The VA Loan Guaranty Office in Hawaii is located at Tripler Army Medical Center on Oahu.   It is on the makai side of the building (facing the ocean).  If you are facing Tripler, the VA office is located on ground level on the right, front side of the building.

If you are a vetaran eligible for a VA Home Loan in Hawaii and need help or assistance with the value of your appraisal, slow appraiser or help in regards to your VA loan eligibility, you are better off walking into this office, signing in and having a seat.  Trying to call them is virtually impossible since they routinely dont answer phone calls and dont return phone calls.

1SG (Ret) Kucic of RE/MAX Honolulu reports on Understanding Oahu Property Addresses.

 Have you been looking on line for Hawaii Real Estate For Saleand are wondering what our numbering system is on Oahu in regards to property addresses such as:  91-1234 Ft. Weaver Road or 95-6789 Kamehameha Highway?

The first two numbers refer to the postal code.  Just to name a few, Ewa Beach, Hawaii is 91, Kapolei, Hawaii is 91 and 92, Waipahu and parts of Mililani are 94, Mililani and Mililani Mauka are 95.

If you are familiar with these postal codes, you will immediately know what part of the island the property is located on once you hear or see the address.

There are many houses on the island that do not use the postal codes but the majority of them do use it.

Here is a list of the postal codes.  All of the numbers on this list start with a “1″ which means that it is on Oahu.  The other Hawaiian islands have their own numbers such as 2, 3 , 4 etc…

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For all of your Hawaii Real Estate needs, contact Team Kucic of RE/MAX Honolulu.  Your Hawaii VA Loan, Short Sale and Hawaii HAP Specialists.  Serving members of the Armed Forces in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield, Kunia Tunnel, Fort Shafter, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Camp Smith and Tripler Army Medical Center.

The city of Mililani, Hawaii consists of 2 separate locations that are referred to as “Mililani Town” and “Mililani Mauka“.

Mililani Town mostly consists of older homes that were built starting in the early to mid 1960’s.  Mililani Town is located west of the H-2 highway.  In Mililani Town, you can find single family homes of a variety of sizes and some with with generous lot sizes, townhouses and condominiums. 

Mililani Mauka which is east of the H-2 highway has newer homes that were built starting in the early 1990’s.  The word ”Mauka” means “toward the mountain”.  Mililani Mauka is built on the side of the mountain heading up towards the top.  The earliest phases of construction started at the bottom of the mountain and the last phase ended up much higher.

Military personnel that are relocating to Hawaii love Mililani Mauka and Mililani Town because it is very close to Schofield Barracks (Tropic Lightning), Wheeler Army Airfield and Kunia Tunnel (approximately a 10-15 minute drive).  It is also very conveniently located close to Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor, Tripler Army Medical Center and Camp Smith.  The drive to the latter bases is a little longer at 20-30 minutes.

Home prices in Mililani Town and Mililani Mauka range from the mid 200’s for a condominium to over 1 million dollars for a single family home.  Every single family home in Mililani, Hawaii is eligible for purchase with a Hawaii VA Home Loan and ALMOST every townhouse and condominium in Mililani is eligible for purchase with a Hawaii VA Home Loan.

Mililani, Hawaii is located in Central Oahu.

The Homeowners Assistance Program in Hawaii or, as it is more commonly referred to as the HAP is widely being used by Active Duty Military in Hawaii.

The program is designed to help Service Members in Hawaii with selling their homes and the HAP makes up all or some of the shortage.  Be aware that you may get a Form 1099 and you will have to claim the amount of money brought in by HAP as income.  Consult your tax professional for further details.

This is only available to Active Duty Military in Hawaii that meet certain criteria.  The exact criteria can be found at http://hap.usace.army.mil/EP_PCS.html.

Here is another very important fact about the HAP that many Active Duty Military Veterans in Hawaii are not aware of.   If the Military Member purchased the house using a VA Loan in Hawaii and the HAP doesn’t cover 100% of loss, the VA Loan Guaranty might pick up the rest of the shortage so that the Military Veteran doesn’t have to come out of pocket with any money.  I am working on a HAP right now for an Army Helicopter Pilot who has this exact scenario.

If you own real estate in Hawaii, are an active duty service member and you need more information about HAP or short sales in Hawaii, call or email me anytime for a personal and confidential assessment of your situation.

New Upcoming Homes For Sale on Oahu:

1.  3 br, 2.5 bathroom, single family home in great condition.  Over 1,700 sf of interior living space, a 2 car garage and located on the 3rd hole of the Coral Creek Golf Course in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.  Built in 2003.   Priced at $529,900.  This is NOT a short sale and is available immediately.  Approved for VA Loan usage.

2.  1 br, 1 bathroom condo on the 19th floor of Honolulu   Tower in the heart of downtown.  One parking stall, great city and mountain views.  Walk to shopping, restaraunts, work or use the great Oahu public transportion.  Priced at $330,000 fee simple.  This is a short sale.  This building is approved for VA Loan usage and is also pet friendly.

The First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit is now history.  Only those buyers who put a home under contract before April 30, 2010 are eligible for the credit as long as they close by June 30, 2010.

Many people wondered that when the tax credit was gone would the Buyers would be gone too?  I am going to say NO!  I listed another piece of Hawaii real estate for sale the other day and I immediately had 4 showings.  It is too late for any of those 4 potential buyers to get the tax credit for this property on Oahu.

I think the Buyers will still be there as long as the interest rates remain low and the home prices stay where they are currently at.  If either one of those begin to rise, homes in Hawaii may start to be out of reach for Buyers once again.

