South Maui Condominium 

Best Buy List 

As of December 11, 2009 

Price                Condominium             Loc      Vac      Comments 

$   135,445      Kihei Villages 59-204               NK      N         2BR (REO) Price! 

$   199,000      Keonekai Village27-203           NK      N         2BR (short sale) Price! 

$   200,000      Kauhale Makai 106                  NK      Y         1BR (REO) Oceanfront! 

$   219,000      Maui Vista 2321                       SK       Y         1BR (short sale) Price! 

$   219,900      Kihei Shores A208                   SK       N         2BR (short sale)View/Price! 

$   229,500      Kihei Gar Estates Al03(New)NK         Y         1BR Location & Price! 

$   292,000      Villas at Kenolio 3C                 NK      N         2BR Good Project & Price! 

$   299,900      Kihei Akahi D210                    SK       Y         1BR (REO) Views & Price! 

$   329,900      Ka Ani Village 2204 (New)      SK       N         2BR Price & New! 

$   314,900      Maalaea Kai 315 (New)           M         Y         1BR (REO) Oceanfront! 

$   345,000      Awihi Townhouse (New)          SK       N         2BR Price, Gar, Oceanview! 

$   358,900      Kai Makani 34-203 (New)       NK      N         2BR (REO) Price! 

$   375,000      Haleakala Shores B312            SK       Y         2BR Price, Large, Location! 

$   399,000      Sugar Beach PH8 (New)          NK      Y         1BR Price, Oceanfront! 

$   449,000      Menehune Shores 225              NK      Y         2BR Nice Oceanfront Unit!

$   535,000      Wailea Fiarway Villas P103      W        N         2 BR Oean View great locale

$   569,000      Wailea Fairway Villas X202     W        N         2BR On GC & Oceanviews! 

$   670,000      Wailea Ekolu 304                     W        Y         1BR GC & Oceanviews! 

$   695,000      Wailea Ekolu 1405                   W        Y         2BR Price, Quiet Oceanviews 

$   695,000      Wailea Palms 3708                   W        N         1BR Price Loc & Views 

$   699,000      Wailea FW Villas Y103            W        N         3BR (short sale) GC & Price! 

$   795,000      Royal Mauian 508                    SK       Y         1BR Beautiful Oceanfront! 

$   795,000      Grand Champions 159  W       Y         3BR On GC & Oceanviews!    

$   799,000      Kanani Wailea 4                       SK       N         3BR (short sale) Res Condo! 

$   999,000      Hokulani Golf Villa 4    SK       N         2BR Res Golf Course Condo! 

$1,150,000      Hale Hui Kai 210                     SK       Y         2BR Beautiful Oceanfront! 

$1,249,000      Royal Mauian 610                    SK       Y         2BR Beautiful Oceanfront! 

$1,495,000      Wailea Elua 2110                     W        Y         2BR Oceanfront, Oceanviews   

$1,750,000      Hoolei T-6                               W        Y         3BR New, Large, Price! 

$2,175,000      Hoolei O-4                               W        Y         3BR New, Large, Price 

$2,350,000      Wailea Point 2801                    W        N         2BR Spectacular Oceanfront! 

$2,700,000      Makena Surf B206                   Mak     Y         2BR Spectacular Oceanfront! 

$2,950,000      Polo Beach 802                        W        Y         2BR Spectacular Oceanfront! 

(New) = New Additions to List            Vac = Vacation Rentals allowed in project 

