Today we find the Oahu real estate market climbing again. According to the latest data from Pacific Business News, the median price of a single-family home on Oahu rose to $682,000 in May — an 8% increase over the same month last year. While some in the industry fear the rising market points to yet another bubble and imminent housing crash, others see it as a sign of a rebounding local Hawaii economy. Only time will tell, but what does this mean to you?
If your mortgage is underwater…
If you owe more on your Oahu home than it’s currently worth, then a rising market will minimize that difference. You may still need to do a short sale in order to sell your Oahu house (and stop foreclosure if one is happening), but it should be a much easier process since you’ll be asking your lender to take a smaller loss (ask us for details if this is unclear).
However, a short sale is not given. If your mortgage is almost the same as your home’s current market value, then there may be other ways to go about selling your house (ask us how) and skip the entire short sale process.
If you have equity in your Oahu home…
If instead, you have equity in your home, i.e. your home is worth more than your current mortgage, then this is great news! It means that you’ll likely be able to get more cash if you decide to sell your house. You can probably just sell it straight up “as is” for cash in most cases, especially if you sell to a private investor like us.
However, one thing to keep in mind, just because the market may be rising now does not mean that it will continue to do so into the future. Remember that housing markets go up and down just like stock markets do. If you need to sell your house, then a rising market will definitely help you, but it shouldn’t change your overall decision in most cases. You don’t want to risk waiting, have the housing market dip, and then say that you should have sold it when you had the chance. By that time it could be too late.