Past the chaperoned façade of school bus transport, first time home buyers, optimistic and anxious, were shuffled around by Hawaii HomeOwnership in Waipahu.
"We’re hoping this experience will make it… so we know what we’re doing and so we’re not throwing our money away at something we can’t really afford," said Elena Colobong, a first-time home buyer.
She and her husband Rex were out surveying new developments and re-sale properties. They currently rent a home in Kapolei, but don’t want to pay rent for the rest of their lives.
"Well, going through all of this, I think it will make it easier to start looking for a house, because many of our friends, they’re looking for houses right now, and they’re all scared and stuff," Elena said.
The free half-day schoolbus ride they went on had experts aboard to answer questions.
"They may find the home that they’re looking to buy, which will be really nice. At minimum though we’re hoping that they’ll walk away better educated about possible resources that will help get them into home ownership or narrow down and (be)better prepared for the shopping process in terms of picking a realtor and looking for things they need in a house," said Reina Miyamoto, from the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center.
Hawaii has some of the most expensive home prices in the nation. According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the median price for a single family house last month was $618-to-900,000, up eight percent from a year ago. The median price for a condo is $305,000, up nearly five percent.
The bus tour focused on homes in the $200-to-300,000 range.
"The orientation tells us that there’s so much helpful aids that people don’t know about, so like, doing this, I think, will take some of the weight off our shoulders," Elena said.
This is the second time the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center has done a bus tour. Their first tour went to the Ewa Beach and Kapolei areas.
Check out www.hihomeownership.org for more information on how to find that school bus.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
