Kona Kohala Blog

WEST HAWAII REAL ESTATE:  You may have heard of the "Shadow inventory", all those properties that are either in foreclosure or in the process of being foreclosed upon but not yet on the market.  There is no exact way to know the number but those who track such things estimate between one and seven million homes are there.

Much like DeBeers won't release too many diamonds at one time for fear of driving down the price of diamonds, the banks are careful about how many properties in any price category they have on the market at one time.

There's a house in Komohana that went through the foreclosure process beginning over a year ago.  During this time, the house has sat empty and the yard unattended.  This home will come on the market for about $500K as an R.E.O. but not until a few more in this price range sell.  Having too much of anything for sale just dilutes the value.  When the time comes, the bank that owns the house will invest in some cosmetic changes and repairs then list it for sale but not until more demand for this price is shown.

Like the effects and benefits for the rest of the population, our housing market is offering some great deals to those people either still working or who have retired with a good retirement plan and selling their primary residence on the mainland.  These are the same people that have kept the economy going over the last few years as others struggle to find and keep jobs.

If you're one of the fortunate ones who's still in a good financial position then keep your eyes peeled for the good deals that come up here.  As long as we stay in these financial doldrums those without backing and/or a job can forget about owning a home for a while.  For the rest of you, it's a great time to take advantage of the market place we find ourselves in.

POLITICS:  The economy continues to go to hell in a hand basket and no one, not the democrats or the republicans, are doing anything about it.  There seems to be no end to their energy when it comes to creating debt and lambasting each other but no energy when it comes to burning a little midnight oil to solve our unemployment problems.

It's quite simple really, put people back to work.  In order to do that, encourage businesses to expand.  In order to do that, cut their taxes and offer incentives to ramp up operations.

Small business hires 70% of all employees in the country so let's focus on them.  All this talk about tax relief for small business has been nothing but so much BS.  It is unfortunate that this administration is so intent on creating more and more paperwork for business.  I guess this is how they justify all the new government jobs, new bureaucracies and new taxes to support them.

No one in the main stream media is talking about the new taxes due in January because the Bush tax cuts will expire then.  Someone, you and me, has to spread the word.  Not one senator or representative has made a stand against letting those cuts expire.  Not a single person who represents us is making any noise about the largest tax increase in recent history that's about to hit everyone, not just the rich and yet, we sit silently awaiting the ax.  If this happens unprotested then I think we deserve it.  If we're too lazy to get off out butts and make noise what can we expect.

Our legislators both federal and state, are only interested in themselves, their benefit and pay packages and their coming retirement and, oh yeah, making sure they aren't' effected by obamacare.  They are not looking out for we the people, folks, they're only looking out for themselves and why shouldn't they?  We've never stopped their pay raises, the unreal hiring that's going on in the government while private sector jobs remain dismal, or all the other perks they've given themselves and with no accountability.

It was once said that a society gets the criminals it deserves.  I would like to amend that to read, "a society gets the politicians it deserves."