Daily Real Estate News June 4, 2007 Places Where Americans Live the Longest Want to live to 100? Than pack your bags and move to Hawaii, Colorado, or New Mexico — states where residents enjoy the longest lives, according to a new report by Eons Inc., a media company that produces content about “life on the flipside of 50” Using data from more than 450,000 adults over the age of 50 who shared information in an online longevity calculator, the report ranks all 50 states on a variety of factors related to living a long and healthy life. The longevity calculator was devised by Tom Perls, M. D., who directs the New England Centenary Study, the largest genetic and social study of centenarians.“Centenarians represent a new paradigm of aging; the older you get, the healthier you’ve been,” Perls says. “Genetics certainly play an important role in living to 100, but my research has shown that the vast majority of people should be able to live to their late eighties in exceptional health.”Here are some of the highlights of the report:
Longest lives: Hawaii, Colorado, New Mexico. Honorable mentions go to California, Arizona, Vermont.
Best attitude on aging: A stress-free, optimistic outlook on life can have many longevity benefits, the study says. Best attitudes were in Hawaii, New Mexico, and Arizona. Honorable mentions go to South Dakota, Colorado, Alaska.
Good fitness routine: A modest but steady exercise regimen of at least 30 minutes a day, four days a week, people can add 10 years to their life. The best exercisers were in Hawaii, Vermont, and New Mexico. Honorable mentions are Florida; California; Rhode Island.
Lowest age expectancy: The states with the lowest calculated age expectancy were West Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Illinois. If you live in one of these states, don’t be disheartened; the difference in age expectancy between the highest and lowest on the list was just under three years
Friday, June 8, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo
It's that time of year again following Easter that the Hula Festival begins. Please check out these websites for full coverage and the history of 44yrs of Hula competition.
www.TheHawaiiChannel.com
www.MerrieMonarchFestival.org
www.TheHawaiiChannel.com
www.MerrieMonarchFestival.org
Monday, April 9, 2007
NEW YORK TIMES PUNA Article
April 6, 2007
Havens Puna, Hawaii
On the Big Island, a Place for Price-Sensitive Home Shoppers
By BETH GREENFIELD
PUNA is not the most obvious second-home paradise. It has a lot of rain, harbors a host (at least) of mosquitoes and is hard to reach from the mainland. Then there’s the hard-to-ignore fact that much of its lava-encrusted land sits right in the flow zone of an active volcano, Kilauea.
Even so, there is a magical quality here in this craggy, tangly, jungly region of the Big Island’s southeast. The sometimes lunar-like landscape, dolphin-frantic shores and back-to-the-garden vibe consistently seduce the most casual visitors and turn them into starry-eyed homebuyers.
Paul Fishman, a Jungian analyst from San Francisco, first stayed in Puna in the late 1980s, visiting the earthy-crunchy Kalani Eco Resort. When he and his partner, Mike Kurokawa, who is a massage therapist, visited the black-sand beach of Kehena, they were smitten.
“We heard drumming as we climbed down the rocky cliff at sunset,” Dr. Fishman dreamily recalled. Dolphins frolicked in the distance. “We at once felt so at home,” he said. “So welcomed by the community, by nature.”
After visiting for years, they bought a half-acre on the lava in 2003 for $40,000. Last August, they finished building on it: a small, modern screen house set in a grove of monkey-pod trees.
Elizabeth Ziff also had a transforming experience while on a yoga retreat. “I saw a whale breach about 50 feet away,” she recalled, “and that was it.” Last year Ms. Ziff, co-executive producer of “The L Word” on Showtime and a guitarist-vocalist with the band Betty, bought a one-room wooden house on a half-acre lot.
“I love Puna because there are no resorts, and it has Hawaiian culture that hasn’t been utterly destroyed,” she said, speaking from her home in New York City (she also has a home in Vancouver). “I like the energy. I go there to heal.”
But there is another, very grounded, reason to buy there: Price.
