Mauna Kea Resort November Market Update: Off Market Listing Opportunities Trending

As we enter the high season for real estate activity on the Kohala Coast, Mauna Kea Realty is observing a number of clients who prefer selling their homes discreetly, avoiding mass-market exposure while maintaining privacy for themselves, and/or rental guest who will occupy the home over the next several months.

Various sellers do NOT want their property fully exposed to the general market or submitted to the multiple listing service (MLS), which in turn exposes the property broadly on the Internet. In the real estate world, we call this an “off market listing” or “pocket listing.” Simply put, an off market listing is a property that a broker has contracted to sell; however, it is not publicly listed. The idea is that the listing brokerage exclusively represents the seller and uses word of mouth to circulate the listing to their professional network, only sharing the property information with a select number of viable and qualified prospects and real estate agents that they know and trust.

Considering Mauna Kea Realty has represented clients in over half of the total transactions within Mauna Kea Resort over the past several years, owners who prefer to sell their property discreetly have found working with Mauna Kea Realty extremely advantageous.

Sellers have many different reasons for not wanting to expose their property online. Those who value their privacy may opt for an off market listing over a typical listing, simply because they do not want hordes of real estate agents and strangers inside their home. Other sellers choose this style of listing to test the market. If the homeowner isn’t willing to negotiate the price and wants to retain some flexibility in moving out, then they may opt for an off market listing over a typical listing. This will allow them to test the market to see what buyers are willing to pay without that information being made available to the general public. In this instance, their realtor would only seek out and vet buyers who have the financial resources to purchase the home. Lastly, some owners do not want their home sitting on the MLS for an extended amount of time as prospective buyers start to wonder what’s wrong with a property if it’s been on the MLS for months and hasn’t sold. “Listing a property privately is an attractive option to avoid the gaze of the public eye and to protect the property from the stigma that can develop if it remains on MLS longer than the market average,” says U.S. News & World Report real estate columnist Devon Thorsby.

On the other hand, there are some pros of off market listings for buyers as well. Foremost, competition won’t be as fierce – When buyers look at an off market listing, there’s usually little worry that it will sell out from under them or spark a bidding war. In fact, they may be the only ones who have seen the property. Also, the buying process may be more flexible since sellers who are willing to sell their property in a non-traditional way, may also be more flexible with move-out dates, furniture negotiations, and more. This sales method is not suited for everyone as it does tend to limit exposure to the mass market via the Multiple Listing Service.

Mauna Kea Realty currently has an off market listing within the private and gated community of Kauna’oa at Mauna Kea Resort under contract that is scheduled to close in a few weeks. In addition, Mauna Kea Realty has two NEW off market listings within Mauna Kea Resort. For information on those opportunities as well as other off market opportunities along the Kohala Coast, or to discuss selling your property using this method, please feel free to contact me.

Find below the Mauna Kea Resort’s November Real Estate Market Update highlighting November sales, new offerings, and local trends. I hope you find this information interesting and helpful.

November Sales

There were two closed transactions within Mauna Kea Resort in the month of November.

Mauna Kea Realty represented the Seller and worked directly with the Buyer of Villa #34, which sold last month for $3.1 Million. The original 2 bedroom 2.5 bathroom unit consists of 2,684 square feet and is the first Villa unit to sell since July of 2018 due to extremely low inventory in one of Hawaii’s most timeless and exclusive duplex condominium developments. Click here to view the property details.

Mauna Kea Realty represented the Seller and worked directly with the Buyer of Wai’ula’ula C202, which sold last month for $1.37 Million. We were able to put the property under contract after only 35 days on the market, while the average days on market for four-plex units within Wai’ula’ula dating back to 2017 has been 190. The $1.37M sale price is now the highest comp sale for a four-plex unit in Wai’ula’ula since 2007. Click here to view the property details.

New On The Market

One property was recently listed within Mauna Kea Resort.

Wai’ula’ula estate home #419 hit the market in November and is being offered for $2.95 Million. The detached stand alone unit gives the privacy of a 4 bedroom 4.5 bathroom single-family home with all the ease of maintenance that comes with a condominium. The home is comprised of 3,389 square feet and has a private pool, jacuzzi, and large backyard. Click here to view the listing details.

Mauna Kea Realty has an off market exclusive in-house listing located in the desert highlands of the Big Island, midway between the Mauna Kea Resort and the rural town of Waimea. The house, which is featured on the popular architecture, design, and technology website Dwell, is sited on a dry hillside facing southwest with sweeping views of three towering volcano peaks, vast lava escarpments and a broad expanse of Pacific Ocean. A wild episodic stream cascades through desert rocks when rain falls in the mountains high above the house to the north. The intention of this project is elemental—to make it possible to live comfortably outdoors on this wild site with minimal intervention and only the rawest material construction. This intention requires thoughtful shaping of wind, light, temperature, humidity, and views. The home is constructed out of site cast concrete; local hardwoods; prefabricated galvanized steel; prefabricated weathering sheet steel; local lava rock and blue stone gravel; glass and translucent polycarbonate. The house is off-grid and self-contained with all power provided by a rooftop PV array. Priced at $3.4 million. Click here to view this spectacular new offering. Please feel free to contact me for additional information.

• For a Complete List of Condominiums and Residential Properties Currently Available at the Mauna Kea Resort, click here.
• For a Complete List of Vacant Land Properties Currently Available at the Mauna Kea Resort, click here.

Local Trends

BIG ISLAND HOME SALES AND PRICES INCREASE IN NOVEMBER

Home sales on the Big Island rose last month, compared to November of last year, and median prices of single-family homes and condominiums also posted healthy gains, according to statistics provided by Hawaii Information Service. The median price of a single-family home on Hawaii Island increased 9.35% from last November. That was based on sales of 197 homes, which was an increase of 8.24% from 182 sales in November 2018. The median price of a Hawaii Island condo last month increased 14.2% from the same month last year. That was based on sales of 53 units, compared to 51 units in November 2018. (Source: www.bizjournals.com)

BIG ISLAND NAMED ONE OF THE 50 BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN 2020

Hawaii Island was recently named one of Travel + Leisure’s 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020 — one of only seven U.S. locations to make the list this year. One of the biggest reasons Hawaii Island made the list was due to the anticipated January 2020 opening of Mauna Lani by Auberge Resorts, which is expected to be one of the biggest resort openings on the isle in years, following a multimillion-dollar renovation. The travel magazine also said that Hawaii Island was a location to watch due to its recent influx of artisans in the food and beverage industry including Big Island Distillers in Kona, which uses locally sourced ingredients for its spirits. Hawaii Island took the No. 8 spot on the 2020 Best Places to Travel list. (Source: www.bizjournals.com)