Hawaii Randy's Real Estate Opinions

$620,000

Pacific Pacific Palisades Large Home

4 bedrooms, plus bonus room that can be used as a 5th bedroom. 

The 2nd floor master suite can be used as a seperate rental, with efficiency kitchen, living room and seperate entrance.

Home has a very large family room, pool table can stay.  This home is a must see.

For showings or open house schedule contact:  Randy L. Prothero  808-384-5645

$179,000

Valleyview - Melemanu E/605

2 bed/ 2 bath/ 2 covered parking

This unit is has a large covered lanai with a view.  It is ready to move and and can be easily shown.

Valleyview has an on-site property manager and security guards.  There is also a community pool and volleyball area.

Contact Randy for showings or open house schedule: 808-384-5645

For the last two years or more we have been warned that interest rates would be back up to 7% or 8% by many experts.  To my delight they are now even lower than when the warnings began.

How long will this last?  I don't believe anyone knows.  The experts have predicted wrong consistently.  The one thing we know for sure is that money is cheap.   Loans are not as easy to get as in the past, but if you have good credit they are still loaning money.

If you are looking to purchase a home, find a top real estate agent and an experienced loan officer.  If you are looking to purchase on Oahu please look me up.  I would be honored to help guide you through the process.

If you are looking in other parts of the country, I can help pre-screen agents to assist you in finding a top agent for that market.

Good Luck and Happy House Hunting!

Below are sales activity for the month of June 2010 compared to the previous month and the same month last year. This covers resale home for Honolulu County (Oahu).  The effects of the home buyer tax credits are now wearing off.  July and August will give is a much clearer picture of how the market is actually doing.

*Median price means half the prices were above and half below the given price.  Data was taken from the Honolulu Board of REALTORS®.  It is deemed to be accurate, but not guaranteed.

Last Monday evening I taught me first CE class for Hawaii real estate agents.

The Class was the new Core B mandatory class, which covers new law changes and a refresher on Fair Housing.  We had a small group, but it was a great opportunity to test out my material.  This Saturday, July 17, 2010 I will be teaching that class in the morning followed by a new three hour Elective Class: "Getting Purchase Contracts Accepted and to Closing."

 Upcoming July Class Schedule:

Fri. July 23, 2010   10:00am to 12:00pm  -  Core B: Real Estate Law and Don't Discriminate (Kailua Class)  -  Guild Mortgage (Upstairs from California Pizza Kitchen)  -  609 Kailua Road, Suite 200  Kailua, HI  96734

Fri. July 23, 2010   10:00am to 12:00pm  -  New Elective: Getting Purchase Contracts Accepted and to Closing  (Kailua Class)   Guild Mortgage (Upstairs from California Pizza Kitchen)  -  609 Kailua Road, Suite 200  Kailua, HI  96734

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New 2010 Core B:    "Real Estate Law and Don't Discriminate"

• Part 1 of this course covers new legislation that will have an impact on your real estate practice. The 2nd part addresses discrimination in housing.  (2 credit hours)

 New Elective "Getting Purchase Contracts Accepted and to Closing"

• This new course teaches techniques for preparing, presenting and negotiating purchase contracts that get accepted and all the way to closing.  Part 1 addresses the process from the eyes of a buyer's agent.  In part 2 we change hats and look at the process from the eyes of a listing agent.  (3 Credit Hours)

 To register online:  www.RussGoodeSeminars.com

For more information on other classes and times:  www.HawaiiRandy.com/CE

I recently took a course to become certified to teach continuing education in Hawaii.  For the final project, I was given an assignment to make a presentation to the class which was made up of real estate instructors and some of the members of our real estate commission.  I selected the title from a short list that was supplied to me.  It was "The 3 P's of Negotiation". They gave me the title but did not mention what the 3 P's were.  I was left on my own to be creative.

Here is a rough overview of my presentation. 

There are three steps to a successful negotiation, known as the 3 P's of Negotiation.

      - PREPARATION

      - PRESENTATION

      - PAUSE

I am sure that many of you have your own idea of what makes for quality preparation and presentation.  For this example we will be looking from the eyes of a real estate agent who is representing a buyer for the purchase of a residential property and has already identified a property they wish to make an offer on.

PREPARATION:  The agent needs to do research.  Check public records, do a comparable market analysis, view the property and interview the seller's agent.

1. Identify any potential issues like zoning, building permits.
2. Look for red flags on the property that may affect the value to the buyer.
3. Try to get a read on the seller's motivation.
4. Determine market value of the home.
5. Meet with the buyer to determine their motivation.

PRESENTATION:  Prepare an offer to the seller that will give the buyer their best chance at getting the best deal at the best terms for them possible.  Present that offer to the sellers via their agent.  Here are some of the elements to that offer.

