By LISA SCONTRAS
Custom Publishing Group

Half-million-dollar-plus home prices and random triple-digit growth across the Island since 2000 have intimidated even seasoned investors from jumping into today’s real estate marketplace. But making an unexpected presence on the real estate scene, first-time homebuyers are buying homes or condos and building equity by defying conventional wisdom and doing whatever it takes.

“I wish I had bought something years ago,” remembers Sarah Snawder, who recently closed on her first piece of real estate ever in Waikiki. “I knew that higher prices mean higher rents. My landlord had already raised my rent and I knew that with prices still climbing, my rent would get jacked up again and again. That was my motivation.”

Snawder got smart and found a real estate agent who set up an appointment with a loan officer for her to get prequalified.

“I didn’t just wake up one day and say ‘I’m going to go out and buy some real estate,’” she recalls. “I knew I was going to have to make sacrifices ... less lattes at Starbucks and generally be more cautious. I even moved in with a girlfriend to tuck some money away.”

With the help of Realtor Christy Lovell, Snawder says they determined a high-end and a low-end range before going shopping where there were more sacrifices to be made. While she was originally looking to buy a fee simple property, after the search began, she decided to also consider some leasehold condos.

Thinking back, Snawder says, “If I knew two years ago what I know now, I probably could have bought something then — I’m pretty sure I would have qualified.”

At today’s prices, she could afford less house, but was still able to close seven months ago on a leasehold studio in Waikiki.

“I’m definitely using this as a stepping stone, but I’m proud to have a little place I can now call my own,” says Snawder, who loves her condo so much she may never sell it.

Being open minded also helped Harzali Hashim and Sarah Shepard buy their first property in Salt Lake.

“We would have liked to look at houses, but after getting prequalified we found that what we could afford to buy right now was a 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartment,” says Hashim, who bumped up his price range slightly after figuring in the tax savings. “We even expanded the scope and the range of the neighborhoods we considered.”

Samantha Corbin says her Realtor, Marshall Mower at Prudential, e-mailed her new listings that fit her criteria as they came on the market. Corbin and her husband Del are both in the Navy and hadn’t been on the island long when they began looking for a place to buy.

“He was able to give me names of neighborhoods that might be in my price range where we might have a shot,” recalls Corbin who purchase a home in Ewa Beach using 100 percent financing.

Hashim says his Realtor, Leya Sugiyama at Prudential Locations, LLC, showed them 10 to 12 places before they found the one they bought.

Hashim and Shepard are scheduled to close on their condo this month. And while he says it’s not where they plan to live forever, they are already shopping at Home Depot and discussing paint colors.

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