[ INSIDE HAWAII INC. ]
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Kai of HomeStreet Bank is hoping to get the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center up and running by the end of the year.
Center will help demysitify
the home buying process
Gary Kai
>> Board post: Chairman of the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center
>> Day job: HomeStreet Bank general manager for Hawaii
>> Other center officers are: Vice Chairman Norman Noguchi, Secretary Janice Takahashi and Treasurer Kelly Walsh.
>> Directors: Wayna Buch, Mark James, Keith Kato, Debra Luning, Ken Rainforth, Jo-Ann Ridao, Anna Marie Springer, Carolyn Fujioka, Angela Lovitt, Tom Ohashi, Dot Shigemura and Randy Wong.
What is the center's mission?
The basic mission is to assist potential first-time home buyers to get a home. We're looking at assisting people who perhaps don't have the information, but have the financial ability to buy a home. We anticipate also helping those who need help on the financial end, as well as with education about the process.
How has it come to exist?
It was a group of banks and other related parties getting together almost two years ago and deciding there was a need for such a center. It is not something new. There are home ownership centers across the country that exist as models. A lot of them have been in existence for more than 10 years.
How did you get involved?
As banker and as a mortgage lender it is something that is of concern to me and also is a way of giving back to the community I operate in. For HomeStreet Bank, it fits our mission as an institution, as well as the missions of many other institutions in town.
What are your goals as chairman?
Just to get the organization up and running. We've selected an executive director and we've got a location picked out. We hope to open our doors by the end of the year. The last two years have been spent on the organizational process; getting all the parties involved together and making sure everyone has had their input. The group is not just banks and mortgage lenders, it includes Realtors and government agencies and others. It's quite a diverse group that has been involved. Sometimes with a group that large, things take longer, but I think we've got a good foundation and we've gone about things in a good way.
How many people do you expect to serve?
We hope to have about 500 individuals that will go through the training the first year and about double that the second year. Eventually, we expect to serve 3,000 people a year for basic services and 1,200 a year for the more intensive home buyer education process. That will include eight to 12 hour classes and follow-up counseling to make sure the individuals are meeting the goals they've set for themselves on the way to buying a home. We expect that about another 1,000 individuals a year will need long-term one-on-one counseling, stretching over more than a year, as well as training in budgeting and managing finances.
Will the center serve Oahu only, or the neighbor islands as well?
The initial setup will be for Oahu, but our intent is to cover the neighbor islands as quickly as we can. We have board members from the neighbor islands, so they will remind us of that goal.
What are some of the roadblocks to home ownership that you hope to address?
There are basically gaps in information. There are people who are just not familiar with the process. They don't know what it takes to qualify for a loan. They might have financial ability to buy a home, but not the necessary information. On the other extreme would be those who have financial difficulties. We hope to help them work through debts and repair their credit so they too can become home buyers.
Are you concerned that first-time homeowners are getting priced out of the booming housing market?
I think that's a concern. But one of the things we hope to do is convince developers there are people at the lower end that are qualified and are able to buy. So it's a matter of working with developers to convince them that there is this pool of potential buyers. Doing start-up homes is not always attractive to developers, but part of the problem is they don't have ready access to educated, qualified buyers. We hope to address that. We think we're just one of the potential solutions. This is a problem that needs all kinds of solutions.
Inside Hawaii Inc. is a conversation with a member of the Hawaii business community who has changed jobs, been elected to a board or been recognized for accomplishments. Send questions and comments to: business@starbulletin.com.
