, third time is a charm. We've tied the record for homes and condos on Oahu for the third time. This is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate here to give you the market update for November, 2021. As you can see in the background, we're in the Holiday swing right now. It's early December and we've got the Christmas wreath up on the building.

Single Family Home Stats

For the third time, we struck a record for the median sales price for a home on Oahu, which was $1,050,000. We hit that mark both in August and September and then October it went down a little bit and popped back up. Like I said, it's $1,050,000 and that's up 20.3% from November of 2020. Back then, a year ago we were at $872,500. That's quite a significant jump year over year. Days on Market were up slightly by 10%. Homes were selling in 10 Days a year ago. Now it's taking 11 Days.

It's still a great market overall, but like a traditional market we are slowing down a little bit as we head into the Holidays. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I'm going to jump into the condo market here shortly. Mahalo.

Condo Stats

As we dive into the condo market, once again third time is a charm. We hit a median record sales price, which was tied for the third time at $500,000. That was a mark that was achieved in both August and October. It popped down a little in September, but that seems to be the mark now. High water mark is now $500,000, homes $1,050,000. Just a year ago in November of last year, that number was $420,000. That's a 19% increase. 

Meanwhile Days on Market were trading quite a bit faster. Days on Market were down 43.8%. A year ago it was taking about 16 Days. Now we're down to about 9 Days. We're seeing a lot more velocity in the condo market because they were affected a lot more by COVID. Now as Buyers get priced out of single family homes, the next alternative that people are felling comfortable with is that condo product. A lot of the amenities and common areas are being opened up at the buildings in town.

Once again, I hope you're having a great Holiday Season so far. We're now in early December, with lots of fun and festivities in the weeks ahead and wishing the best to you and your Ohana! Mahalo.

Did you know that North Shore home prices and sales have dropped? This is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate here to give you the local market report for October, 2021. Well, don't worry. Not everything is doom and gloom. I'm going to start off with some good news and then we'll get into some of that North Shore housing and there's also some good news on the North Shore as well.

Local Neighborhood Report for Homes

Single family homes from Downtown-Nuuanu were up 175% in regards to the number of sales. There were only just 4 sales a year ago in October of 2020 and there were 11 this past month. That central area is showing some strength in town, which we'll get into in the condos in a bit here. Meanwhile, sales of single family homes on the North Shore were down 69% from just a year ago. There were 13 transactions that took place in October of 2020 and this past month we only saw 4 homes trade on the North Shore. I'm not sure what's happening there? Maybe nobody wants to sell, but that's a bit of a drop in volume and we'll get into price here shortly because the North Shore popped again again regarding median sales price.

Well, the Windward Coast took the cake. They, by far saw the largest increase in median sales price from October of last year. If you were shopping for a home last year, you could get in that market for $787,500 (that was the median price). Fast forward to this past month, it was $1,337,500. Once again, that's a 70% increase year over year. So, the Windward Coast (which you can see in this backdrop) is gorgeous, definitely a place for social distancing and it was the strongest segment of the single family home market here on Oahu this past month.

Back to the single family housing market on the North Shore. Unfortunately, outside of seeing the largest decrease in the number of sales, it also saw the largest decrease in median sales price. It was down 10% from last year, where the median sales price was $1,070,000 and now it's $962,000. So, if you're looking to get in on a "correction in the market", maybe the North Shore is the time before the waves pick up this winter.

Local Neighborhood Report for Condos

Now let's jump into the condo market. Ala Moana-Kakaako saw the largest increase year over year, which was up 167%. That went from just 24 sales a year ago to 64 sales this year. To put things into perspective, in 2020 there was a lot of fear in the market with COVID. International travel has now opened back up, so I anticipate we'll see a lot more strength coming. back into the Ala Moana-Kakaako condo market.

