 I'm Maria Mera, I'm your host and I'm also a financial advisor with Edward Jones. And well, the purpose of staying here in Ohio is to explore different fields of how to stay healthy economically, physically, mentally, financially. And today we want to explore the field of real estate and how real estate is staying healthy in Hawaii. And for that, I brought my guest today, her name is Bardit Hakmon and she works for Keller Williams Realty. So without further ado, Bardit, thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Happy New Year. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you. Happy New Year. And everybody's going to hear a couple of very thick accents today. So mine is from Spain. What is yours from Bardit? I'm from Israel. OK, but we are both based in Hawaii and I want to pick your brain today and help us understand a little bit real estate in Hawaii and how it's affecting this year versus last year. So let's start with your company. Who are you working for? So I'm a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in Honolulu. This company are really great with the best resources, the tools, all the technology that they have. They help us, the agent to help our customers to have the best process with their buying or selling or any transaction in real estate. OK, let's let's say this so much information a little bit of time. So Keller Williams is not it's not from Hawaii, right? Keller Williams is an international company, so worldwide, huge company. How many agents globally? So globally they have more than they have pretty a lot of agents in Honolulu. I can tell you that it's more than 300. OK, there is more on each island in each you have like around 200 to 300 to 400 agents. So 300 in Honohahu, on the island of Honohahu. How do you guys split like I come from sales too, right? And sometimes you split the territory just by geographical area or is everything is fair game? How do you guys split the split that every agent decide which area they want to serve? OK, for me, I help with any real estate need all over the island. Depend on the customer where they want to relocate, where they want to sell. I'm I'm helping with all of that. So how do you get those leads? How do you how do you reach those buyers or the sellers? Social media, Facebook, Instagram, of course, referrals and a lot of networking. And advertising. So you say a lot of networking, but obviously it's 2020, right? So we haven't had a lot of at least personal interaction. How is technology helping you or what are you doing to to to reach that? Does Keller Williams have a different technology that you guys can can use? Yes, Keller Williams have a very big technology. They invest in a lot of money on that. So lots of good apps that it's only for Keller Williams. OK, all the referral networks. So basically we're working with agents around the world. So this is making your network much bigger. OK, so sorry, yes. By that you get a lot of referrals, connections and of course these people referring you to buyers and sellers. And behind that there is big teams that working together to help each other to get those customers to you. OK, so you work as a team, not just individual. I work individual, but with Keller Williams, either you're individual or with a team, we all work together. We call it AHAV. It's agent, health agent, which I love it because it's amazing. It's a you don't feel that you compete with each other. It's the opposite. You help each other and by helping each other, everybody getting the benefits of it. Yeah, so is the market big enough for everybody? Do you have enough houses for everybody that you have yourself? So how is help me understand a little bit. How is the market, the 2020 market compared to 2019? How would you describe 2020? Yes, so I can tell you by the market report with the Honolulu border of Realtor, the close sales of single family homes Honolulu increased by 5.6%. OK, well, relatively ready from last month. OK, while condos sales decrease this year by 6.2%. That's pretty surprising because all I can see around me in the Kakako area is condos growing and growing. So so maybe the sales were done before. Obviously, the sales were done before the condos went up. Yeah, people do look in for single family homes more. Of course, it's both. But we can see that there is more increase in the single family homes compared to the condo. OK, feel better. It's not less than last year. It's still better. OK, so so are people looking so you people are looking more for homes? Did I understand that right? They are looking more for homes? Definitely. OK, so do you think do you think the pandemic because we are staying more at home and we have to work from home and we have to do everything at home? Do you think that's that's part of the reason? Yes, this is what happened. The covid start we always very panic and worried and we didn't know what's going on. But people really put the time with the construction to renovate their homes. The landers, this is the main reason. The landers giving really, really good rates right now. Yeah, very loiterous. Yes, yeah. So what what? Sorry, I keep interrupting you. What is the what is the mortgage rate? What like if I'm going to buy a house, what would be a fair mortgage rate that I can look for? So this is will go between again, it's depend. It's depend on your credit score. It depends on your down payment. Yeah, this is between 2.5 to 3.56 and up. But it's pretty low compared to the last year. To before. Yeah, that's what the lender is giving you right now. So this one, this thing really make the buyers looking to buy and of course sellers. The the market right now, it's more of a seller market. This is how we call it. So yeah, low inventory, less inventory and more people that wants to buy. So are the prices going up? Because if there is less, if there is less offer and more demand, are there are the prices going up? So this is also dependent on some places we can see that the prices are pretty stable. This is Hawaii and you know, the prices are pretty stable, which it's amazing. You know, compared to the rest of the United States. But yeah, definitely there is some homes that the seller, you know, did more innovation, make it much better and they want to make the price higher than they bought it for. Okay. So let's say I'm a buyer and I want to buy a house and I see the price listed. And this is just really basic. But what else would you recommend to a buyer to not only look at the price, but what other costs am I going to have if I buy a house? You mean what is