Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Nov 30, 2022

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK NOVEMBER 30, 2022
DIRECTOR OF CONTENT/ SUPPLEMENT PRODUCTS RON NAGASAWA
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
BILL MOSSMAN
MANAGING EDITOR
NICOLE MONTON
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
DENNIS FRANCIS
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER
DAVE KENNEDY
SALES MANAGER
SIERRA HETHCOTE
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During the pandemic, my life ended up get- ting a lot noisier. In- stead of filling my days with conversations with friends, family and co-workers, a lot of time was spent in a new kind of silence. It wasn’t the soothing quiet as you wind down for bed, nor was it the relaxing calm after a busy day. It was a stifling kind of silence amplified by the lack of human contact.
by Nicole Monton
Embracing, Enjoying The Quiet
noise. When it suddenly changed, I didn’t know how to cope in a healthy way. In- stead of looking at silence as a way to recenter and focus on things I normally wouldn’t have gotten a chance to expe- rience, I looked at silence as something wrong, a thing that needed to be filled.
back up, my heart is filled with the interactions I had missed. I can enjoy break- fast at a restaurant or a baby shower to celebrate new life. Hikes are now done with friends, and instead of jog- ging solo, my husband walks/ talks with me at the park for our biweekly exercise dates (my knees and I are thankful).
This means my podcasts, audiobooks and shows have fallen by the wayside, and I strangely miss the constant conversation flooding my ear.
Now that life has picked
It’s not a pleasant feeling knowing I prefer constant noise to being alone with my thoughts. So, I’m trying to re- set. To start, I have been driv- ing in silence. It’s awkward as heck, but I’ m less reliant on having some form of enter- tainment constantly playing. And one day, I won’t even miss those voices in my head (you know what I mean).
Book Pick Of The Week
Anthologies are always fun reads because you get mini stories in one easy-to-transport book. Island Fever: New Mysteries From Hawai‘i’s Finest Writers is the brainchild of
11 authors — AJ Llewellyn, AK Gunn, JM Calverley, Justine Valent, Katharine Nohr, Lizbeth Hartz, Patricia Logan, Rosemary and Larry Mild, Rose Tigarden and Steve Novak — who all write along the theme of “fevers” (think COVID,
dengue or even love). Find Island Fever on Amazon. As an adult, I still find children’s books enchanting,
and Leilani Blessed and Grateful is a wonderful look at a
child’s gratitude for all that Queen Kapi‘olani and King
Kalākaua have done for the Hawaiian people. During a
dream, Leilani is transported back in time to when the
two monarchs reigned, and learns how their legacy
continues to present-day Hawai‘i. And you know what
else is cool? Leilani Blessed and Grateful is the state’s 2022
selection for the Library of Congress’ Great Reads from Great Places program. Find the book at mutualpublishing.com or where books are sold in the state.
So, I filled my life with noise, specifically the sounds of human voices. Commutes that used to be spent listening to music in the background or rolling down the window to enjoy fresh air became chanc- es to get through my podcast queue at super speed (instead of listening at the regular pace, I bumped it up to 1.25 or 1.5 times the normal rate). Jogs and hikes in the great outdoors became chances to finish the latest audiobook. I had this need to be surround- ed by sound.
nmonton@midweek.com
Fill in the blank cells using num- bers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, col- umn, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: SILVER
We live in a world filled with endless amounts of
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hawaiianrealty.com 800-667-5028 ext. 8122
Denise S. Nakanishi
RB-17031, ABR, CRS, GRI, SRS
“Major Mom is a Major Difference”
cell 808-936-5100 majormom@ilhawaii.net
Good thing I’m from Florida where “hurricanes R us”. Nui, Faith (future Team Nakanishi member) and I recently attended the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) convention in Orlando. We arrived one day before the airport closed during Hurricane Nicole. Needless to say, sessions were cancelled and there were a lot of empty spaces because people just couldn’t get there. One of the most popularsessionsisthe“EconomicandHousingOutlook”
withLawrenceYun,theNARchiefeconomist. It wasnosurprisetolearnthatinventoryremains very low. Demand is still there so 42% of homes
arestillsellingatorabovelistprice. Homes
on the market over 120 days end up adjusting prices approximately 11-16%. But many still move right away. Interestingly, demand for new
housingunitsontheBigIslandisestimatedat456thisyear, butEPIC,slowersalesandhighersupplycostshaveslowed constructionsonoreliefthere.Nationally,listingsaredown 19.4%. Mr. Yun is not seeing distressed properties impacting the market. But wait! Remember mortgage forbearances
during the lockdown? This could change but because equity increased so much during the forbearance period, short sales will not be part of the listing picture (thank goodness, cause most fail). Remember, in Hawaii, a foreclosure can take 18-24 months so even those will not increase listing inventory for some time. Mr. Yun sees signs that after two quarters of mildly negative activity, things could be changing. HischartshowedQtr3isup,butitisstillthehousingsector thatispullingtheeconomydown.Salesnumbersdecreased 20-30%andevenmoreinareaswiththehighestrunup in activity and pricing. The hope is that interest rates have peaked. Consideringinterestrateswereat10%in1990,the current 7% should not be shocking. First time home buyers are not as active. When interest rates were historically low, buyers could buy a median home (nationally) with about $50k ofincome. Thisfigureisnowcloserto$80k. Inourlocal market,itisactuallyagreattimeforfirsttimehomebuyers becauseoffshoredemandhasslowedsoalocalbuyercan compete. Here’s the thing, Mr. Yun feels rates will be coming back down making it desirable to buy now and refinance
later (try having the seller buy down the rate until then). His report indicates that inflation has decreased from 8 to 7%. High inflation means high interest rates. Lower inflation translates to lower interest rates. The NAR economics team creates a yearly report called “Profile of Buyers and Sellers”. They found that buyers are still willing to move. The ability to work remotely has impacted this but for the most part, buyers move“miles”notnecessarilyoceans.Hisdataindicates thatourlocaljobsmarkethasnotfullyrecoveredmeaning outwardmigrationmaycontinue.Toillustratetheimpact that real estate has on wealth building, he noted that the medianhomein1970soldfor$23,000.Todaythatnumber is $300,200. Nationally, home prices have never gone down making the wealth differential between homeowners andrenterssignificant. Sorryifthisquicksnapshotisabit disjointed. It’snoteasytakingnotesintheseconferences. ThanksMr.Yunforbravingthehurricaneandbringingabit of good news in the middle our current economic storm! . Blog forward at www.hawaiianrealtyhomes.com
FLYING INTO A HURRICANE!
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FIND MY COLUMN EVERY SUNDAY OF THE MONTH. Watch “HAWAII LIFE” on YouTube!
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