1. A clean executable purchase contract. A contract with no unusual special requests that a seller may object to.  A complete contract that has every signature, correct math and all needed attachments and addendums.
2. A price that is reasonable, close to what we believe is the lowest the seller is willing to go, possibly a little below that.
3. A strong loan approval letter from the funding letter, not a broker.  A letter from Central pacific Bank who approves and funds the loan is much stronger than a letter from Bob's Mortgage and Hair Cutting Emporium.
4. A nice cover letter that explains and part of the contract that there may be questions and introduces your clients and yourself to the sellers.
5. A reasonable period of time to make a decision. (No game playing).
6. Nothing too creative, nothing that will make them nervous.

Your offer needs to be so clean that if they sign it you are in escrow.  An offer that has mistakes and missing elements is a big disservice to your client.  If you create an environment that they are forced to counter for housekeeping you open the door for price and terms to be back on the table.  You eliminate your shot at getting your first offer accepted.  You want that offer so attractive that they are afraid to chance losing the buyer, even if the price is a little less than they really wanted to accept.

PAUSE:  This is the most important part.  Once you have presented your offer, stop talking.  He who speaks first usually loses in a negotiation.  Give the seller enough time to stew it over.  Let them get used to the idea of maybe accepting a little less money to get a stress free sale.  If their agent calls and tries to extract information that may help their clients in the negotiation, keep your cards close to your vest.  Give them no hint, leave the doubt as to what would happen if they counter.  Leave them having to decide whether they want to risk losing such a solid offer or whether they will just sign it.  Remember, he who speaks first usually loses.

l looked up at the meter this morning a realized that I would be passing the half million point mark on Active Rain with this post. 

I haven't checked yet.  What do you win with 500,000 points?  Do you get a gold watch or a trip to Las Vegas?  I would even settle for shooting lessons from TLW or a hula class with Blogging Bertha.

When I joined Active Rain there were not many regular writers.  I believe I could name almost all of them.  Now there are many thousands and growing.  Not bad for an idea drawn up on a napkin.

The Active Rain members have been a huge influence on me and my business.  The sharing of knowledge here is like no other place I know of.  Active Rain is incredible.  You can connect with many more industry professionals than you could in almost any other forum.   You also have the public participating in the process.

Several of my clients were able to do a silent interview of me.  They came to my blog and read my posts.  They were able to get a good idea of what type of agent and person I am.  Agents from other states and counties are able to do the same when looking for someone to refer their clients to.  In this regards Active Rain has been a wonderful added dimension to my business.

I guess what I am building up to is:  THANK YOU ACTIVE RAIN!!!

Good luck to all and happy blogging. 

Stephen L. J. Mau from Mililani High School goes undefeated to finish as the State High School Chess Champion!  Stephen stepped in this year to fill the big shoes of 2-time National Champ Robert Lau who graduated from Mililani High School last year.  Under Stephen’s leadership, Mililani High School finished tied with Kamehameha Schools as the team champs.  This is the third straight year the Mililani High School team has finished at the top of the heap at the State Championships.  Teammate Ryan Jose` Palomares finished tied for the top 11^th grade spot.

Evan Zheng from Mililani Middle School tied for the top State Middle School spot, becoming the Co-Champion.  The Mililani Middle School team was short a player, yet won the silver medals.  The mighty three came within a ½ point of taking the team title.  In the elementary school division, Kevin Zheng from Mililani Ike finished as the state’s top 5^th grader. 

The 2010 State Scholastic Chess Championships were held Saturday, March 13, 2010 at Washington Middle School in town.  It was organized and directed by former state representative Guy P. Ontai, who is the Mililani Chess Club president and the State Scholastic Director for the Hawaii Chess Federation.  Guy was assisted at both events by area REALTOR®, Randy Prothero who serves as a director/ instructor for the Mililani Chess Club and is the President of the Hawaii Chess Federation.

The duo held the State Scholastic Blitz Chess Championships (5-Minute Chess) the previous Saturday at the same location.  Blitz chess is high speed and exciting.  In that event Evan Zheng tied for the top spot for the Middle School Division and led his Mililani Middle School team to the gold medals.  Other notable, Jacob Prothero from Hanalani School tied as the state’s top 3^rd grader for blitz chess.

Detailed results from both events listed above can be found at: www.HawaiiChess.org/tournaments.html   A list of state champions current and past can be found at: www.hawaiichess.org/Champions.html

The Mililani Chess Club is open to the public and meets on Thursday’s from 6pm to 9pm at Rec. Center 6.  Mililani Chess Club offers lessons for beginners and has trained both state and national champions. The website for the Mililani Chess Club is: www.MililaniChess.org

 How can you tell a politician is lying to you?  Answer: Their lips are moving. 

