3/2/2026 – Moving To Hawaii: Pick Your Sacrifice (Live With Core Team Hawaii)

And we're live. Welcome back to our live stream on YouTube and our podcast, the Hawaii Real Estate Podcast. Go to courtteamhawaii.com for your real estate needs. Go to courtteamhawaii.com. Go to the bottom. Just running through it today. Scroll to the bottom. Fill out the contact form. Scroll it. Even if you didn't need to buy one house, just buy one house. Nah, just kidding. We're actually totally the opposite of that. So I'm going to start off with some... We haven't done these in a while. I'm going to read some of the feedback we get from our clients real quick. Give flowers to my team. So first one is on Kenny. He's perfect. And he doesn't pressure me and lets me take care of business, which I have. I started a new job. So now it's time for Steve. Yes. This is Mahe. Oh, this... Yeah. This client could not have found a better person than Mahe, I feel like. Her efforts are extraordinary. She always responds with patience, confidence, and professionalism in the whole process. She always has the effort and time to put in with me. She's just like my second daughter. I really need a Mahe to go through all these tedious processes, and she is God sent. Thank you, Sherry. Yeah, and are we out of escrow again? We did. We are out, but we are back in. Wait, what? A third? Yes. Oh. We are in, locked in for a third one. It's a new construction this time. But not in that community. We're in Corridge now. Oh, we're in Corridge. Okay. Which you kind of called it when you were... Was thinking maybe so. Yeah, it makes the most sense, right? Yeah. This will be a separate video. We have some potential insight on some issues in a certain community, and Mahe called it. And even though there's been a lot of work and a lot of effort put into this situation, she's like, can't make the money yet. Gotta do the right thing for the client. And we got out of that situation. All right. This one is, this was an interesting one. I'll tell you guys a little about this deal. Let me read it first of all, Kenny. I want to give my absolute biggest thanks to Kenny for helping us find a realtor in Cali and finding our new home in Hawaii. He has been there since day one and always took our phone calls with questions and cries for help. Kenny was more than a realtor, but has become a good friend. I also want to give a huge shout out to Jodi Tonga and her office for clearing the way for our new home. You definitely have a number one team. Mahalo. I'm going to be, one, shout outs, Kenny. This was a challenging one. I'll tell the people out there a little about this deal and how some workings of it so we can get that real estate tea in the early parts of this conversation. But I'll be sort of honestly and funny, comically transparent or vulnerable here. When Charlotte was reading this yesterday, I kept waiting for my name. No, but that's the sign of a well-oiled machine and the team working great, right? Well, I'm sure you are the one who interviewed all the California agents, right? Well, I interviewed the California agents and found the agent. And then I also, which they wouldn't feel this. I very much quarterback the negotiation on the back end and Kenny executed it. So this client had a home in California and it's in a desert, inland part of California. And they had an offer for, it was like 390 or something. It was 380, 392, something like that. Close to, it would have yielded them that, but they wanted to net 400 and they were willing to wait. But it was late fall going into winter, typically in a market like that, you're not going to do better once the winter hits. And I went and did the math for them, but did a long video and said, Hey, look, let's just assume the Hawaii market and a California tertiary market are performing the same. And the thing that would require you to get to 400 is like a 3% increase in the market value across the market. Well, you're selling a $400,000 thing. You're coming to buy a million dollar thing. Do you want 3% to, you know, if you want your thing to go up 3%, then it goes up 3% or greater here. Yeah, you got your moral victory of 400, but you really kind of lose, right? Yeah, good point. And so logically I see a point of like, take the bird in the hand. You're only $8,000 off. Yeah. And to their credit, they said, that was a harsh, straightforward thing we need to hear, not what we want to hear. And we really like respect it in the end. Maybe didn't even appreciate it initially, but we respect it. And the agent on that side was like, wow, man, I'm not in a position to say that. Wow. Yeah, that's great. To their credit, they said, no, well, you know what? If we move next summer, next year, whatever, we don't care. We're sticking to our number. Well, they eventually got it in the mid of the winter. So I wouldn't say this is a way to move forward at all times in all markets, but it just goes to show it's America and you can hold out for what you want. You know, you may or may not get it, but you would also have to live with the outcome of I screwed myself. Yeah. Not only am I getting 395 a year later, but Hawaii's gone up quite a bit. That was a more probable outcome, but