Hi all,

Honolulu ChatGPT Meetup

We’re having another Honolulu ChatGPT Meetup meeting today at 5:30pm at the Hub coworking space in Kakaako.  I know some have asked about our next meeting.  There’s still room at this free event if you’d like to attend, learn a lot, and meet some great people:

https://www.meetup.com/honolulu-chatgpt-meetup-group/events/297293542/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link

Master Hurricane Gap Lending Options

Unfortunately, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE’s) that set the guidelines for conventional loans, which most lenders follow for other types of loans, too, require that a condo building’s master hurricane insurance policy provide 100% coverage of the replacement value for the building. 

There are a number of condo buildings in Hawaii that currently don’t have sufficient master hurricane insurance coverage to meet this requirement.  As a result, most lenders can’t finance units in these buildings.

National Lenders

Fortunately, one national lender we work with has confirmed with their head of credit that they have no minimum coverage requirement for condo master hurricane insurance.  They do full documentation, bank statement, jumbo, foreign national, asset dissipation, and DSCR loans, but not conventional, VA, FHA, or USDA loans, with a minimum 10% down payment.  Their rates are a little higher than a conventional loan, with rates varying quite a bit depending on the down payment, credit score, type of loan, and other factors.

 Another national lender we work with has a condo department that hasn’t been checking the master hurricane coverage on conventional, VA, FHA, or USDA loans, but we don’t know how much longer that will be the case.

Local Lenders

Most local lenders will not lend on these buildings at this time.  One local lender we work with, Finance Factors, has decided to finance units in these buildings with their standard ARM program (no fixed-rate mortgages), as long as the borrower obtains hurricane “gap” insurance, though they’re discussing internally what their insurance requirements will be to close these loans – they haven’t yet closed any and they expect to have an update on Monday.

If you’d like a flyer on these options, or more details, please let me know.

Video:  Real Estate -- Time to Buy or Sell?

The other day, I recorded a video on whether it’s time to buy or sell real estate, with a lot of useful information.  It’s kind of an update to the video I did in summer 2022 stating why real estate wasn’t going to crash, as many people were saying it would.  I have a bunch of useful graphics in it, so please let me know if you’d like me to share any with you for your use. 

Please see the video here and let me know if you have any feedback or questions:  https://youtu.be/yRksf9IGksM?si=OnR0bh-QJGqMrOuy

Have a great weekend!