“Puna is the cheapest real estate statewide,” said Denis Fuster, an agent with ReMax Island Surf Realty. While prices shot up more than 20 percent from 2005 to 2006, he said, the market has leveled. Buyers can still find plenty of acre plots in the $60,000 range, and the median price for a single-family dwelling was $269,000 at the end of 2006. Those figures attract people from the mainland, but also those who live on Hawaii’s pricier islands.
“Although we do own a nice home on Oahu that we love, it’s getting a bit cramped, and traffic is often a problem,” said Michael Tatzber, a massage therapist who is in the process of buying a second home on the Big Island for $250,000 with his partner, Cassandra Holmes, a graphic designer. They also run Punaguide.com, a Web site that offers advice to potential buyers.
“If you love peace and quiet and a natural environment,” Mr. Tatzber said, “then Puna is the place.”
The Scene
The village of Pahoa (population 1,037), a short strip that has a Wild West feel, is Puna’s downtown — the place to buy basics like natural groceries, sun block and gauzy skirts. On weekends, the handful of restaurants, especially Luqins Mexican Restaurant, buzz with the energy of people eager to connect.
At a Sunday farmers’ market in Makuu, you can buy everything from local papayas and rambutans to organic honey to handmade surfboards.
The activity is constant at Kehena Beach, where clothing is optional and people lounge in the black sand, watch for sea life and take part in Sunday drumming circles and parties. “There’s a certain earthy, artistic lifestyle in Puna, which attracts countercultural types,” said Liz Randol, a broker with Realty Executives Hawaii. Other activities include snorkeling in the warm Kapoho Tide Pools, soaking in a thermal (and slightly brackish) hot spring at Ahalanui Park and come nightfall, hiking across the field of lava that buried the fishing village of Kapalana in 1990. After about an hour and a half of hiking, you can see the glow of lava snaking to sea.
Pros
“I love the densely tropical sense of this place,” said John Upton, 74, a photographer who lives mainly in Southern California but spends several months a year at his Puna home. Mr. Upton’s latest body of work focuses on the rich color palette of Hawaii’s tropical flora, which thrives in the moist, temperate climate.
“The population here is also more stable, with less snowbirds than on the Kona side of the island,” said Heather Hedenschau, principal broker with Big Island Brokers.
Because Puna has no resorts and a limited number of bed-and-breakfasts, homeowners can make extra money through vacation rentals. Robert Trickey, a San Francisco-based drapery designer and installer, said he had had no problem renting the guesthouse that sits next to his modern home, which is on a lava field and overlooks the ocean from the Puna Beach Palisades subdivision.
“This subdivision is disproportionately gay,” said Mr. Trickey, who is gay and who laughed as he noted what may be another selling feature: The substantial gay and lesbian population here in the live-and-let-live jungle.
Cons
Getting here — unless you live in Hawaii — is not quick or cheap. “It’s more expensive to fly here than to Europe,” said Joel Hall, 57, the head of a Chicago dance company who recently moved to Puna Palisades with his partner, Craig Davis, 50, a librarian. “But it’s worth it,” he added. The nearest airport is in Hilo, which has flights only to and from Oahu and Maui.
Homeowners insurance is expensive, especially in the highest-risk lava-flow zones.
Some here say the rural simplicity can leave you wanting more. “I’m a person who likes to go to exhibitions and art shows,” Mr. Upton said, “but there’s very little cultural life here.”
Finally, there is a lot of new construction along Red Road, which hugs the shore. In addition to bringing tractors and piles of rubble, it has caused tension between the off-the-grid hippie crowd and the newer, moneyed vacation-home owners. “We all came here to get away from all this,” said Mayasa Clearwater, an 18-year resident who bemoaned the construction noise as she hitchhiked into Pahoa.
The Real Estate Market
Unless you plan to live off the grid in the jungle, you’ll be choosing lots or houses that are in one of the more than 30 subdivisions in Puna. They have breezy names like Seaview, Orchid Isle Estates and Hawaiian Paradise Park. Some have paved roads, and some dirt, and they vary in their nearness to the Pacific.
There were 601 houses on the market in Puna at the end of last year, including a mix of plantation homes with large lanais, fixer-uppers from the 1960s and 1970s built with post-and-pier construction, and custom, top-of-the-line houses like Mr. Trickey’s.
