Here’s my advice when owners ask me about hiring a property manager.

I get asked by homeowners all the time about the benefits of having a property manager. They often ask me if I would manage my own property or hire a manager to do it for me.

To answer this question, you have to answer another question first: Are you going to be an off-island or on-island owner? One of the statutes in Hawaii states that you need an on-island representative to watch over your property. If you’re off-island and have a problem, who are your tenants going to call? How are they going to get repairs done?

“The less you’re prepared for move-out, the worse off you’ll be.”

Hawaii is a tenant-friendly state. If you ever have to go to court against a tenant, you better be prepared. As a property manager, my job is to put money in your account and protect your home. To do that, I need a plethora of vendors, and I have to be on the island.

There are so many things involved in the process, and often when I transfer a tenant from another owner-occupant or property manager, they do not fill out their property condition form correctly. That’s a problem at move out. Nothing bad happens at move-in—the bad things happen at move-out. The less you’re prepared for move-out, the worse off you are.

So to answer the question, if I were you and I was off-island, I would definitely hire a property manager.

If you have any questions about this topic or property management in general, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Here’s what Hawaii rental owners need to know about HARPTA and FIRPTA.

Have you heard of HARPTA and FIRPTA? These are important taxes for Hawaii rental owners to know about, so let’s talk about them.

First, what is HARPTA? Standing for the “Hawaii Real Property Tax Act,” this act withholds tax on sales of Hawaii rental properties by non-resident owners. We exclusively work with rental properties, so we always remind our clients about this tax. We aren’t tax experts or CPAs, so talk with a tax professional when dealing with HARPTA.

FIRPTA, on the other hand, stands for “Foreign Investments in Rental Properties Tax Act.” Combined with HARPTA, these laws are huge because they take a percentage of your sales price instead of your profits. 

We highly recommend you speak with your Realtor and tax experts about these taxes. If you need a professional referral, just reach out to 808-445-9223 or [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

If you own a property, you have to decide whether to get a home warranty.

Property owners ask us all the time whether getting a home warranty is a good idea. Generally, the answer is yes, but there’s one issue. The home warranty company usually only has one or two vendors on the island to service your house.

“Right now, appliances are in short supply on the island.”

For example, a couple of home warranty companies needed to replace the washer and dryer in our properties, but there are currently no washer and dryer companies on the island. That means some of our tenants had to wait six to eight weeks to get washers and dryers shipped in through the home warranty company. If you didn’t use the home warranty company, you could just go to Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Ross’ Appliance and buy your own washer and dryer. Right now, appliances are in short supply on the island, so home warranty companies are also having a difficult time getting in air conditioning units, plumbing items, and electrical necessities because they only have one vendor that serves all the houses on the island. 

As a property owner, you have to decide whether a home warranty is in your best interest. Price-wise it probably is because everything inside the property is rented to your tenant but is your responsibility.

If you have any questions or want to talk more about home warranties, call or email us. We’d love to speak with you soon.

We do walk-throughs of our properties every four to six months.

We do walk-throughs of our properties every four months if residents have any pets or every six months if no pets are present. This gives our owners peace of mind they can trust.

On a walk-through, we go inside the property and take pictures of all of the rooms and walls to show the owner the condition of the property. If there are any concerns that need immediate attention, we give a 10-day notice to our tenants.

If you have any questions, please visit HiPacificPM.com or give us a call at (808) 445-9223. We look forward to hearing from you.

Here’s why HI Pacific has a full-time photographer on staff.

Here at HI Pacific Property Management, one of the reasons we can offer an eviction guarantee is because we have an in-house photographer on staff. He takes pictures of each one of our properties prior to new tenants moving in. The pictures are time stamped and dated, so if we need to go to court, we have all that evidence on file. 

Having a professional photographer on staff also ensures our photos are uniform; plus, if we need someone to take photos on short notice, it’s not a problem. On top of all this, he creates virtual tours for our properties. 

If you have any questions about our photographer or anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Here’s some helpful info about our eviction guarantee at HI Pacific.

One of the many guarantees that we provide here at Hawaii Pacific Property Management is our eviction guarantee. We do a great job at tenant screening, which gives us confidence in promising this to all of our clients. 

We run credit reports, do background checks, and complete rental verification for each potential tenant. It’s very important for us to place a reliable tenant into your property who will protect your investment now and in the future. 

If you want to learn more about the eviction guarantee or have any other real estate-related questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. To learn more, watch this short video.

Here’s my advice for dealing with G.E. taxes in Hawaii.

I don’t consider myself a tax expert, but I have been dealing with general excise taxes, or G.E. taxes, for most of my career. All Realtors are required to pay a 4.5% general excise tax in Hawaii if they’re making income from rentals.

It’s a complicated process, so I recommend reaching out to a tax professional to discuss Hawaii’s G.E. taxes. We can provide that service through a CPA for a small fee.

If you have any questions about G.E. taxes or anything else related to property management, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Make sure that you have adequate coverage for your property.

Today I’ll talk about having proper insurance coverage as a property manager. The coverages for condos and single-family homes are very different. Please talk to your insurance provider about what is adequate coverage for your unit.

Take the Marco Polo fire, for example. All the units below the 26th floor were completely flooded, and we couldn’t get into them. Mold grew in all the units, and the insurance coverage had to be checked.

We recommend that you consider adding loss-of-rent coverage to your HO6 or single-family home policy. Many owners don’t have that when they’re owner-occupant. Then, when they turn it over to us to use as a rental property, the mortgage will continue if they don’t have rents coming.

If you have any questions, give me a call at (808) 445-9223. I look forward to hearing from you.

This is how we handle move-out inspections with our tenants.

Today we’re giving you a closer look at how our move-out inspection process works. We start by sending detailed and clear instructions to our tenants to prepare them for the process. Then we schedule a date and time to perform the move-out inspection. At that time, the tenant turns in the keys, and we have 14 days to complete our process and return their security deposit.

I go into the property, take lots of pictures, take notes, and document everything. Then I compare my notes to the property condition disclosure form that was filled out when they moved in. 

There are more items to worry about when tenants move out than when tenants move in. If there are new damages, that’s considered negligence. It’s the tenants’ responsibility to pay for the damages out of their security deposit. After I take my pictures (roughly 150 for a one-bedroom unit), any items that need to be addressed are repaired before the 14-day time frame expires.

If you have any questions about this procedure or anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

April to August is so busy in Honolulu because of the military’s PCS moves.

Today we’re going to talk about PCS season. PCS is a military term that stands for permanent change of station. The military has five bases in Honolulu, and from April to August, we experience 15,000 families moving in and out of the area. It’s an extremely busy time for movers, property managers, and Realtors.

If you want more details on PCS season, give us a call. We can tell you what the best time to schedule your move is. We look forward to hearing from you.