A common misunderstanding is the thinking that HARPTA is a tax.  This is a means for the State of Hawaii to collect taxes from absentee owners.  HARPTA stands for Hawaii Real Property Tax Law.

A question that arises from military families is whether HARPTA applies to them.  If an active duty member closes a sales as a primary residence and being transferred from Hawaii under military orders the 5% HARPTA does not apply.  If however the property was rented as an investment then HARPTA would apply.

Here are some other listed exemptions for HARPTA:

EXEMPTIONS FROM WITHHOLDING

1. Transferor furnishes Hawaii Resident Certification. No withholding is necessary if the seller or transferor furnishes to the transferee a properly completed Form N-289 stating (i) the transferor’s federal taxpayer identification number, (ii) address, and (iii) that the transferor is

2. a Hawaii resident. However, this exemption will not apply if the transferee has actual knowledge that the information on the Form N-289 is false. (Note that the definition of Hawaii resident for purposes of the withholding required by HRS §235-68 would include foreign corporations and partnerships which are registered with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to do business in the

State of Hawaii).

3. Transferor’s Affidavit of Principal Residence. No withholding is necessary if the transferee receives an affidavit by the transferor stating (i) the transferor’s federal taxpayer identification number, (ii) that the transferor used the property as a principal residence for the year preceding the date of the transfer and (iii) the sales price for the property does not exceed $300,000.

4. Transferee Receives Hawaii Withholding Certificate.

(a) The withholding under HRS §235-68 may be reduced or eliminated pursuant to a “withholding certificate” issued by the Hawaii Department of Taxation. A withholding certificate may be issued by the Hawaii Department of Taxation upon receipt of Form N-288B establishing that either (i) the transferor will not realize any gain with respect to the transfer or (ii) the transferor will have insufficient proceeds to pay the withholding required by HRS §235-68 after payment of all costs, including selling expenses and the amount of any mortgages or liens secured by the property.

(b) The withholding may also be reduced or eliminated pursuant to a “written agreement” with the Hawaii Department of Taxation. Persons who engage in more than one real property transaction in a calendar year or to whom meeting the withholding requirements are not practicable are eligible to enter into these written agreements.

5. Notice of Non-recognition Treatment. No withholding is necessary if transferee receives from transferor a properly completed Form N-289 stating (i) that transferor is not required to recognize gain or loss with respect to the transfer and (ii) briefly describing the transfer and summarizing the law and facts supporting transferor’s claim. Non-Hawaii residents doing 1031 exchanges of real estate may consider this option to avoid withholding.

One important aspect of getting your real estate license is to have tools that will help you identify some of the best properties to make money.

When investing in property you can considering holding on to it for a monthly return or if the conditions are right flipping the purchase might yield you better returns.

Expanding your reach beyond your local market is one way to find some of these gems.

Here is a list of homes that have sold in the last 6 months that were flipped. Many of these homes had an average gain of $100,000 with an original purchase price of under $300,000.

When it comes to selling and buying homes, there’s a large gap in the perception of what sellers think buyers want, and what buyers actually want.  Because of this gap, sellers often spend lots of money renovating and fixing their homes prior to selling, only to learn they wasted a lot of time and money doing things that buyers just aren’t interested in, or are willing to pay extra for.


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1. What are the different types of mortgage insurance?

In general, there are two types of mortgage insurance: mortgage insurance bought from the government, designed for those with FHA or VA loans or mortgage insurance for conventional loans which is bought from the private sector (this is called private mortgage insurance or PMI), Basically, the type of mortgage insurance required will depend on the type of mortgage loan you get.

2. Who is required to have mortgage insurance?

Typically on a conventional loan, if your down payment is less than 20 percent of the value of the home, lenders will require you to carry mortgage insurance. Usually, you pay those mortgage insurance premiums until your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) -- this is simply the amount of money you borrowed divided by the value of the property you bought -- hits 80 percent. For example, let’s say you bought a $100,000 home and put down 10 percent, or $10,000, and got a $90,000 loan to pay the rest. Your LTV in this case would be $90,000 divided by $100,000, or 90 percent. The longer you pay down your mortgage, the lower your LTV will become. On government loans, mortgage insurance is normally required regardless of the LTV.

3. What does mortgage insurance cost?

Conventional Mortgage insurance rates vary -- usually, the lower your down payment and/or the lower your credit score, the higher the premiums -- but typically the premiums can range from $30-70 per month for every $100,000 borrowed. So, if you bought a $300,000 home, you might pay about $150 per month for mortgage insurance. On FHA loans, there is an up-front MIP (mortgage insurance premium) and annual premium which is collected monthly. VA loans have an up-front fee(funding fee) and no annual or monthly premiums. Contact your lender for specific details.

4. What does mortgage insurance cost?

Typically, you’ll pay your mortgage insurance premiums monthly right along with your mortgage payment (you can just send one payment to the lender). Lenders may also allow you to pay your PMI on a lump sum basis either in cash at closing or finance the premium in your loan amount.

5. Why do I need mortgage insurance?

Your lender requires you to have mortgage insurance so that if you can no longer make payments on your home, the lender will still get paid (through the insurance policy). Mortgage insurance basically safeguards the lender in the event of borrower default.

6. How can I avoid paying mortgage insurance premiums?

If you put down 20 percent or more when you buy a home, you can typically avoid paying mortgage insurance on a conventional loan. And once you've built up a certain amount of equity in your home, you can request to cancel it (see below).

7.When does mortgage insurance “fall off” the loan?

Once the borrower has built up a certain amount of equity in the house, typically 20 percent, the mortgage insurance policy usually may be canceled. The lender usually won’t automatically cancel PMI until you've reached 22 percent equity based on the original appraised value of the home, but you can request cancellation at 20 percent of the current market value. So if you own a home worth $100,000 and have paid down $20,000 in principal, you can request to cancel your PMI.

A lot of students fear math and think it'll sink them during the real estate exam. The good news is that even if you missed all of the math questions you can still pass. However, learning the math concepts do not extend past basic math and is easy to learn.




Even if you haven't had to use your brain to do simple calculations in a while you need not worry. Any good real estate license school will cover the concepts in easy to understand ways so that you will ace this section of the test.

Here are some of the topics that a good school will cover:

Real estate calculations

1. Basic math concepts 

When taking the state exam, look at the actual information given in the question, do not read into the question by considering any possibilities or exceptions (you will get confused).

Review the testing information and use the examination content outline as the basis of your study.  This can be found at www.psiexams.com.

Read the study materials you received from class that covers all of the topics in the content outline.

Reviewing your notes that you wrote in your study materials is an excellent way to help you commit it to memory.

Studying is the most helpful and effective way to do well in the exam.  Studying frequently for periods of about 45 to 60 minutes works well as concentration tends to wander if you study for longer periods of time.

You will need to know math information such as:  43,560 square feet equals one acre.  Also 5,280 feet equals a mile.

Finally, if you don’t know the answer to a question – just skip it and go on to the next question, then go back and answer the ones you missed.  Even if you don’t know the answer, take a guess you may be right.