Well, it's not all doom and gloom on the North Shore. The median sales price for condos there was up 237% from a year ago. That was at just $255,000 in October of last year and this past month we saw it at $860,000. Once again a 237% increase in median sales price, which is just kind of unheard of. My speculation behind that is we probably had a lot of lowers ended trades out in Waialua, or what they call "cement city" out there. Whereas more recently we've seen some crazy, record sales taking place at the Ocean Villas at Turtle Bay, which I'm sure helped bring up the price. The demand for condo product on the North Shore has really spiked this past year like no other neighborhood here on Oahu. 

To find out more about what's on in your neighborhood, because all real estate is local, feel free to give us a call. Mahalo.

Single Family Home Stats

David: Can you believe the median sales price here on Oahu is now one million dollars for a single family home? Just a year ago in October of 2020, the median was $865,000. That's over a 15% increase from last year. I've got Ben Brady out here from Harcourts North America to give him a tour of some of the real estate we have here on Oahu. 

Ben: It's absolutely beautiful real estate we've got here Dave. Not to mention we've got Diamond Head in the background here and a beautiful view of Waikiki and some of the beautiful mountains out there as well. It's a phenomenal place and you can absolutely see why people fall in love with quality real estate like the one we're sitting in here today.

David: Absolutely, absolutely! It's a been a great market for Sellers. Days on Market were actually flat though. They were 10 Days a year ago and 10 Days this year, which is just phenomenal because NAR (The National Association of Realtors) says 60 days is the break even. Anything less than that is a Seller's Market.

Ben: Interesting to see though with the average sale price going up 15.6% and your average Days on Market staying the same, it's just showing the demand for the single family housing market is just still there regardless of that appreciation of over 15%.

David: Absolutely, and you will see an even more significant difference in the condo market, which we'll segment into here shortly.

Ben: I'm looking forward to hearing about that.

Condo Stats

David: Can you believe from this time last year we're up over 38% in the condo market? 

Ben: That's amazing considering that the volume of that is absolutely significant in any type of marketplace to have a 38% increase from the number of sales.

David: What a great place to be shooting this (video) here. We've got Waikiki right behind us and during COVID, there was a lot of fear and Buyers were not around. Fast forward a year and they're all back in the marketplace. International travel just opened back up and now that median sales price is now half a million bucks. 

Ben: That's unbelievable.

David: A round number: Half a million bucks for condos, one million for the single family homes. Last year, it was just $439,500. That's quite a bump! Days on Market actually dropped quite a bit. Unlike the single family homes that went from 10 to 10 days, it went from 19 to 11 (days).

Ben: Well, being a tourist, coming from the mainland so to speak from Harcourts North America over here visiting David at Harcourts Island Real Estate doing an incredible job over the last few months. Certainly having an incredible year, but the interesting part is seeing the difference. I was here in May of last year vs. now being October and the increase of people around. The somewhat normalcy so to speak that is back in just the general environment.

David: Yep, we're back open for business.

I currently have a great listing in Aina Haina on Opihi St. It's a great value on a quiet street with a swimming pool.

5488 Opihi St. for $1,900,000 ($610.74/sq. ft.)

5488 Opihi St. (MLS # 202124131) in Aina Haina

It is 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms with 3,111 sq. ft. interior on a 10,000 sq. ft. lot. Although built in 1949, there's been extensive remodels over the years including a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom addition upstairs.

2 Bed, 1 Bath Addition Upstairs

Right now, we're priced to sell, especially with the recent sales of Aina Haina homes in the flats of the valley with larger lots. Here are three reasons why this is such a great value in this current marketplace:

1. 5230 Makalena St. Sold on August 27, 2021 for $2,000,000 ($788.33/sq. ft.)

5230 Makalena St. (MLS # 202118202) in Aina Haina

This single level home was also on a 10,000 sq. foot lot, however it was only 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and was 2,537 sq. ft. interior. Built in 1947, it is two years older than ours and the remodel work done in 2007 was also prior to the remodeling of our listing. It DID NOT have a swimming pool and sold for $100,000 more than our asking price. They were asking $1,725,000 and sold above asking at $2,000,000.

2. 5265 Makalena St. Sold on October 8, 2021 for $1,800,000 ($791.56/sq. ft.)

