As you can see below, Waikiki received a walking score of 87

How walkable is your neighborhood?

The data is supplied by EDR, Environmental Data Resouces Inc., and you can get a complete inspection from the company for a property for $99.

Probaly not a bad idea to plug in your address and give it a try. Even better if you are planning on buying a place to take a look. Did anyone find anything bad they didn’t know about by thier house? Let me know in the comments.

If you are looking online to find live election results, Google has an Election Results Map where you can use the drop down menu and select Hawaii.

They also have a map of which candidates people are searching for, and in Hawaii it looks like Barack and Sara Palin are getting the most google searchs.

CNET also has a nice live election results page up where you can track the race for president.

Official 2008 Hawaii Election Results can be viewed from Hawaii.gov, for both the primary and genral elections.

Kidding aside, it does seem like a great move for someone who wants to make a micro-investment in Real Estate. You can either rent this unit out traditionally, or participate in the hotel rental pool. The hotel rental pool is not, in fact a swimming pool.

Usually, units in hotels have big maintainence fees. Not this one, which comes out to a manageable $236/month. Furthermore, the owner has been pulling in a respectable $850/month in rental income. So you can expect that much if you decide to buy it - more if you are willing to accept payment in crystal meth.

This unit is listed by Frances Gendrano of KFG properties.
On the other hand, the most expensive home on Oahu is here.

This humble little cottage sits on 102,557 square feet of land located on Waialae Nui Ridge, overlooking Kahala and the Waialae Golf course. The view from this mansion extends from Koko head to Barbers’ Point. It can all be yours for a cool $18,000,000.

The home includes a movie theater, two swimming pools, a waterslide, a spa, a gym and a 5-car garage.

The property also has 1650 feet of Lanai space, which is where the future owner will spend most of his time, assumedly being fanned with palm fronds by slave girls in metal bikinis.

It is currently listed by Margy Grosswendt of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. Based on a standard 6% commission with a 50/50 split between brokers, we estimate that the sale of this home will generate approximately $540,000 in Gross Commission Income if it sells at the listed price.

The following section is the Question and Answer section, moderated by Howard Dicus. It is approx 30 minutes long. Lots of great questions in here.

This one part of a series of video transcripts, the other parts are linked here:
Part 1 - Paul Brubaker
Part 2 - Dr. Mike Sklarz
Part 3 - Bill Chee
Part 4 - Q and A with Howard Dicus Moderating

The following video is Bill Chee’s section. His is the most fun to watch, not as many graphs, but more jokes. Lots of easy to digest info in this segment.
Bill’s topic: How’s the Market?

This one part of a series of video transcripts, the other parts are linked here:
Part 1 - Paul Brubaker
Part 2 - Dr. Mike Sklarz
Part 3 - Bill Chee
Part 4 - Q and A with Howard Dicus Moderating
Please leave your comments below..

The following video is Mike Skarlz’s section, it is approx 19 minutes long, also chock full of graphs to see.
Dr. Mike’s topic is: U.S. real estate markets compared to Hawaii - - How are we faring?

This one part of a series of video transcripts, the other parts are linked here:
Part 1 - Paul Brubaker
Part 2 - Dr. Mike Sklarz
Part 3 - Bill Chee
Part 4 - Q and A with Howard Dicus Moderating

Admittedly, I don’t know what aspect of Zillows business was hurting. But as a blogger, I reserve the right to make wild, irresponsible guesses. So I’m going to take a swig from this ceramic jug marked “xxx” and doing just that:

In boom times some people feel as if they can’t lose, so they don’t always feel it’s necessary to work closely with a Realtor. Therefore, consumers tend to utilize “do-it-yourself” real estate tools and services in order to save a buck. Zillow offers some of these “do-it-yourself” options to consumers, including For Sale By Owner (FISBO) sevices.

When a market gets tougher, companies offering “do-it-yourself” services tend to suffer. People are nervous in slower markets and are more afraid of making a wrong move. They are afraid to do things themselves. They seek out more help from traditional Realtors in order to ease their anxieties about their transaction.

When Zillow started in 2005, the market was firing, and people were very keen on doing their own transactions. Perhaps the slowdown has affected them as it it tends to affect FISBOs? Leave your opinion in the comments…

-The third quarter of 2008 saw fewer real estate transactions compared to the third quarter of last year, with 6.2% less single-family homes and 44.6% fewer condominiums sold.

-Single-family home prices experienced a drop of 4.0% to $600,000 compared to last year.
Condominium median prices dropped 5.8% to $525,000.

-Median price increases occurred for single-family homes in the Wailea/Makena area, Hana, Lahaina and the Kula/Ulupalakua/Kanaio areas. Condominium median prices continue to increase in the Wailea/Makena area due to new development closings from 2006.

Download the complete Maui Real Estate Report Here