Rightsizing in Manoa: Home Tour + Market Update

Downsize is such a buzzword in our industry, and maybe it's because I've been talking about it more and more lately, but I realized that the better word, and it's one that I used to use a few years back, is right size. Because downsizing, right sizing, it's not always about going smaller, it's about finding the place that's right for you. We're going to feature a home here in a neighborhood in Honolulu called Manoa. We have featured this neighborhood before. This home fits the perfect profile for somebody that might be right sizing out, and it's just prime and ready for somebody to right size in. I'm Myla Gibson-Bamman, realtor on O'ahu, along with my partner Koa Cassidy. Yasu behind the camera. You can find us at info at dwellhawaii.com if you'd like to work with us. Welcome to 3656 Alani Drive. This is in Manoa. It's listed at $1.898 million, and this house is four bedrooms, two and a half baths. It's about 1,800 square feet. It is on around a 10,000 square foot lot. Checks a lot of boxes already. This house was built in 1948, so it's got some really great character and charm, which is typically what you'll find in homes in Manoa. I am usually one to say I want vinyl windows over jalousie windows, but I have to say this house, with all of the light coming through, with the bay windows, which is another thing you don't often see, I'm actually loving the jalousie windows, and I wouldn't change them, and the fact that they're all so clean and they're all operating also makes it even better, and there's just a gentle breeze that flows through the house, and being able to just look out and feel like nature is a part of your home. I think these jalousie windows really lend themselves to this whole experience. Upstairs, we have two bedrooms, and we have a full bathroom, and then downstairs, we've got two more bedrooms, both with, both that are sort of en-suites. One bedroom downstairs has a half bath, and the other one is more of the primary suite, but when I think about downsizing or right-sizing, you know, perhaps a family will age out of this house because of the stairs. However, at the same time, this is a home that could fit a family very well, one that's growing, one that's got little kids, one that's got dogs. There's even potential for building out a mother-in-law suite downstairs with a separate entrance, but again, I just think that downsizing can become sort of a negative buzzword, because if you just focus on downsizing, focus on stairs, focus on being on a hillside, and thinking all of those things are bad, actually this house would be very perfect for somebody who wants this experience of being able to look out and see trees and greenery, and to be able to get downstairs and get into their yard, to have a little bit of separation from the kids maybe as they grow up. If you're up here, you know, for part of their life, that's great, and then as they become teenagers, you feel better about not sleeping all on the same floor. So yeah, I'm loving this house. It's the first time that I'm actually seeing it. It's been on the market just for about a week now. They've been getting a lot of showings, and of course you're in Manoa, which Manoa is a very coveted neighborhood. Can I just say something about stairs? My mom was just visiting with me from Vegas last week, and prior to her moving to Vegas, she was a little bit apprehensive about staying in my home, because I have stairs in my home. It's very similar to this. She stayed with me last week, and that woman, she's almost 80, she's 79 years old, and she was getting up and down the stairs with no problem, and as the days went on that she stayed with me, I found that she was more energetic, and even like proud of herself that she felt empowered to be able to go up and down the stairs with ease. She called me this morning. She actually lives in a home in Vegas now with one staircase, and she's like, Myla, I don't know what it is, but I think you're right. You kept telling me the stairs are going to keep me healthy, and I feel good. I was like, right on, mom. That's awesome. Okay, we've got a big like walk-in closet here, I think, or it could even double as an office. You've got this cool bench in here. Again, you've got some more bay window action. You've got these beautiful plantation shutters, and then this is our primary bathroom. Very simple. The thing that I love about Manoa, you don't have to have a whole lot of bells and whistles in your house in Manoa because living in this neighborhood is really more so about the community, experiencing the nature, and being in great proximity to places like Waikiki. You're like 10 to 15 minutes away, 15 minutes from downtown. You're close to all of the great schools. UH is minutes away. You've got Mid-Pacific Institute, Punahou, Iolani, all kind of like around here, and this is another thing that people really love about Manoa is just being able to come here and give their children a great experience, a great chance to be in proximity to all of these great schools, and it really does have that neighborhood feel. Like, you'll see people out walking, all ages of people. You'll see people walking with their dogs. Half bathroom here, by the way. The thing about this house, so let me get into like the multi-family living. You do have a separate entrance right here that goes to the outside. There are stairs leading down to it, so whether you wanted to create a rental down here or even a mother-in-law suite, you could certainly make some modifications to this home to lend itself to that. By the way, this