hey, these guys got it. They got it done. So shout outs to them. And additionally, over here, their home appraised low and it appraised low. And I'll just say, long story short, we were able to get a significant price reduction for that. And it worked out even better because they got this huge price reduction, right? So there's that too. All right. Last one from David M. Oh, here's me. I get my flowers. Aiden is great. I think. Let's see. Oh, yeah, yeah. Is your name in there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Aiden and I. Aiden is great. I think he's very analytical and he always goes the extra step. Like when he was doing the video, he pulled back all the curtains, looked at every closet, looked at the sink when it's running. He's detail-oriented. Oh, my God. And with Derek's skepticism. I just read ahead to the end. Also, Derek is skeptical. Yeah, well, you want someone skeptical on your side, right? You definitely do. And so, yeah, that's it. So Jody's here and we're going to talk about, probably get into rates and the 10-year and overnight and the EDRON conflict. Yeah, who were we talking? We were just like, was it a consult we were on? We're like, oh, if you had asked me the same question five days ago, we would have been having a totally different conversation, right? Yeah. But before we get into that, the reason why I, well, one, shout out, Kenji went in on this thumbnail. So I quoted, so this is how this goes. Like I'll text Kenji, hey, let's talk about something along these lines. Occasionally, it's a little more well-prepared. But today I was like, hey, let's talk about how you have to kind of make compromises here, you know, because it's expensive, right? Yeah, yes. If I move from, I don't know, Nebraska to New York, there's going to be compromises. You live in an apartment instead of a house or whatever, right? Well, Kenji went in. Right. Can they see it? Can they see the thumbnail? They can see it right now. Okay. So when we opened the group chat, I was like, like audible gasp. So we're not throwing shade at anyone. However, this was inspired by a conversation at consult we had yesterday where we had these clients who have done amazingly for themselves. And they're at a phase in life where they want to, for health and for lifestyle and just, you know, for several reasons, they want to make Hawaii home, but they're not used to how little they can get for a lot of money. Like 90, maybe a hundred percent of the people who are on live, I don't see how many people are in and what names have commented. I know there's at least one name who regularly comments who could probably go, but I could buy a lot, but. Oh, I see somebody who can and did. Oh yeah. Sup Ben. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. So, okay. 99% of people watching probably can't even go this high. Like these people have a healthy price point, but you would, if you're used to that, or you've built that level of wealth, you're like, well, shouldn't I get X and Y and Z? Yeah. I want a view and I want space and I want this and I want that. Very normal, very normal expectations to have in many places. Almost everywhere in the world. Almost everywhere. On this globe. But not here. Yeah. And so there's just a conversation to be had about, you know, if you're, and this is for local people too, right? No matter what the price point is here, we have, we do make a lot of sacrifices to make it happen. Whether you are, you know, at the end stage, wealthiest point of your life, or you are looking for a starter home because you want to be a homeowner for the very first time. Cue ahakea. Right. There are sacrifices that oftentimes have to be made in Hawaii for us to make that happen. If you want this weather, you want this culture, you want this aloha, it's not free. If you are lucky enough to get your forever home as the first home you ever buy, great. I love that for you. But that's generally not what happens. Well, define forever. Because these people, most people's forever is home, right? Right. And that would, but it's not, you know. It's not their forever home. Yes. And so I, there's, there's no shade. There's no, there's just an acknowledgement of it's a lot more expensive here, right? And so I want to acknowledge local people too, because I don't, we're not talking about just the mainland transplant coming and not being able to get as much as they otherwise would have in Virginia or whatever, because they're PCSing here in the military. If you're local and you live here and you own your house or you rent, whatever the case may be, you could, in most cases, that person could do better off on the main line in terms of like the house and the car and the health club they go to or something. Now, they may not do better on the main line and that they have a unique job here that's suited to Hawaii or that their family is here and their culture is here. That's different. That's why they pay. But let's just take it. You own a million dollar house in Ewa Beach and you are a government worker, something transferable. You're a GS-13. So you live in, you know, ocean point, like around a million, 1.1 and a four bedroom, 1500 square foot in Ewa. Well, when