Developer’s agent or your agent August 8, 2008
Posted by brobinson in : For buyers, Mauna Kea Resort, Mauna Lani Resort, RE Market, Waikoloa Beach Resort , 1 comment so farPerhaps you are reading this blog because you are sitting on the Mainland doing your homework in advance of a trip to the Big Island. Most of our prospective buyers do begin their search on-line, around the same time as they book their flights! After all, you want to spend most of your time enjoying your vacation and be efficient in your property search. However, if your preference in a resort home or condo is for new construction, finding out what’s available can take some digging.
First, some developers choose not to list their available inventory in the MLS (in this case, here on AlohaLiving.com). For example, you saw a beautiful ad for Ke Kailani or Halii Kai in an in-flight magazine but you can’t seem to come up with any developer listings. That’s because those developers, although they always welcome us when we walk through the door with a qualified client, would prefer to sell through their on-site sales staff. This arrangement is advantageous to them for several reasons. They save on commissions, and more importantly, it puts all the power of information and negotiation in the seller’s hands. You won’t necessarily know if there is something on the resale market that is competitive with what they are showing you. Their agent will try to give you their best deal, but can only offer what the developer has authorized them to–and sometimes their bosses are actually willing to accept a much more aggressive offer if it happens to be presented. Cash buyer, quick close? In this market you can pretty much write your own ticket, but you might not get that impression talking with the developer’s agent.
Other developers take a different approach. They believe in casting a wider net by listing in the MLS, even though they have an on-site sales office. Sometimes the agents work exclusively for that developer, and other times the developer will work with one or more real estate agencies to list their inventory. In any case, you as a buyer are allowed to work with an outside agent.
At both types of properties, if you choose to be represented by another agent, the developer may require that agent to “register” you in advance of your visit, or to accompany you to the property on your first visit, or both. If you happen to be in the neighborhood and just drop in, you should make it clear to the sales staff that you are already working with another agent if that happens to be the case. Again, with sales fewer and farther between, the developer is likely to want to accommodate you AND your agent, who might also be the source of their next deal.
With all of that as background, here’s my scoop for the week.
It is not uncommon to see listings be withdrawn or expire, and shortly thereafter reappear with a new listing agent. It happens all the time, for many reasons, and not necessarily because the previous agent didn’t do their job (especially true in this market). In today’s market, often a new agent with a fresh perspective is actually able to convince a seller to be more realistic in pricing, and although sometimes the listing comes back on the market at the previous price, in most cases the new price is lower.
I was surprised to see listings be withdrawn from the market recently at two developments: at the Mauna Kea Resort project called Wai’ula’ula and at the Mauna Lani project Ka Milo. The Ka Milo listings have not yet reappeared, but I spoke with the developer’s sales staff who told me that the developer has decided to broaden their advertising reach (and perhaps their cachet?) by co-listing with an outside real estate agency known for its high-end business.
At Wai’ula’ula first a trickle and then a downpour of listings moved to a new agency. During the trickle phase I called a buddy of mine whose name appeared in the new listing. Yup, a shake-up to light a fire under the sales effort there. Good news for you as a buyer, right? Developer must be hungry!
Not so fast. I just picked out a random listing and looked up the history (something you can’t do with the public version of the MLS). Yup–it’s back on the market at a price $200,000 ABOVE the price at which it was withdrawn. Now maybe the developer figures that with the hotel about to reopen, the real estate market at the Mauna Kea Resort is about to heat up. I sure hope so, because our office already represented buyers on two purchases there so far this year and we’d love to have more. But the moral of the story is, even in a buyer’s market, it pays to work with a knowledgeable, ethical buyer’s representative.
A hui hou!
beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com
Cell: 808-443-4588
Hawaii Palm Properties, Inc
Office in downtown Hawi near Bamboo restaurant
www.hawaiipalmproperties.com
Truly a buyers market on the Kohala Coast - the numbers July 20, 2008
Posted by brobinson in : Mauna Kea Resort, Mauna Lani Resort, Puako, RE Market, Waikoloa Beach Resort , add a commentI’ll start this analysis with an anecdote. Towards the end of 2007 I attended a broker’s open at a beautiful house on the Kohala Coast. Over wine and pupus, the main topic of conversation was whether to take yet another overpriced listing at any of the newer condo projects where the supply of resale listings already was 4 or 5 years at current annual rates–or to pass and let it go to another agent. Developers with unsold inventory were undercutting the market with incentives and price reductions, but for the most part owners were unwilling to even contemplate that they’d bought at the market peak and in the short-term the value of their investment had fallen.
