I have clients in the mainland who buy their next home in Hawaii before they even arrive on island. Being not from the area, and sometimes never even stepping foot on the island, new buyers have many questions and concerns. So here are some resources and tips that I share with my clients and you can use to get more confidence that you’re buying the right home in the neighborhood that you’ll enjoy and appreciate once you get here. These resources can be used anywhere in the US, not just Hawaii, so check them out.
A quick disclaimer, if you ask your Realtor a question like, “Does this area have good schools?”, or “Is this area safe?” you may not get a very direct answer. That may be for 2 reasons: 1) good and safe are relative terms and mean different things to different people, and 2) Realtors are bound to a Code of Ethics and need to comply with the Fair Housing Act and avoid what is called “steering” or influencing a buyer’s choice of communities based on the protected classes. So, what I like to do is provide resources so that the inquirer can do their own research and decide for themselves.
#1 Online Resource for Schools: Greatschools.org
One question I am asked about is, “How are the schools in this neighborhood?” I typically refer my buyers to www.greatschools.org. This site rates schools from preschool to high school and includes public, private and even charter schools. The site gives overall ratings from 1-10 and have further breakdown to specific categories such as “College Readiness” and “Test Scores.” There is also information on student/teacher and student/counselor ratios.
#2 Online Resources for Neighborhood Safety:
Two sites you may consider for neighborhood safety are www.spotcrime.com and www.areavibes.com. Spotcrime.com provides more specific data on incidents occurring in a neighborhood. You can drill down to see what street the crime incident occurred and when it occurred. Areavibes.com provides more of a high level grade on various factors such as crime, cost of living, and overall livability. Like any online resources, you should take things with a grain of salt, corroborate and cross reference any and all data before making a final decision.
#3 Traffic and Commute Times:
A site I use personally is Google Maps. You can input your new home and new work place and get an estimated commute time. Don’t forget to change parameters such as time of day. Also, I presume that the commute times are looking at current commute times and things may change over time considering things like the current COVID-19 shut-down in Hawaii.
#4 Virtual Tools for Specific Listings:
When buyers are looking at specific homes, many listings these days have videos and 360 degree tours and open houses. Some buyer agents including myself offer services such as virtual showings where we will do a zoom call or other video conferencing tool and schedule a private showing for the buyer client. The buyer gets a live walk-through to get a feel of the property both inside and out. Another service agents offer is a 360 degree virtual showing. This is slightly different than just a virtual showing because the buyer can click and pause the video and look all over the room that they are in. The buyer is also able to view areas that may have not been captured in the videos provided by the seller’s agents. Here’s an example to test out to see the difference (https://youtu.be/LbPR4lNg9sA).
So those are some resources you can use when buying a home before relocating. If you’re looking to buy a house in Hawaii, check out my other blog, “Home Buying Process in Hawaii,” (link here . I’d like to end with this quote from Brittany Burgunder, “Trust the unknown. Trust yourself. Let go of searching for answers and the answers will appear.”