As we move towards the election season, I started thinking about the problems our country and our communities are facing.  It comes down to a lack of common sense and honesty.  These two things are missing in government.  They are also extremely rare among politicians.

If I had a magic wand, here is a few of the things I would change:

1. There would be term limits for all public officials.  Including a total number years you can hold elected office in your lifetime.
2. There would be no pension or benefits gained from holding an elected office once you leave.
3. All laws will be written in common English and no legalese.
4. All laws must fit on an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper and be easy to read.
5. To create a new law, you must eliminate an old law (maybe 2).
6. No tax increases can be passed without them being passed by the public on the ballot.
7. Elected officials pay, will be recommended by an independent commission and voted on by the tax payers.
8. If you do not pay taxes, you do not get a tax return refund.
9. Lawyers will be restricted from holding many of the public offices, possibly all of them.  (I know this one will hit some nerves.)  The screw ball laws we have now are a direct result of lawyers holding a large percentage of the elected positions.  Our elected officials need to be made up of a cross section of the community.
10. Government workers can't be paid higher than the equivalent job in the private sector.
11. No elected official with a conflict of interest be allowed to vote on key legislation.
12. All government agencies that are not tied to public safety or infrastructure like roads will be cut back by 25% immediately.  Government also needs to close 25% of their programs and agencies.  We will start with any duplication.  We only need one department of education for example. It will be either be the state, the county or the federal government, not all three.  Give the money back to the tax payers.  If government is truly convicted the public needs or wants that service, they can continue to offer it as a paid service.  With money in their pocket the public can better afford to pay for that service or they can go to a private sector company.  We will find out fast whether the public really needs or wants that government service.
13. Lying is grounds for recalling an elected official.  There will also be a recall procedure for all elected officials.
14. Elected officials can't pass any law that exempts them.  You want to impose a medical plan on us, than you have to give up yours also.  You impose a tax on us, you pay it too.
15. All budgets must balance.  Refer back to item#6.  They will do it with the money they have, not the money in the tax payer's pockets.
16. Every tax payer dollar must be accounted for.  If not you go to jail.  That is how it is in the private sector.
17. If you do not honor your oath to uphold the constitution you are fired.

We need to go back to the days of public service and got rid of career politicians.  Just think what the country would look like.  If people earned a real living in the private sector first, then gave back a few years of service to their community,  things would be much better.

The problems we have could be easily solved with common sense and honesty.  These are two commodities missing in government and politicians.

We all know that the lending industry is going through major changes.  The Federal government has stepped up and determined that states either have minimum licensing laws or create them for mortgage brokers.  If they don't, the Feds will step in for them.   This is known as the SAFE Mortgage License ACT.

The SAFE Act does several things as far as tightening up mortgage brokers and their interaction with the public.  In Hawaii this badly needed proposed licensing requirement for mortgage brokers includes education, testing and continuing education.  These requirements are already in place for real estate and insurance agents.  It looks like a step in the right direction.

Here is where the net still has a hole.  The SAFE ACT creates a series of stuff for employees of banks and credit unions.  It also exempts them from the state licensing requirements.

This is the part of my post that will anger a few loan officers at the banks and credit unions.  I completely disagree with exempting them for state licensing requirements period!  State licensing requirements could do a couple of things that the SAFE Act won't.

1. There is pre-licensing course and pre-license test.
2. All loan originators would be regulated by one state entity, giving the public a clear course of action when they have been harmed.
3. Continuing education requirements
4. A closing of the loophole that would prevent a mortgage broker who has a revoked state license form taking a job at an exempt bank or credit union and doing it again.

In the course of selling real estate I have dealt with more loan officers than I can count.  Most of the ugly situations I have seen came from the mortgage broker side of the industry, but not all of them.  Several have come from out of state banks, one from a local credit union and two of the very worst came from local bank employees.  In one case the loan officer had a license revoked by the State of Hawaii a few years back.  That loan officer was at that time employed by the second major bank since losing their license.  In that case it took me meeting with two vice presidents of the bank to resolve the problem.  In the end my client was still out time and money.  The loan officer was no longer with that bank and off looking for the another place to prey on the public.

No matter how you shake it, no one should be allowed to originate a loan unless they can demonstrate a basic knowledge of the business and laws.  There should also be a simple consistent way for consumers to file complaints anyone who originates a mortgage.  I know that many bank employees are getting ready to tell me how they are federally regulated.  Big deal!  How does that help the consumer who is trying to buy a home and is being taken advantage of?  File a federal complaint?  Get real!

If you are looking to buy or refinance a home in Hawaii, feel free to contact me.  I can give you the names of several professional, honorable loan officers that will give you VIP treatment.