Amadeus14

We are still here in the UK!(not raining just at the moment!) but are considering buying a condo in Hawaii to use part of the time. Need to research the whole purchasing property aspect particularly the not so obvious areas that could "surprise" us later on.Any help in pointing us in right direction, gratefully appreciated!

Bob

You crazy?
People stick trailers in there gardens to rent out just to use as much land as possible for the tourist phelbs....
Anyway...depends on what visa your able or hoping to get...

Big D

Will you be living in Hawaii or is this just a holiday thing?

Amadeus14

to begin with we will be there part of the year possibly only a month or two at a time, the condo we are interested in is a part ownership ie. two months, but we may consider a six month option as well. Later on ie, after retirement then we may settle semi permanently that is six months or however long we can remain there on a visa waiver + extensions which stands at 90 +

Big D

Sounds like time share - very popular at the moment in the states (though called something else!) especially in Hawaii - though i think this changes your post/question considerably as there are a whole lot of different pitfalls with that type of purchase!!

If you are talking about retiring you may be able to get a tourist visa allowing you to visit for 6 months at a time.

fatbrit

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen IMHO.

There's a strange issue happening in AZ at the moment in that visitors can't easily get notarization of their real estate documents as they've brought in a rule that you can only present US identification to the notary so, for example,, a foreign passport won't do. There's nothing to stop you owning the property, but the mechanism you need to get and/or transfer title is now absent. Dunno if any of our wise legislators thought this one through, but even if they did the paranoia about alien entry here is high enough to mean no-one really cares. I'm sure it would be more of an issue in places in the US that have higher numbers of foreign holiday home owners.

Condos are more difficult to borrow against and more difficult to sell. Condos with a timeshare-type agreement in them are going to be a nightmare. As you understand, you certainly have the right to buy, but you don't have the right to live here or even enter.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just rent one while you're out here? What's the attraction of buying?

Big D

presumably in States like Florida you can buy as many ex pats do without being resident etc. But is that the case in all States? Does Hawaii have any restrictions on non residents buying like the channel islands?

anotherlimey

You can't buy land in Hawaii unless you're a native of the island - apparently.

Amadeus14

No it wouldn't be cheaper to rent this particular one and you can off set your costs by being able to rent it out when you are not using it at megabucks per day! Do you know why condos with time share agreement are nightmarish?

fatbrit

Yep -- it costs $$$ in promotions and commissions to sell each slot. Also, management companies sometimes take on a direction of their own against the benefit of the purchaser. If you want to invest in real estate, there are better ways; if you want a cheap holiday, there are better ways.

But I thank them all when we're watching the TV in our bedroom coz they paid for it and I had a fun afternoon winding up the salesmen with free nosh and booze thrown in.

kevntrace

I had an interesting timeshare "experience" about 10 years ago. I was watching telly in my flat in Michigan and got a phone call. I was invited to apply for a discounted holiday of 3 nights in Florida and a 2 night cruise to Nassau. However, I had to decide right there and then if I wanted take up the offer - if I put the phone down to think about it, the offer was gone.

Long story short, I accepted the offer. I thought it would be a nice treat for when my girlfriend came over to visit from the UK.

Well, you can imagine this was a timeshare promotion. As part of the discounted holiday deal I had to go to the timeshare community for a presentation (and pick up the cruise tickets). We ended up getting there late on the first day, so they asked us to come back the next morning and they would give us breakfast.

We went back and got breakfast then a nice tour of the place, then the hard sell began. Despite all this I was not about to sign up to any deal, so eventually we got out of there. Before we left we had to provide a reason why we didn't purchase - they pigeon holed us as non-homeowners on their survey (we didn't own a house in the US at the time, but we did in the UK).

Anyway, the land based holiday was nice, then we got to go on the cruise, which was nice too. But when we were seated to dinner on the first night, we met a bunch of other couples who were on the same package as us. And the scary thing is most of them had signed up for the timeshare

It was only later that it dawned on me - the telephone call and "must decide now" thing was designed to target impulse buyers. So consequently once the salesman got face to face with the folks, he had a very high success rate.

Got to hand it to them, it was a brilliant piece of marketing. And I am somewhat of an impulse buyer - but not that much!

Amadeus14

Yes we've had that kind of experience in Portugal....... Luckily what we are intersted in in Hawaii ISN'T time share although it sounds like it on the face of it. It is not being sold by representatives of a site, has been around for more than 20 years, and is being sold through an independent realtor. So all that "buy now one day only deal" type marketing isn't there

Big D

Still sounds shady - even more so even!!

What is that they call them now - vacation clubs or something rather than timeshare - Marriott and all the big hotels are getting in there! It could be a good deal - i guess i am tarnished by the bad rep it all got on the med. Having said that still not something I would go for.

Englishmum

One of the pitfalls about buying a home in the US is that when you come to sell your property, the realtor's commission rate is a whopping 6%..... :scared: