Converting Oahu Leasehold to Fee Simple

[Jordan Lane]

I have a family member who owns a leasehold SFH in Waipahu. Mortgage is paid off but the lease has just exited the fixed rate portion of the term so the monthly rate has greatly increased. There are still approximately 20 years left on the lease. We were interested in purchasing the leased land. The current owner is CJ Robinson, Limited Partnership. My family member has gotten a price of a little under $200k for the land. He told us this is non negotiable and is planning on a 15 year loan.

Is it possible to successfully negotiate the price of the land? If so, please let me know what potential means can be used. Also,  with some time left in the lease I didn't know if it could be beneficial to wait until a dip in the real estate market to see if that brings a drop in the cost of the land. Would be interested in knowing if people more familiar with Honolulu and Hawaii leasehold think this is a possibility or if it would be better to purchase now with low interest rates.

Thanks in advance!

Jordan

[Mitch Tempo]

Under 200k for fee simple land sounds very low for a price point.  Pretty sure you can't buy fee simple land on oahu at that price right now.  (There's only 1 lot on Maui under 200,000 now and Oahu is way more expensive).  If you consider that comparison as a replacement cost, then your relative should purchase now since its under market.  Collect your gains instead of chasing a possibility that might not happen.

There is a possibility that the lease owner might not offer the fee buyout in the future as well.

Keep in mind too that typically lease rent also increases over time too.

It just seems there is more benefits of buying out the lease now compared to later in this case.

There should also be information on the leasehold disclosure, agreement.  Each leasehold is unique so do your due diligence on that part thoroughly.