Oceanfront Maui STR Under Contract!
I guess I forgot to mention that we are under contract on another Maui Short Term Rental condo in Kihei. This one is in North Kihei and was picked up off market. It was actually brought to us from an investor who was able to get it under contract while working with the owners to acquire it over the last few years. Well, it turns out the owner (who is from Korea) passed away during this time and he negotiated a price for it. It was a good price but he does a bunch of deals on the east coast and something came up that he needed cash for so could no longer take this one down.
Knowing that we invest heavily in this area, he reached out to get my thoughts. I had walked the property for him before and I told him it was a good deal. He asked if I wanted it, I said yes, and here we are! So, we’re trying to take this down but we’ve run into so many roadblocks. First, title had to be transferred to the owner’s sister (also in Korea). Once this happened it had to go through the courts and then we had to get approved again as buyers for it. Then the sister died! So, back to the courts. Title had to be transferred to the executor of the estate. That happened, we went through the process again and now we’re ready to go.
EXCEPT, now our lender (First Hawaiian Bank) has more documents they’ve required at the last minute from us. This is unbelievable because they’ve had 3 months to get all this. I think one of the great mysteries is how underwriters work. While real estate investors like myself can underwrite most properties in about 5 minutes, an hour for more advanced STRs, it takes these guys 60 days to get on it. Then they can’t confirm anything, they have to go through all our personal assets and they tell me my DTI is much different than it actually is. Why don’t they just use my PFS? That’s what it’s for. We have the money in the bank to pay cash for this property, yet they’re telling us they’re having a hard time approving us. Really?
Anyway, here’s some early photos of my walk through of the property. As you can see, it’s pretty rough, but that’s exactly how we like them. We’re going to be able to add some serious value. Now I just have to get the property management at the condo complex to actually communicate with me. They are unbelievable too, but that’s a whole other story…
Stay tuned for more updates from this Kihei oceanfront condo remodel!
