Hello, I’m Jacque and I lived in Waikiki and the Gold Coast for the last six years.. I love this place. I grew up in Seattle and still have a lot of family there but Waikiki is the one place you can go where everyone is in a good mood. People are either here on vacation having a wonderful time forgetting about their work and troubles, or they have moved here to paradise and realize how lucky they are. Conversations start easily and friendships made here last a lifetime. You have hundreds of places to eat and have fun within just a few blocks. You can go to places where the party never ends or you can jog, swim, surf, snorkel, and hike every day. (or even, all of the above) .
Waikiki is full of opportunities for investors and snowbirds & owners who want to live here full time. The first thing to decide is do you want the quiet of a residential condominium, or a condo- hotel style home with a hotel style desk and lots of ever changing visitors and all of the excitement of a never ending vacation.
Do you need parking for yourself and your guests? (parking is very expensive in Waikiki and on the Gold Coast)
Most of the condominiums In Waikiki were built in the 1960s and 1970s and they are beginning to show their age. Some great bargains can be found in units that need to be remodeled. (Just make sure that the exterior and common areas of the building are being maintained)
There are several newer complexes in Waikiki, although they are a bit pricy you will probably not have to worry about huge assessments for maintenance of the building in the near future.
Many of the buildings in Waikiki are Leasehold buildings. You can buy the unit but not the land under the building and are obligated to pay lease rent to the owner of the land until the lease is up and then it is even possible in some cases to lose your condominium back to the land owner without compensation at the end of the lease. Leasehold buildings can also offer some wonderful bargains and opportunities in Waikiki if you choose the right one for the right reasons.
And then there are Co-operative buildings in which the units are not individually owned by the buyers, but instead buyers own a percentage of the corporation that owns the building and its common elements. This can make financing difficult. (Even if this does not matter to you now it may make the unit more difficult to sell in the future.
These and many other considerations are some of the reasons that you really need a Real Estate agent who is knowledgeable in the Waikiki market. Please call me or email me directly if you have questions you need answered.