1.  Are you a service member stationed in Hawaii and upside down on your home? (it is worth less than what you owe on it) 
2.  Did you buy your home prior to July 1, 2006?
3.  Are you on orders to PCS from Hawaii to a location more than 50 miles away?
4.  Was this home your primary residence in Hawaii?
5.  Was this PCS move ordered prior to Sep 30, 2010?

If you answered YES to these questions, you may be eligible to sell your house in Hawaii under the Homeowners Assistance Program or HAP.

You will need a real estate agent in Hawaii to help you navigate through this complex procedure.  Call or email me for more information.  I look forward to helping you.

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.

Very nice townhouse in the Ocean Pointe subdivision of Ewa Beach.  This unit has 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a DEN, all major appliances including microwave and dishwasher, central air conditioning, private back yard, PUTTING GREEN, 2 car garage and ceramic tile flooring in the main living areas and bathrooms.

This home is approved for VA Loan Hawaii home purchases.  Military personnel relocating to to Hawaii love Ewa Beach and Ocean Pointe.  They can find quality, affordable Hawaii real estate and it is close to military bases in Hawaii.

Contact David Kucic, RE/MAX Honolulu from the Kapolei, Hawaii real estate office at (808) 218-9338.

Last year, “Roger” and “Crystal” needed to sell their Ewa Beach, Hawaii home because of a military PCS (Permanent Change of Station) move back to the mainland.

Due to the drop in prices from the time they purchased their Ewa Beach Single Family Home until it was time to sell, they found themselves in an upside down position just like many other Hawaii home owners.

They decided to list their home as a Short Sale adding to the already inventory of Short Sales in Ewa Beach.  Simultaneously, they applied for the HAP or Homeowners Assistance Program through the US Army Corps of Engineers.

After listing their home with Team Kucic, of RE/MAX Honolulu as a Short Sale, multiple offers were received, Roger and Crystal selected one offer from a VA Military Buyer in Hawaii and within 45 days, the lender approved the Short Sale and the transaction closed.

As part of the Short Sale Approval, the lender required Roger and Crystal to sign a promissory note saying they would pay back $XXXXX to the lender over a period of years at a 0% interest rate.  Roger and Crystal negotiated with the lender and got the lender to cut the amount by 50% if they paid the amount in full all at once.  The lender agreed.

Initially after the short sale, Roger and Crystals credit dropped 70 points.  After they paid off the agreed upon amount to the lender (50% less than what the lender wanted), the lender reported the transaction as “settled” to the credit bureau and their credit score went back up 40 points. When it was all said and done, they had lost 30 points on their credit score.

The HAPapplication that they submitted was disapproved because they had not seen a decrease of 10% or more on the price of their home.  I don’t know if the HAP folks are looking to Zillow or RealtyTrac to get their info but they (HAP) are WRONG about the 10%!  Their property definitely went down 10% or more.  This is unfortunate because Roger and Crystal met every one of the criteria set forth by the HAP program only to be denied due to HAP obtaining inaccurate information about home values in Ewa Beach.

Ewa Beach is the king of Oahu, Hawaii golf courses with a total of seven.  One of them is Coral Creek Golf Course located just west of the intersection of Kapolei Parkway and Geiger Road.  This course is a par 72 and plays around 6,700 or so yards from the back tees.  It is not my favorite course on the island but it is decent.  I wouldnt rush out to play this course if I was visiting Oahu but if you can get a good discount, it would be worth your money.

Hawaii VA Home Buyer Information

Are you still “sitting on the fence” and waiting to buy your piece of Hawaii Real Estate?  Are you waiting for the prices to drop further?  As a Real Estate agent in Hawaii working with Military Relocations to Hawaii and specializing in VA Home Loan purchases, I run across Hawaii military very often that fit into this category.

I never push anyone into buying a piece of real estate in Hawaii.  That is your decision to make.  However, if you know that you want to buy a home in Hawaii but are waiting on the market to “bottom out”, please consider this information below.

I put these charts together to illustrate what could happen if you wait on the prices to decrease 10% but at the same time, interest rates increase 1%.

The first chart depicts purchasing a home now at an interest rate of 5% with 100% financing. 

The second chart shows what will happen if you wait on prices to drop 10% from the current price and the interest rate to go up to 6%.

Don’t forget that the longer you wait to buy, you continue to pay rent which is money that is disappearing and will not find its way back into your wallet.

 Purchase Price                                                       Monthly Payment (principal and interest only)

Purchase Price (down 10%/interest rate up 1%)             Monthly Payment (principal and interest only)

Fact #1:  Interest rates for 30 year VA home loans in Hawaii are currently hovering around 5% to 5.5%.

Fact #2:  There is a large inventory of homes for sale right now. 

Fact #3:  Many Sellers are motivated to sell you their house and may be willing to negotiate.

Unknown #1:  House prices.  Are they going higher or lower?

Unknown #2:  Interest rates.  Are they going higher or lower?

David Kucic, RE/MAX Honolulu located in Kapolei, Hawaii

VA Home Sales Expert in Hawaii

www.davidkucic.com

Phone: (808) 218-9338

Email: david@davidkucic.com

Hawaii Property Taxes for Oahu (Honolulu County) 

Hawaii Property taxes are increasing for the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  Our previous rate was $3.29 per $1,000 of assessed value.  The new rate will be $3.42 per $1,000 of assessed value.

When you look on line at Hawaii Property For Sale, you may see something like this or similar to this:

A very simple way to figure out the taxes is to look at the “Assd Val Total”….in this case above, it is $700,300.  Drop the last two zeros and replace the comma with a decimal point so that your new number is 700.3.  Now multiply that by $3.42 which will give you an annual Oahu Property Tax of $2,395.  Divide that by 12 and you get $199.59 which would be your monthly tax payment.  Easy huh?

With the example above, you will notice that the item titled “Home Exemp” is 0.   If you are an owner occupant of your home, you should be entitled to a tax exemption of either $80,000 (up to age 65) or $120,000 (for age 65 and older).  To see eligibility requirements, check out the criteria at the Honolulu Property Tax website.  Don’t forget to file your exemption if you are eligible!  The deadline for applications is September 30^th, 2009.

If you are quailed for the exemption, you can deduct the appropriate amount from the Assd Val Total. 

Let’s say you are under age 65 and are qualified for an 80k exemption.  Subtract 80k from $700,300 and you get $620,300.   Using the simple formula I described above, your multiplier is 620.3.  Multiply by $3.42 and your Oahu annual property tax would be $2,121, a savings of approximately $274 per year.

For more information on purchasing Hawaii real estate, contact David and Tonya Kucic of RE/MAX Honolulu.

Phone: (808) 218-9338

Email: david@davidkucic.com

Congratulations on your military relocation to Hawaii! 

You have a thousand things to do as you begin plans to PCS and one of them might be the thought of purchasing a home in Hawaii using your VA Loan Eligibility.

Unless you are coming from another high cost area, your BAH rate will most likely increase when you get to Hawaii.  The mortgage payment on a home might even be within reach for you based on the BAH and also the COLA that you will be entitled to.

But should you really buy a home in Hawaii? 

What are you going to do with that home when your 3 year tour of duty is over and it is time to PCS?  What if the value stayed the same or decreased and you can only sell it at a loss?  Are you willing to take that chance?  If you decide to keep the home and use it as a rental, are you prepared to pay 10% of collected rent each month to a property manager, pay for needed repairs and have enough cash on hand to make your mortgage payment in between tenants?

For more information on purchasing real estate in Hawaii, contact me anytime via email or telephone.

Good luck with your move to paradise!