Oʻahu entrepreneur and host of Real Hawaii Talk podcast Brooks Onishi talked with HPRʻs Russell Subiono about the barriers to owning a home in Hawaiʻi. Onishi has decades of experience in the real estate and mortgage industry.
Interview Highlights
On the Hawaiʻi home ownership market right now
BROOKS ONISHI: It's just a weird spot. Like people are still buying — the really smart ones, that aren't hindered by qualifications, or all these other things that may be an obstacle for other people. The other ones that don't necessarily have the ability, or are on the verge of that, I think they're letting fear take over a little bit. So there's a lot of skepticism, and it's really hard to quantify what's going to happen. We've been waiting for rates to come down, and in direct proportion to what's happening with inflation numbers. We were hoping for a drop in March, that didn't happen. Now we're looking at two rate cuts before the end of the year, potentially. I'm hopeful that one will actually take place this year, but it's just one of those things. You can't really quantify where it's going to be in the future.
On if it is impossible for middle-class local residents to buy a home
ONISHI: No, no, it's not. It may be impossible if you're still constraining yourself within that mindset of limiting beliefs. I set my own boundaries. What I think about is impossible becomes possible. Now, are these things what we grew up in, what everybody else is talking about? 100%. That's that's why we believe them because this is the same constraint that everybody else is living in. Are they impossible? No. You're running with the wrong crowd. You want to do things that you've never done before? You got to go run with people you've never run with before. And so that's what I did, is I changed who I was hanging out with, I changed who was feeding into my mindset, even just down to the background noise, right? It all counts. It all contributes to some sort of feeling, thought process, your overall just direction.
On what local people should be doing to start down the road of homeownership
ONISHI: Well, I think first and foremost, for a lot of just the average person — local or not anywhere in the U.S. — it's a matter of just the basics: budgeting your credit score and being in a position, you know, what those factors are that the bank is going to look for to qualify you for a loan. You got to understand those things. If you've never talked to a loan officer before, gotten pre-approved, how do you know (if) you qualify or not?
This interview aired on The Conversation on June 14, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