you move to Colorado, we get stationed in Colorado as a GS-13, they move you, you lose a little bit of pay. But your lifestyle is going to be such that you probably live in a 3000 square foot home. You know, it's five bedrooms with a library and den. And, you know, just have to make that choice. Yep. Or if you're, you know, like a local, like Auntie, whose house we went to the other day, if you're a local person and you grew up, like your family is from Haleiwa and you are a local family, and that's been where your family has been from forever. But, you know, you're in your adult years, you grow up and you're like, oh my God, like if not for this family home, can I buy in my community? Maybe you don't. Maybe you as a local person to stay on the island, you leave the community that you built your whole life and you move to Ewa Beach. Yeah. Because you can afford to stay home and you can afford to buy a home there and still get what you want. So there are tough decisions that we can all make to, you know, make it work here. Or you just have to define it. Like local people make this choice regularly. I can make it here, but I would just be more comfortable in Vegas. Yeah. I have someone who wants to sell soon and I'm going to send him a listing agreement today. Part of their consolidation is we want to spend more than half the year in Vegas for tax purposes, also for lifestyle. We're always going to come home, but we're going to spend like six months in a day in Vegas. And so it's not always just that someone cannot make it here. They just prefer the upgrade in lifestyle in Vegas. Yeah. So for that person who's considering coming here and can't get all the things they want, they have to soul search. Like, should I go to Scottsdale instead? You know, should I go to Utah or I don't know. I think about it in like, not at any time in the near future, but I think about it sometimes. Usually it happens when we're like slammed and so busy and none of us are getting sleep and we're so spread thin where I'm like, oh man, I wouldn't have to grind this hard if I lived in like Texas or something, you know, but then I'm like, but then I wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be in Texas. Yeah, and then I wouldn't be here. You know, I would rather at this point in my life, I would rather like make the sacrifices of time and effort and grind to be able to be here. Yeah. But I mean, I feel like many local people, if we put a poll out there, like how many of us have asked ourselves that question? Like, I wonder how easy it would be if we just live someplace else. Most people think about it. Yeah. Most people, and I think about it too, but it's an expensive place. Sacrifices have to be made or you just don't see it as a sacrifice. You just focus on the positive and come to terms with Texas is not an option for me. I'd never be happy. I might live in half the home I'd want to live in here, but it's the thing I want. It's where I want to be. And in the end, a house is just a house. A home is where I live. So there's a real mindset shift. Yeah. And for our beloved, dear clients who are very nice people, that's going to be the process that they have to go through because they're not going to get what they want, even at a very high price. And so... Not everything they want. We just have to find... And I hate for it to be so. You know, this is a good outward process with everyone out there because better than make it a list of sacrifices and what I'm willing to give up, the real goal is like a mindset shift of how can I be stoked? How can I be happy on what I'm attaining or becoming a part of? Attaining isn't even the proper word, you know? Yeah. And so that's the process. That's the process. Before thinking of like what you have to give up, think of like, why am I doing this? Like, what is the goal here? And it's usually something amazing and very positive and just having to pay attention to that aspect of it. Yeah. All right. Jody, you want to jump in? You stay. Oh, okay. Yeah. Monty's going to stay with you guys with Jody. We have to talk about the war and the rates and stuff. I'm sure everyone wants to know. But leave us a comment if you want to know about this regional war pre-World War III, hopefully not, and how it's affecting rates and how it might in the future. Yeah. Leave us your questions around that. And let's see. One thing about Hawai'i. I'm reading some comments from Aloha State of Mind. One thing about Hawai'i is that you see a lot of people on vacation living it up while plenty are scrimping to survive. It's an interesting dichotomy, right? Tale as old as time. I come from a hospitality background. I worked resorts for years before I moved back home and got into real estate. And I was that locomata who had my two kids, who I'm salaried, working overtime, working every holiday. And I'm very happy. And it was my job to be the forward-facing. I was in upper management there. Hi, how are you? Are you having fun? And then go cry in the bathroom later. That's a real thing that does happen here. I mean, I wasn't always depressed. I'm not going to go that far and say that. But yeah, man, sometimes it is a place where people come and they're