Hawaii Big Island Investing

[Barry L Hohstadt]

Hi I posted this question in the local Hawaii forum and got no replies, so I thought I would try here in the general forum.

I have found little to no information on investing on the Big Island, the Kona area in particular. A search for "Kona" on BP returns nothing useful in the way of forums or blogs. This seems odd considering the huge vacation rental market there. Does anyone have any thoughts about why this is? Is Kona not a desirable area to invest in? Are there no Big Island investors on BP (hard to believe!)? It seems to me that investing in Kona may have some peculiarities due to the nature of the area as far as tourism, retirement, condos, etc. There also seems to be an inventory shortage of affordable properties. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Mary Wirth]

Hi there!  I am as surprised as you (but I'm a Big Island investor, so hello!, even if it's a year after you posted).   Personally, I've found that if you are extremely careful and picky about what and where you buy, the Big Island can be a great market for short term vacation rental investment.   The recent short term rental bill (Bill 108, which goes into effect this month) has made things much more complex but the right property in the right place can bring in very consistent and reliable revenue with a higher cap rate than your average investment.   Unlike many destinations, Big Island gets visitors year round for longer than average stays given the distance they typically travel and the only real low season is September.  We were even fine through last summer's eruption because we book so far out in advance.