the expenses that they're going to have? Yeah, what else? Like closing costs or to- Closing costs, property tax, insurance, home maintenance, repairs if needed. Depending on there. Yeah, there is some cost that you should consider when you buy a home. But I think the main thing is the down payment. Okay. What other advice would you have for someone that is looking to buy their first house? Definitely to have a good agent. And the rest agent, I'm one of them. And it's definitely to have a good agent that can do all the process for you, give you less headache, less stress and walk you through all the transactions from the beginning when you look for your dream home to the end of the closing. Yeah, and make sure you stick to your budget also, right? Yes. So this is what the agent help you with. With the budget to negotiate the price, to talk with the seller agent, it's a long process. You need a lot of attention. And that's why we, I love my job. So that's what I'm doing. So you're a patient person? I'm a patient. And so you have to be patient. Are you, I'm personal question. Do you own your house in Hawaii? Okay, not yet. Okay. I actually live the dream, you know? I live in amazing house on the beach, on the water with pool. And I feel amazing like that. Soon I'm going to buy my own house for sure. Yeah. So what are your expectations for 2021? What do you think is going to happen to the market? Is the trend going to stay the same as 2020 or? I definitely see it actually going better, but that's my opinion, yeah? This is what I expect. Well, what do you mean? What do you mean by better? I mean that even with the numbers that I told you that it's increased, I believe it's going to be better than that. And for that said, because people going back to work right now, we see the process that slowly we're going back to our, I mean, I want to believe as well that we're going back to our normal life. Yeah. If you're near the island, you can see that some places open, it's start to be more, a lot of places start to open more, you know, people coming from the mainland to, to reason, the two reason which we need as well. So I definitely said, saying that the market is going to be not less than what we saw in 2020. Okay, that's good. Good news. The island definitely needs that economy. Even though Hawaii, I don't think it's we're suffering as much as other places, but I think, I think it's definitely. The only thing that I see as a mother and I spoke with a lot of parents, it's the school. I mean, you can see that everybody going back slowly, but they still won't put the kids in the school as they need to go every day. And I'm talking about most of the school. There is some schools that if they private or some school or they have less kids, they did taking these kids every day, but it's not everybody and the parents need that to be able to go back to work full time. We need the kids to be in the school. Yeah, and you have a couple of kids, right? So you know this by hand. Okay, well, let's take a little break here and then we'll be right back. Please join us after the break. Welcome back to staying young at heart. And we are joined today by Valdez Harkman and she's the real estate agent with Keller Williams. Valdez, thank you very much. Let's continue our conversation. So I wanted to ask you, what was the most expensive house? We always look at those millionaire houses, right? So what was the most expensive house in Hawaii or any of the islands this year? 70 million. So it was that house in Kauai, right? I read about it, the North Shore house in Kauai. And that's one of actually this property in the Israeli entrepreneur body. Oh, that's very, so excellent. So is it more, and I meant to ask you this before, are you seeing more investors coming from the mainland or from Japan or is it more local people still just trying to get into the real estate market here? Less people from Japan, more local, that they want to get a new home or second home and some people from the mainland definitely. Okay, so is it investing or is it for their first houses or second houses or? Both of them. There is a lot of investors but more buyers in Hawaii, local. Okay, that's good news. Okay, so let's shoot for that $70 million house one day. Let's switch gears here for a little bit and I want to know a little more about you and where you come from and how everything is going there. So you are from Israel, when did you come to the US and why? I'm here since 2005, many years. I feel local already, you know? I mean, this second home I will say and the COVID impact Israel really hard. It's a small country, you know, only 6 million people and it did, so many people got the coronavirus, the governor freaked out because they wanted to prevent all the hospital from having all these people at the same time. So the good news is that now over million, 1.5 million people that already got the first vaccine. Oh, good, yeah. So they're doing it very quick. I mean, Israel, I can see it's like very fast country, you know? Good. They get everything so quick, so fast because I believe that the problem is the economy. When it's a small country, that's it. If it's collapse, it's very hard to get. Yeah. And they're trying to do everything to go back that people are gonna go back to work, to their jobs. It's really affected a lot of people. How is the healthcare in Israel? Is it? Very good. I've heard, even as Israeli, it's one of the best. I mean, they help in America so much. They work in together with America, with all the health resources. The best thing about Israel, it's also the cost of the insurance. It's not like America, it's much cheaper. There is no one person from the 6 million plus people that they told you that don't have insurance. Yeah, it's universal. It's universal, yeah. It's something that it's a must, and they... You pay through taxes, or? We pay, so every person that have paycheck, they, it's taken out of their paycheck, like here. But even the people who doesn't work, they still get the benefits of the insurance and they really a small amount of money every month. So, and this is hard to say, because we love the US, right? And at least for me, sometimes it's hard to say, but you can see that compared to our countries, doctors, they really, it's vocational, while here is more of a profession, right? That they really do it because they want to help. And here it seems more like a profession to me. And not to criticize the US by any means, because, again, we live here and we love it. But yeah, there is a difference there. So, what was the