There are plenty of lots for sale — ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 for an acre that’s mauka (toward the mountain), and $100,000 or much higher for land that’s makai (toward the sea). Oceanfront parcels in Hawaiian Paradise Park have been priced as high as $568,000.
A recent building boom created a glut. “There’s more inventory than there are buyers,” Ms. Hedenschau said. “So you can really find a nice, brand-new three-bedroom, two-bath house away from the ocean for $300,000.”
On the low end, there are fixer-uppers and one-room cottages for as low as $150,000. The middle of the market has many places from $290,000 to $480,000; from there, prices can go as high as $1 million, even $2 million, for waterfront spreads.
Lay of the Land
POPULATION 31,335 full-time residents, according to Hawaii County.
SIZE About 500 square miles.
WHO’S BUYING Young professionals and retirees, mainly from the West Coast but also nationwide, who are looking for a natural, remote getaway at a good price.
LOCATION In the southeast of the island of Hawaii, better known as the Big Island.
GETTING THERE Flights from the mainland go direct to Kahului Airport on Maui, Honolulu International Airport on Oahu or Kona International Airport at Keahole on Hawaii. A short interisland flight will get you to Hilo International Airport, which is just north of Puna.
WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING Your best bet is to rent someone’s vacation home. There are many listed on the Vacation Rentals by Owner Web site (www.vrbo.com). The Kalani Oceanside Retreat (12-6860 Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road, 808-965-7828; www.kalani.com) has treehouses, cottages and lodge rooms for $105 to $260.
Havens Puna, Hawaii
On the Big Island, a Place for Price-Sensitive Home Shoppers
By BETH GREENFIELD
PUNA is not the most obvious second-home paradise. It has a lot of rain, harbors a host (at least) of mosquitoes and is hard to reach from the mainland. Then there’s the hard-to-ignore fact that much of its lava-encrusted land sits right in the flow zone of an active volcano, Kilauea.
Even so, there is a magical quality here in this craggy, tangly, jungly region of the Big Island’s southeast. The sometimes lunar-like landscape, dolphin-frantic shores and back-to-the-garden vibe consistently seduce the most casual visitors and turn them into starry-eyed homebuyers.
Paul Fishman, a Jungian analyst from San Francisco, first stayed in Puna in the late 1980s, visiting the earthy-crunchy Kalani Eco Resort. When he and his partner, Mike Kurokawa, who is a massage therapist, visited the black-sand beach of Kehena, they were smitten.
“We heard drumming as we climbed down the rocky cliff at sunset,” Dr. Fishman dreamily recalled. Dolphins frolicked in the distance. “We at once felt so at home,” he said. “So welcomed by the community, by nature.”
After visiting for years, they bought a half-acre on the lava in 2003 for $40,000. Last August, they finished building on it: a small, modern screen house set in a grove of monkey-pod trees.
Elizabeth Ziff also had a transforming experience while on a yoga retreat. “I saw a whale breach about 50 feet away,” she recalled, “and that was it.” Last year Ms. Ziff, co-executive producer of “The L Word” on Showtime and a guitarist-vocalist with the band Betty, bought a one-room wooden house on a half-acre lot.
“I love Puna because there are no resorts, and it has Hawaiian culture that hasn’t been utterly destroyed,” she said, speaking from her home in New York City (she also has a home in Vancouver). “I like the energy. I go there to heal.”
But there is another, very grounded, reason to buy there: Price.
“Puna is the cheapest real estate statewide,” said Denis Fuster, an agent with ReMax Island Surf Realty. While prices shot up more than 20 percent from 2005 to 2006, he said, the market has leveled. Buyers can still find plenty of acre plots in the $60,000 range, and the median price for a single-family dwelling was $269,000 at the end of 2006. Those figures attract people from the mainland, but also those who live on Hawaii’s pricier islands.
