Keahi Pelayo's (honolulurealtoranimal) Blog

May 28th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 I had a conversation with a person in New York City and I surprise to learn that cooperatives charge a “Flip Tax” when a unit in the building is sold.  Apparently, if you own a cooperative in the City, the coop will paid a percentage of the sale...

May 27th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 , Rants & Riffs There are old sayings in the Honolulu real estate business, some are true and others are not.  Here are a five that I have found apply. 1.  “Your first offer is your best offer!” I have sold and observed the sale of thousands of ...

May 26th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 Never fight a self-fulfilling prophecy! Today’s Honolulu Advertiser is reporting an increase in the Consumer Confidence index, the stock market is responding in a positive manner and many economists are saying the worst is behind us. CLICK HERE ...

May 21st, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101, Rants & Riffs Like most municipalities, the City and County of Honolulu is falling short on the income side of budgetary planning.  In other words, they have more expenses than they have income.  Rather than cutting services, the City Council i...

May 20th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101, Views of Honolulu News sources are reporting that housing starts, on the whole, have dropped significantly.  Yet read into the numbers and you find a different story.  The majority of the drop has been in apartment construction, but new home st...

May 18th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101, Rants & Riffs The Hawaii State Legislature raised the top income tax rate in Hawaii to 12% last week. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST.

May 8th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 This mornings Forbes.com had an article written by Robert Lenzner, a forecaster at Economic Cycle Research Institute.  He is bullish on the stock market and home prices. CLICK HERE TO READ THE POST.

May 7th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 As of May 1, 2009, new rules have been put in place to try to curb pressure on appraisers to arrive at higher values for properties. With all the issues arising from the sub-prime mortgage mess, at first blush, it sounds like a really good idea. ...

May 6th, 2009 categories: Honolulu Real Estate 101 The April 2009 Honolulu Board Of Realtors Monthly Statistical Report (CLICK HERE FOR A COPY) has been analyzed in a negative manner by the major media.  They seem to focus on the on April 2008 to April 2009 drop in median sales price of single fa...