last time you went to Israel? You went back home? Wow, I miss home so much. It's been almost two years. I don't want to travel right now. I'd be honest with you. Yeah, yeah. I've heard people saying about this test and all the process, you know? So, I rather do a different process, you know? With something, this is a hard time to travel. So, do you still have a lot of family back in Israel? All my family back home. Huge family. My mom, my father, my sister, my brothers, my nieces, so many grandkids, big family that I miss so much. But yeah, soon, hopefully, June, July, I can take a break and travel with my family. I can definitely relate to you. It's not so much the country that you miss, but the people that you live behind. And I'm sure I stay positive. I think we'll get there sooner than we think. Yeah, so what brought you here? What brought you to Hawaii? Wow, this is a great question. I always say when somebody asks me, it's a destiny. It's funny, really, because when I used to live in Israel, I was a very independent person, I think, since I was four years old, really, something that I could be like that, you know? With all the difficulties that my mom had in the life. But I still had a good childhood. But then, every time we talk about Honolulu or Hawaii as a dream place, as something that is so far, so I would never dream to be in this place. And I went first to New York. I was there for almost two years. And then my friend convinced me to come to Hawaii every day. She was bugging me, please come to Hawaii. It's your place, it's your place. And I'm like, me, Hawaii, what? Too dreamy, you know? That was you already. And then I found myself here. I came. And you know what? I love this. You love it, yeah. Yeah, it's easy to fall in love with it. You love the people. I love the community. I love everything about Hawaii, which is still home for me. And I appreciate it so much, you know, to be here. So you met your husband in Hawaii? I met my husband in Hawaii on the first day that I came here. Oh, well, yeah, definitely a bestie. So your husband is from Israel, too, right? Yes. So how did you guys meet, if I can ask? That was cool. We came to work at the same company. And I came to the same company. And we met there. And the relationship started. And it was like someone that I knew forever, you know? Now I have to say, if me and him will be in Israel, I don't see how we're going to get connected. We are very different. I came to Hawaii to do business, to explore myself, you know, to really know who I am. And he came to surf. He's surfing since he was 11. Oh. Yeah. So I'm from the desert. He's from the ocean. And it's completely different minds, you know? So is he taking you to surf now? Or are you taking him for hikes? Or how is it working now? Not now, but at the beginning for sure. I tried many times. But I guess it's, you know, I have a fear with the water. I think a lot of people have it. You cannot have fear in anything that you want to do. So I love the ocean. I go all the time. I take my kids. We swim. But to surf, I'm not a surfer. I'm not. Yeah. And that's fair enough. And you can take care of the kids while he surfs. And then I'll ride there the other way around. Yeah, very careful. So what do you consider your kids to be? Are they more American? Or are they, what would you say? Very tricky question. I still keep the culture of Israel, of my culture, the Jewish culture. We practice all the holidays. Shabbat, I don't know if you know what it's Shabbat. Every Friday, I cook a special dinner for my family or friends that I invite. You're the next one, Maria, where you need to come. Oh, I'm in. It's amazing. For me, this is what I have to do that every Friday to really feel. You know, I like the candles before the Shabbat come in. And this is really one of the days, it's two days, Friday and Saturday, that you really feel that you connected to your roots, you connected to God and to this universe. So I will never stop doing it. And my kids love it. And we blast every Friday for, of course, we eat every day together. But Friday, it's a special thing. And we blast, we pray, we sing songs. It's amazing. And of course, every holiday, we also have a big community here of the Shabbat House, the Jewish community that we go also in the holidays. I don't know if you saw, but in Hanukkah, I think we was like 100-something cars with the menorah on the car. Oh, I can hear you. In Hawaii? Oh, are you one of those? I didn't see that. And we were driving before the sunset. And it was amazing. Everything was light. And people love it. I see the people on the street smiling and taking videos of us. It was a great experience to show the lights of the holiday. And I think that's the beauty of it, right? That we live in a different place. We are accepted. We are women. And we work for jobs that we love. And this country accepts us. And still, we like to keep a little bit of who we are, that little bit of culture of who we are. And I can completely relate while you're talking to the things that you're saying. I'm not Jewish, but I can understand where you're coming from. I think it's all come from the way you grew up, your roots, you know? Yeah. If you practice in it, it's amazing. And be proud of it, yeah. If you decided to go to a different path, that's good too. I believe in everything. Everybody have their own belief, and that's what's amazing. Just believing something, you know? Yeah. Well, Barbi, thank you so much. Is there anything real estate-wise, or life-wise, or health-wise, at the end of the day, there's always a thing in our hearts. So is there any recommendation for us that you have that we can close with? I have one big recommendation for everyone. I want free love. Oh. Free love, you know? Give these people, help people, make them happy. When you make someone happy, you become happy yourself. And this is my goal in this life, to make people happy, to help them with their needs. At this point, with real estate needs, and with everything that they want my help with. I will be very happy to do that. And please, just love each other. Be kind to each other. If nothing else, be kind to each other. Thank you so much, Barbi. It is always a pleasure for me to talk to you. And you have so much energy and passion. And I know you excel at what you do. And I really want to thank you for joining us today. So thank you. An happy, best new year. Thank you, for all of you. So happy new year to everyone. Thank you for joining us. And I will be here for your next estate. Yanahar, be kind. And I will see you soon.