Here it is, the dream of every person who has ever visited Honolulu or even seen a picture of one of its famous beaches on a postcard: to buy a beachfront home in Hawaii. You've bought a home in the Toronto Beaches community to try and appease yourself, but though it was beautiful, it wasn't quite what you had in mind. You needed palm trees, a tropical climate, native Hawaiian names and structures, surfing: all the things you can't get here in Canada. Now you want to make it a reality. You want to go ahead and buy that beachfront property in Honolulu.

The first question you should ask yourself is: am I independently wealthy? If the answer is no, like it will be for most people, you need to ask yourself how you will afford a property in Honolulu and what you will live off of once you get there. As dreamy as the prospect of buying a beach home is, practical considerations MUST be a part of the process from the beginning or your endeavor will end in failure. Buying a Hawaiian home takes significantly more capital than buying Toronto Beaches real estate, so you should be prepared, and you should especially be looking for a job before you get there.

Now you're nervous. How much are we taking about, here? You apprehensively ask yourself. Well we won't beat around the bush. The average single family detached home in Honolulu costs around $800,000, but average homes are not near the beach. Like beachfront Stratford, PEI homes are more expensive than inland ones, beachfront property isn't cheap in Honolulu. You're looking at around a million dollars for a condo with beachfront views or access, and for a small home, upwards of 3 million dollars, with luxury homes edging up into the 6 to 8 million range. This is, of course, a size-able investment, but you can be sure it will appreciate, since Hawaii's appeal never goes out of style.

Think also, of what you would be getting for that money. You would be getting a private home in Hawaii and a chunk of beach for your exclusive use (or the exclusive use of all the tenants in your building, if you buy a condo in a complex). This way you can avoid the huge crowds at Diamond Head and Waikiki and swim or surf to your heart's content without having to jostle for position amongst vacationers from the Midwest. It's the same thing you loved about that Muskoka cottage for sale: the waterfront activities combined with a private retreat.

As if the sun, sand, and surf weren't enough, once you own a beachfront home in Hawaii you will become the most popular person in your circle of acquaintances. You'll have relatives abandoning their Bobcaygeon real estate for months at a time to stay with you, and if you care to, you can use this popularity to help you pay for the home. By renting it out to affluent tourists during prime visiting times, you can take years off your mortgage, perhaps even helping you to afford a property that might otherwise have been out of your reach.