“Although we do own a nice home on Oahu that we love, it’s getting a bit cramped, and traffic is often a problem,” said Michael Tatzber, a massage therapist who is in the process of buying a second home on the Big Island for $250,000 with his partner, Cassandra Holmes, a graphic designer. They also run Punaguide.com, a Web site that offers advice to potential buyers.
“If you love peace and quiet and a natural environment,” Mr. Tatzber said, “then Puna is the place.”
The Scene
The village of Pahoa (population 1,037), a short strip that has a Wild West feel, is Puna’s downtown — the place to buy basics like natural groceries, sun block and gauzy skirts. On weekends, the handful of restaurants, especially Luqins Mexican Restaurant, buzz with the energy of people eager to connect.
At a Sunday farmers’ market in Makuu, you can buy everything from local papayas and rambutans to organic honey to handmade surfboards.
The activity is constant at Kehena Beach, where clothing is optional and people lounge in the black sand, watch for sea life and take part in Sunday drumming circles and parties. “There’s a certain earthy, artistic lifestyle in Puna, which attracts countercultural types,” said Liz Randol, a broker with Realty Executives Hawaii. Other activities include snorkeling in the warm Kapoho Tide Pools, soaking in a thermal (and slightly brackish) hot spring at Ahalanui Park and come nightfall, hiking across the field of lava that buried the fishing village of Kapalana in 1990. After about an hour and a half of hiking, you can see the glow of lava snaking to sea.
Pros
“I love the densely tropical sense of this place,” said John Upton, 74, a photographer who lives mainly in Southern California but spends several months a year at his Puna home. Mr. Upton’s latest body of work focuses on the rich color palette of Hawaii’s tropical flora, which thrives in the moist, temperate climate.
“The population here is also more stable, with less snowbirds than on the Kona side of the island,” said Heather Hedenschau, principal broker with Big Island Brokers.
Because Puna has no resorts and a limited number of bed-and-breakfasts, homeowners can make extra money through vacation rentals. Robert Trickey, a San Francisco-based drapery designer and installer, said he had had no problem renting the guesthouse that sits next to his modern home, which is on a lava field and overlooks the ocean from the Puna Beach Palisades subdivision.
“This subdivision is disproportionately gay,” said Mr. Trickey, who is gay and who laughed as he noted what may be another selling feature: The substantial gay and lesbian population here in the live-and-let-live jungle.
Cons
Getting here — unless you live in Hawaii — is not quick or cheap. “It’s more expensive to fly here than to Europe,” said Joel Hall, 57, the head of a Chicago dance company who recently moved to Puna Palisades with his partner, Craig Davis, 50, a librarian. “But it’s worth it,” he added. The nearest airport is in Hilo, which has flights only to and from Oahu and Maui.
Homeowners insurance is expensive, especially in the highest-risk lava-flow zones.
Some here say the rural simplicity can leave you wanting more. “I’m a person who likes to go to exhibitions and art shows,” Mr. Upton said, “but there’s very little cultural life here.”
Finally, there is a lot of new construction along Red Road, which hugs the shore. In addition to bringing tractors and piles of rubble, it has caused tension between the off-the-grid hippie crowd and the newer, moneyed vacation-home owners. “We all came here to get away from all this,” said Mayasa Clearwater, an 18-year resident who bemoaned the construction noise as she hitchhiked into Pahoa.
The Real Estate Market
Unless you plan to live off the grid in the jungle, you’ll be choosing lots or houses that are in one of the more than 30 subdivisions in Puna. They have breezy names like Seaview, Orchid Isle Estates and Hawaiian Paradise Park. Some have paved roads, and some dirt, and they vary in their nearness to the Pacific.
There were 601 houses on the market in Puna at the end of last year, including a mix of plantation homes with large lanais, fixer-uppers from the 1960s and 1970s built with post-and-pier construction, and custom, top-of-the-line houses like Mr. Trickey’s.
There are plenty of lots for sale — ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 for an acre that’s mauka (toward the mountain), and $100,000 or much higher for land that’s makai (toward the sea). Oceanfront parcels in Hawaiian Paradise Park have been priced as high as $568,000.
