Kona Kohala Blog

WEST HAWAII PROPERTY UPDATE:  It's slow down time.  There has been so much news about the crumbling housing market that like so many self fulfilling prophecies, it's coming true.  This news has pulled investors right out of the Hawaii real estate market as they bide their time until the rumored 5% to 20% decline in housing prices actually takes place.

In West Hawaii real estate we've seen a decline in the number of new escrow being opened in the last 30 days.  What we are seeing, though, is a continuing interest on the part of future retirees, those who are selling their current home or those who've put money away for this express purpose.

Look for the median price to show an increase this month as the homes in the $500K to $1M price range are slowly picking up speed as some of the retirees begin buying their future home in Hawaii, especially in North Kona and South Kohala where the weather is the best in all the Hawaiian Islands.

The number of sales was on the rise for over a year but with month end stats coming up I expect to see a weakening there also.  The west Hawaii market is dead by no means.  As good properties come on the market they are taken by vigilant buyers.  I have one client who watches Short Sales and Foreclosures, looking for that really good buy that does come up.

If you're in that position, have your money or financing ready and have me feeding you regular updates on the type of property you're looking for.  The banks still have large inventories of foreclosed properties that they're keeping off the market and only slowly releasing so as not to flood the market place.  There will be good buys for probably another 18 months at least.  I don't see anything happening to our economy to change that.

POLITICS:  You've heard of the Electric Slide but have you heard of the Obama Slide?

Here it is, the results of his employment programs since December of 2008 when he actually had some influence.  This is from the Heritage Foundation which has an excellent reputation for honesty in their reporting.

Our boy in the white house now complains because the GOP won't let his small business assistance program get through.  He's complaining that republicans are holding up the recovery because they aren't going along with what was done in the past that didn't work and that is, give more money to the banks.

This time he wants to give $30 Billion tax payer dollars to the "small banks" those with less than $10 Billion in total assets.  He thinks by doing so, they will in turn loan all that money to small business which will reinvigorate the economy.

How many hundred Billions of dollars did we give to the big banks and are they loaning it out?  No, they've made getting a loan almost impossible unless you're a cash buyer.  That was humor, by the way but almost true if you're trying to buy a house or condo.

So yes, the republicans are against this bill and they should be.  It's all about making it easier for business of all sizes to do business in America.  Intel's CEO commented yesterday that in order to open a $4 billion chip plant in the United States, it would cost him an additional $1 billion due to taxes, paperwork and compliance regulations.  Now there's an area to work on if our government wanted to bring business and hiring back to America.

He also said that the tax implications of repatriating foreign dollars is so high that most companies don't.  They don't invest those dollars in the U.S. because it's too expensive to bring them back into the country.  Intel makes 75% of their income outside the U.S.

Obama and his wizened financial team want to raise taxes on companies working outside the U.S.  Is that going to bring them back?  If it's already deterring companies from working in the country, how will higher taxes remedy that?  I wonder if they thought about that?  I wonder why the republicans in the house and senate haven't brought this up.

Instead of being so pig headed, the administration should look back to the end of the disastrous Carter years, very similar to what we have going now, and do what Reagan did to turn the entire country around.  Do you think that will happen, even though it's a proven technique?  I don't either.  Just remember to vote in November and get your friends to vote too.