having literally the time of their lives. And I assure you, no matter how hard I or we struggle here, we're having a great time too. I love where I'm from. I love being here. Even when I had to sacrifice and I was very poor, negative monies with my kids, dragging them to work with me at 5.30 a.m. on Christmas Day. I still enjoy it. I'm like, at the end of the day, I live here. And this is where I'm from. And I've been able to stay here. So it's just like one of our old-time videos of it's not what you think. Hawaii's not always what you think it is. It'll be an interesting topic. And maybe we'll do another video about that too. That's how we got Casey. She was working 12-hour days. She was getting run into the ground at the Four Seasons. Oh, she was at the Four Seasons. And it's like high-end hospitality is the worst too. It's like you have to be so on. And she was so good at it. But she was just like, when does this end? And my mom was like, that's what you signed up for. That's how we got her. But you know what? That skill set lends itself to the industry that we're in now. Because you really know how to work hard. You really know how to be professional when maybe you don't feel like it. And I feel like it helped me a lot in getting me prepared for the career that I have now. Yes. Want to hear what's up with rates and Iran war going on? Yeah. It's kind of crazy because as a team, we were preparing. And I got like 10 buyers, 10 past clients that were already homeowners now on deck. Because I was like, hey, we feel like you're really close to being able to lock in. At like a three-year low-ish. And so I was getting them all set up. And then we did lock in maybe half of them. And then the weekend happened. So then, you know, it's hard because people are like, yeah, we love the numbers. Like we're going to talk about it over the weekend. And then we'll get, let's like finalize everything on Monday, you know. And it's like, okay, totally fine. But just keep in mind, we have to wait for the market to open on Monday and reprice everything. So the long, the fast answer is rates have gone up about an eighth across the board. And honestly, like I was expecting worse. Yeah. So I was expecting it to go up more than an eighth. And it's funny because I have, we have a bunch of people that are very, very knowledgeable slash like to keep up with what's going on, you know, definitely watch the 10-year, definitely pay attention to like what's happening with stocks and just, they pay attention. And so they were like, not that, you know, they're not happy that anything happened with attacking Iran, but they were like, oh, rates are going to go down, right? Like, so now we should really get ready, you know? And it's like, well, here's the thing. Typically they would go down in wartime, but this is a whole new like scenario where there's other concerns. So the other concerns, of course, the administration is a concern because they're not necessarily doing things the way that governments do things. Yeah. They're not. They're not following the data that we are normally tracking. They're not like talking to Congress and coming up with the plan and getting everyone all in on what's going to happen and following international law and things that were, are like agreements that have been agreements for whatever hundreds of years. Yeah. So there's that. So it's a little volatile. It's a little unpredictable. Right. Yeah. And then, and then of course there's the inflation concern and the cost of oil. So all of this is, has a huge impact on not just our day-to-day lives in terms of like paying for gas and paying for electricity, but in terms of like other companies that utilize it to produce whatever it is that they're producing, it's across the board going to create inflation. Yeah. And so inflation is going to increase rates. And so it's like, which is going to win out in terms of needing to keep the economy going versus we're concerned about just everything going through the roof. Yeah. And the market has spoken and they're more concerned about everything going through the roof. Yeah. And also they didn't come to treasuries as the safe haven. So another thing that historically happens is that in times of volatility like this, you know, international issues, the 10 year, the treasuries will be the safe haven and that's not happening. So now everyone's moving into gold as the safe haven. So as a result, we're not seeing that demand of the treasuries that typically will happen, which then will give that drop in mortgage interest rates. Okay. I have a couple of questions for you. Okay. Tropical ding dong, U.S. bond market when we've isolated ourselves internationally and U.S. bonds not looking appetizing, there are about zero guarantee that rates go down. For rates to go down, you got to issue bonds and have countries buy those bonds at a given rate. Isn't that how that works? And he said, can you ask Jodi about market confidence about U.S. bonds and how that might impact rates? Positive correlation. Not positively. Right. So, yeah, I mean, and that was one of the concerns that I had briefly talked about with China claiming that they were going to dump U.S. treasuries, right? Because