Kona Kohala Blog

It's a beautiful day in sunny Kailua Kona not yet eight o'clock and the sun is already high in the sky.  It's going to be a great day to view property in North Kona and South Kohala with clients.  Prices are still coming down and with the exception of condo inventory in North Kona there's plenty to look at.

In this week's Aloha Friday newsletter, we look at the future of interest rates according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and their crystal ball.  With the Federal Reserve getting out of the Mortgage Backed Securities business, interest rates are going to begin their upward climb.  With interest rates on the rise, any advantage to lower prices may be neutralized.  Now is a good time to be making an offer if purchasing real estate is something you intend to do in the near future.

We've seen an increase in activity, the number of sales, all along the west coast of Hawaii Island.  While that is encouraging news for many it's not so for me.  There are small pockets of wise people out there.  People who know that it's best to live within a budget.  That living below your means can cushion your "golden years" and that a home is not an ATM machine but instead, an investment in your future.

Those people have recently popped out of the wood work and begun buying homes for their retirement which is coming in a year or two for most.  Just as quickly as they appeared, they may well disappear leaving untouched inventory again searching for a right price and a buyer at that price.

We still haven't seen a significant change in the unemployment figures and until we do there can be no sustained recovery.  Our current administration is hell bent on passing a health care program that is favored by few.  If it weren't for a huge ego being involved the idea would have been dropped many month ago.  Instead of someone's legacy legislation they should be working on an economic recovery program that will get our great country off the ropes.  All that wasted time and energy and now vast amounts of dollars on a program the majority of Americans have said they don't want.

When we see unemployment turn around we'll see the entire economy turn around.  It won't be overnight but it will be steady.  Instead of driving business out of America, the administration will encourage business to come to America.  When that happens, when our "leaders" do what's best for us instead of what's best for them we will see our economy revitalized but not until then.  And, not until then will we see a recovery in housing or any other market in the country except the service industry as foreigners come here to sign see on their holidays thanks to their vibrant economies that even their socialist governments can't tank once America becomes a third world country.