Who is Howard Dinits?

Howard is a bundle of energy always ready to talk story about real estate, technology and health. His philosophy is to “tell it ‘how it is' without any sugar-coating", so here it is!Howard and his Assistant, who is also his wife, split their time on the Big Island and Maui. With homes on two Islands, Howard is able to help people with Real Estate throughout Hawaii. He draws on skills from previous experience as a mortgage broker, web designer/marketer, and a real estate investor to make him a top realtor in Hawaii. As a result of the 9-11 attacks, his trip to Boston was cancelled when planes were grounded. He traded his much needed "east coast vacation tickets" in for tickets to Hawaii and decided to make the Big Island his home.Upon arrival to Big Island, Howard went to a Kona Realtor asking to see only properties he could easily afford at $85,000 or under. The Realtor laughed; so, he drove to the east side and found a great neighborhood in Puna with high speed internet, paved roads, mail delivery and water. Yes, within his price range. He also found a great lifestyle, loving people, and mostly, all the amenities of the mainland, yet with warm weather!Howard's focus is having fun and living a healthy lifestyle. Howard recently discovered he had hereditary gout. This problem had been plaguing him for years. After his diagnosis Howard decided to educate himself so that he could rid himself of daily pain the natural way, without drugs.  "So many people are living with it and don't realize what's going on! I will be happy to share all I have learned with anyone interested, because just knowing and treating it has given me great relief. I thought I was just going to live in pain for the rest of my life and I would have to deal with it, but it turns out, there are very reliable methods to preventing gout pain." Said Howard."The problem starts when uric acids build up in the bloodstream and crystalize in the joints and cause pain. The build up is caused from eating foods that are high in purines.  “No, no” foods are any shellfish, seafood, meats, legumes, lentils, or game birds as well as, oatmeal, cranberries, and asparagus! Can you believe asparagus?! Gout can be naturally controlled with regular exercise, relaxation, lots of water, cherries, hemp oil, and a vegetarian diet. Once under control,  ' no-no' foods may be consumed once in a while and the pain won’t “kill you."With Howard's comments in mind, what is his 2009 New Year's resolution? He says it is the year to take "Mary & Howard" time; one hour bike cruises with no phone calls or business conversations, just pure relaxation. His wife, Mary is his best teammate because they have opposite skills and they complement each other. Mary is in charge of office affairs and all the details behind the scenes as Howard works in the field. He has to be present to show homes, stay abreast of his education, not only for professional licensing, but to be on top of cutting edge technology. He has built premiere websites over the years, which connects both buyers and sellers with information and the ability to work directly with Howard Dinits. He says most websites are about the Real Estate agent's ego instead of providing quality photos and listings. Consumers want an honest and comprehensive response quickly and with the help of the Internet and email Howard makes it all possible. Real estate websites today need to incorporate web 2.0 skills. On Howard’s sites you’ll see virtual tours, streaming video, daily news, things to do, neighborhood and relocation information. High quality photos are crucial, Howard uses a wide angle lenses, proper lighting and staging to show the property in it’s best light.  A detailed description including driving directions is vital as many consumers find it easier to drive by a home first before deciding to ask for a showing. Listing the home at the right price gets showings, calls and action on the property - many times it can even get multiple offers!  Speaking of listing price, Howard's other philosophy is to attract attention to the property and he requires  sellers to come up with a figure which does not end in zeros to make their property stand out. To prove the results of these ideas, Howard tells a story. "...a listing very recently, a lady had a home on the market for a long time. Wondering why it didn’t sell, she researched who was selling homes and found me because most of the  SOLD listings had my name on them. She gave me the perfect opportunity - to some, maybe impossible, but for me it was a challenge. She was willing to play the price is right with the numbers. The only thing was I had 90 days to sell her property. Quickly, I started marketing the home." (....Unrelated, but fortuitously, a computer illiterate man calls because he wrote Howard’s number down while clicking away on his new computer and couldn’t figure out how to get back to the website and search for homes....)Howard continues, "I ended up personally helping this guy who knew nothing about computers learn how to do a property search by actually going to his home in Lahaina, made his home page www.BigIslandRealEstate.com and showed him how to shop for homes online. I had no idea where this would lead; I was just responding to a buyer inquiry.  Later that week, he flew in to Hilo to look at homes for sale, including the 90 day listing!  I knew shortly after arriving at my new listing, by his actions, that this home near the ocean was a complete match, so we went back to the office so I can provide more information about the home. In the office, I discovered he would not buy on his first day of looking, so I told him to go out for dinner with his girlfriend and made an appointment for the next day. It was risky, because he could go somewhere else, but he showed up on time and purchased the properly priced home on the 9th day of the listing."New technologies Howard uses are:  a pocket video camera made by Kodak (Zi6) with a removable SD card to enable him to send videos to consumers or sellers or do a final walk through for his buyers. The retail price is $200 and he has used it many times. He recently videoed what a home looked like after the tenants vacated to show the messy conditions to convince the seller to pay for a cleaning service. Another great technology is: text service available through an online texting service which sends detailed property information to folks interested in his listings. His 'For Sale' signs have a text area. The consumer types the text into their "internet enabled" phone and obtains immediate listing information including photos, price, links to his website, and other details. Meanwhile, 'the service' sends a message to him that the listing is being looked at and gives the phone contact of the person viewing it. He can then choose to call the potential client immediately to see if they would like more information or to schedule an appointment.Supra Lock Boxes are another way to use technology. It is the most secure lock box available as it records each real agents name, license and phone number that shows a home. Howard can go online and track activity and follow up with agents after their showing without having to go out to the home to see who left a card on the counter!In our closing, Howard wanted to stress his formula for selecting the best price and the importance of not showing a property unless it is at a positive. "Market Data or a Broker's Price Opinion is the best way of selecting a price. A full time real estate agent will have a better pulse on the market than an appraiser would, because appraisers are using data that is four month’s old. They don't know what is in escrow and won't know for a couple months. If you want to sell in today’s market, the list price needs to be at or below market value. The code of ethics state I cannot mislead a consumer on the value of a property, so I can not take over priced listings, and it is my fiduciary duty to explain what market value is to all potential buyers and sellers.Howard has incorporated all of these talents and skills to propel himself to the top of his profession. He is the top selling RE/MAX agent on the Big Island. Howard has helped more people than any other Realtor, in the district of Puna in the years of 2007 and 2008. With his over 200 happy clients talking story about him and his honesty, integrity and hard work, Howard’s business continues to grow on both the Big Island and Maui. Via word of mouth he expects continued success throughout 2009 and beyond. Howard owes all of his accomplishments, to his wife Mary for all of her help and understanding of the amount of time and energy that is required to be the Best of the Best.