if that happens, there's no way that mortgage rates can continue to drop. It's just not possible. And if other countries follow suit and they're like, yeah, we don't want U.S. bonds either, then it's very bad for us. So not good for mortgage rates. You heard it here. Any other questions, guys? What are the rates looking like today? It's not a three-year low, but they're still very good. The VA is right around, I think it's 5.625 at zero points. Yeah. Last week it was 5.5 at zero points. And then conventional, I think, let me see. Tropical Ding Dong also said earlier while you're looking at that, and some of those people, meaning the people who come here on vacation, struggle where they're from, and that vacation is something they go into debt for, something they'll only do once in their lives. So true. That's another element too. I had guests who were mega wealthy and spent $100,000 every time they come. And then I had guests who was literally the only time they've been saving up their entire lives to come to this trip to Hawaii. They're not balling where they're from either. They've been saving and planning and planning for years. So there's all kinds. There are really all kinds. Yeah. Conventional is right around 5.99 at zero points. Okay. I mean, that's really good. That's a really good interest rate for conventional. So the rates are still really good and the market is nuts. Is the market nuts? Yeah. I mean, I want to say nuts. It's not like COVID nuts, but we definitely have way more activity. And the last couple of things that our clients have been looking at in Kailua, especially in that sweet spot of something decent in Kailua, that's a nice thing, is 1.5 and up. In that margin, we've had multiple clients looking at the same exact houses because there's not that many houses on the market right now. And we've seen... It's like two days on the market. Oh yeah, we already have a counter out. It's like, what? You didn't even have an open house? And we literally were just talking all day about this. And oh, you have two offers already in hand and you're expecting four more. And you have a counter out. I'm like, what is this? We have... I have two families that are on the hunt and they are in that 1.3 to 1.6 range. Where are they looking? One of them wants to be windward. Okay. That's like competitive. And then the other one wants to submit four offers. Wow. Over asking. Wow. 30-day closes. Yeah. There's not that much inventory. We were looking in Mililani the other day. There were two houses. And me and Kyle, my husband, we look at stuff all the time too. And we're like, maybe if we get something in Mililani, not the townhouse, we'll get a bigger something. We're like, oh my God, there's no houses available. Or there's eight in escrow. And then two that are live and active. We just don't have... We haven't had good inventory. It's not easy. Yeah. It's not easy. And they're putting their best foot forward. And we're even having like, okay, we accepted five offers. Or we received five offers. So we're having everyone... Submit the highest and best. Highest and best. So it's like, they basically reject all offers. And then they're like... Okay, everybody, one more chance. Last chance. Yeah. Put your best foot forward. This is it. And we're telling you that there were four other people other than you that pretty much offered the same or similar. So yeah, I think actually there's three groups right now that are just like... They are just submitting offer after... Oh no, well, one got accepted today. Congrats to them. And that's a Kailua. Okay. Yeah. And that's a one, four. I feel like I know which house it is because there's not a lot. So yeah. It's just been tough in that market. And rates are still really good. Tropical Ding Dong also asked, any thoughts on historical context? Even if rates are bad, if there is a U.S. military buildup, more troops, airmen, sailors... He said crayon eaters, Marines. I did not say that. He said that. Being deployed to Oahu, could that impact? Well, I mean, we always consistently have a steady influx of U.S. soldiers. So I don't think it'll have a huge impact as far as how many PCSing soldiers we have. If we... I mean, let's talk back in the day where my dad was in the National Guard, working those missiles out on the North Shore. Sure, we had a lot more bodies on the island, but they weren't necessarily here to stay. So I don't know if it will affect that. 5.5 is a bargain, one person said. But then another person said... Somebody else said that's not right. That is sad. J.T. Shaw Tech. Nobody is getting those rates. Best plan to just buy 20 acres on Big Island and build a luxury off-grid home. Get a Cybertruck and all good. I mean, who... If you have... You need money for that. Yeah, I was like, if you have the cash, you know... Yeah, and that's another thing because I do have like... I have another guy that just got into escrow on the Big Island. There's a lot happening on the Big Island too. But he did want to buy land. That was his whole thing. And I was like... I have many people who... You don't have the money. ...who want to buy land. And I'll use this topic to address other comments I saw from