Luxury Home Buyers Beware – The 1 Costly Mistake On Big Island, Hawaii (2026)

I think you're going to be surprised at what I have to say today and what is the number one mistake that home buyers make when purchasing a luxury property here on the Big Island of Hawaii. Hi everyone, Dan Palomino from KW Big Island and the Hawaii team. Well, it's this. The first one is they underestimate the cost to maintain the house. That's number one. And they underestimate the cost and time and effort in potentially doing any remodeling. Those are really tied for like 1A and 1B. First off, the cost to maintain the property, they always underestimate it and they're shocked and they wonder, is this true? I mean, I've gone through three landscapers in three months. Is it really that difficult to get quality people to do the landscaping at the house and do a good job and for a fair price? Yes, it really is that difficult because we have a tremendous labor shortage here. And the people that are working here are usually stretched to the max. And there are a bunch of people that just don't do a very good job. And so the cost to maintain your property here, whether it's landscaping, whether it's cool, whether you had to have some things fixed, it is greater, really greater than anything you're going to do on the mainland. Remember, on the mainland, you've got tons of choices. You've got a whole Yellow Pages or a whole Google website to just pull people and talent from and get competitive bids and find the best talent. You don't have that here on the big island. So maintaining the property is difficult. You're hiring and firing talent, and it's two, three, four or five times more than what you're going to spend on the mainland. The other thing is remodeling, like they'll go into a house and they'll say, oh, I love this location. Yeah, we'll just remodel this. And I look at them going, you really don't know what you're what you're in for, right? You don't know what you're wishing for. Remodeling a house, same problem. Big deal here. Lack of skilled people, lack of skilled labor. The people who are doing it are too far booked out, have too many projects, and the cost is two, three, four or five times. And you get super, super frustrated at trying to fix, repair or remodel the things that you want to do. So with that said, don't come to the big island and say, yep, I'm looking for a fixer upper. I'm looking for a remodeling project because you are going to be in for a world of hurt. Try to find something that is pretty much done and doesn't need a lot of work and is moving ready and is turnkey and something that you can start enjoying right away. Otherwise, your experience in Hawaii is going to be miserable. All right. So that's our number 1A and 1B mistake that buyers make, right? Underestimating what it takes to maintain and the cost to maintain a property and remodeling projects. If we can be of some help, contact us here at The Hawaii Team, 808-987-3306. That's my cell phone. I will pick up, I will answer, and we will talk. And we'd love to be of service for you. You can also check us out at thehawaiiteam.com. Aloha.