Roth on Real Estate December 8, 2009, 4:01PM EST
If You Don’t Buy a House Now, You’re Stupid or Broke
Interest rates are at historic lows but cyclical trends suggest they will soon rise. Home buyers may never see such a chance again, writes Marc Roth
By Marc Roth
Well, you may not be stupid or broke. Maybe you already have a house and you don’t want to move. Or maybe you’re a Trappist monk and have forsworn all earthly possessions. Or whatever. But if you want to buy a house, now is the time, and if you don’t act soon, you will regret it. Here’s why: historically low interest rates.
As of today, the average 30-year fixed-rate loan with no points or fees is around 5%. That, as the graph above—which you can find on Mortgage-X.com—shows, is the lowest the rate has been in nearly 40 years.
In fact, rates are so well below historic averages that it should make all current and prospective homeowners take notice of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And it is exactly that, based on what the graph shows us. Let’s look at the point on the far left.
In 1970 the rate was approximately 7.25%. After hovering there for a couple of years, it began a trend upward, landing near 10% in late 1973. It settled at 8.5% to 9% from 1974 to the end of 1976. After the rise to 10%, that probably seemed O.K. to most home buyers.
But they weren’t happy soon thereafter. From 1977 to 1981, a period of only 60 months, the 30-year fixed rate climbed to 18%. As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, my dad was one of those unluckily stuck needing a loan at that time.
Interest Rate Lessons
And when rates started to decline after that, they took a long time to recede to previous levels. They hit 9% for a brief time in 1986 and bounced around 10% to 11% until 1990. For the next 11 years through 2001, the rates slowly ebbed and flowed downward, ranging from 7% to 9%. We’ve since spent the last nine years, until very recently, at 6% to 7%. So you can see why 5% is so remarkable.
So, what can we learn from the historical trends and numbers?
First, rates have far further to move upward than downward; for more than 30 years, 7% was the low and 18% the high. The norm was 9% in the 1970s, 10% in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, 7% to 8% for much of the 1990s, and 6% only over the last handful of years.
Second, the last time the long-term trends reversed from low to high, it took more than 20 years (1970 to 1992) for the rate to get back to where it was, and 30 years to actually start trending below the 1970 low.
Finally, the most important lesson is to understand the actual financial impact the rate has on the cost of purchasing and paying off a home.
Every quarter-point change in interest rates is equivalent to approximately $6,000 for every $100,000 borrowed over the course of a 30-year fixed. While different in each region, for the sake of simplicity, let’s assume that the average person is putting $40,000 down and borrowing $200,000 to pay the price of a typical home nationwide. Thus, over the course of the life of the loan, each quarter-point move up in interest rates will cost that buyer $12,000.
Loan Costs
Stay with me now. We are at 5%. As you can see by the graph above, as the economy stabilizes, it is reasonable for us to see 30-year fixed rates climb to 6% within the foreseeable future and probably to a range of 7% to 8% when the economy is humming again. If every quarter of a point is worth $12,000 per $200,000 borrowed, then each point is worth almost $50,000.
Let’s put that into perspective. You have a good stable job (yes, unemployment is at 10%, but another way of looking at that figure is that most of us have good stable jobs). You would like to own a $240,000 home. However, even though home prices have steadied, you may be thinking you can get another $5,000 or $10,000 discount if you wait (never mind the $8,500 or $6,500 tax credit due to run out next spring). Or you may be waiting for the news to tell you the economy is “more stable” and it’s safe to get back in the pool. In exchange for what you may think is prudence, you will risk paying $50,000 more per point in interest rate changes between now and the time you decide you are ready to buy. And you are ignoring the fact that according to the Case-Shiller index, home prices in most regions have been trending back up for the last several months.
If you are someone who is looking to buy or upgrade in the $350,000-to-$800,000 home price range, and many people out there are, then you’re borrowing $300,000 to $600,000. At 7%, the $300,000 loan will cost just under $150,000 more over the lifetime, and the $600,000 loan an additional $300,000, if rates move up just 2% before you pull the trigger.
What I’m trying to impress upon everyone is that if you are planning on being a homeowner now and/or in the foreseeable future, or if you are looking to move your family into a bigger home, then pay more attention to the interest rates than the price of the home. If you have a steady job, good credit, and the down payment, then you really are being offered the gift of a lifetime.
 

wE THOUGHT YOU WOULD APPRECIATED READING THESE TIPS AS PUBLISHED BY

Elizabeth Scott, MS from About.com Guide

HOW TO REDUCE HOLIDAY SHOPPING STRESS BY Elizabeth Scott, MS from About.com Guide

Maui Resort News
 

The owners of Maui’s Kapalua Resort, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, has stopped planting pineapple and will cease pineapple operations by the end of the year. According to Chairman, Warren Haruki the decision to close the company’s pineapple operations after 97 years was difficult but necessary. The pineapple division has lost $115 million since 2002 and efforts to make the business sustainable have not worked. The Kapalua Resort’s lone hotel is the Ritz –Carlton Kapalua, which was renovated in January 2008. The hotel will continue to be managed by the Ritz Carlton. Maui Land & Pineapple’s resort division, Kapaulua Land and Company, will continue to manage the golf courses, the new spa and retail.
 
Beginning Monday, November 9, 2009, Alaska Airlines will fly between Maui and Oakland California, four times a week. On Tuesday November 10, Alaska will begin three times a week service between Oakland and the Big Island. The new flights are operated with Boeing 737 aircraft that accommodate 16 passengers in first class and 141 in the main cabin.
 

The visitor count for Maui was up in September. Visitors totaling 134,932 came to Maui in what is traditionally the slowest month of the year. This count is up 1.8% from last September. Due to steep discounting, spending per person was down slightly to $167 per person.
 

The Federal Reserve stepped in with more buying of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), helping Bond prices recover from news of a weak Treasury Auction. Overall, home loan rates bounced around last week and ended the week very slightly improved. 

But that said, we can’t push our luck and think the Fed will continue to step in and help support home loan rates…we have to remember that the Fed is actually winding down exactly this type of buying support. 

The Federal Reserve’s purchases of MBS peaked at an average of $25 Billion per week back in May – and they are getting closer every day to being done spending their allotment of $1.25 Trillion. Since they announced that their remaining purchases would be rationed out until the end of March 2010 – but that they wouldn’t be making any additional purchases beyond the original commitment – the average purchases per week have been moving lower, down to $14 Billion per week so far in November. 

Why is this important? Because home loan rates are based on MBS – so when the Fed agreed to be a big buyer, it helped provide a market and helped keep MBS prices high and home loan rates low. So as the Fed’s program wraps up and eventually stops, home loan rates are quite likely to be on the rise. So while rates are still very good, they may not be for long.