this other person who was talking about Florida being way more expensive to live than Hawaii. Land is so expensive here, guys. And we... Sure, taxes are much cheaper. Property tax is way cheaper. Insurance is cheaper. But the price per house and per land, per square footage of land here is so astronomically high. If we want to talk about Florida, because I saw you were mentioning Florida and how I would have to find that comment. But I did see homes in Florida with insurance, HOA taxes and upkeep is more than Hawaii. Hawaii has the lowest taxes and insurance. My in-laws all made the exodus to Florida for the weather and because it's cheaper to live. They're not making an exodus from Hawaii. They made an exodus from another state, which is also much cheaper than Hawaii, to Florida for just better lifestyle, better weather, all of that. And they have acres upon acres of land that they picked up for $75,000. And then had a couple of hundred thousand dollars, I think, put into their beautiful home that is now being built. You could simply never accomplish that amount of land on the big island, which is the most affordable area to buy land in Hawaii. Still the only place that still really get land, you know. Certainly not on Oahu or any of the other built out islands. Like the amount of land available in the mainland in places like Florida, like Texas. Sure, our property taxes are very low, but that is like our one saving grace, you know, that we do have low property taxes and our insurance may be lower, depending on where you buy. Maybe not big island because lava flow over there. Don't forget about that. But like, yeah, I mean, property tax may be high on your $200,000 home, but like low property tax on a $2 million home is still really high, you know. So the rate for what, you know, it is, that's great. The tax rate is good, but our prices are so high and it's mainly, largely accounted to the land, you know. You have a $2 million property and like 1.5 of that value can be in the land. I mean, one of our buyers is looking at a, I think it's a 11,000 square foot lot in town. 1.1 mil. I mean, for the land. Then he has to, he just sold. So he just sold his house and he's $600,000 to build. So 1.1 mil and $500,000 to $600,000 to build. And that property is going to be much, if he was to turn around and sell it in the future, much more than 1.6 million. So that's, the land is just so expensive. The land is expensive. He also said, if you can afford $1.5 million home, you better have 500K in cash or you're simply, I mean, not necessarily. I have VA buyers who go zero down on like that amount, you know, and they may have cash, but they don't, if their income supports not having the liquidity, like, I mean, there are people who in this economy and this, you know, in this market don't have $500,000 cash. Yeah. And well, there are a lot of people that, for whatever reason, are making a good income, a good dual income and qualifying for a good amount. They don't have a lot in liquidity. In cash. Yeah. Yeah. They don't have a lot. I think I read somewhere that if you have more than 100,000, you're in the top 5%. It's crazy, right? It was, I was, I looked at it and thought, okay, that's a little scary. Yeah. Slash very real. Right. Yeah. Oof. Yeah. El Moco Taco. How are condos? El Moco Taco. How are condos in Waikiki looking at the Waipuna? Possibly it's older, afraid of assessments though. Let's just like address older buildings in general in town, Waikiki, Ala Moana. Yes. Assessments are something real to look out for, because if you are an older building, not only did we have, here's the thing why we hope that the buildings have already had, their piping redone and whatever concrete spalling. Windows, elevator, pool deck, whatever the normal 20-year-old building maintenance things are. Because a couple of years ago when we had all these assessments happening while buildings and HOAs are pulling from their reserves to make up for this insurance premium that went up, reserves were depleted and therefore we're assessing for those things. But then if on top of that, you're like, oh shoot, we also didn't do the piping yet. There's another assessment. So things to look out for are, have they already squared away their insurance? Have they already done the renovation? Are there any big projects on deck? What's their reserve contribution? What's their reserve fund looking like? And a lot of this stuff you can ask generally, have they done this yet? Have they had that yet? But the reserve study, we don't even get those until we're in escrow. And the reason for that, I know in some other states I have buyers who are like, what do we get those immediately? Here, we don't even get those ordered until we're in escrow because they need to be the most up-to-date, meaning the most recently approved board minutes, the most recently approved XYZ. We get them live and up-to-date as new as possible once we're in escrow. So some of that stuff, unless we've done... And between our team and Jody's team, a lot of the times we have done, we'd be like, oh my God, we just had a nightmare in that building. Or, oh, we actually just closed when it was totally fine. We know XYZ about