The first time homebuyers tax credit will be expiring soon unless the program is extended.  You must be in contract no later than April 30, 2010 and close the transaction no later than June 30, 2010 in order to qualify. 

It was recently brought to my attention that Military Personnel on Active Duty who are serving overseas will have the tax credit extended for 1 year.

Getting re-assigned to Schofield Barracks, Hickam Air Force Base, Tripler Army Medical Center, Ft. Shafter, Pearl Harbor or Marine Corps Base Kaneohe?  Are you considering purchasing Hawaii Real Estate?  If you do buy, how soon until you are going to become a SELLER?  Besides trying to get a bargain of a price,  getting the seller to pay some or all of your closing costs for you and having a comfortable mortgage payment with a great interest rate, you must think “outside the box”.

Where is outside the box?  That would be YOU placing yourself in the shoes of the SELLER.  Your real estate agent that works as a “buyers agent” doesn’t cost you anything with most companies when they are representing you.  Team Kucic of RE/MAX Honolulu is one of those companies.  How was your buyers agent going to get paid if it didn’t come from you?

The Buyers Brokerage Company gets paid by the SELLER.  In most cases, the cost to the SELLER is 5-6% of the purchase price IN REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE  FEES ALONE.  Add another approximately 2% on top of that for ESCROW FEES and the SELLERS portion of the CLOSING COSTS.

Where are we now?  You are now a SELLER and you should know that it will take you approximately 7-8% of the purchase price for you to sell your home.  As an example, lets say you purchased a home and took out a mortgage for $520,000.  You keep the home for 3 years and then it is time to move or PCS (for my Hawaii military buyers).  Assuming that you used your VA loan entitlement to purchase the property with a 100% financed, 30 year fixed rate mortgage, your loan balance on that 520k may be around 500k for example.  These are rough examples but should be effective to put it in perspective for you.

•·         You bought home for 520k in 2007 which included your VA Funding Fee

•·         3 years later in 2010 it is time to sell

•·         Your loan balance is now 500k because you paid down some of the principal on the loan

•·         It will cost you approximately 7-8% to sell your home

•·         At 7%, your fees to sell your home will be approximately $35,000.  At 8% it will be $40,000.

•·         Your house must be worth AT LEAST $535,000 to $540,000 in order for you to just BREAK EVEN!

Are you still ready to buy?  Make sure you have professional real estate representation when you seek purchasing a piece of Hawaii Real Estate.  Get good counsel and do a good analysis of what you are getting into when you make the decision to buy.  For more information, visit me on the web, send me a personal email with your questions or call me.

Ewa Beach Hawaii and Fort Weaver Road traffic is moving along very, very well as of October 4, 2009.  I no longer hear motorists complaining about the road.  Occasionally, as the construction crews continue with their work, they shut down one or two lanes but they are doing that during the middle of the day and not during rush hour traffic.   This is a small price to pay for this long overdue convenience of a wider road.

The widening of the road is about 80 percent complete all the way to Kolowaka Drive going Ewa Beach bound and from Geiger Road going town bound.  They still have to finish off the concrete sidewalks, curbs and landscaping but the extra lanes are now are open.

When I am out running on the trails that parallel Fort Weaver Road in the morning, I no longer can pass up the cars when I run.  Before the widening of the road, I would see a car or truck near Kolowaka Drive and I would get all the way to Renton Road before the car or truck got there.  That is no longer the case.  Maybe I am just running slower.

It is my opinion that home buyers are getting educated on the status of the new and improved Fort Weaver Road because correctly priced homes in Ewa Beach are going under contract almost as soon as they come on the market.  There are also multiple offers on almost every short sale listing in Ewa Beach.  Prior to the widening of Fort Weaver Road, these real estate stats were not like this.  I must attribute some of the Ewa Beach real estate sales growth partly due to the first time home buyers tax credit but more than that, Ewa Beach homes offer quality construction, larger homes, larger lots, central AC standard in almost every home built since 1997 and most importantly, some of the MOST AFFORDABLE HOMES ON THE ENTIRE ISLAND.

Ewa Beach Hawaii and Fort Weaver Road traffic is moving along very, very well as of October 4, 2009.  I no longer hear motorists complaining about the road.  Occasionally, as the construction crews continue with their work, they shut down one or two lanes but they are doing that during the middle of the day and not during rush hour traffic.   This is a small price to pay for this long overdue convenience of a wider road.

The widening of the road is about 80 percent complete all the way to Kolowaka Drive going Ewa Beach bound and from Geiger Road going town bound.  They still have to finish off the concrete sidewalks, curbs and landscaping but the extra lanes are now are open.

When I am out running on the trails that parallel Fort Weaver Road in the morning, I no longer can pass up the cars when I run.  Before the widening of the road, I would see a car or truck near Kolowaka Drive and I would get all the way to Renton Road before the car or truck got there.  That is no longer the case.  Maybe I am just running slower.

It is my opinion that home buyers are getting educated on the status of the new and improved Fort Weaver Road because correctly priced homes in Ewa Beach are going under contract almost as soon as they come on the market.  There are also multiple offers on almost every short sale listing in Ewa Beach.  Prior to the widening of Fort Weaver Road, these real estate stats were not like this.  I must attribute some of the Ewa Beach real estate sales growth partly due to the first time home buyers tax credit but more than that, Ewa Beach homes offer quality construction, larger homes, larger lots, central AC standard in almost every home built since 1997 and most importantly, some of the MOST AFFORDABLE HOMES ON THE ENTIRE ISLAND.