CAN CANADIANS BUY PROPERTY IN HAWAII?
Absolutely! There are no special restrictions on Canadians for buying property in Hawaii. You just have to decide for yourself if the exchange rate is favorable.
If you want to make an offer on property to tie it up in escrow and take if off the market while you arrange to fly over, I can email you contracts in an electronically signable format; all you have to do is open the email, sigh in and click the places where you initial and sign First you will have to inform me of the terms of your offer (offer price, down payment amount, names of signatories as you would sign a legal document, mailing address). I will fill out the paperwork and email it to you.
What you do is submit an offer with an inspection contingency and, if you are not paying cash, a financing contingency. First, Buyer and Seller have to agree on terms and price. Once they have both accepted and signed a contract, the contract and earnest money (usually $1,000.00 to start with) are deposited into an escrow account. You can wire the deposit to the escrow company. I will personally email the contracts to them. At that time you must apply for your loan and order the home inspection. The property is now effectively off the market. You must apply for a loan within 5 days of the acceptance date. At the end of the five days I will need a “pre-qualification” letter from your lender. This can all be done by email while you are still at home.
The most common inspection period is 15 days. I usually know the day before if a contract is going to be accepted. I then notify you to book your flight to the Big Island such that you will arrive at least three days before the inspection period is up. You can then view the property and make up your mind. If you decide you don’t like it then you can cancel the escrow account and get your deposit back. Prior to your departure from the mainland you can also hire a professional inspector to view the property the day after your arrival. If you decide you like the property when you see it, I can then give the professional inspector the go-ahead for the next day. If you decide you don’t like the property I can cancel the professional inspection to save you the fee. If you like the property and give the inspector the go-ahead, he will prepare a detailed report for you. If you decide you are not happy with the inspection report then you can cancel the escrow account and get your deposit back. During this inspection period you can cancel escrow at any time WITHOUT CAUSE and get your deposit back. If you approve of his report, the inspection contingency is waived, and escrow proceeds to the next step which is the financing contingency. Once your loan is approved the escrow proceeds to closing and the property is yours!
You can also make your offer “sight-unseen”, in which case I would take photos and videos for you in addition to the report from the professional home inspector.