A recent building boom created a glut. “There’s more inventory than there are buyers,” Ms. Hedenschau said. “So you can really find a nice, brand-new three-bedroom, two-bath house away from the ocean for $300,000.”
On the low end, there are fixer-uppers and one-room cottages for as low as $150,000. The middle of the market has many places from $290,000 to $480,000; from there, prices can go as high as $1 million, even $2 million, for waterfront spreads.
Lay of the Land
POPULATION 31,335 full-time residents, according to Hawaii County.
SIZE About 500 square miles.
WHO’S BUYING Young professionals and retirees, mainly from the West Coast but also nationwide, who are looking for a natural, remote getaway at a good price.
LOCATION In the southeast of the island of Hawaii, better known as the Big Island.
GETTING THERE Flights from the mainland go direct to Kahului Airport on Maui, Honolulu International Airport on Oahu or Kona International Airport at Keahole on Hawaii. A short interisland flight will get you to Hilo International Airport, which is just north of Puna.
WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING Your best bet is to rent someone’s vacation home. There are many listed on the Vacation Rentals by Owner Web site (www.vrbo.com). The Kalani Oceanside Retreat (12-6860 Kalapana-Kapoho Beach Road, 808-965-7828; www.kalani.com) has treehouses, cottages and lodge rooms for $105 to $260.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Why renters should buy homes!
The Advantages of Owning a Home.
Most renters dream about owning their own home. Homeownership is the embodiment of the American dream. What renters may not know, however, is that if they can afford to pay rent, they can probably afford a mortgage. Indeed, ERA Mortgage has helped thousands of customers get the financing they need to become homeowners.Homeownership provides long-term financial benefits, including the ability to accumulate wealth.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, increased home value is one of the surest paths to wealth accumulation, particularly for low and moderate-income households.
Here’s an illustration of the advantage of buying versus renting. If a family pays $1,100 per month in rent today, over the course of five years the cash outlay would be $70,081, assuming a rent increase of three percent per year, on average. At the end of five years, that family’s wealth accumulation is zero.
In contrast, a household that puts $10,000 down on a $200,000 home and makes monthly mortgage payments of $1,248 would accumulate $37,643 in equity over five years.* The total cash outlay for the homeowner is $86,180, which includes the $10,000 down payment, but the resulting net worth is substantial — and probably actually more than $37,643, since the calculations do not include possible tax advantages.
**In addition to wealth accumulation, there are other benefits to buying a home. Homeowners enjoy an added degree of financial security, since they have the option of tapping into the equity of their home in case of emergencies. Most people who purchase a property feel pride of ownership as well as a sense of belonging in a community in which they have a financial stake. Last, but not least, is that great feeling of individual autonomy — it’s your home to decorate, maintain and improve the way you want!
Most renters dream about owning their own home. Homeownership is the embodiment of the American dream. What renters may not know, however, is that if they can afford to pay rent, they can probably afford a mortgage. Indeed, ERA Mortgage has helped thousands of customers get the financing they need to become homeowners.Homeownership provides long-term financial benefits, including the ability to accumulate wealth.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, increased home value is one of the surest paths to wealth accumulation, particularly for low and moderate-income households.
Here’s an illustration of the advantage of buying versus renting. If a family pays $1,100 per month in rent today, over the course of five years the cash outlay would be $70,081, assuming a rent increase of three percent per year, on average. At the end of five years, that family’s wealth accumulation is zero.
In contrast, a household that puts $10,000 down on a $200,000 home and makes monthly mortgage payments of $1,248 would accumulate $37,643 in equity over five years.* The total cash outlay for the homeowner is $86,180, which includes the $10,000 down payment, but the resulting net worth is substantial — and probably actually more than $37,643, since the calculations do not include possible tax advantages.
**In addition to wealth accumulation, there are other benefits to buying a home. Homeowners enjoy an added degree of financial security, since they have the option of tapping into the equity of their home in case of emergencies. Most people who purchase a property feel pride of ownership as well as a sense of belonging in a community in which they have a financial stake. Last, but not least, is that great feeling of individual autonomy — it’s your home to decorate, maintain and improve the way you want!
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