Couple places hopes on housing market
By Dan Nakaso, John Duchemin and David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writers
Deneen Wong, 33, is the younger sister of Dennis Jr., and works part-time at Stanley's. She and her husband, 32-year-old firefighter Jarin Wong, bought their one-bedroom Ala Moana condominium six years ago for $199,000. They held onto it, hoping to make money, only to watch condominium prices slide.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
After the housing market heated up, the Wongs put their condo on the market, and it sold in September for $199,500, barely breaking even before transaction costs are subtracted.
Gloria Saito, a nurse and former wife of Dennis Kinoshita Sr., father of the current owner of Stanley's Chicken Market.
Still, the fact that they didn't take a significant loss is a big improvement over the experience of many Hawai'i families in the 1990s, when dropping property values pushed many into bankruptcy as homes' values plummeted but consumer debts piled high.
The Wongs now live rent-free with their 2-year-old daughter in the four-bedroom Hawai'i Kai home of Deneen's father, Dennis Sr.
Although home prices are increasing island-wide, they are eager to buy a house in the year ahead, while interest rates are still low, figuring they can lock in a relatively cheap 30-year mortgage — if they can save enough money.
While the Kinoshitas' positive experiences last year in construction and real estate help balance out the challenges faced by the family chicken stand, the prospects of other family members are more stable.
They reflect the fact that despite the difficulties in the state's tourism industry — which continues to account for about a third of all jobs — Hawai'i is in a reasonably safe, stable economic position going into 2003.
A nurse in high demand
Dennis Sr.'s ex-wife, Gloria Saito, 56, is in nursing — an occupation in high demand in Hawai'i. A nationwide nursing shortage has most hospitals and clinics coveting skilled nurses, and an aging population in Hawai'i, like most of America, has increased demand for health services.
The Hawai'i health care industry has steadily grown through the 1990s, and last year was no exception — 38,400 people worked in the field in November 2002, up 2.4 percent from the previous year. Further steady growth is predicted for years.
"I'm very secure in my job," Saito said.
Deneen Wong's mother-in-law, 56-year-old Jackie Wong, works in another stable sector — state government. A switchboard operator and supervisor at the University of Hawai'i for 28 years, Wong earns $33,000 per year. The state government has gradually increased its payroll for years despite efforts by former Gov. Ben Cayetano to introduce conservative fiscal practices. As of November 2002, the state employed 5.8 percent more people than the previous year, and with 72,100 employees remains one of the largest sectors of the economy.
New Gov. Linda Lingle also promises to make the government more efficient, and faces a shortfall in tax revenues that could increase pressure to pare back departments. But solid union contracts and Lingle's campaign promise to not lay off workers means Wong is likely secure in her job until she retires in a year or two.
Like many Hawai'i residents near retirement, however, Wong's income hasn't been large enough to generate future pension payments that will keep her worry-free.
She expects to need a part-time job to make ends meet, and she'll still have to pay the mortgage on her one-bedroom Salt Lake condominium. So she's already cutting back her spending.
"I don't want to struggle, and working isn't what I want to do," she said. "It's going to help when Social Security kicks in, but I'll have to find something else. So I try to be conservative in my spending."
Next: Preparing for an uncertain future
