Buying in Ewa Beach (Honolulu, Waipahu: short sales, foreclosures, crime)

[MovingAloha]

Originally Posted by fancyapint

Whoa... I am gonna have to come out of lurker retirement to dispute that! I live in Ewa and its great, its a good up and coming place to start if you have a mid to long term horizon, work local or non peak. We've got the 3rd largest mall on oahu breaking ground next year, rail is still puttering along, etc. We have the latest builds with solar, modern day neighborhoods with SIDEWALKS, amenities near by, parks, quick north shore access. And if you are young and have a family, its not filled with geriatrics, snowbirds, and tourists like some place like hawaii kai

I don't get what you are talking about vacant homes, all those bad boys are sold (Maybe you are looking at Waianae). There are waiting lists/lotteries for all of the new builds, if it looks finished and looks vacant it is because people are closing/preparing to move in.

I will concede that we are sadly bereft of fine dining establishments, but Ko Olina happy hour makes up for that somewhat

I agree and have been saying this for sometime. I really like the Hoakalei-Ocean Pointe/KaMakana area, very modern, clean, and beautiful. The homes are well-built and somewhat affordable for Oahu. The issues of heat and airplane noise were mitigated by A/C in the homes and well, just a lack of frequency when it came to jet flight noise.

The biggest negative, and I agree it's a big one is traffic up and down Fort Weaver Road; there are other routes to get to H1 and many shop either in the area or in Kapolei where other routes can be used.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

If you look at the worst performing real estate on Oahu - those areas all have one thing in common - terrible commutes. And by terrible, when UH is in session, it isn't uncommon to have 90 minute commutes to downtown. It gets even worse if you have to get all the way to UH or Waikiki.

The other issue with Ewa Beach is they overbuilt it way to fast. There are still brand new homes already hooked up with solar that are still sitting vacant. You can't avoid hearing advertisements for them on the radio. Many of the homes have a really odd layout - they'll market it as 1,700 sq ft, but they'll have these tiny kitchens/living rooms on the first floor - it doesn't feel like 1,700 sq ft at all. A lot of the Gentry homes have no functional backyard.

But, traffic is the main driver that keeps real estate depressed in Ewa - there is only one way in and one way out and it wasn't designed for the volume of cars it handles today.

Are there any plans to put in light rail in that area? if they could connect that area to Honolulu by light rail that could run indepently of the roads, then the property values are probably going to increase drastically. If there are plans, maybe it would take 5 or 10 years for the property values to rise, depending on how long it takes to put in light rail.

They are spending billions of dollars installing light rail in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area. Light rail is widely accepted by people here. The ridership is pretty high, but it doesn't cover most people's commutes and hasn't made a noticeable difference in the traffic at all. It's kind of a waste of money to put in light rail here compared to putting it in Oahu. In Oahu, light rail could make a huge difference in the traffic, taking a lot of cars off the roads. The investment in light rail infrastructure in Oahu should have been done decades ago.

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by davephan

Are there any plans to put in light rail in that area? if they could connect that area to Honolulu by light rail that could run indepently of the roads, then the property values are probably going to increase drastically. If there are plans, maybe it would take 5 or 10 years for the property values to rise, depending on how long it takes to put in light rail.

They are spending billions of dollars installing light rail in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area. Light rail is widely accepted by people here. The ridership is pretty high, but it doesn't cover most people's commutes and hasn't made a noticeable difference in the traffic at all. It's kind of a waste of money to put in light rail here compared to putting it in Oahu. In Oahu, light rail could make a huge difference in the traffic, taking a lot of cars off the roads. The investment in light rail infrastructure in Oahu should have been done decades ago.

Rail here is not anticipated to reduce traffic, just maintain it so it doesn't get worse over the next 20 years.

[Pyramidsurf]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Biggest issues with Ewa Beach is lack of high quality beaches compared to your access to the N. Shore and traffic - and don't forget airplane jet noise. You may think traffic isn't an issue if you don't drive in it drive in it but that is the biggest reason home prices stay depressed in that area.

There is actually a nice beach in Ewa if you know where to go.

[Retired Early]

The beach at Eva, including Eva Beach Park is absolutely beautiful and you can have it all to yourself almost any time you want. The neighborhood has some rough spots but most houses are being fixed up quickly.

Here's a shot of the beach:

[Conroy25]

I've been trying to buy a house for the last six months on Oahu with every agent trying to jam Ewa homes down my throat. Most of the reasons why I won't buy there have already been stated. I buy homes with the intention to rent them out at least for a while since I often relocate. There's tons of rental inventory and even more homes for sale. It's a bad sign and Ewa had very few qualities going for it. Schools are poor, traffic is rancid, incomes are low, property crime is high, and even more so the construction is cheap. I kind of chalk it up to buying a brand new Hyundai as an investment stand point goes. Even with the bubble going on Oahu right now very few people want to go there. I would stay where you are cashing in 4 or 5 years from now and move on.

[Mikala43]

Odd. Where we are looking in Ewa the homes (Haseko) came on the market 4 months ago and the whole phase is sold out, except 4 homes. The crime rate is low, so maybe you were looking in old Ewa?. Down the road we wanted to look at Sandlewood so went into the sales office, and they were like "why are you here? Everything is sold, and we have a backup list." Yeah, they were really rude.

We are just going to wait for the 2nd phase to be built. There are draw backs, but there are more pros for our situation.

[davephan]

How does Kapolei compare to Ewa Beech? The homes look nice, they are around $500k to $600k. I assume it is cooler in the higher elevation and maybe quieter, with less jet noise. I don't know if the crime rates are high there, or if they have any yard space. If commuting in rush hour isn't necessary, maybe that would be an option.

[Conroy25]

Davephan, Kapolei is actually quite nice but due to distance from work it's not really an option for me. They've built it up a lot to make the place fully self-sufficient without having to go to Honolulu for anything. Unfortunately most of jobs remain in Honolulu. I've paid close attention to the market since my arrival and homes seem to move a little faster in Kapolei. I know about 15 people who live out there and said crime is basically non-existant and the schools are much better than surrounding areas. You'll probably pay about $75-100k more for a home there compared to Ewa depending on where you buy. I see your from MN, I'm from Red Wing myself. Slightly different climate here hahahah. Traffic could be compared to sitting on 494 or 35 maybe a little worse, but nothing compared to Chicago or DC.

[bruddah]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

Odd. Where we are looking in Ewa the homes (Haseko) came on the market 4 months ago and the whole phase is sold out, except 4 homes. The crime rate is low, so maybe you were looking in old Ewa?. Down the road we wanted to look at Sandlewood so went into the sales office, and they were like "why are you here? Everything is sold, and we have a backup list." Yeah, they were really rude.

We are just going to wait for the 2nd phase to be built. There are draw backs, but there are more pros for our situation.

I'm guessing you were looking into the Kipuka community? Haseko will have another community closer to Oneula Beach in the future.

As far as Sandlewood we had a similar experience there. When we went there last year my whole family (5 of us) looked at the model homes and the salesperson was rude. Also, they have no yards and the they're right above the final for HNL.