The story the numbers seem to me to tell is that in the first half of 2008, sellers have become more realistic and the condo resale market has picked up at Mauna Lani and Waikoloa Beach Resort. Perhaps too, buyers realize that although you can’t find the bottom of the market until you see it in your rear-view mirror, it is plain that mortgage rates are headed up, which can matter more to a monthly carrying costs than a bit more or less in price.
The analysis that follows is only for the under-$3 million market, as I covered the upper end in my earlier post.
Let’s start at the top (north, in my geographical view) with Mauna Kea. Just as in the lower resorts, the condo market is dominated by developer unit sales. Both of the Mauna Kea projects in the uplands, Kumulani and Wai’ula’ula, were sold pre-construction, so the 22 sales reported in the first half 2007 were largely made in earlier years. Eight of these homes in developer projects closed in the first half of this year, and as of yet no resales. The price trend is also similar to the other resorts: all of the sales in 2007 were over $1 million, but four of the sales in 2008 were under $1 million–that’s 50% of the condos sold! In the first six months of each year two residential properties were sold in this under $3 million range. Again, as in the higher end of the market, land sales dropped from two to zero.
Moving down the coast to the Mauna Lani resort, the condo resale market took a 25% surge from 16 to 20 sold (and developer inventory sales doubled from 9 to 18 as Kulalani and Ka Milo sales began to close escrow. Here too, the downward creep in pricing is evident. Whereas in the first six months of 2007 there were no sales below the $600,000 threshold, in 2008 six out of the twenty sales were under $600,000! Reported land sales dropped from 3 to one lonely sale so far this year.
Digging into the detail at Mauna Lani, what comes to mind is the old saw: “What are the three most important things to look for in a real estate investment? Location, location location!”. Resale volume and pricing at Mauna Lani Point and Mauna Lani Terrace is strong, especially for nicely updated units. The emerging winner in resales at newer projects looks to be the Villages in Mauna Lani, which is not surprising given the Maryl quality construction and proximity to the new Shops at Mauna Lani. These taken together represent the solid higher end of sales, over $1 million creeping up to just over $2 million.
Continuing down the coast to the Waikoloa Beach Resort, the first six months of 2007 recorded 13 sales (taking out developer inventory). In the corresponding period of 2008, hold on to your hats!, 19 sales reported means almost a 50% jump in volume! And the reason? Only one sale in the 2007 period under $500,000, compared with seven sales in 2008. The higher end of this resort (over $1 million which is only at the Centex-built Kolea and Halii Kai) was stable at 4 sales in 2007 and 3 in 2008 (first six months.)
Just to round out the picture, it is also the lower end of Puako that sold in the first half of this year: two residential sales last year at $1.8 and $2.0 million were replaced by two sales in the first half of this year at $855,000 for a lot with a tear-down cottage, and a Puako Beach Apartment for $250,000 including the fee in this leasehold complex.
A hui hou,
Beth
beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com
Cell: 808-443-4588
Hawaii Palm Properties, Inc
Office in downtown Hawi near Bamboo restaurant
www.hawaiipalmproperties.com
Walk to the Beach-Part 4 June 23, 2008
Posted by brobinson in : Mauna Kea Resort , add a commentOn Sundays my husband often sails with our friend Tommy, and somehow yesterday I was persuaded to join the adventure. Leaving Kawaihae Harbor in a gentle wind, we made our way down the Kohala Coast. As we passed the Mauna Kea resort, I remembered that I’d failed to finish my Walk to the Beach series.
Luckily, the guy at the helm was another local character, Jim Jung, author of My Life Behind Bars –and one of the bars in question happened to be at the Mauna Kea Resort.
What’s the name of the residential area sandwiched in between the beach in front of the Mauna Kea hotel and the beach in front of the Hapuna Prince Hotel? Couldn’t stump Jim on that one: The Bluffs at Mauna Kea. Don’t try typing it into the MLS search here on AlohaLiving.com as there is nothing for sale there.
Luckily, there is a fabulous new walk to the beach choice located just above the Bluffs. This new project is called Kauna’oa and consists of 28 estate lots and 20 duplex townhomes. Kauna’oa is the name of the bay commonly referred to as “Mauna Kea Beach”.
Jim also had the answer to another trivia question: What does kauna’oa mean? It is a vine with yellow and orange blossoms that happens to grow at that beach. It is also the flower that would be worn by a pa’u rider representing the Isla island of Lana’i.
A hui hou!
Beth
|
Beth Thoma Robinson R(S) CELL 808-443-4588 OFFICE: 808-889-1295 beth@hawaiipalmproperties.com |