this. But sometimes it's like, okay, well, we can ask all of the questions that we can make assumptions about like, oh, they likely to be okay. Likely to be okay, but like, let's see. We'll see. We'll get the condo docs. And even then it's still a we'll see because anything can happen. Anything can truly happen. But there are questions that we are primed to ask regarding insurance, upgrades, piping, fire sprinklers, all that kind of stuff that can give us a good idea of if we are like for sure looking at some reserve contribution or something coming up on the horizon. Yeah. There's one for kind of Jody. H dot dot N dot dot. If you are doing a 1.5 million on a VA loan with zero down, won't you have a higher rate and PMI? Honest question. When I did a VA loan 40 years ago, my rate was awful compared to conventional. Oh, no. Um, right now the jumbo VA rates are an eighth higher than regular VA rates. So I'm not that much higher. 5.625 for regular 5.75 for jumbo. Okay. Yeah. And conventional 5.99. Plus you need the minimum down payment. Plus you need. Plus you pay PMI, VA jumbo, no PMI. So when we will always have the buyer that wants to see it. Anyways, like I believe you, I know you're telling me conventional is better. Everyone's I mean, everyone's telling me VA is better. Conventional is more expensive. Why don't you just show it to us? Just anyways, right? So we'll put it together. And if we're talking about a minimum of 5% down, that usually is already the deal breaker. Yeah, because they say we don't want to do the 5% down. And pay the monthly private mortgage insurance. VA, of course, you have your VA funding fee, which is allowed to be financed into the loan. And that doesn't equate to how much the private mortgage insurance would be on a conventional loan. And the rate is lower. Yeah. But follow up is what is considered a jumbo loan? Anything above 1.249 million. So up to one, even yeah, anything below 1.249 is still going to get that 5.625. Okay. Where tropical ding dong did zero down on a 530k in 2020. Got a 2.6. Yep. It's crazy. Yep. The good old days, but also like the crazy old days. Like how competitive was it when you bought? Because when I was like entering real estate, it was like the craziest, you know, COVID time. And did he pay over? Did you go over asking? You had to have gone over. Did you have an appraisal clause? Like, you know, all the way I learned real estate, which I later learned was so maniacal and not like the normal way to learn real estate and to do real estate. I was like, oh my God, it was crazy time. So he didn't answer. Bro, the VA jumbo loan sounds like a great deal. It is a great deal. VA funding fee waived since I have service-connected disability. So no funding fee. That's huge. And that's huge when you're utilizing your VA loan for the subsequent time. Is there a minimum like percentage? Like VA disability percentage? 10%. Okay. Yep. Which I think 10% is the minimum rating. Kind of like the minimum that you get. Yeah. So, but what I was saying, actually I forgot what I was saying. VA disability, huge, huge deal. Waive the funding fee. Oh, the funding fee. So subsequent, if you're utilizing your VA for a second time, the funding fee jumps up to 3.3%, which 3.3% on a mil, that's a lot of money. What is it? 2.5? Is it 2.15? 2.15. Okay. And it jumps up to 3.3. But if you have that, if you have the disability rating, then it's zero. You just don't have a money fee at all. Like any subsequent purchase. Nothing. Yeah. First time or subsequent. Okay. And then if you do that 5% down, it drops from 3.3 down to 1.1. So that's pretty huge too. If you do the 5% down. Yeah. I think that's what we did in Washington. Yeah. We're like, oh, I don't want to do, but oh, okay. Like, sure. We'll do 5% down. Yeah. I was recommended, this is 0630. I was recommended to consider no buy down on VA loan and hope for a lower rate and refinance. I was recommended to consider no buy downs on a VA loan and hope for lower rate and refinance. I mean, that strategy has worked for a bunch of my, a bunch of our buyers. For, for example, we, you know, are refinancing people that are in like the mid sixes to 5.25, because the early, the streamlined refinance rates are a little bit lower than a VA purchase rate. So right now streamlines are about 5.125, 5.25 range. So bringing someone from a 6.25, or even like a six and a half or a 6.25 down to a 5.125 is very meaningful. And even, and so for those people that save their money upfront and did not do a buy down and they did a zero point scenario, they may have, of course it depends on their price point, but they saved whatever 1% of however, however much they bought the property for. Refinancing was zero cash out of pocket and potentially skipping up to two months of mortgage payments. So that alone right there recuperates the costs associated with a refinance and they're getting their lower rate. So that is why that strategy was probably given to you. Okay. Thank you. Oh, a Tropical Ding Dong said he offered under and then got 20 cash back on closing to fix the electrical. But you know what you bought in 2020. So that's like, there was a period when COVID was happening, where there was the fear