All Forum Posts by: Joe Sillaman

@Roger Ledoux

Awesome, he's my team leader! Maybe we'll run into each other one of these days. I'm from Riverside CA.

@Roger Ledoux

Don't rent, that's almost $30K+ you'll be throwing away. Mililani will only get more expensive along with everything else. Unless you know exactly when the next dip in the market will be you could be attempting to gamble on that and lose if nothing happens for awhile. Take look at the over all Honolulu Board of Realtors numbers...In 1985 median price of homes were $189,600, now the median price of single family house is $720,000. Avg appreciation is about 4% a year on Oahu. It's true Kapolei is growing but Mililani is still better if you're focused on school districts meaning prices will only go higher and higher. Want less competition on buying something...Maybe wait until Thanksgiving and Christmas time frame. It's PCS season so there's basically no available inventory at this point as good homes are sold as soon as they hit the market. 

@Eric Schrader

I charge $200 for damage deposit. I generally ask for 2 payments at 50% of the total when booking a reservation. 1st payment due upon booking, 2nd payment due 30 days prior to checkin. I use VRBO for customer care/management and PayPal for payments. VRBO recently started charging a expensive service fee which pushed me away from their payment service. 

@Preston Steele Yes, the market is worth getting into. By literally sitting on Oahu real estate over time you'll make money. Based off historical stats values double every 10-15 years. Not saying it will happen in the future but if population continues as it has been demand will continue to be strong while inventory low causing values to increase. Cash flow is nearly non existent but if you can hold onto property over time you should be able to make a to considerable value gains. I don't recommend buying only to sell in a few year though, that's taking a gamble. If you're only focused on cash flow it's better to invest off island. But you'll still probably make more in the end (with less tenant headache) just by simply owning on Oahu. 

For $600,000 you could buy a huge multifamily in Kansas and would have to deal with many tenants, their problems, and property upkeep, hardly any appreciation gain. You'll make positive cash flow but it could be eaten up by repairs and vacancies. Rents cannot be increased dramatically in less populated areas so cash flow wouldn't grow as much. 

On a Oahu $600,000 gets you a single family house or condo with 1 tenant, minimal property upkeep, aggressive appreciation gain, consistent renter pool (military/DoD contractors). You won't hardly make any cashflow and would be lucky to break even every month but your property value would grow 4% in general every year. In a high demand low housing inventory environment like Oahu rents could have the potential to increase faster than less populated areas. 

Anyhow, this is all speculation and my opinion. One thing is for sure, there a lot of granny running around Oahu sitting on paid off million dollar properties they purchased for nothing half a century ago. 

Aloha James, The area you describe and are interested is the area I primarily work in. My RE investment background is in vacation rental and long term buy and hold rentals. If you're not already represented by a buyers agent I'd be happy to assist you. I'm a Hawaii Life Real Estate Agent apart of the Hawaii Military Team. My specialty is working with VA loan buyers in particular. In this market anything that looks like a good deal is highly sought after. I can provide help provide winning strategies that will secure you your next investment. I look forward to earning your business!

Awesome! Tiny houses are truly great. Wish we had more in Hawaii...The trouble here is just finding a lot wo though restrictions to put it on and those don't come cheap...

Do not spend any money on coaching. Just find a mentor, maybe a broker you can work for as a buyers agent. Best agent training is getting out there and doing it. Brand yourself as a military agent savvy with the VA loan use.

@David L. With MLS access you can see properties sooner and get comps easier but there are websites like Oahure.com that offer almost the same value. I think where the RE license comes in handy is just experience with making offers to sellers and dealing with escrow and title. Never used Redfin (Hawaiilife.com! lol).

@Dexter Belleza Purchased with intent to live in it for 1 year which I did while I renovated. Then after the year was up I moved and started the rental. The VA loan just requires owner occupancy for a 1 year following that you can use the property however you like.

Having a Hawaii RE license doesn't help me at all find properties on the mainland at all. Each state has different MLS access.

@Jeremy Hunter Mine wasn't turnkey. I put about $11K into it to refresh the finishes of the unit. I wanted to be sure it's best units in the complex for more appeal to get quicker bookings. Of course I spent the required owner occupant year in it slowly updating. 

Today is a special day....That same unit I bought in 2012 appraised at $430K  and today (refi-ing now) it appraised for $520K!