Kauai Board of REALTORS® Monthly
October 2021
October 5, 2021
LETTER FROM KBR EXECUTIVE OFFICER, Karen Ono:
Aloha:
 
Ever wonder what does the Kauai Board of REALTORS® (KBR) do and what is a REALTOR®? Well, you’re not alone. So, what is KBR, what do we do and what is a REALTOR®. So here goes:
 
REALTOR® is a registered trademark of the National Association of REALTORS® that represents over 1.4 million licensed real estate agents throughout the Country. Each Chartered State or Local Association is under the umbrella of the National Association of REALTORS®. This three-tiered level of services and the enforcement of the Code of Ethics is what distinguishes a REALTOR® from all real estate agents. REALTOR® membership is voluntary and only those agents who have joined the REALTOR® Organization can use the term or trademark “REALTOR®”. Before you select your real estate agent, ask them if they are members of the National Association of REALTORS® or the REALTOR® organization on your respective island.
 
KBR is a non-profit membership dues driven organization, chartered in 1974 by the National Association of REALTORS® and registered in the State of Hawaii in 1979. Today the Kauai Board of REALTORS® represents 653 licensed real estate agents called “REALTORS®” representing a relatively small portion of the Hawaii Association of REALTORS® 9,000 members. 


LETTER FROM KBR PRESIDENT, Martie Law:

Be proud, but be humble.
Kauai Board of Realtors® is now up to 652 members, up 9.5% from 2020. Sales prices are up 53% YOY (year over year), according to HIS. Median prices touched $1,327,500 in July 2021. Thankfully interest rates on a 30 year fixed remain steady around 3.8% which means locals can still buy homes even with the rise in prices.
Now is the time to educate your entry level clients about purchasing power at low interest rates. Everyone should be talking to a lender and prepping to pounce when opportunity knocks, and it will. Patience and working with a realtor is key. Talk to them about entry level opportunities and get them dialed in to money management with the litany of resources now available. Live small, save big, and their day will come.
Many agents on Kauai will say that after the initial Covid upheaval and uncertainty that was created in March 2020, they started to feel a significant upturn in their real estate transactions right around September/October 2020. We can verify this by the jump in median prices around the same time.


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