5265 Makalena St. (MLS # 202120233) in Aina Haina

This home was on a slightly larger lot than ours on Opihi at 10,148, however that's the only perk I could find. This single level home is behind Aina Haina Shopping Center and was only 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms with 2,274 sq. ft. interior.  Some of the remodel looked nice, however it also DID NOT have a pool. They were asking $1,400,000 and it got bid up to $1,800,000.

3. 119 E. Hind Dr. Sold on October 18, 2021 for $1,878,800 ($628.15/sq. ft.)

119 E. Hind Dr. (MLS # 202119660) in Aina Haina

This home was only one of back from Kalanianaole Hwy and sat on the main thoroughfare of Aina Haina's East Hind Drive (a busy street). It did have a cool mid century modern architectural feel, however the home was two years older than Opihi built in 1947. Although there were some upgrades done in 2017, the kitchen was much older, the home was smaller at 2,991 sq. ft., the lot was smaller at 9,691 sq. ft. and there was also NO SWIMMING POOL. They originally came on market at $1,688,800 and sold at $1,878,800.

Now is Your Chance

Given these last three sales in Aina Haina, 5488 Opihi Street is a phenomenal value! I'd reach out to me soon before it's gone...

Spider-Man Far From Home in Oahu, Hawaii

Well, ALOHA! This is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and I am definitely far from home. I figured I'd follow in the path of my previous Marvel friends Wolverine, Captain America and Dr. Strange and come out here to this beautiful state (of Hawaii) to report on some really cool real estate. 

A lot has changed during COVID and Harcourts Island Real Estate has actually moved offices. This time last year, they just got out of their office in Kapahulu into a temporary space and now they're in a great new location right above Olive Tree in Kahala.

Another thing that has changed during COVID is we've seen a huge dramatic drop in inventory. Even with this Halloween segment that I'm going to get in to, we saw a lot less inventory (not just island wide), but what Harcourts is carrying. David and his team have already closed close to 30 transactions this year and they only have 2 listings left available.

Rather than getting into it and just throwing up a couple pieces of paper like my old lazy friends... Wolverine didn't want to walk anywhere Captain America is just "old" and Dr. Strange for some reason just decided to teleport to Aspen last year. We have 2 great listings to look at today - one in Aina Haina and one in Diamond Head. You're going to love these homes!

Aina Haina Home

5488 Opihi St. (MLS # 202124131) in Aina Haina

Ok. Here I am at 5488 Opihi here in Aina Haina in this beautiful valley with these mountain views of Hawaii Loa Ridge in the background. Let's check out this beauty. There's all kinds of fruit trees We have pomegranate and although this place was built in 1949, there's been extensive remodels along the way, including a 2 bed, 1 bath addition. 

Here we are inside. With these beautiful views behind your (towards the garden and Hawaii Loa Ridge) and there's an addition upstairs and you've got these really cool high ceilings... a great place to "hang" around. Alrighty, I'm not getting lazy like my old Marvel folks. I just wanted to show you that Harcourts did do a flyer for this one. It's a beautiful one in Aina Haina.

Check out this kitchen behind me. It's got gas cooking. Unlike New York, it's hard to find here in Hawaii. You've got a beautiful island with storage underneath and new appliances, a new refrigerator this past year and check out this cool garden view you get to see while doing dishes here at the sink. Directly behind me you have avocados and banana behind that you have mango out the back. 

One the side yard, you have a gorgeous yard that is fully fenced in if you want to have pets and a pool out the back and a full bathroom next to the swimming pool.  In the master bedroom, there's a full on walk in closet (cedar lined). You have the swimming pool out the back behind the windows. Give a "shaka" there to your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. In your master bath, you have a walk in shower, Toto toilet and a very, very, very long quartz countertop. Behind the master, you have your very own study with bookshelves so you can just sit back and relax.

In summary, this Aina Haina home is 6 bedrooms, 4 baths on a 10,000 sq. ft. lot and we're priced to sell at $1.9 million. As I wrap up here in Aina Haina, we're going to make our way to Diamond Head. You're going to love this next one! I'll be up shortly with your friendly neighborhood Spidey in Diamond Head.

