What a crazy time and I have some good news on the real estate front here in Hawaii. It’s true the market was really starting to pick up as was our US economy before all this happened so the residual sales and escrows from January through early March is what kept the first quarter still looking pretty good with median sales prices going up. Right now, if you have a good property, priced well, staged well and perfect for the local market, it seems to be moving, relatively quickly with the right online/virtual marketing.
Just a little update on our variety of properties and transactions during this COVID-19 Pandemic...
1. We have a Mililani property, Noholoa Hale #46 (3bd/2.5ba townhome, $525,000 FS) we just listed in the thick of COVID and have had constant showings and we received two offers and continual interest for showings.
2. We had a buyer client attempt to get a Hawaii Loa Ridge home stunning views under $2M and I believe there were 6 offers in and we had a solid buyer, good downpayment and we still didn’t even get back-up position...third in line. It is looking to close this week per listing agent.
3. We have another small condotel in Waikiki (Aloha Surf #605, $220,000 FS) which has gotten less attention but still having interest and showings per week. We are hoping to receive an offer soon from an agent, buyer is an investor on that one.
4. We just listed our 2998 Makalei Place, Diamond Head home for $4.199M and it has gotten half a dozen showings thus far with a couple interested parties who have been waiting for something to come up on this well-known quaint street. Much more activity than we thought during this time. We decided to do an official and professional Virtual Open House this past Sunday. We had numerous social media ads, online worldwide marketing, postcards, e-blasts, Facebook Invite, Zoom Registration and more! We ended up having 20 visit our virtual open house on Zoom and another 20 or so on Facebook Live. A success in our books as this is a new concept for most buyers and sellers.
5. Lastly another buyer we have this week, we submitted an offer in Kaneohe around $900,000 but an offer was already submitted on the property we are interested in. Hoping our offer is selected!
All-in-all we are busy and active but escrows are down. Before the COVID crash we had low inventory, great interest rates, a thriving economy and increases in sales and prices as we were headed into our busiest time of year. Things haven't changed for those buyers who have not been financially affected but many have. The buyer pool is definitely less than it was and those off island will want to eventually see the home they plan to purchase. If it’s a good buy and they have been waiting for this home for a while, they are going for it and submitting offers. Some will be subject to viewing the home if they haven’t already seen it in person. Many buyers are resorting to first see the virtual tours, online videos, virtual showings/open houses before stepping foot into the home. Some buyers send their realtors to preview the property for them while doing FaceTime or recordings. Mortgages and good rates are still there for buyers whose jobs have not been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. And another interesting outlook on Hawaii real estate for the future is that Hawaii is a safe haven. Should we need to stay at home away from people, buying a US luxury property on the beach in paradise isn’t a bad place to quarantine yourself. We have seen this trend starting to pick-up, especially after seeing Hawaii with some of the lowest mortality rates and COVID cases compared to the rest of the country.
We are well versed in all things virtual, online, social media and more...our team stays on top of the latest tech/online resources and offers them to our clients purchasing and for our clients when selling their home. We want to be that go-to realtor for our clients and future clients without hesitation 🤗. If anyone is selling now, they really need to have an agent that knows and understands the changing times and how to utilize new technology out there. I’m just glad we have been doing this for our overseas clients throughout the years to where it has only elevated our business and has given us an edge in this market. Please keep us in mind and let us know how we can be of service!
Christina Laney Mitre
REALTOR ASSOCIATE®
CRS, GREEN, SRES
RS-67243
Cell (808) 282-1399