North Kona Home Sales

You probably recently received your Hawaii County tax assessment for your Kona property and found that the value of your home has increased. With prices declining somewhat in 2006 you are probably wondering why. A recent article in West Hawaii Today indicates that it is because the assessments are “just starting to catch up (to the time) when property values were climbing”.

The good news (notice – good news twice on one page) is that the increases are projected to bring in approximately $29M more in revenue than 2006 that hopefully, Hawaii County will appropriate wisely.

And, even more optimistic news! The County has voted to create a business improvement district along Alii Drive to Palani Road to Hualalai Road that will secure and beautify out downtown. This district will now have a special tax that will go directly to making improvements that were laid out in the plan presented to the Council.

FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW my friend and office associate Maggie Murphy (no known family relationship), she is a lovely lady who sometimes has difficulty speaking because her tongue is stuck so deeply in her cheek. She is very smart, deep and quite complicated. She is a divoted runner, a bit of a health nut and a wonderful addition to our office. She tends to try to keep me thinking.

THE NEW TAX ASSESSMENT ON OUR KAILUA-KONA HOME was an unhappy surprise. As an experience Realtor I promise you my Hawaii County property tax assessment has well surpassed my property’s current value. What’s more, if this assessment represents the place where the county thinks the value was before it started going up; there are going to be a lot of folks contesting future assessements. Being a resident of West Hawaii I am painfully aware this side of the island is grossly under-represented on the Council because so many of the property owners Kona-side vote on the mainland. I’ve made peace with the political machine here to a great extent but the issue of property tax is dear to every client I will ever have. I’ve seen the Florida Association of Realtors use RPAC (their political arm) effectively to become pro-active on tax and zoning issues. They seem to be making some headway on the state level with regard to tax and insurance reform.

IF YOU HAVE A KONA REALTOR let that realtor know how you feel about your tax bill and urge them to support RPAC. Ask them to tell their RPAC representative what you, our clients, want and need. Your comments on this blog will be appreciated and passed along as well.

OH! IF YOU DON’T HAVE A KONA REALTOR there are a couple of excellent, very experienced, highly ethical Realtors I will be happy to recommend! If you want a Comparative Market Analysis to help you determine the current value of your Kona property contact me or Maggie via phone or e-mail.

Joyce Murphy, Realtor Broker
Hawaiian Isle Real Estate LLC
Luxury Real Estate Florida, Inc.
In Real Estate, Experience Counts
808-443-4302 / 808-327-1155
More Kona Real Estate Information at:
www.LuxuryRealEstateHI.com

Filed under: Real Estate Information