The secret of building wealth is via the actual ownership of a real estate property instead of paying rent to your landlord. While many may think owning a home is quite difficult, one may find that in today's market especially such low interest rate, one may be able to own a place easier than one thinks. I believe everyone would agree with the idea that owning is better than renting. The fear of owning a home in many cases are due to lack guidance, and real estate knowledge. My service here is to provide you the guidance as a professional and help you achieve your home ownership goal as successfully as possible.
When you're ready to make this important decision, we're here to help you every step of the way. From finding your ideal property on any of Hawaii's diverse islands to negotiating the best deal, we'll streamline the process and turn your dreams into a reality.
Honolulu Real Property Tax
Taxes Due August 20 and February 20
Tax Year begins July 1
Exemptions, including Homeowner Exemptions must be filed by September 30 to take affect by July
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There is another Exemption for low income and 75 and over
Also a low income exemption for families making less than $50,000 per year
If you plan to use the property as your primary residence please consider apply for the home exemption once the propertyis under your name.
Note: Seller's home exemption claim will not be carried over to you as a new owner.
Understand Short Sale
1. Your rights as a buyer are very limited when dealing with a short sale property.
Even if the seller accepts your offer and signs the contract, the lender must provide the final approval for the transaction. We have seen short sales in which the lender has cancelled the transaction on the same day that it was set to close. This can be very disappointing and costly because buyers have no recourse, and are unable to recoup any of the costs incurred during the escrow period such as home inspections and appraisals which can end up costing the buyer thousands of dollars.
2. Your closing date should be flexible.
The short sale transaction process is anything but short. We have seen short sales in where it has taken up to 6 months to process and close the transaction. This time lag can be especially detrimental in today’s buying environment, where interest rates can change at any time. An increase in interest rate during the escrow period can adversely affect your mortgage payment amount by several hundred dollars per month, which may result in the property becoming unaffordable for you.
3. Short sale sellers try to secure as many offers as possible — even after they have an accepted contract — which keeps buyers in limbo.
Normally, when a seller accepts an offer, the status of the listing is changed from “Active” to “Pending.” The difference with short sales is that in most cases, the seller will keep the property marked as “Active” after accepting an offer, with the intent of attracting more buyers so that they can get an offer that is higher than the one they initially accepted from you. If they do receive an offer higher than yours, the bank is extremely likely to accept that higher offer, and you would essentially be out of luck. We have seen short sale transactions in which up to 3 buyers have all had accepted offers from the same seller, and all 3 buyers had to wait months to hear back from the lender as to which of the offers the lender would accept.
4. You will need to bring additional funds to the closing table to pay for the seller’s closing costs.
In a normal real estate transaction the seller pays their own closing costs, which include termite reports, title fees, recording fees, and pro-rated property taxes. In a short sale, the buyer may need to pay for most or all of the seller’s closing costs because there is no equity for the seller to use to pay for their closing costs.
5. You will need to do a lot of follow-up.
It is essential to monitor the lender during a short sale to make sure that there has been a stay placed on the foreclosure action. This information can be difficult to attain, and if the property isn’t monitored effectively, it could go into foreclosure, and be taken off the market — even if the seller has accepted your offer. Once again, having a me or my recommended specialist to work on your team can save you time and leg work.
6. Your closing must be completed quickly.
Though approval from the lender can take several months to receive, once the lender accepts your offer, you must close the transaction within 14-21 days. If closing does not occur in that time frame, a fee of $150 per day paid can be assessed to you, the buyer.
7. The Seller is not likely to make repairs, replacements, or even clean the property.
In a short sale transaction, the real seller is the lender. If the short sale property has defects and needs repair, the lender may be unwilling to pay for them. If once you're in escrow, you find out through a home inspection that the home needs a new roof or has foundation damage, you will have to pay for these repairs if you want to close. As a buyer, you have the option to cancel the transaction based on the home inspection, but if you want the property, the cost of any repairs falls on you.
From 1971 to 2013, we are seeing the lowest mortage interest rate ever in history. However as you may or may not low this low interest is not here forever and is artificially made by the Fed that continues to purchase USA bonds in order to stimulate the houseing market and the economy today. in 2008, Fed starts to purchase lots of toxic mortagages to save the collapsing housing market and banks. Have you thought about what if the Fed stops or decreases its buying of USA bonds? It is why we say today's low interest rate is made artificially and will not stay forever.
Just recently we saw the news regarding how the Fed is starting to consider tapering the stimulus program, and it sent the interest rate back to 4.25% for Hawaii on a 30 year fixed mortagage toward the end of June. A quarter percentage jumps can affect your monthly payment for the mortgage if you were not able to lock in the morgage rate at a lower rate previously.
This historic low interest rate on mortgage enables many people who are currenly renting to get a loan to buy a place where their mortgage payment would be equal or even less than what they are paying for the rent today. This creates competition for the already low inventory of housing on the market today. Increasing demand and lowering supplies will create competition and bid up.
Bid up is a term used to describe where there are multiple offers over the listing asking price. Please refer to the bid up article for more info.
Please download the Prudential Locations App from the app store on apple store or google play. When prompted please fill out the require information, and pick Tsai, I Hsiang as your agent from the dropdown box. By doing so I will be able to help you when you find a property that interests you, you can post question directly and easily to me or even request a showing time for me to arrange.
If you leave it blank or choose other agent, you may get a call very soon from them. For me, I prefer not to keep calling my clients until they are ready or if they have some questions to ask me. It is one of the many reasons for pikcing Tsai, I Hsiang as your Prudential Agent.
Pls feel free to contact me any time should you need any help.
The reasons you may be interested having me as your professional Realtor Associate are briefly mentioned in my Bio section. Now here are some other reasons why you will benefit when I am your agent on the purchasing process.
Free Consultation
: to get to know what you are looking for and see what are the best ways to help you
Mortgage Shopping
: My team mortgage specialist from Wells Fargo can be arranged to meet you free and discuss your situation. You can learn a lot that will benefit you and your family.
Secure Financing
: Pre-approval letter is a must if you are serious about owning a home in today’s competitive market.
Anticipating Listings:
: New listing inventory sometimes are not listed on MLS just yet, As an agent, I will get those updates. With me as your agent, I can see those listings before the public does and inform you if there is a potential for you.
Property Showing
: Instead of you going out and wondering about on Sunday, I will provide you new data on the new listings and get you the access to see property that is not open on Sunday. This will help you broadening the choices and get you to your new property sooner in a more efficient way.
Prepare an Offer
: In order to get you to own your dream house, we will need to write a purchase offer to the seller. I have been trained to do so in a competitive situation. It would be very useful to have me around representing you as your RA。 You will need someone to write up the offer with a wonderful cover letter to win.
Seller Negotiations
: Once you identify a property, I will help you make a quick analysis of that property and its neighboring houses or condo. By doing so we will be better prepared to compete with other buyers on our offers.
Complete Escrow
: Another component of my team is the Transaction Management Team. This team is specialized to do your escrow and guide you through the transactions. The goal is to help you close the deal in a timely manner. Yes I will introduce my team members to you.
Technology
: With my experience in technology, I will set up the neighborhood expert updates for you so you can be notified when there is a new listing or a listing has been modified or updated. If you are not very good with technology these days, you will need me even more because I will utilize the technology to help you the best I can.
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