$5,000 Luxury Oceanfront Condo!

[planning2fire]

honobob, I will post an introduction next week. We are currently in Tahoe and I am using an air card with not the best coverage. We are planning on retiring to Hawaii probably Kauai. I have not been able to figure out a way to move there full time yet. We were fortunate to have purchased a condo there 4 years ago. Kauai feels more like home each time we return.

DangerMouse, We were just in Sydney in July, what a great city. Sorry to hear your life style would deteriorate if you moved there. All being equal Sydney is one of the few cities I could live in.

 

[Letj]

Honobob,

Do you plan to rent out your unit and if so, would you be able to cover the operating expenses with the rental income?. I have a beach condo that I bought at the height of the real estate boom in Myrtle Beach and I can only cover about 50% of PITI and HOA fees.

 

[calmloki]

Any of you know anything about the Oceanview area of the big island?

OCEAN VIEW, HAWAII 96737

Was offered a house in trade on an acre there up at the 3500' elevation. Best i can tell it's lavafields around it all, a volcano looming overhead, water from roof catchment or delivered... Actually sounds pretty nice. Any of you familiar with teh area?

 

[honobob]

planning2fire Can't wait to hear about your Kauai condo. Kauai is my favorite island. I've got some good memories from there. I'd think Kauai real estate is kind of like Tahoe in that new development is so restricted by the citizens and the government. Lucky you. I may explore the outer islands at some point for living. At this time Honolulu meets more of my needs.

Lejt Well any property I own is up for rental possibilities. Myrtle Beach is where I first saw and realized I needed to live near the ocean. Blew off high school graduation at 17 and drove from Cincinnati to the ocean. Totally overcast the whole time and I ended up with severe sunburn. I could hardly stand up straight. But found a little bar in the beach area where I guess I could get near beer with my fake 18 year old ID and my buddy taught me how to grab an empty real beer bottle and hand it to the bartender for a replacement. Necessity is the Mother of Invention. And the whole time Mountain playing "Mississippi Queen"!

My Maintenance fee is less than $1,000 and it includes all utilities and taxes. On Craigslist I see rentals from $3200 to $3900 and I've seen higher in the winter months so I would actually clear $2,000 to $3000 if I rented. More than likely I'll first try out home exchanges. I think I could probably get a place anywhere in the world with this property. Can you keep your place full year round or is most of your money in the summer?

Calmloki I've only been to the Big Island once in 1977 and stayed both in Hilo and Kona. That place looks about as far away as you can get from BOTH those places. There was a Big Island resident that posted awhile back but I can't remember the name.
From that property and the one you posted in the desert that I looked at on Google Earth and your posts I have this image of you pretty well distilled down to somewhere between John Boy Walton and Grizzley Adams. Am I close?

 

[honobob]

That said, don't you think a bit disingenuous on the 5K condo? Sure you payed cash but you're into a new first mortgage and a HELOC on another property. The equity isn't cash until it's in your hands, no matter what your CA property is worth. Perhaps a better lesson is to stop gloating and emphasize that in RE timing is key. There's plenty of folks on this board that are sweating their bad timing in the RE market over the past couple years.

Yes I paid cash. I could have paid with MY cash but I chose to pay with the cash I could get from financial institutions that were willing to give Me CASH for my EQUITY and my promise to pay at a historically low rate. My EQUITY was the result of a 5K investment 22 years ago. If not for that I'd have to stash over $2200 a month starting in 1986 to be at the same financial place. Do you have a better plan looking back to 1986? What is your point, please?