Oahu Military Demo/Rebuild

[Paul Garcia]

My wife and I are both active duty military officers with an exciting opportunity to move to Oahu in about a year! We have a considerable stash of cash and will likely have high salaries to help us invest in a piece of property we would be proud to live in. 

We are considering buying land or a tear down in Kailua or Kaneohe Bay. One of my friends in the area completed a similar project for their own home, in the same area, for about $150/sq ft after the tear down. They used an architect to help develop the custom home, then sub-contracted the work over 9-12 months.

Neither of us are contractors but we're very excited about real estate and are here to learn. Both of our fathers' have great knowledge in flips, rentals, and new construction and have been doing that for the last few decades. We hope to put them to work for us in exchange for free trips to Hawaii to hang out with their family.

Can anyone suggest reading material for a tear down/rebuild? Any experience in Hawaii interested in offering suggestions? While a tear down is exciting, we're also considering a single family home that could be lived in for a year or two and then "added on." Ultimately we want to build up to capitalize on some incredible views with a nice deck.

First post after a long time lurking. Thanks for any help in advance. Love BP!