This Week in Kona Real Estate – 8/11

Kona is delightful this time of year. It is at its most tropical with the scent of pikake and gardenia in the warm night air. Most importantly we are in the midst of mango season. We just had a Mango Festival last week where you could learn to grow them, cook them, pickle them or simply eat them. This was the first Mango Festival and I am sure it will be a new tradition. Coffee beans are ripening in Kona’s Upcountry and soon the fragrance of coffee roasting will scent the air as well. The best news from Kona is that Pele is being especially cooperative. Since the collapse of  Kiluea’s vent at Halemaumau, Kona has been blessed with clear blue skies. Pele even sent hurricane Felicia north.

On the housing front we have had good news too. This week in Kona real estate we had 11 closings. Value was the key to sales this week.

Houses led the way with 6 homes selling. Five of the homes sold for less than $400,000. The 6th home sold for $550,000. Two of the homes sold were bank owned foreclosures and one was a short sale. Three of the six homes sold in less than 60 days. I am happy to report that a 4 bed/3 bath Kona ocean view home I just listed  priced at $439,000 has just gone into escrow. Another Hawaii Life listed home priced at $399,000 has also gone into escrow.

Four condos sold this week, all priced under $300,000. One was a short sale. One was a bank owned foreclosure. The good news is that two of the sales were able to get mortgage financing as financing is the number one problem affecting condo sales in our market.  On the plus side this has brought condo prices down to a very affordable level. Here is a beautiful example of a condo just steps from the beach at Lyman’s Bay for less than $300,000 in Kona.

Best news of the week for Buyer’s was the sale of an oceanfront lot on Alii Drive. It sold for an amazingly low price of $465,000. Hawaii Oceanfront for under $500,000!

A great week for value here in Kona.