Hawaii Randy's Real Estate Opinions: August 2010

This year I began teaching continuing education classes for real estate agents.  It has been a positive experience for the first month of classes.  I got positive feedback, but saw things I could improve.  One broker who attended two of my earliest classes had some teaching and speaking experience and graciously sat down with me after class and helped my identify areas I could fine tune.  Some of the instructors in our area are really good and have been it for years.  That puts pressure on me to be at the top of my game.

A great benefits of teaching is learning.  The preparation and research to put the classes together, along with discussions and comments from students, have made teaching a great learning experience for me.  Imagine standing in front a room full of licensed agents, many who have been in the business many years and discussing how we conduct business.  Guaranteed someone in the class had a great experience or perspective we never considered.

One of the classes I'm teaching is "Mandatory Core B" that includes new laws and a refresher on fair housing and civil rights.  The fair housing discussions have been quite educational for everyone. It is amazing how many ways a person can get in trouble by saying something they thought was helpful.  I have had two different students who wanted to argue and defend comments or behaviors.  I had a little fun with them by using the same response, "you are up to $20,000 in fines and loss of license.  Would you like to try for $30,000?"  Believe it or not that barely slowed them down.  Oh well, I tried.  Possibly a real loss of license and some heavy fines at some point will get their attention.

My other class is called: "Getting Purchase Contracts Accepted and to Closing."  It has been fun class to teach.  During group breakout sessions we identify potential red flags in a transaction and discuss ways of addressing them.  Among my handout materials is a pre-approval letter from Bob's Mortgage and Hair Cutting Emporium.  It sounds funny, but helps address real life problems that come from bad pre-approvals.  Sample contract pages have similar over the top stuff in them, but are taken from actual issues we see and deal with on a daily basis.  Our group discussions are fun and informative.  Some of the ideas tossed out from the students are things I will be incorporating in my own business.  The teacher is also a student.

I am having a good time teaching classes and am looking forward to adding new courses next year that I am already developing.  Teaching is a great way to learn the business.  If you are visiting Hawaii and would like to sit on one of the sessions, please let me know.  If you are not licensed in Hawaii; you won't get CE credit, but are welcome to attend.  The classes are also open to members of the public.

Below are sales activity for the month of July 2010 compared to the previous month and the same month last year. This covers resale home for Honolulu County (Oahu).  The effects of the homebuyer tax credits have worn off.   Single Family homes median prices and sales volume have shown a slight increase over last year, while condos and townhouses have shown a slight decline in both price and volume.

 *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.

This is a wonderful list from Donna that every home owner should read before preparing their home for sale or doing renovations.

On of the hats I where is that of President for our small soccer academy.  We have three boys teams.  Last year all three won state titles.  This year two of the three won the state title and the third was the runner up.  Our 95 team took a national title on Monday morning in Virgina.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

• August 2, 2010
• Abunai Soccer Academy
• 95-1021 Aelike St. • Mililani, HI  96789
• Contact:  Randy L. Prothero, President
• (808) 384-5645
• Homes@HawaiiRandy.com
• www.Abunai-Soccer.com

 Abunai 95 Wins US Club Soccer National Cup Finals

Early this morning the Abunai 95 Soccer Team from Hawaii did the unthinkable.  They won the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup Finals for the Boys U-15 Premier Division.  Abunai 95 did it with an exclamation point.  After going undefeated in the regional championships, they went on to Virginia to sweep through regional champions from around the country.  Abunai completed their reign of terror on the mainland teams with a 2-0 victory over Tap FC Barcelona in the championship round.

To get to the final championship round, Abunai plowed through their bracket games with winning scores of:  3-1, 6-0, 4-1.  Based out of Mililani, Hawaii the Abunai 95 has players and coaches from around the island. Players for Abunai 95 also represent several Hawaii High School teams.

The champions and their families will be arriving at the Honolulu International Airport tomorrow, Tuesday 8/2/10 at 3:25pm on Delta Flight #2735, with the exception of  Head coach Darrin Goo and one parent will be arriving an hour before on an earlier flight.

Abunai 95 team was lead up by Head Coach Darrin Goo, Coach Andrea Toner, Coach Jon Morikawa and Team Manager Julie Sagami.

Abunai means "Dangerous or Look Out' in Japanese.  Our team completely lived up to their name by bringing home a national title.

Attached to this press release is a copy of the team profile sheet and a team photo at the champiosnhips.

For additional information please visit the Abunai Soccer Club home page:

www.Abunai-Soccer.com 

# # #

 The Abunai Soccer Academy is a 501(C)3 and a club member of the Oahu League Soccer Association (OL) and the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association (HYSA).

Today I held open house at three of my listings with the help of two other agents. 

At the one I was holding open, I got a visitor that made me stop and think.  He was one of those folks that seems to be an expert on everything.  To the point he was determined to teach me my business.  Normally I would have let it roll off my back.  The problem was that there were other visitors in the home and everything that came out of his mouth was 180 degrees out from reality.  He is the condensed version.

Misinformed Expert: You are priced too high.  How much was your appraisal?

Me: We are not in escrow yet, so there hasn't been an appraisal.

Misinformed Expert:   You should never list a home without getting an appraisal.  My best friend is an escrow officer and he would never accept a contract from me until we had an appraisal. 

Me:  Sir that's just not true.  The appraisal is for the lender.  If we get one up front, the lender can't use it and will still need to order another one.

Misinformed Expert: Well then you don't know what the home is worth.

Me:  I know exactly what the home is worth.  That is why I do a market analysis for the home.

He couldn't stop there.  He overheard the other couple who came in mention they were military.  So know he needed to give his expert opinion in that direction.

Misinformed Expert: VA will only loan on the value of the land, so unless you are willing to drop the price considerably you will not be able to sell it to them. 

Me: Sir, you are completely misinformed. 

Misinformed Expert: I am ex-military and know about VA.

Me: I do VA transactions regularly.  They do a full appraisal and count the improvements along with the land.  Since our market has stabilized the VA appraisals have been consistently been coming in at the expected levels.

Ooops, I stepped in there.  That one got him. 

Misinformed Expert: Stabilized? This market is not stabilized!  It is an extreme buyer's market!

Me:  How did you determine that?  To be a buyer's market you need at least 6 months inventory.  We do not even have half that in our town.  Inventory levels have dropped considerably the last 6 months. 

Fortunately he headed out the door and was off to train another real estate agent. 

Aloha!