3864 Owena St. (MLS # 202119783) in Diamond Head

Here we are at 3964 Owena St. at the base of Diamond Head. This home needs no fact sheet or flyer because I have it all right up here with my spidey sense. This is a 4 bedroom, 4 bath house just under 5,000 sq. ft. on a 15,000 sq. ft. lot. We're going to give you a perspective of this location later, but it's just something that you really have to see and it's priced to sell. 

As we come in off the main entry, here we are in the great room with a beautiful baby grand piano, fireplace (yes -fireplace in Hawaii) and an outdoor entertaining area we'll get to in a bit. Check this out, there's an outdoor koi pond. I know it's not in the Marvel Universe, but Aquaman from our DC rivals would probably appreciate all the little carp that are swimming through here. Behind me is a secret passage to a rooftop deck.

Check this out! This is Waikiki and the Gold Coast of Diamond Head behind me, and Kapiolani Park. It's not quite Central Park, but it's Hawaii's version of Central Park. Directly behind me now is the base of Diamond Head. If you could see at the very top there, there's a few bunkers up there. I wonder what it would be like to check it out up there? You'd probably get a great view of the city. Spiderman then disappears to the top of Diamond Head...That's a really cool view from the top! Now, let's go check the rest of this place out!

Here we are in the kitchen, which was completely remodeled 10 years ago. If you could see over to the left, you have a breakfast nook, over there a beautiful island, gas cooking, dual Sub Zero refrigerators, microwave, convection oven, wine refer and ice market in the corner. This is the perfect place for indoor/outdoor entertaining. Wait till we see outside! Did I mention? This home was designed by Jeff Long, one of Hawaii's coolest architects.

In summary, this home at the base of Diamond Head is something else. You've gotta call the guys at Harcourts Island Real Estate now, not tomorrow, now! This is going to go fast. Alrighty, Happy Halloween!

Palo Alto Location

Here I am at the Palo Alto off Punahou St. It's a great building with only 2 units per floor and it's at a convenient location next to a lot of hospitals such as Shriners and Kapiolani right down the road and you've got Punahou School right around the corner here.

Unit #901

Take a look at unit #901, which we got on the market and got into escrow relatively quick with an accepted offer. We were able to get it sold relatively quick, so if you have a condo at Palo Alto or Punahou and are thinking about selling, now might be a good time. Or, if you are in the market for a unit at Palo Alto or around Punahou, feel free to reach out.

Local Neighborhood Report for Homes

Aloha, this is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate. I'm here to give you the local market report for September, 2021. Well, Kalihi-Palama saw 111% increase in the number of sales. That went from 9 sales in September of 2020 to 19 sales this year. So, that was quite a significant bump.

As far as the median price goes, we saw a tie between two neighborhoods. One was Mililani, which was up 36%. The other is Aina Haina to Kuliouou. I'm here at a beautiful property I've got listed on Opihi St. in Aina Haina. It's got beautiful fruit trees all over. We're priced at $1.9 million, but it's something else you've gotta see! Prices in Aina Haina to Kuliouou jumped from $1,288,000 just a year ago to $1,750,000. Once again, that includes everything. The last three trades in Aina Haina in the flats of the valley traded between $1.8-2 Million. 

That's what's been happening on the single family home market locally. Also, in 7 of the 21 neighborhoods HBR (Honolulu Board of Realtors) tracks, were up north of 30%. Once again, Mililani and Aina Haina-Kuliouou tied at 36%.

Condo Local Market Report

Regard the local condo report here on Oahu, Kalihi-Palama also saw the largest increase, which was up 150% in the number of sales, going from 4 last year to 10 this year. Once again, that's a good bump for that sector in town for both single family homes and condos. 

For the town home and condo median price, Kaneohe saw the largest increase. They are up 45% and that was going from $500,000 a year ago to $724,500. It's still a seller's market here on Oahu. If you have any questions or if there's anything we can help with, feel free to reach out. Mahalo!