3 Fixer-Uppers You Can Get For Less Than the Median Home Price

These houses have solid bones and floor plans, if you’re willing to do some home improvement.

December 14, 2018

Rachel Ross Bradley,

There are 91 homes on O‘ahu for sale right now categorized as “needs major repair” or “tear down” on the multiple listing service. That means there are almost that many opportunities to buy a home for less than market value. (I say “almost” because there are always a few people who expect their neglected properties to sell for the same as the new homes next door. We all think our home is the best home.)

If you can see beyond the shabby and sometimes moldy exteriors to the bones and floor plan, many of these houses could be rehabbed into something livable by a good architect and contractor—or even a decent architect and your own two hands, if you have the time and patience.

Photo: George Chan

In the Koko Kai neighborhood in Hawai‘i Kai, 28 Po‘ipū Drive is a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath fixer-upper on a 15,835-square-foot lot overlooking Maunalua Bay. It’s at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and has just enough height to see above the neighboring homes to catch the sun setting over Diamond Head. Built in 1966 and never renovated, it needs a lot of love, but it comes with a pool and the land is spacious. It’s listed for $1,988,000; the median home price this year in the neighborhood was $2,150,000. Listed by Mathew Ngo of Better Homes and Gardens Advantage Realty.

Photo: 360 Productions LLC

In Wai‘alae Nui Valley, 4542 Malia St. is listed for $899,000 and has lovely valley views. It’s a stone’s throw from Kāhala, where home prices start at twice that price. It needs some TLC, but it’s ideally located, has a nice floor plan with four bedrooms and 1,372 square feet of living space, and is fairly close to Downtown, with many residents needing only 15 minutes to get to work in the morning. Listed by Trevor Benn of Forward Realty.

Photo: Courtesy of Philip Enemoto

In Pacific Palisades, 2425 Aumakua St. is listed for $599,000, well below the current Honolulu median home price of $800,000. Though in need of major repair, the home has a lot of positives: a level lot, a stone family room and fireplace, and a spacious five-bedroom floor plan. It’s priced well below its assessed value of $701,800. Listed by Philip I. Enomoto.