house is listed by our friends Brahma Furtado and Mark Young of Real Estate. A little bit of insider information about Manoa. Anytime I've listed a property in Manoa or have gotten to talk to sellers in this neighborhood or even friends that live here, there's very much, there is a tight-knit community here. This is not one where you're going to see a lot of second homes. You're not going to have a lot of investor owners, and people are going to know Dr. So-and-so lives in the house down the street. Oh, that white house on the other side, the one that has the mango tree, that's Dr. So-and-so. There's kind of a lot of that, a lot of notable people who live in Manoa. Kahala is another neighborhood that might rival Manoa or kind of give off the same vibes, but not really, because in Kahala you're going to find a lot of second homes, and of course the prices in Kahala are far more escalated. Manoa is known for a $2 million and up price point, so I'm happy to share that this house is just below $2 million and that you don't necessarily need $2 million to be able to own in this neighborhood. Just a few stats on the neighborhood. Overall on Oahu, our single-family market is very resilient. Inventory is still quite tight. We have about three months of inventory on the market. When we talk like that, what we mean is that if nothing else came on the market today and everything sold, it would sell in about three months, which is an indicator of a seller's market. Far different in the condo market. Condos are at about seven months, so when we get above six months, it becomes a buyer's market, and this is kind of the first time in the Oahu real estate market that we've seen such a delta between single-family homes and condos. Here in Manoa, homes are selling about 99% list to sales price, except for about 10 homes out of 40 sales in the last six months sold above the asking price, and that's about 25% of sales. The median price in Manoa is $1.79 million. Like I said earlier, we usually say about $2 million, but overall in the entire neighborhood, median being that we took a line and drew it right through the middle of all the sales, we're at $1.79 million in the last six months, and your median days on market is about 14 days, which is tracking along with the Oahu real estate statistics. Single-family homes in Manoa are typically going to be on larger lots. You're going to see 10,000 square feet usually, depending on which side of the valley you're on, depending on how far down you are in the valley. I do want to talk a little bit about valley living. I live in a valley in Hawaii. Absolutely love it. Love being able to see mountain vistas. Love being able to hear birds. Love seeing mature trees. Being in an elevated home like this, you're going to be able to look out and see more than rooftops and more than somebody's backyard or look across and see the wall of somebody else's house. Here you're going to be able to have a view. This is one of those things that I speak to when people are saying, I really want a house that has a view, but I'm looking for something that's single level. That's a needle in a haystack. Usually if you're going to buy a single level home, it's going to be one that's on a flat lot and you're going to look out and you're going to see another house next door. When you have a home that gives you a view like this and gives you this experience, you should expect that you're going to have a home with stairs. There's really a give and take with everything when you're looking at buying and selling real estate. This is really, again, we're right sizing fits. We just talked to a couple two nights ago and they are considering putting their home here in Manoa on the market. It's going to be a tough neighborhood for them to leave. We were sitting on their deck as we were talking about their home and the memories that they've built there. It was sunny and then there were some clouds that came into the valley and all of a sudden there was the most beautiful rainbow. That's one of the things that Manoa is known for. Quite possibly this is why the UH logo is a rainbow. They recognize the things that they're going to be giving up, which are things you really can't put a price tag on. At the same time, they also were able to talk through how this home of theirs isn't giving them peace of mind anymore. It's just too big for them. It's too much to maintain. Finally, the wife who grew up in the home was able to surrender to the fact that it's time for somebody else to love this home and it's time for this home to love somebody else back the way that it's loved her. Every time I come to Manoa, I make sure that I stop at Manoa Valley Marketplace and treat myself to something from around here because there's so many great little places that are locally owned. You've got Fendu Boulangerie, which is this bakery that's got breads and cookies and beautiful desserts. I just ate at a restaurant called Little Plum. They're closed already for the day, but it's like Asian fusion. It was some of the most delicious food I've eaten in a long time. There's yoga upstairs. There's a farmer's market happening here as well. There's a Safeway here, but this really is where the neighborhood people come. You're not going to come here if you don't live in Manoa. When I come, I make sure that I stop by and grab something. I'm going to after we end this video. Thank you so much for watching. If there's anything we can do for you, if you need help selling your home, if you are looking to buy a home, we'd love to work with you. Get in touch with us at info at dwellhawaii.com.