Lynda Gill’s Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii Real Estate at Pacific Ocean Properties

 Kauai Real Estate News

KIAHUNA PLANTATION #227

WAIKOMO STREAMS 101

I have a lot to cover this morning!  I brought in the buyer for my listing at Waikomo Streams (FS) unit #101, it closed at $180,000.  This was a cash sale and closed in less than 30 days!  Also I just listed Kiahuna Plantation (LH) #81, a lovely 2 bedroom 2 bath corner unit in building 15 for $565,000 for a video tour go to http://www.tourfactory.com/506895    Kiahuna Plantation (LH) is also in the news with the sale that our office did on unit #227, this one bedroom one bath was listed at $130,000 and closed as a cash sale for $118,000.

Warren Buffett got our attention when he appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box this week. During the interview, he was asked about the current real estate market and whether he felt now was the time to buy. His response was rather emphatic and has been used as a headline in hundreds of articles since the interview:

“If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes I would load up on them.”

Reading further he stated that investing in real estate is a way to “short the dollar”.  You take a 30 year loan and if it’s too high you refinance, if its too low “the other guy is stuck with it for 30 years”.  He went on to say if he knew where he wanted to live for the next 5 to 10 years he’d finance it with a 30 year mortgage, that mortgages are a “terrific deal” right now.  He also said that if he was a “handy type” he’d buy several homes at distressed prices and fix them to rent out.

Here on Kauai our year to date report card is; the number of sales is just what about what it was this time last year, the median price however is up by 5.66%.  The increase in the number of properties that we have seen going under contract will come into play over the next couple of months.  For a list of what came on the market, sold and went under contract   CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Kauai Gets Hammered By Rain

FLOODING ON ALOHA PLACE

We started getting rain on Saturday evening and by Sunday it was an all out pounding for the whole island.  Here on the south shore 12 families were evacuated from their homes in the subdivision behind the First Hawaiian Bank in Koloa Town.  Several homes flooded so badly that some families were rescued by boat, the entrance to Aloha Place was “waist high” in water.

KIAHUNA GOLF COURSE

The north shore was dealing with road closures and landslides with rain falling in Hanalei at the rate of 2 inches an hour.  By Sunday afternoon the Hanalei River was receding but the highway still remained closed.

All over the island we had power outages but it was reported that electricity was quickly restored.  Landslides hit different parts of our highways and there’s a high surf advisory with 20 foot surf expected.  The water conditions are such that getting into the water is not advisable, the run off from the rivers leaves a long tail of brown in our otherwise blue waters.

I’m writing this on Monday morning and the rain has stopped, our flash flood warning has been extended to 11:20 a.m. Kauai time.  Oahu has been getting pounded by the storm as well and are experienceing road and school closures as well.  The report is that we are to have unsettled weather through Tuesday.

Smart Meters Being Installed On Kauai

Kauai Island Utility is installing pilot “smart meters”  The smart meters look like regular electric meters but they transfer usage information wirelessly to a nearby utility pole.   The program costs 11 million and is being split between our island co-op and the federal government.

Residents on this pilot program can deny the installation of a unit.