of the market and like, people weren't like doing anything. And then it popped off. It went crazy. End of 2020, beginning of 2021. It was just like, I remember having like a hell of a time with any of my VA buyers. Like trying to get accepted on anything because everything was going over appraised value. And then, you know, VA is only going to give you as much as it appraises for and anything above that you are on, you know, you got to pay cash out of pocket. It's not like today where everything, you know, not everything, but you actually have an opportunity to ask for credits. Like that was not a thing. That was definitely. I wonder if I like audited our old files, like how many offers we had out that had some kind of credit attached to it. None. Very, very few. Yeah. So that was, he did a good job negotiating. Yeah. Good job. Crazy, when the landlord sold the house, sold as is for 650 in 2021. Yeah, that happens. That happened at that time, October, 2020. And we closed December 15th, 2020. It was interesting. I remember people were talking about during COVID, how like you couldn't like, how are people even buying houses? You couldn't even like do showings or you couldn't do anything. Yeah, it was. Well, the real estate side was crazier than the loan side. The loan side was crazy just due to sheer volume. So it was, to be able to say, you know, we could do a 30 or a 35 or a 40 day close was difficult because everyone was at capacity. Yeah. Everyone, every single wholesale lender, every single mortgage broker, every single mortgage banker. Yeah. Every, you know, it got to a point where, I think I won't say the name of the institution, but they were quoting like five month closes. They were saying our closes are going to take four to five months to close. That's so crazy. And at that market, like what seller is like, yeah, we have 25 offers, but sure. Right. Let's do the four month one. And they stopped doing condos, any condo townhouse slash CPR, not doing it. Yeah. Not doing it. Yeah. Just not doing it. We're only doing single family homes, period. If you want a condo or a townhouse or a CPR, which is even, which could be a single family home. Right. Yeah. But it's just CPR. No, go somewhere else. Wow. Yeah. It's crazy. Crazy times. I mean, it's still crazy now. Just different, crazy. It's just a different kind of crazy. I am thinking that credits are gonna really slow down. Yeah. We have an offer in Eva Beach that the agent is covering the TIR and the condo docs. The buyer's agent? Yeah. So no credit. Wow. Yeah. So, and we have ones where, you know, where to get accepted, we've contributed as well. To make that difference. Oh yeah, we definitely have experienced a little bit of that too. Yeah. And yeah, it seems like the good clean offer, probably maybe a little bit of credit attached to it is like, oh, we're looking at special terms years again. Maybe, you know, like. Right. Different ways to get creative. And that's why it's important to have a good team who is, you know, does a lot of production, can attest to the things that are happening and to the trends in the market. We have had clients in the past who come to us later and the agent they had used prior, they're like, why did you pay that? You know, like in that time? Like, you know, so it is important. I know sometimes we like use our auntie or our cousin or whatever. Like that may be cool. Like that may be great. Keep the money in the Ohana if you can. Hi Kenny. But sometimes like 20 years of experience, but haven't done a deal in five years is really critical. Especially in a volatile market that does all kinds of things. I mean, even just as I've been in real estate, it's been like different lifetimes. I've lived in this industry, you know, so. There's so many nuances. Always choose your agent and your lending team wisely and make sure it's somebody that you not only like, but you trust and is experienced and knows their ---- because it's so important. Yeah. Don't get caught in last season's trend. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, guys, unless I missed something, Kenny, I do, we do have, well, I have some stuff. Well, Kenny's like, Kenji's like, we get a hundred million things on there. No. Okay. But yeah, thank you guys. I've been like, kind of like sparking the chat. I've seen some couple of beefs among commenters, which I love. So, you know, I didn't say hi, but hi, Ashley. Hi, Ashley. Yeah. I can't see her last name, but Ashley and Dan. Yeah. Yeah. But we love the engagement. So even if it's, you're not talking to us and you're just talking to each other and talking smack and doing whatever, keep it coming. If you guys have questions that you can think of, if you're watching this not live, if you're watching this later as it's recorded and you're like, I have a question for Jodi or I have a question for Core Team Hawaii, load it up in the comments. If you're, you know, like, oh, I just have a question. But if you're like, hey, I need to have a talk with somebody, go to coreteamhawaii.com, scroll to the bottom, fill out the contact form. You'll probably talk to our lovely Charlotte. Let her know what questions you have. And we'll chat. Okay. Thanks, guys.