About Houses in Hawaii
Most houses built in Hawaii since the 1950s are either post and pier or on concrete slabs. Due to the island's geological makeup, we seldom have basements or attics. Sometimes you may see stone foundations or cement block and then tongue and groove redwood or board and batten walls. There also is mostly single wall construction. Even Queen Liliokalani's Summer Palace and her Honolulu home known as Washington Place (for awhile the Governor's mansion) are board and batten on a stone foundation. They both have basements partially dug out of the coral base rock.
Iolani Palace, the old territorial buildings, some old mansions, and the old Fort are built of stone, carved from volcanic rock or imported ballast stones. (I'm not an architect or historian, so I'm just repeating what I see). I don't think, even if any of those were for sale, you would like the price!!
Our lots are small and houses are usually small as we have limited land space. In most areas quite close together. The average price for a single family home on Oahu (where Honolulu is) is $655,000, average lot size is 5,000 square feet and average house size 2,000 square feet (without garage, carport or lanai added in). Upscale homes with stone, stucco, or upscale building materials will run $1,000,000 or so. Near the ocean, much more.
You can still find near the ocean, older homes with potential, and on larger lots on the Windward coast of Oahu and on the Big Island of Hawaii. Occasionally one of interest might pop up, but the price may not be what you consider "low", even for a tear down or fixer-upper. Most of our appraised value is often in the land and its location, and not the house.
To search and review homes on Oahu, go to http://katebraden.com, click on Search All of Oahu's listings, and click on the map. Check all of the areas that come up, and review the listings. If you see one you'd like more information on just email me at KateB@Katebraden.com.
Kate,
Thanks for the hard work and insight.
Aloha,
Keahi
RE/MAX 808 Realty
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