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Updated about 8 years ago on . Most recent reply
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What does this mean?
"Note that unit is Leasehold and the Fee Interest is Not available for purchase with the lease ending in 2024"
I am looking at a property for sale but has the above condition on it.
Most Popular Reply
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Aloha Steevee, I'm fairly new to Bigger Pockets but have been living in Honolulu all my life. Be careful on leaseholds in this area, especially with no option to purchase the lease fee. I assume this is a condo, many of them in this area have extremely low costs when the lease expires within the next 10 years but usually you get killed on the maintenance fees. I've seen some maintenance fees run from $800 - $1000/month. What building are you looking at?
Another problem I'm told is that bank lenders will lend mortgages up to 5 years less than the lease expiration, so for this deal, you'll probably need to bring full cash to the table somehow.
So when you calculate the costs, you need to account for Lease Rent, Maintenance Fees, and your payback amount for the money you borrowed to purchase the property (plus your other operating expenses). What the 2024 lease expiration means is that you, as the buyer, own the property until 2024 but since you do not own the land, you no will no longer own the property after 2024 and have to return the property back to the lessor unless you renegotiate terms to extend the life of the lease.
Leaseholds are regularly on the MLS, and can work if you find the right one where the math pencils out but there's more considerations involved. I would say look for ones that have longer lease times, I've seen some up to 2040 and even up to 2060 and find the ones where the option to buy fee is available.
Are you currently investing in the Honolulu market now?
Good luck, happy hunting!